Lies and Violence Used by Police Officials in Jiamusi City

Jiamusi City saw a shocking number of violent arrests on September 10th, 2012: 40 to 50 plainclothes officers from the Jiamusi City State Security Bureau, the Jiamusi City Police Department, the Xiangyang Police Department Branch, and the police stations under its jurisdiction including the Jianshe Police Station, the Qiaonan Police Station, the Xilin Police Station and the Changan Police Station, drove in disguised police vehicles, broke into three homes, arrested 15 people in Jiamusi City, and confiscated their belongings, all without following any legal procedures.

Near the southern entrance of Xinglinhu Park in Ms. Zhang Shuhua's home, officers arrested nine people including Ms. Zhang Shuhua, Ms. Zhang Shuying, Ms. Zhao Juan, Ms. Cui Xiuyun, Ms. Sun Ying, Ms. Liu Lijie, Ms. Xiang Xiaobo, a female Falun Gong practitioner over 60 years old, and Ms. Zhang Shuhua's son. In the home of piano teacher Ms. Ren Shuxian, which is near the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, officers arrested six people including Ms. Ren Shuxian; Ms. Wang Yingxia; Mr. Zhang Limin and his wife, Ms. Qu Yujie; and an eight-year-old girl and her mother who was accompanying her to her piano lesson. Officers also broke into Ms. Zhang Shuying's rented home and confiscated her belongings including a computer. Ms. Zhang's landlord was so stunned by this sudden banditry that he could not speak a word. His ID was also confiscated. Officers refused to compensate the landlord for his mental suffering and loss of property.

The 15 who were arrested were held the Jianshe Police Station, the Qiaonan Police Station, the Xilin Police Station, etc. No oral or written notice was given to any family member. Ten Falun Gong practitioners among those arrested were transferred to the Jiamusi City Detention Centre on September 11th. Thirty days later, at around 4 a.m. on October 11th, they were transferred in secret to the Heilongjiang Provincial Women's Drug Rehabilitation Forced Labour Camp in Harbin for a term of two years each. Again, no notice was given to their families. Ms. Zhang Shuhua and Mr. Zhang Limin and his wife, Ms. Qu Yujie, were not admitted to the camp because they had developed severe sickness symptoms as a result of persecution. Seven other practitioners—Ms. Zhang Shuying, Ms. Zhao Juan, Ms. Cui Xiuyun, Ms. Liu Lijie, Ms. Xiang Xiaobo, Ms. Ren Shuxian, and Ms. Wang Yingxia—were held in the camp.

Part I: Officers from Jiamusi City Behave Worse than Thugs

1. State Security Bureau Agents Plot Arrest after Tapping Phones and Following Practitioners for Extended Period

Secret agents from the State Security Bureau had been tapping practitioners' phone lines and mobile phones and following them for a long time before they collaborated with plainclothes officers from the Jiamusi Police Department to make the arrests.

2. Plainclothes Officers Take People to Forced Labour Camps as They Please, No Legal Procedures Followed, No Notices Given to Families, Money Extorted

Item 39 in the Chinese Constitution stipulates that citizens' property rights cannot be violated, and unlawful searching and entering are prohibited. Item 111 of t he Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that a search warrant must be presented before a search can be conducted, except in an emergency.

On September 10th, all the officers wore plainclothes and no warrants were presented. They behaved like outlaws. They even exorted funds from the practitioners' families, saying, “We will release So and so if you pay us.” Among five people released the next day, Ms. Zhang Shuhua's son was released after his family handed over 5,000 yuan¹. The woman who had taken her daughter to Ms. Ren Shuxian's home for a piano lesson was released in a critical condition after her family promised to pay 3,000 yuan. While ten practitioners were held in the Jiamusi City Detention Centre, their families went to inquire about them. Officials never told them specifically where the practitioners were held or what crimes they were accused of committing. Instead, they continued to suggest, “We release people if you hand over money for them.”

Ms. Zhang Shuhua was brought back from Harbin City to Jiamusi City due to her severe sickness symptoms. However, officers wouldn't release her. Only after 5,000 yuan was extorted from her family, was she released. Mr. Zhang Limin and his wife, Ms. Qu Yujie, were released after a large amount of money (the actual amount is unknown) was extorted from them. Before letting them go, officers threatened them that their case was not over yet.

3. Reprehensible Behaviour

A mother brought her eight-year-old daughter to Ms. Ren Shuxian's home for a piano lesson on the evening of September 10th, when plainclothes officers broke the door down, rushed in, and frightened them. A male officer asked the mother and the daughter what they were doing there. The young mother told him several times that they had come for a piano lesson. The officer told them to quickly leave. However, when the two got to the door, a female officer stopped them and took them to the Jianshe Police Station.

Ms. Wang Yingxia was dragged into the Jianshe Police Station. Ms. Qu Yujie was carried into a police station on a stretcher. Neither one had shoes on. Ms. Wang looked very pale. A bystander said, “Rush her to a hospital! She is dying!” An officer responded, “Let her lie there! Let her pretend!” After a long time, Ms. Wang came to and asked to go to a toilet. An officer said, “Let her wet her trousers!”

Almost every room in the Jianshe Police Station was used to hold people that night. Mr. Zhang Limin was handcuffed and held in a room by himself. Practitioners explained the facts about Falun Gong to the officers, who responded, “It's all your fault. We have to accompany you in the middle of the night.”

When then officers barged into Ms. Zhang Shuhua's home that day, Chen Wanyou stepped forward and identified practitioners. He shamelessly pointed at Ms. Liu Lijie, “Aren't you Liu Lijie?” Ms. Liu asked Chen, “How come you are still doing such things?” (Chen Wanyou was the political instructor at the Jiamusi City Police Department Domestic Security Division. He retired but was re-hired. He has been actively participating in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, especially extorting money from them, since 1999. He had persecuted Ms. Liu Lijie many times.)

4. Celebrating with Ill-gotten Gains

A large group of officers held a victory meeting in the Qianlima Restaurant, a luxurious restaurant in Jiamusi City, at around 4:30 p.m. on September 11th. They were celebrating that they broke into residential homes the day before and successfully arrested 15 people, including an eight-year-old child and an almost 70-year-old woman.

After secretly transferring practitioners from the Jiamusi Detention Centre to the Heilongjiang Provincial Women's Drug Rehabilitation Forced Labour Camp on the morning of October 11th, officers in Jiamusi City checked into the Xilong Hotel in Harbin, and once again went to a luxurious restaurant to drink and have fun.

5. Preventing Lawyers from Carrying out Their Duties

When their appeals were unsuccessful, the practitioners' families started hiring lawyers to resist the persecution.

After visiting Ms. Liu Lijie in the detention centre, the lawyer hired by her family went to the Jiamusi City Police Department. Officers there shirked off their responsibility. They claimed that Ms. Liu's case was handled by the police station and they had nothing to do with it. So the lawyer went to the police station where officers said that Ms. Liu was no longer held there and the lawyer should talk with somebody in the Police Department Branch. The lawyer went to the Police Department Branch, where officers said the Jiamusi City Police Department was in charge and the lawyer should go there.

The lawyer hired by Ms. Zhang Shuhua's family was not even able to meet with Ms. Zhang. When the lawyer went to the Jamusi City Police Department, he was repeatedly cross-examined and threatened.

The lawyer hired by Ms. Zhao Juan went to the Jamusi City Police Department and saw officers in both the “Cult Prevention Team” and the Legal Division were either drinking tea with one foot dangling over the other, or playing computer games. The lawyer spoke frankly to them, “Is that how you work as a civil servant?” Officers told the lawyer that Ms. Zhao Juan was not in their records and then refused to communicate with the lawyer any further.

Officers knew that they had done dirty deeds. They expressed in private that they dared to say anything to the practitioners' families, but when a lawyer came, they didn't dare to, because they were afraid to give evidence to a lawyer.

Part II: Officers in Jiamusi City Lie

That night, a group of officers stayed in the hallway and watched Ms. Ren Shuxian's home. Initially, a female officer knocked on the door and pretended to be a sanitation fee collector, which didn't seem right to those in the room. They saw a lot of people through the peephole and didn't open the door. Then the officers started breaking the door down.

Ms. Qu Yujie's relative went to the Jianshe Police Station and inquired about Ms. Qu's whereabouts. An officer told them, “She is not here. She's in the City Police Department. Go there to look for her!” The relative waited outside and did not leave. The officer said again, “She is in the City Police Department. Go there and talk with Zhang.” Then the officer locked the door and left. After making a big effort, the relative succeed in contacting an officer behind the window, but the officer did not care to talk with the family. He shouted, “Shut up! Shut up! What are you doing? Do not make noise! We are interrogating her inside and it will be over soon! We definitely will not let you see her!” It was then that the relative was sure that the officers had lied.

Officers went to Ms. Zhang Shuying's rented home on the evening of September 10th. They knocked on the door and pretended that they were Ms. Zhang's friends who had come to get something for her. In order to get the landlord to open the door for them, they pretended they were calling Ms. Zhang, telling her that the landlord did not open the door for them, and asking her to talk with the landlord. In fact, they had already taken Ms. Zhang away. The landlord was not deceived and refused to open the door. Officers then broke the door down, ransacked the home, and confiscated Ms. Zhang's computer and other items.

Falun Gong practitioners' family members went to the Jiamusi City Police Department, the Xiangyang Police Department Branch, and Jianshe Police Station many times during the incident, but officers never informed the families of the practitioners' true situations. They shifted responsibility onto each other and deceived the families.

Part III: Officers in Jimusi City Use Violence

Plainclothes officers gathered in the hallway of Ms. Ren Shuxia's apartment building on the evening of the arrest. After knocking on the door for a long time, they started pounding on the door and made a huge noise. After about ten minutes, they broke the door open, rushed inside, and dragged the victims out. Some of them did not even get a chance to put on their shoes.

About an hour later, Ms. Zhang Shuhua and Ms. Zhang Shuying went downstairs to run some errands. Plainclothes officers who had been waiting for them apprehended them. The women resisted, shouting, “Falun Gong is good!” Witnesses saw two women desperately trying to disengage themselves, but the officers dragged them into a van and drove them away.

Several practitioners in Ms. Zhang Shuhua's home were also arrested. Four plainclothes officers grabbed Ms. Liu Lijie's arms and legs and dragged her downstairs. They did not even let her put on her shoes and she only had on a short-sleeved shirt.

Ms. Zhang Shuhua's son, over 20, just graduated from university. When officers barged in, he was resting in his bedroom, wearing only a vest and shorts. Officers beat him and took him to the Xilin Police Station, where he was held in a cage overnight. Then officers transferred him to the Jianshe Police Station in order to avoid his family, who constantly went to the Xilin station inquiring about him. He was released after his family handed over 5,000 yuan.

Officers waiting in the hallway of Ms. Zhang Shuhua's apartment building also harassed other residents. They mistook Ms. Zhang Shuhua's neighbour's apartment as Ms. Zhang's and started to break in. The housewife thought that her husband was back and opened the door. Officers rushed in, twisted her arms behind her back and held her down. The woman was greatly frightened. She called her husband, who came home, found her heart medicine pills, and helped her take them. Officers wanted to just leave after confirming that they got the wrong person, but the husband cursed them, and the officers had to call an ambulance to take the housewife to a hospital. Later, the officers went to the Security Section of the No.1 Hospital Affiliated with Jiamusi City University and told the staff there not to treat the housewife. Only after the family put up a fuss was the housewife admitted to the hospital. Officers refused to communicate with the family or take any responsibility for their mistake. The family chased them again and again. In the end, the officers had to pay 3,500 yuan to settle it in private.

On the evening of September 10th, the family of Mr. Zhang Limin and his wife, Ms. Qu Yujie, were sure that the couple was being held in the police station. They were afraid that the officers might secretly take the couple to a detention centre during the night, so they decided to wait outside the station all night. The door of the station had been closed tight. It opened around 1:40 a.m. on September 11th. Many officers guarded Mr. Zhang Limin and walked out of the door. The family came up and shouted, “On what grounds did you arrest him? Don't you care about the law! On what grounds do you arrest good people!” “Don't you have children? Don't you have parents? Don't you have a conscience?” The officers yelled, “Get out! What are you doing here!” An officer, who seemed like the leader, acted very ferocious.

Mr. Zhang Limin was put in a car. Then Ms. Wang Yinxia was brought out. She already had no strength to stand. However, the officers still dragged her into the car. It was chaos. The officers pulled Ms. Qu Yujie's nephew, an undergraduate, to the side and threw him on the ground in front of the car. Grief and anger filled the young man. He shouted, “Drive on top of me if you want to take her away. I would die for her! Police are arresting good people! We still need to go to school. Who can support us if you take our elders away?” Officers started dispersing family members. Excited people pushed officers away. Ms. Qu Yujie's son also lay under the car. An officer said, “What are you doing!” Ms. Qu's son shouted, “Drive over me if you plan to take my parents away! Let my blood splash all over the police station! Let my death wake you up.”

Ms. Qu's elderly sister pushed through the officers. She lay on the ground and shouted, “Officers are arresting good people! Officers are not obeying the law! Officers are extremely bad.” Family members were all shouting. In the end, an officer was scared and suddenly yelled, “It's midnight. Don't shout. Other people are sleeping. It won't be good if other people hear us. We are not taking them away! We will not leave tonight. Let's go back to discuss it with our boss. We will report the situation to the director.” The officers then escorted the practitioners back to the police station and locked the door.

Ms. Qu Yujie's elderly, sick parents went to the entrance of the police station on the morning of September 11th, with the help of others. Ms. Wang Yingxia's father, over 80, also came with a neighbour's assistance. Gradually, more and more police vehicles came. Over ten police vehicles gathered in front of the Jianshe Police Station. About 50 officers went into the station.

A police van drove into the station around 9 a.m. Thirty minutes later, a large group of officers were mobilized. One officer shouted, “Surround the van and stand in two rows. Don't let anybody come close.” Family members shouted, “On what grounds do you arrest people?” “Get mobile phones out and take their photos!”

That head officer grew very upset when he heard that. He ordered his men to seize all the cell phones. Over ten officers came up and shouted, “We will arrest you if you resist. We won't arrest the elderly, but we will take you young people into the police station!” Ms. Qu Yujie's family shouted, “Aren't you afraid! Aren't you afraid of being exposed! Let us look at this in broad daylight!” The head officer came over and said, “Don't you dare try to scare me! Don't you dare take photos!” Ms. Qu Yujie's family said, “Aren't there laws and regulations to follow?” The head officer yelled, “Stop talking nonsense!” Officers beside him just laughed.

Immediately, people were taken out of the station. The first was the mother of the eight-year-old girl. Her husband carried her into the van. The next was Mr. Zhang Limin. He was wearing handcuffs and had bare feet. Two officers escorted him. Ms. Wang Yingxia followed him. Ms. Wang squatted on ground in bare feet. Two officers dragged her to the van and kicked her at the door to get her in. Then Ms. Qu Yujie came. Her face was pale and bruised. Two officers dragged her into the van. Her family members could not hold back their anger. They shouted loudly, “On what grounds do you arrest good people? Falun Gong practitioners are all good people!”

Ms. Qu Yujie's nephew held onto the door of the van and would not let go. However, the officers ignored him and did not slow down. The van pulled him along for two or three meters, then made a turn at a corner, throwing him to the ground. His right side was cut and injured. His right middle finger was also cut. Officers pushed or dragged away family members, with no concern for the elderly. Ms. Wang Yingxia's father, over 80, lay on the ground and cried, “You are taking my daughter away. There is nobody left to take care of me! I can no longer live.” Officers ignored him.

Practitioners held overnight in the Qiaonan Police Station were taken to the Jiamusi Orthopedic Hospital, i.e., The No. 5 Clinical Hospital Affiliated with Jiamusi University, on a bus around 10:30 a.m. on September 11th. At the destination, many officers dragged them off the bus. Practitioners kept struggling and shouting. In the end, two officers held each practitioner and forced them into the hospital. Many police vehicles were deployed around the area.

Part IV: Beyond Lies and Violence

1. Officers from Jiamusi City Ignore the Law

Practitioners' families went to the Jianshe Police Station, the Xiangyang Police Department Branch, and the Jiamusi City Police Department, where they were lied to and brushed off. When they went to the detention centre, they were not allowed to see their practitioner family members. The families went there many times and repeatedly inquired. Only one officer said that the practitioners were arrested on a charge of attending an unlawful meeting.

Some of the families got help from their friends and consulted lawyers. Only then did they realize that there was no such law. Officers from the Jiamusi City were arresting practitioners on fabricated charges. The families became more clear: “Our family members are lawful Chinese citizens. Visiting friends was not wrong and it did not violate any law. The Falun Gong that they practise is great that provides many benefits with no harm to the county and people. What crime did they commit?”

Later the lawyer went to the Jiamusi Police Station and pointed out that it was against the law to arrest people on a charge of “unlawful meeting.” The lawyer said that practitioners were good people that did not commit crimes. The officers could not deny the facts and the law. They had to give the forced labour decision document to the lawyer. For so many years in the past, officers never presented any legal paperwork when they sent practitioners to forced labour camps. The lawyer told the families that the officers had modified “unlawful meeting” to “unlawful assembly” on the forced labor decision document. The lawyer told the families that there was an “unlawful assembly” law, but there were two basic requirements: One, a lot people must be present in a public place, such as a town square. Two, the people must be appealing for something. Therefore, charging practitioners visiting at their friend's house as guests on September 10th with “unlawful assembly” was inaccurate and unreasonable. The families suddenly understood what was going on after hearing the lawyer's explanation.

2. Ms. Zhao Juan Turned into Ms. Chen Xiuling

Two days after the arrests, a witness saw Chen Wanyou and an officer from the “Cult Prevention Team” near the Xinshiji Computer Store in Jiamusi City. The witness heard Chen was telling the officer, “Hurry up and take care of Chen Xiuling's case.”

It was known later that Chen Wanquan did not recognize Ms. Zhao Juan. In order to process the case, he labeled Ms. Zhao Juan as Ms. Chen Xiuling. In fact, Ms. Zhao Juan is in her 40s and Ms. Chen Xiuling is in her 60s. Ms. Zhao Juan was labeled as Ms. Chen Xiuling even after she was taken to the Heilongjiang Provincial Women's Drug Rehabilitation Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Zhao's family's and her lawyer's requests to meet with Ms. Zhao were all denied by officers in Jiamusi City and guards in the forced labour camp, because they claimed that Ms. Zhao was not being held there.

In the past century, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has killed several hundred million people around the world. In its years of persecuting Falun Gong, the Communist Party has killed several million practitioners. (Because the Communist Party did its best to conceal the information, only 3617 death cases with confirmed names are reported on Minghui.org.) The CCP is leading the Chinese people down a hopeless path.

Note

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