Illegal Detention and Imprisonment

  • Eleven Practitioners Sentenced to Prison in Sichuan Province

    On October 10th, 2008, the Wuhou District Court in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province held the second part of an open trial to sentence eleven Falun Gong practitioners, including Ms. Zhong Fangqiong. The families of the practitioners were blocked from entering the courtroom. Ms. Zhong was sentenced to seven years in prison, Mr. Liu Jia and Ms. Mao Kun each to five and a half years, Mr. Jiang Zonglin and Mr. Liu Bangcheng (72 years old) each to five years, Mr. Zhu Renbin, Mr. Ding Zeyang (retired professor from Sichuan University), and Ms. Jiang Hongyuan each to four years, Ms. Mao Qi, Ms. Qin Min and Ms. Che Shikun each to three years. Practitioners shouted "Falun Gong is good" when they exited the court. The guards beat them after dragging them out to avoid being video recorded by cameras.
  • Mr. You Quanming and Ms. Xiao Danfeng Sentenced in Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province

    Not long after the Olympics ended, Falun Gong practitioner You Quanming and his wife, Ms. Xiao Danfeng were sentenced to three and five years respectively. They were taken to Kunming, though the exact location is unknown. Their daughter, You Xuechun, wanted to visit them during her summer vacation but authorities denied her request. They have both been previously persecuted for appealing for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong.
  • 70-Year-Old Retired Teacher Detained Again, Previous Imprisonment Severely Damaged Her Health

    On May 30th, 2008, nearly 20 police officers and government employees ransacked the home of 70-year-old Ms. Hou Qiaozhen and arrested her. They barged into her house unannounced and turned everything upside down before walking away with over 10,000 yuan in cash, and valuables worth nearly 30,000 yuan. They transported her to the Heping Police Station and transferred her that same day to the First Detention Centre. Back in 2000, Ms. Hou served one year of forced labour at the Shijiazhuang Labour Camp. The hard labour and torture severely harmed her health. She has been underweight and in poor health ever since.
  • Mr. Xu Zhi Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Possessing Falun Gong Brochures

    Mr. Xu Zhi is a Falun Gong practitioner from Baiquan County, Heilongjiang Province. In 2000, because he firmly believed in Falun Gong and did not give up his faith, he was sent to a forced labour camp for one year by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 2007, because Mr. Xu was carrying brochures that explained the truth about Falun Gong, the CCP sentenced him to seven years in prison.
  • Ms. Li Jianying from Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province, Imprisoned Again

    On June 24th, 2008, officers from the Gaozhou 610 Office, the National Security Team, the police station and the residents committee arrested Ms. Li Jianying. They deceived her husband into signing a the statement for "re-education through labour" for two years. On the afternoon of June 25th, Ms. Li was forcefully sent to the Second Sub-team of the Third Team in the First District of Sanshui Forced Labour Camp, Guangdong Province. This is the second time Ms. Li has been imprisoned. Previously, she was sentenced to four years and imprisoned in Shaoguan Women's Prison and Guangdong Women's Prison.
  • Wangqing County Police in Jilin Province Arrest Falun Gong Practitioners

    On July 10th, 2008, Chinese Communist Party agents and Wangqing County police officers arrested Falun Gong practitioners under the pretence of "ensuring a safe Olympic Games." On July 24th, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Wangqing County police implemented another widespread arrest and held a brainwashing session. Many of the practitioners arrested this time were the same ones arrested on and before July 10th. On July 24th, at 6:00 p.m., police officers scaled the exterior wall of a practitioner's home and jumped into the courtyard to make arrests.
  • Husband Arrested 10 Times; Wife Sentenced to Forced Labour Four Times

    Over the last nine years, Zhang Dianguo was arrested and detained ten times, was sentenced to forced labor once, and was blackmailed out of nearly 60,000 yuan. His wife Guo Guixiang was arrested and detained six times, and sentenced to forced labour four times. Recently, the couple have just returned home from the labour camps, but, in the name of "protecting the Olympic Games," police arrested the couple once again. One of them is again in a forced labour camp, and the other escaped but is unable to return home without being arrested yet again.
  • Police Arrest and Persecute 17 Falun Gong Practitioners in Laixi City

    On July 31st, 2008, the police in Laixi City, Shandong Province, arrested 17 Falun Gong practitioners. They were having a study and discussion session at a practitioner's home. Laixi 610 Office Chief Wang Jianzhi rented the third floor of the Qingdao Defence Education Centre to set up a brainwashing centre, where six practitioners will be imprisoned. This is the Laixi 610 Office private jail, set up in attempt to persecute and force practitioners to give up their belief. In order to maintain this location, the 610 Office extorted from each practitioner's family members 3,000 yuan and forced them to write guarantee statements to renounce Falun Gong before they would release the practitioners.
  • Mr. Yan Zhijun and Several Other Practitioners from Tonghe County, Heilongjiang Province, Arrested and Money Extorted from Them

    Personnel from the Tonghe County 610 Office and Police Department arrested and persecuted several Falun Gong practitioners right before the Olympics. While the practitioners were held in the detention centre, they were mentally and physically tortured. On July 29th, 2008, police broke into practitioner Mr. Yan Zhijun's home. The police made a big mess of the house and Mr. Yan Zhijun was seriously beaten. Furthermore, they tried to force him to reveal information about other practitioners. When he refused, they tied a plastic bag over his head three times and beat him cruelly.
  • Practitioners from Huaying City, Guang'an, Sichuan Province, Are Persecuted

    On February 10th, 2004, Yuechi County officials arrested Ms. Zhou Dingying. The police interrogated her using torture and forced a false confession from her. After being beaten, she was imprisoned in Yuechi Lockup. They also wanted to arrest her husband, Mr. Qu, so he was compelled to be destitute and homeless. Ms. Zhou was sentenced to forced labour for two years and taken to Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp in the Zizhong County, Sichuan Province. She was tortured inhumanly for two years.
  • Baoji Sanitation Schoolteacher in Shanxi Province Arrested Again by 610 Office Personnel

    Because Ms. Wang Guaiyan firmly practised Falun Gong, on July 21st, 2008, she was arrested by Chinese Communist Party personnel from the school and from the Baiji Municipal 610 Office. Now she is imprisoned in the Fenghuo Hotel. Since July 20th, 1999, Ms. Wang has been arrested and imprisoned many times. In 2001, she was arrested by local 610 Office personnel, sent to Shanxi Provincial Women's Forced Labour Camp for three years, and tortured. She has been held in Baoji Municipal Lockup and other places three times.
  • Zhang Yuexian of the Li County 610 Office Arrested Practitioners and Extorted Money from Them, Their Families, and Their Employers

    On March 26th, 2008, Zhang Yuexian and over 50 policemen arrested six practitioners who were studying a Falun Gong book together, including three seniors in their 60s or 70s. He extorted over 20,000 yuan from their families. The police found a small bag with a pay card inside during the arrests. Zhang Yuexian threatened family members and extorted 5,000 yuan from them. He designated people to go to the home of one practitioner to try to force her to write a guarantee statement to denounce Falun Gong. Zhang Yuexian never gave a receipt when he extorted money. It is said that Zhang Yuexian once had to pay a lot of money to buy a director's position in the 610 Office and now he wants to take the money back from practitioners.
  • Wuhou District Court in Chengdu City Holds Trial of Nine Falun Gong Practitioners and Two of Their Relatives

    On September 27th, 2008, Wuhou District Court in Chengdu City convened a session against nine practitioners. The initial notice to lawyers indicated a public session. However, the court did not allow any of the practitioners' relatives to attend the hearing. The excuse was that they did not have hearing certificates, but the court did not issue hearing certificates in advance at all, and in any case did not notify the relatives. Between August and September 2007, more than 30 Chengdu practitioners were arrested from their homes and offices. Almost all of them were brutally tortured. On March 13th, 2008, Ms. Zhou Huimin was tortured to death at the Qingyang District People's Hospital, which is the hospital used by the Chengdu City Detention Centre.
  • Daughter Died Due to Persecution, Mother Sentenced to Forced Labour Again

    On August 21st, 2008, several police officers from Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province arrested fifty-eight-year-old practitioner Ms. Chen Xiuling, ransacked her home and seized money and other important items. Ms. Chen Xiuling was later sentenced to one and a half years of forced labour. She is now imprisoned at the Jiamusi City Forced Labour Camp. This is Ms. Chen's third time in a forced labour camp. In recent years, even when she is not in a forced labour camp, members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) frequently harass her. Ms. Chen has been harassed ever since the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong began. Back in 1999, Miss Chen Ying, Ms. Chen's daughter, became the first victim to die from the persecution in Jiamusi City.
  • Ms. Lu Meiya of Kaifeng City, Henan Province Sentenced to Forced Labour on Trumped Up Charges

    Ms. Lu Maiya, 65, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Kaifeng City, Henan Province. At noon on August 7th, 2008, on her way home, she was arrested and searched by police who were staked out on the first floor of her apartment building. The police confiscated some Falun Gong materials from her and detained her in Sanlibao Police Station. Ms. Lu's husband, Mr. Zhong Wenbin, went to the police station the following day and requested her release. He was informed that she had been transferred to a detention centre, and that she would be able to go home in two or three days. She was actually detained for 15 days, and then on August 21st, police transferred Ms. Lu to the Shibalihe Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zhengzhou City to serve a sentence of one year and nine months.