(Minghui.org) During the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign to round up Falun Gong practitioners prior to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, practitioner Mr. Wang Deqin of Changle County, Shandong Province, was arrested along with several family members. Mr. Wang received a nine-year sentence, his wife eight years, his son seven years, and his son’s father-in-law eight years. To this day, the family is still imprisoned, and their conditions are unknown.
Mr. Wang is from Wutu Town in Changle County. After the CCP banned Falun Gong in July 1999, his family faced repeated persecution. During important holidays from 1999 to 2001, to prevent his family members from traveling to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, local authorities detained them for from three to 15 days in nearby Qiujiahe Village at an office exclusively used for this purpose. Their relatives were ordered to deliver meals to the detained family members, and they could not use the toilet without permission.
Township deputy head Zhao Yanyun (赵延运), residential head Zhao Dehui (赵德辉), and deputy head Lu Hongwu (吕洪武) were among those who were the worst about abusing and detaining practitioners. Practitioner Ms. Wang Yanxia was intercepted en route to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and detained at the Qiujiahe office complex. In one instance of abuse, Zhao Dehui told Ms. Wang Yanxia and Ms. Wang Yuexin, another practitioner, to stand together. He grabbed their heads and slammed them into each other. Ms. Wang Yuexin suffered cuts on her head. Ms. Wang Yanxia had bruises on her face and temporarily lost her vision. Zhao Dehui also ordered practitioners to step on a portrait of Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong. When they refused, he used more physical violence.
In another case of psychological abuse, Lu Hongwu ordered Mr. Wang Deqin’s son to curse at his father. The scared teenager complied. When Lu ordered the boy to hit his mother, Ms. Liu Guihua, the boy protested, “My mom brought me up. I will not hit her. It was wrong for me to curse at my dad.” The enraged Lu picked up a two-meter-long stick and struck the boy repeatedly until he was too tired to continue.
Today, the family's home sits empty. Many of their valuable possessions were seized by police, and some were stolen. Their conditions in prison are unknown. We call people’s attention to their plight so that they can be rescued.
