(Clearwisdom.net)

Name: Xiong Weiming (熊炜明)
Gender: Male
Age: 40
Address: Youyi Residential Area in Xujiapeng, Wuchang, Wuhan City, Hubei Province
Occupation: Patent Lawyer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 20, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Hubei Province Law Education Center -Provincial Brainwashing Center in Banqiao (湖北省法制教育中心 )
City: Wuhan
Province: Hubei
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, brainwashing, home ransacked, detention

Three months after Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Xiong Weiming's detention on April 20, 2011, the police formally announced his “arrest” on July 19. In the normal judicial process, a decision of arrest or release is due within thirty-seven days of a person’s initial detention. Why did Mr. Xiong have to wait for three months before being formally arrested?

Mr. Xiong Weiming

Mr. Xiong, 40, is a patent lawyer in the Wuhan Chutian Patent Law Firm. He lives in the Youyi Subdivision in the Wuchang District. For work-related reason, his wife and five-year-old child stay with his wife's parents in the Hongshan District. He visits them on the weekends and often takes his family to visit his elderly parents (in their 70’s) in the Qingshan District.

Mr. Xiong did not show up at work on April 20, 2011. Later during the day, two police officers arrived at his law firm to inform his colleagues about his detention. Mr. Xiong's family members went to his home and found his room a complete mess from a police search. His desktop computer, laptop, printer and a few other items were gone. The room reeked of heavy smoke odor; cigarette butts from the police officers were all over the floor.

Despite Mr. Xiong's family’s repeated inquiries, they did not learn his whereabouts and why he was detained. It turned out that during the time of his confinement many other Falun Gong practitioners were also arrested, and Mr. Xiong was among those taken in the mass arrests.

The patent attorney business is a very competitive profession. Mr. Xiong’s customers and his boss trusted him and relied on him. His sudden detention greatly damaged the firm’s business. The firm repeatedly appealed to the police to release him so he could return to work, but their requests were refused.

After Mr. Xiong's capture the persecutors sent him to Section One of the Wuhan Police Department. Later, he was detained in the Jianghan Brainwashing Center and another brainwashing center at the Beihu Farm. On May 27 Mr. Xiong was transferred to the Hubei Provincial Brainwashing Center in Banqiao. On July 19, after three months of covert, unlawful detention, he was officially arrested.

During the first three months of his disappearance, Mr. Xiong's family never received any written or verbal notice of his situation. Even now, his family members still do not know his exact whereabouts.

According to sources familiar with the case, Mr. Xiong and other Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to very harsh treatment, including long-term sleep deprivation, and 24-hour monitoring (including toilet breaks and bathroom time). They were bombarded by sounds from several high-volume TV sets. These procedures are designed to destroy the practitioners’ determination and force them to renounce Falun Gong. There are indications that the police might have drugged their food. The practitionersd were eventually transferred to the Banqiao Brainwashing Center.

It is reported that the Banqiao Brainwashing Center receives payment for each person it takes in. Originally, the fee was 6,000 yuan per month, and the detainee’s employer had to assign an

“escort” to the center. For each “reformed” practitioner the center gets an additional 20,000-yuan bonus. Under these financial incentives, the brainwashing workers go out of their way to persecute the practitioners. They have resorted to beatings, sleep deprivation, and they even drugged the practitioners’ food. They also created various brainwashing techniques.

Mr. Xiong’s initial capture, his “formal arrest" and the large-scale detentions in April and May were related to Zhou Yongkang’s Wuhan visit. Zhou is head of the Central Political and Legislative Committee. Following Zhou’s visit, Hubei Provincial 610 Office agents issued a target quota for detaining practitioners to the local 610 Offices, police stations, and neighborhood committees, and gathered names. Finally, officers from Section One of the Wuhan Police Department carried out the arrests.

On July 3, Zhou Yongkang came to Wuhan again. It is possible that his visit had something to do with the subsequent intensification of the persecution in Wuhan.

The office and individuals responsible for the persecution:
Wuhan City 610 Office head Chen Shiguo: +86-27-82402420
Deputy head Ren Qiang: +86-27-82402903

(For additional perpetrators' contact information, please refer to the original Chinese article)