Persecution Methods Used by Officers in Weifang City Domestic Security Division in Shandong Province

The Domestic Security Division and the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) are the two main executive organisations in China which drive the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Before its title was changed, the “Domestic Security Division” was called the “Political Security Section.” Its function is different from public security agencies in western countries. Overseas, public security protects the country and its people. The “Domestic Security Division” in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP's) autocratic regime monitors and suppresses people, particularly political dissidents and civil rights activists.

After the persecution of Falun Gong began, the Domestic Security Division became a major tool in the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. In order to confuse people, the CCP changed the name from “Political Security” to “Domestic Security” in 2000-2001.

The persecution methods used by officers in Weifang City Domestic Security Division in Shandong Province epitomise the persecution as a whole. In addition to cruel torture and live organ harvesting, the CCP also attacks practitioners financially, monitor them around the clock, and subject them to torture during interrogation.

Persecution Based on Financial Means

The CCP uses money as an incentive to sustain the persecution. Many police officers were drawn by the money and have blindly followed the CCP in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

The Domestic Security Division of Weifang City and the local 610 Office treat Falun Gong practitioners as their “money bags” and whenever they need money, they make a list of practitioners and decide from which ones they can get the most money.

For Falun Gong practitioners who are running a business, their wealth definitely makes them a target to be robbed by police.

The Domestic Security Division and the 610 Office put pressure on the workplaces of those practitioners who have jobs to extort money for their release.

Those who are not working but their family members cooperate with the CCP, are listed as targets for extortion.

After the police arrest practitioners, they go to their family members and say openly, “We've come here for money.”

When challenged about their conduct, they would take the family members to a private place and tell them how much money they want.

The Domestic Security Division demands money. They greedily set a high asking price, and tell the family: “You must pay 100,000 or 50,000 yuan¹ before we release your loved one.” Under such pressure, some practitioners' family members have been reduced to poverty and ruined, and are in serious debt to pay this extortion. Even after they have paid the extortion money, their loved ones may not be released. Some were released for a short time, but then arrested again later.

Some practitioners' families refused to cooperate and said they had no money. The police would reduce the amount of extortion, saying 30,000 or 20,000 would do. When they still couldn't get anywhere, they would further reduce the extortion amount and say 10,000 or 2,000 is fine.. … They try to get as much as they can.

Properties taken away by police include cash, bank books, property ownership certificates, vehicles and jewellery.

Constantly Monitoring Falun Gong Practitioners

The police continually monitor Falun Gong practitioners' home phone and mobile phone calls. Many practitioners changed their mobile phones and kept the numbers secret. Police in the Domestic Security Division then monitor their relatives' phone calls to track down their new mobile phone numbers.

Some practitioners were followed by police using the mobile phone's location tracking device. Police even installed location tracking devices on practitioners' bikes so that they could monitor them.

Police routinely monitor motels and rental properties. They also watch businesses run by practitioners. They stay there for weeks or months in order to monitor and videotape practitioners' movements. Once the practitioner is arrested, the business is closed down.

The primary goal of the Domestic Security Division is to arrest as many practitioners as they can. They try to find out who is contacting who and where they meet, and who is passing materials to whom based on the information they get from monitoring practitioners. When they decide on a target, they do not immediately arrest that practitioner. Instead they would wait for 7 or 12 months until they have tracked down all the other practitioners that this practitioner has been in contact with.

When they think the time is right, they would organise a large-scale arrest. For example, prior to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, more than 100 practitioners were arrested in one day. Clearly this took long-term planning and coordination.

Monitoring Practitioners Via the Patrol System

The police department in Weifang City allocates huge resources to monitor Falun Gong practitioners. In 2012, they installed a monitoring system in all of their 320 patrol vehicles, established a special patrol division to follow practitioners who clarify the truth to people, and then they track them down.

Each of their vehicles (some are police cars and some look like ordinary cars) are equipped with a net-book, camera, mobile phone, GPS location system, toolbox, and it's connected to police departments. Plainclothes police can view this information at any time in their car.

As they drive, they can see the exact movements of the practitioner that they are following via a mobile phone location system: the time their target gets to a certain place, the length of time he stays there, and where he goes afterwards. When they track down practitioners, they would videotape them when they meet each other.

Traffic on the main roads is usually very busy, with cars quickly coming and going. In order to avoid accidents, cars are not allowed to stop on these roads. However, one can often see black patrol cars parked in no-stopping zones for extended periods of time.

Each time the Domestic Security Division police set out to arrest practitioners, the black cars also turn up and help coordinate the arrest. They park near bus terminals in the “no parking zones” to monitor practitioners who may be traveling by bus.

Surveillance and Extended Watch

Once the Domestic Security Division confirms their target, they would set up surveillance near the practitioner's residence and along the route he uses in order to arrest him.

They wear plainclothes and pretend to use their mobile phones for over half an hour or even hours. They keep looking in different directions and closely stare at everyone who passes by.

Some plainclothes police hide at a practitioner's workplace or outside to monitor him, or keep watch outside a practitioner's house from midnight to 4:00 a.m.

When they arrest a practitioner, they would usually block the entrance to the building or block the road to arrest him.

In 2004, plainclothes police on motorbikes hid near power line poles in an attempt to arrest practitioners putting up posters exposing the persecution of Falun Gong.

Between 9 and 10 pm.. one evening in 2012, plainclothes officers from the Domestic Security Division and the police department hid and waited behind bushes along the roadsides. Whenever they saw someone walking by, they would jump out and hurriedly walk around the person to make sure he was not going to hang Falun Gong banners in the trees. Then they would go behind the bushes and wait there until someone else passed by.

Monitoring Family Members of Practitioners Forced to Leave Home

The Domestic Security Division of Weifang City and the 610 Office specifically monitor family members of practitioners who were forced to leave home.

For example, when a child finishes school, they would follow him to find the practitioner's location in order to make the arrest. They also hide and wait at the burial site of a practitioner's parent in order to arrest the practitioner coming to attend the funeral.

Some police hide and wait near a practitioner's house and arrest him when he comes home to see their spouse.

Hiring Unemployed People to Monitor Practitioners

The Domestic Security Division in Weifang and various local police stations often organise large campaigns to monitor Falun Gong practitioners. For example, around 2011, they sent out a large number of plainclothes police and unemployed people to keep watch on Falun Gong practitioners. After midnight, there was a plainclothes officer at every bus stop, who questioned every passerby: “Did you distribute Falun Gong flyers here? Is it true that you often hand out Falun Gong materials here?”

In 2012 and 2013, there were always plainclothes officers from the Domestic Security Division and the police department hiding on busy streets. They also hired older men to watch at certain locations from morning until 10:30 p.m. every day. When they saw someone passing by, they would watch them closely and follow them wherever they went.

They would also assign people to keep watch during the day. When they saw people handing out advertising flyers they would shout: “What are you handing out?”

Prior to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, they sent out a large number of plainclothes officers to hide at night and to look for Falun Gong practitioners. When they saw people who they thought looked like Falun Gong practitioners talking to people about the truth behind the persecution of Falun Gong, they would rush up and arrest them.

Police Use Deceitful Tricks

In order to trap practitioners, Domestic Security Division officers would sometimes throw Falun Gong materials on the ground and hide in the dark. Whenever they saw someone going near the materials, they would follow them.

When they see someone picking up the materials, the hidden police car and plainclothes police would dart out and arrest the person.

They also tried to trick practitioners into going to certain places using all kinds of excuses in order to arrest them.

Huang Weilian, former head of the Weifang Police Department, used to hide and keep watch on the street. He pretended to be an ordinary person and chatted with practitioners. Once he won their trust, he would try to find out where they lived and worked, and information about their family. He also secretly videotaped his chats with practitioners, and later assigned his subordinates to monitor their homes and learn about their daily routines. When these practitioners went out they would be arrested.

They also sent plainclothes officers to practitioners' homes disguised as people reading gas or water meters. Sometimes they would make people who knew the practitioner trick them into opening the door so that they could arrest them.

Trapping People Into a Confession

When they wished to frame and sentence a practitioner, police from the Domestic Security Division would go to another practitioner's house with a photo of the targeted practitioner. They would demand that the other practitioner and his family identify the practitioner, luring them into shifting responsibility to this practitioner. If they admitted that they've seen this practitioner before, they become a “witness.”

They use the information obtained from monitoring and videos taken secretly as “material evidence” to trick practitioners into believing that the police already knew everything, so that they would confess and tell the police about themselves and others.

Trickery is often used with brainwashing at the same time to achieve two goals: to shake practitioners' will and belief; and to instil fallacies into practitioners' minds: Others have betrayed me, so there is nothing wrong if I tell the police about them.

Police from the Domestic Security Division use information they obtained from their monitoring activities and reveal information that is known only to other practitioners. They would do this so that practitioners would assume that the police already knew everything, and at the same time it may make practitioners feel suspicious of others, thinking that they were arrested because others betrayed them. Once they become angry or develop a feeling of retaliation, they are used to harm other practitioners which is the police's intention.

For example, the police would say to practitioner A, “As long as you tell us who you know, we'll let you go.” Then they turn to practitioner B and say, “Practitioner A has already told us all about you.” They also pretend to defend practitioner B by saying, “Practitioner A thought he could go free if he tells us about you. But he got an even heavier sentence as a result.” They try to make practitioner B feel angry: Now that he has betrayed me, I'll reveal everything about him.”

Coercing People to Confess

There is an interrogation room in the basement of the Weifang Police Department, where the Domestic Security Division forces people to confess by torture, including sleep deprivation and beatings.

Parties Responsible for Persecuting Practitioners:

Heads of the Domestic Security Division in Weifang City:
Wang Ruoshui, division head: +86-18606361899
Zhou Guosheng, deputy head of Weifang Police Department: +86-13805366836
Li Shuping, party head of Weifang Police Department: +86-536-8783006, +86-13605360636

Note

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