Mr. Zong Cheng from Jilin Province Arrested, Beaten and Sent to Forced Labor Camp

Name: Zong Cheng (宗成)
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Jilin City, Jilin Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: November 16, 2011
Most recent place of detention: Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp (朝阳沟劳教所)
City: Changchun City
Province: Jilin Province
Persecution Suffered: Detention, interrogation, torture, forced labor, home ransacked

(Clearwisdom.net) On November 16, 2011, at about 4 a.m., officers from the Xinan Police Station in Jilin City and the Panshi City Domestic Security Division broke into Mr. Zong Cheng's home and ransacked it. They accused Mr. Zong of going to Heishi Town, Panshi City, to distribute materials about Falun Gong. They confiscated Mr. Zong's Falun Gong books and materials. In order to sow discord between Mr. Zong's family and other practitioners, they also falsely claimed that Mr. Zong had been betrayed by another Falun Gong practitioner.

The officers took Mr. Zong and his wife, a non-practitioner, to the Xinan Police Station. Mr. Zong's wife was released the same day, but Mr. Zong was transferred to the Panshi Police Department.

Li Jie, chief of the Heishi Police Station, and another policeman with last name is Niu interrogated Mr. Zong about how many times he went to Heishi Town to distribute Falun Gong materials. Mr. Zong did not cooperate with them. The policemen handcuffed him to the back to a bed rail, so that his toes were barely touching the ground, for two hours. Four policemen took turns to interrogate him. When he did not answer any questions, the policemen pulled his hair and slapped him in the face. The instructor of the Domestic Security Division also severely beat him.

Another group of policemen arrived at about 7 or 8 p.m. that day. One policeman forced Mr. Zong to sit on the photo of Falun Gong's founder and tore other photos of the founder of Falun Gong books in front on Mr. Zong. Late at night, chief Liu from the Domestic Security Division and two other policemen took turns to interrogate him.

Mr. Zong Cheng was sent to the Panshi City Detention Center on November 17, 2011. The police told him that he would be released in two weeks. However, on the morning of November 30, 2011, Mr. Zong was transferred to the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp in Changchun, Jilin Province, for 18 months.

After Mr. Zong's arrest, his family went to the Jilin City Detention Center, the Custody Office and the Panshi City Detention Center several times in an effort to find out his whereabouts. Each time, the family were told that Mr. Zong was not being held in any of those places. Only later, on January 18, 2012, did the family discover that he was in fact being held at the Panshi City Detention Center, and that authorities planned to hold an illegal trial for him after the Chinese New Year.

Parties involved in the persecution:

Zhao Huilin, director of the Panshi City 610 Office: [phone]
Feng Qisheng, president of the Panshi City Court: [phone]
Jiang Sa from the Mingcheng Town Police Station of Panshi City: [phone]
Xiao Huifei, chief of the Panshi City Domestic Security Division: [phone]