Chongqing City Police Chief Illegally Detains and Extorts Money from Over a Hundred Falun Gong Practitioners

Zhang Liang, head of the County Police Department in Chongqing City, Tongnan County, is one of those responsible for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners in the local area. During the past few years, Zhang has put over 142 Falun Gong practitioners into jail and 50 into labour camps. Through extorting money via illegal means such as guaranteed funds, fines, confiscations, etc., Zhang and his gang have obtained over 35,000 Yuan from Falun Gong practitioners and their families. This is just an estimated amount of money; the rest of the illegal cases are still under investigation. [Yuan is the Chinese currency. The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan].

Being an accomplice of Jiang Zemin for the past few years, Zhang leads his followers, without any legal procedures, to break into Falun Gong practitioners' households, confiscate belongings, and arrest many practitioners, including senior citizens in their 60's and 70's.

Zhang asks the family members of Falun Gong practitioners to submit bonds in exchange for the release of their families. After a period of time, the bond will be confiscated if the practitioner refuses to give up practising Falun Gong upon questioning. For those practitioners who do not have the money for the bonds, Zhang sends them to labour camps. Among the fifty practitioners sent to labour camps by Zhang, six were sent to labour camps twice.

Zhang and his staff are very used to torturing Falun Gong practitioners, including prohibiting sleep for several consecutive days. One time, after being beaten, a practitioner passed out for over 5 hours before regaining consciousness. Another time, Zhang even ordered staff to carry practitioners, who were unable to walk after being tortured, to the labour camp. However, even the labour camp would not dare to take in these practitioners. Zhang held the practitioners back in Tongnan. Not until they were close to death did Zhang finally release them.

Zhang and his accomplices continuously extort substantial amounts of money from practitioners. Zhang pries out the financial status of arrested practitioners, and threatens to send them to labour camps. In his original words: "I can send a person to hell (meaning 'sending to a labour camp') or to heaven (meaning 'not sending to a labour camp.')" By doing this, Zhang and his accomplices have illegally extorted over 350,000 Yuan from practitioners and families via bonds, fines, confiscations, etc. In a county like Tongnan that is known for its poverty, Zhang uses persecuting Falun Gong to help obtain promotions and make a fortune out of it. People's eyes are wide-open and anyone with conscience knows they will pay for their crimes sooner or later.

Currently, Zhang and the "610 Office"* officials use labour camps to torture practitioners. Many innocent, kind people have been arrested, and after being persecuted and released some can no longer work, and others become homeless to avoid further persecution. For example, Zhang Hongxu and his family are one of the families being persecuted. After being locked up in a labour camp for two years, Zhang Hongxu and his mother were forced to leave their home to avoid being sent to brainwashing centres. Currently, even Zhang Hongxu's wife, Wu Yongmei, is locked up in the Tianyuanhua Brainwashing Centre enduring brainwashing classes, and their three-year-old daughter Yuan-Yuan is forced to live with Wu's father in the suburb. However Wu's father is not used to taking care of a young child. It's heartbreaking to see little Yuan-Yuan crying while she looks for her mother each day. Wu's mother was once detained and tortured, resulting in a mental collapse.

Zhang Liang may not know that an astonishing number of police have died, mostly due to car accidents or strange diseases, during the years that Falun Gong and its practitioners have been persecuted. A recent example is the car accident of Chen Wen, the Chief of Police in neighbouring Tongliang County. Chen Wen behaved demonically while persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. He ordered staff to torture Falun Gong practitioners by striking, kicking, and slapping their ankle bones and faces with clubs. Chen put 15 practitioners from the Tongliang area into jails and labour camps without any reason. On September 16, 2000 Chen, along with his wife and brother-in-law, died instantly when their passenger car ran under the wheels of a truck.

Zhang Liang, Police Chief of Tongnan County Police Department: 86-23-44551138

Tongnan County Police Department contact information

Main line: 86-23-44551129, 86-23-44551432, 86-23-44551743, 86-23-44551330
Office: 86-23-44551138
On-duty: 86-23-44551762
Criminal Brigade: 86-23-44551124
Public Security: 86-23-44558715
Office against abduction: 86-23-44551387
Residence Office: 86-23-44551831
Fire Section: 86-23-44557119
Fire Brigade: 86-23-44556119
Armed Police Brigade: 86-23-44551909
Traffic Police Brigade: 86-23-44551236
Traffic Accidents Reports Office: 86-23-122
Drug Rehabilitation Centre: 86-23-44551109
Pre-trial Section: 86-23-44551172
Detention Centre: 86-23-44551213

"610 Office" director: Cai Ping: 86-23-44553887 (home), 86-13808337398 (mobile)
"610 Office" vice director: Chen Qihui: 86-23-44553201

* "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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/1/2/63869.html