(Clearwisdom.net) As of May 16, 2004, it has been nearly five years since Jiang Zemin and his followers started to openly persecute Falun Gong practitioners on July 20, 1999. In order to justify and sustain the persecution, they have been spreading propaganda against Falun Gong to the people in China, who are denied access to the facts about Falun Gong. The Head of the "610 Office"* in Dazu County, Sichuan Province has collaborated with Dazu County's Public Security Bureau in following Jiang's order to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. They have ransacked Falun Gong practitioners' homes, extorted their money in the name of fines, thrown them into detention centers and jails, given them illegal sentences, subjected them to forced brainwashing programs which used violence and torture, and implicated their families and relatives in the persecution. They have sent out a large police force to hunt down Falun Gong practitioners and filled Dazu County with terror.

The following are but a few facts of the persecution against 20 Falun Gong practitioners in Dazu County, but they illustrate the scale, severity and the pervasive nature of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners.

Mr. Li Jian is a college graduate and worked as a section chief at the Dazu County's Center of Disease Control before the persecution against Falun Gong began. Mr. Li was sentenced to 18 months in the Xishanping Forced Labor Camp in November 1999 for traveling to Beijing and appealing on behalf of Falun Gong. He ended up being incarcerated for 27 months because the staff at Xishanping detained him for an additional nine months. In February 2002, Mr. Li was sentenced to another two years in a forced labor camp for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong, distributing flyers and writing messages on the streets. On February 16, 2004, Chongqing First Intermediary People's Court sentenced Mr. Li to 13 years in a forced labor camp. His "crime" was helping to relay the facts to the world about a policeman from the Baihelin Detention Center in Shaqu who raped Ms. Wei Xingyan, a graduate student at Chongqing University, in front of two female prison inmates. Chongqing First Intermediary People's Court sentenced the five Falun Gong practitioners, including Mr. Li Jian, to long prison terms on charges of "damaging the image of the Chinese government and slandering a Chinese government employee" for their righteous action of exposing the brutal rape.

Ms. Tang Jing is from Longshui Town in Dazu County. First, she was sentenced to a year in the Maojiashan Female Forced Labor Camp in Jiangbei District, Chongqing. Then the Dazu Criminal Court sentenced her to four years in the Yongchuan Forced Labor Farm for explaining the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong, posting and distributing truth-clarification flyers.

Mr. Feng Julun is a farmer from Mashi Town of Dazu County. He was sentenced to one year in the Xishanping Forced Labor Camp, but he ended up being incarcerated for a total of 21 months because the staff at Xinshanping extended his term for an additional nine months.

Mr. Liu Shurong is a retired schoolteacher from Longshui Town in Dazu County. He was sentenced to one year in Xishanping Forced Labor Camp for going to Beijing and appealing for Falun Gong in October 1999. He ended up being incarcerated for 20 months because the staff at Xishanping extended his term for additional eight months. In September 2001, policeman Jiang Jun coerced a person involved in a non-related criminal case to testify against Mr. Liu Shurong and caused Mr. Liu to be detained in the Dazu Detention Center for a month. In February 2002, the Retirement Group at Longshui Town Schoolteacher's Office held an activity for retired schoolteachers in Longshui Lake. Mr. Luo Wenguang, the host of the activity, openly attacked Falun Gong at the event, so Mr. Liu stood up and explained the facts about Falun Gong to his fellow retired schoolteachers. Mr. Liu was later sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp for speaking out at the event.

Ms. Zheng Xueqiong is from Longshui Town in Dazu County. She continued to practice Falun Gong and was sentenced to one year in the Maojiashan Female Forced Labor Camp for going to Beijing in October 1999 and appealing for Falun Gong. Fortunately, she was sent home because she didn't pass the physical examination for the forced labor camp. Ms. Zheng continued to cultivate in Falun Dafa at home. However, living in an atmosphere of terror had a negative impact on her health. She was overcome with one sickness after another and passed away in March 2004.

Mr. Li Liangrui is a farmer from Fulong Town, Dazu County. In 2000, Mr. Li was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp for going to Beijing and appealing for Falun Gong. In August 2002, the police abducted him while he was distributing truth-clarification materials in Youting, Dazu County. He was sentenced to three years in a forced labor camp.

Mr. Zhao Zhonglu is a farmer from Sanqu Town, Dazu County. In August 2000, Mr. Zhao was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp for going to Beijing and appealing for justice for Falun Gong. Then he was sentenced to three years in a forced labor camp for distributing truth-clarification materials in Youting, Dazu County.

Mr. Chen Qingbin is a schoolteacher from Sanqu Town, Dazu County. He went to Beijing and appealed for Falun Gong in August 2000, and was sentenced to one year of forced labor.

Mr. Zheng Xuegang is a schoolteacher at Sanqu Elementary School from Fulong Town, Dazu County. He was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp for going to Beijing and appealing for Falun Gong in August 2000.

Mr. Jiang Zhongliang is a farmer from Hualong Town, Dazu County. He was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp in February 2002 for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong, distributing truth-clarification flyers, and posting a Chinese couplet saying "Falun Dafa is good" on the door of his home in 2002.

Mr. Yi Tingzhong is a retired employee from Panzhihua Steel Company. He was sentenced to one year of forced labor for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and distributing truth-clarification flyers.

Ms. Zhou Zhongxing is a retired schoolteacher from Long'gang Town, Dazu County. He was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp in October 1999 for going to Beijing and appealing for Falun Gong. He was sentenced to another year of forced labor in February 2002 for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and distributing truth-clarification flyers. However, he ended up being incarcerated in the forced labor camp for two years because the staff at the forced labor camp arbitrarily extended his term for another year.

Ms. Liu Hongju is a resident of Longshui Town, Dazu County. She went to Beijing in October 1999 to appeal for Falun Gong. After she returned home from the trip, she was imprisoned for over 30 days. In May 2000, Ms. Liu was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp for going to Beijing and appealing for Falun Gong. In May 2002, she was sentenced to another year of forced labor for explaining the facts about Falun Gong.

Ms. Tang Dayu is a farmer from Mituo Town, Dazu County. She was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp for going to Beijing and appealing on behalf of Falun Gong in 2000.

Ms. Li Kaixiang is a self-employed small business owner from Longshui Town, Dazu County. She was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and for going to Beijing and appealing for Falun Gong.

Ms. Yang Huanying is a retired employee residing in Long'gang Town, Dazu County. She was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and distributing truth-clarification flyers.

Ms. Tang Shimin is a farmer in Guihua Village, Longshui Town, Dazu County. She was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong.

Ms. Zeng Xiangyun is a resident in Longshui Town, Dazu County. She was sentenced to one year of forced labor for persistently clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and for going to Beijing and appealing on behalf of Falun Gong.

Ms. Huang Shuhui is a schoolteacher at Dazu Junior High School. The local police arrested her and sentenced her to about one year (exact term to be verified) in a forced labor camp because she persistently clarified the truth about Falun Gong to her students at school. It was only after her family paid the police a lot of money that Ms. Huang was released.

Mr. Yang Tianbao is a student in Miliang Township, Dazu County. He was sentenced to one year of forced labor in 2002 for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong, posting truth-clarification banners, and distributing truth-clarification flyers.

The above facts are but a few in a long list of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in Dazu County by the "610 Office" and the police in Dazu County, Sichuan Province. These facts are just a sample of the crimes committed against Falun Gong practitioners, and an ongoing investigation will undoubtedly uncover more.

So far, we have learned that nearly 100 Falun Gong practitioners in Dazu County have been subjected to persecution by the local "610 Office" and the police force. We have verified that the following Falun Gong practitioners from Dazu County have also suffered from various cases of persecution: Ms. Deng Shangyuan, Mr. and Mrs. Zeng (both teachers at the Shizhuo Middle School), Mr. Leng Jisheng, Mr. Jiang Changwu, Ms. Liu Qianhui, Ms. Hou Zaoying, Mr. and Mrs. Jiang from Hualong, Mr. and Mrs. Liu Hanying, Mr. Zhang Zhishu, Ms. Yang Xueyu, Ms. Zheng Xueling, Mr. Chen Guokang, Wang Xin, Mr. Zhao Dong, Mr. Shi Dingfu, Mr. Xu Bingwen, and Mr. Yang Qinglie.