Falun Gong Practitioners Severely Persecuted by Communist Party Members in Taihe County, Anhui Province

Recently, information was obtained about the severe persecution of Falun Gongpractitioners by the "610 Office¹" and police in Taihe County, Fuyang City, Anhui Province. Practitioners were arrested and tortured at the detention centre. The torture methods included being subjected to freezing temperatures for extended periods of time, being handcuffed and shackled, and being repeatedly poked with needles. Some practitioners were tortured by police twisting their arms and some were forced to jump down flights of stairs while shackled. Many of these practitioners were sentenced to forced labour. Eight practitioners were arrested. Some have been detained for almost a year.

For years now, agents in Taihe County have followed Jiang Zemin's, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime's brutal policy to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. During this time, more than ten people were sentenced to forced labour, more than 100 people were arrested and detained, and more than a thousand people were taken to a brainwashing centre.

Since May 2007, the Taihe County 610 Office and police from the Miaoji and Santa Stations arrested approximately 20 Falun Gong practitioners who attended an experience sharing gathering. Later, 26 practitioners faced extortion and arrest.

On February 21st, 2008, Ms. Liu Liying was arrested. Many policemen then proceeded to ransack her home. After Ms. Liu was arrested, she was detained at the Taihe County Detention Centre; and still, the authorities have not produced any evidence or warrants to justify her arrest. Because of the persecution, many Falun Gong practitioners have been forced to leave their homes to avoid being arrested.

During this same period of time, agents from the Taihe County 610 Office and police freely ransacked practitioners' homes. They consider ransacking, robbery, and arrest as additional sources of income. Some practitioners were not released until their families paid bribes of thousands of yuan². Agents and police confiscated expensive electronics, computers, printers and cash from practitioners' homes. Even the homes of practitioners in hiding were not spared. In order to profit further, some policemen camped out in the home of the relatives of a Falun Gong practitioner who had left her home. These police threatened the relatives; and subsequently, the relatives spent over a thousand yuan to feed those policemen. The policemen even told the relative, if the practitioner is arrested, she would be sentenced to five years in prison. They also said that if the practitioner's father was arrested, he would be sentenced to three years in prison.

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/3/19/174655.html