Former Outstanding Military Officer Arrested – Family Driven Away for Demanding His Release

Name: Pan Youfa (潘友发)
Gender: Male
Age: 63
Address: Shenyang City, Liaoning Province
Occupation: Former Employee of the Shenyang Urban and Rural Construction Committee
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 28, 2012
Most Recent Place of Detention: Xinmin City Detention Center (新民市看守所)
City: Xinmin
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Forced labor, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, beatings, imprisonment, detention

(Minghui.org) Mr. Pan Youfa, a Falun Gong practitioner from Shenyang City and a former outstanding military officer at the regimental level, has been held in custody for almost a month for remaining steadfast in his belief, conducting himself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and striving to be a good person. Mr. Pan's family has been repeatedly driven away by officers of the Xinmin City Police Department Northwest Street Police Station when they demanded his release. Among the officers who participated in arresting and persecuting Mr. Pan are Wang Xingkuan and Liu Peng from Northwest Street Police Station, officers from Xinmin City Police Department Domestic Security Division, and officers from Shenyang City Huanggu District. The Shenyang City Domestic Security Division directed the arrest behind the scenes.

Mr. Pan Youfa

Mr. Pan, originally from Mingshui County, Heilongjiang Province, joined the army after graduating from high school. Because he was very dedicated and hard working, he was quickly promoted from an ordinary soldier to squad leader, then platoon leader, company commander, and battalion commander, all the way to deputy regimental commander. He led his troops to complete many missions such as helping put out the fire at Daxingan Ridge and flood rescues. Mr. Pan took the lead in each of these missions and was recognized many times by the military. There was a vegetable garden at Mr. Pan's unit and others often took vegetables home, yet Mr. Pan never took any, even when he didn't have any vegetables to eat at home.

Later, Mr. Pan demobilized and started working at the Liaoning Province Shenyang City Urban and Rural Construction Committee. During his years in the military, he developed many problems from overwork. Mr. Pan suffered from cerebral thrombosis, heart disease, and nephritis. Because he was honest, Mr. Pan didn't have a lot of savings and many years of paying his medical bills left him penniless. Mr. Pan consulted with medical experts at the 202 Military Hospital, “Can I be cured?” One said, “Patients with less severe conditions have died.”

In May 1996, as he was seeking medical attention and treatment, a doctor of Chinese medicine whose expertise is healing hard-to-diagnose and hard-to-treat diseases told Mr. Pan, “Your illnesses are incurable. You should practice Falun Gong. I just started practicing a little over a month ago. It is a great cultivation way in the Buddha School.” Mr. Pan then began to practice Falun Gong. After three months, the unimaginable happened—eight different health problems disappeared, and Mr. Pan regained his good health. He went from being miserable to being overjoyed, and his entire family, relatives, and friends all witnessed how extraordinary and magical cultivating in Dafa is.

Cultivating in Dafa not only gave Mr. Pan a body like new, but the even bigger change was that the profound principles of Falun Dafa impacted his way of thinking. Mr. Pan joined the military at a young age and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) early. He had been heavily influenced by the CCP's atheistic theories. Now he finally understood the real moral standard of the universe and realized that, as long as one follows the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and strives to be a good person, he or she will experience great changes mentally and physically.

From being a regiment level officer heavily influenced by the CCP's theories of “deception, evil, and struggle” to a Dafa practitioner who believed in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, Mr. Pan felt very fortunate to have found the true meaning of life. After the CCP launched the persecution of Falun Gong, he clarified the truth about Falun Gong using his personal experience without holding back and was repeatedly persecuted. He went to Beijing to deliver an open letter that many had signed to the representatives of the General Assembly of the People's Congress. It stated the truth about how Falun Gong was beneficial to the country and the people, but he was illegally sentenced to forced labor for one and half years. His teeth fell out as a result of brutal beatings and he was forced to go through brainwashing. Soon after he returned home from the forced labor camp, he was again harassed by the CCP officials. Officers of Shenyang Tiexi Domestic Security Division went to his home many times to monitor him and attempted to arrest him. This caused his to leave home and remain on the run for the past 10 years.

On August 28, 2012, Mr. Pan and a fellow practitioner, Mr. Hu Lin, were arrested by officers from Xinmin City Police Department Northwest Street Police Station, Xinmin City Police Department Domestic Security Division, and Shenyang City's Huanggu District. Both Mr. Hu and Mr. Pan were severely beaten. Mr. Hu had blood all over his face, had injuries where he was handcuffed, and was bruised on his back. Mr. Pan was handcuffed behind his back, was pushed to the ground, and had cold water poured over his head. He had injures on his legs and ribs, a knife cut on his arm, and was handcuffed behind his back for nine hours. The police ransacked Mr. Hu's home and confiscated many personal belongings and items, including nearly 10,000 yuan in cash, many cash cards and deposit books, a computer, and Dafa books.

What was even worse was that police officers fabricated stories so they would be rewarded for “meritorious service.” They falsely charged Mr. Pan, saying that he stabbed someone with a knife and threw the knife downstairs.

After Mr. Pan was arrested and injured, his family was very worried about him. They went to Xinmin City Detention Center and asked to visit him but were turned down. They tried to send some clothes to Mr. Pan but were not allowed to. The guards said they could only deposit money for him. The family then went to the Northwest Street Police Station many times demanding Mr. Pan's release. Police officers Wang Xingkuan and Liu Peng brushed them off. They claimed that they had found 63 cell phones when they arrested Mr. Hu and Mr. Pan and that they had been trying to arrest Mr. Pan for the past nine years. The family gave an account of Mr. Pan benefiting mentally and physically from practicing Falun Gong and said that it was not a crime to practice Falun Gong. One of the directors of the Northwest Street Police Station commented, “Not interested.” This director and officer Wang Xingkuan and Liu Peng refused to release Mr. Pan.

After hearing what happened to Mr. Pan, his former colleagues in the military have expressed concern. Mr. Pan's family said that they would continue to appeal until Mr. Pan is released unconditionally and all charges against him are dropped.

Contact information:

Wang Wenhai, director of Northwest Street Police Station: [phone] (Office), [phone] (Office), [phone] (Cell)
Sun Fangyuan, political director of Northwest Street Police Station: [phone] (Office), [phone] (Office), [phone] (Cell)
Chen Hao, deputy director of Northwest Street Police Station: [phone] (Office), [phone] (Office), [phone] (Cell)
Wang Xingkuan, police officer from Northwest Street Police Station
Liu Peng, police officer from Northwest Street Police Station
Do Hongliang, director of Xinmin City Police Department: [phone] (Office), [phone] (Home), [phone] (Cell)
Tao Hongliang, political commissar of Xinmin City Police Department: [phone] (Office), [phone] (Home), [phone] (Cell)
Yang Yushan, deputy director of Xinmin City Police Department: [phone] (Office), [phone] (Home), [phone] (Cell)