Police in Chongqing City Hold Four-Year-Old Girl Hostage and Brutally Persecute Her Parents and Her Grandmother (Photo)

Four-year-old Zhang Yuanyuan has been held hostage by police officers in Chongqing for six months because her parents, Mr. Zhang Hongxu and Ms. Wu Yongmei, both practise Falun Gong.

Since the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999, the authorities have detained the girl's parents repeatedly and sent them to forced labour camps. To avoid further persecution, they were forced to leave home. Their child was left in the care of her grandmother. The authorities then mistreated the girl's grandma, who suffered dementia from the stress, leaving her unable to care for her grandchild.

Four-year-old Zhang Yuanyuan has been held hostage by police officers in Chongqing for six months. She is still in police custody.

Recently Yuanyuan's aunt telephoned Zhang Liang, the main person directly responsible for the persecution against the family, to demand the return of her niece. "You can get her back, but you have to go through our procedures," answered Zhang Liang. It is not known what the procedures are.

Taken Hostage for Half a Year While Her Parents Were Forced to Leave Home

On January 1, 2004, four police officers from Chongqing rushed into a local nursery class and abducted the four-year-old girl, Zhang Yuanyuan. A week before, at noon on December 23, 2003, Zhang Liang, the head of the Brigade, and four other officers broke into the girl's home to abduct her mother. Ms. Wu Yongmei was brutally tortured so severely that she lost consciousness and was near death on several occasions. She held a hunger strike for a total of fifty-four days to protest against the persecution. Ms. Wu used to weigh 120 lbs., but under the persecution she became skeletal and weighed only over 60 lbs. Worried that she might die while in their custody, the officers ordered an inmate to carry her home on his back. While still in an extremely weak and precarious health condition, Ms. Wu was forced to leave home to avoid further persecutions.

When Yuanyuan was only seven months old, Zhang Liang from the National Security Brigade took her father, Mr. Zhang Hongxu, to the Xishanping Forced Labour Camp and imprisoned him for two years. In the labour camp, prison officers beat him up brutally, broke the bridge of his nose, knocked out his teeth, and injured several ribs.

In the beginning of 2002 when Yuanyuan finally saw her father after a very long time, Officer Zhang Liang and officials from the local "610 Office" came to harass him and to abduct him once again. In October of 2003, Yuanyuan's father, Zhang Hongxu, was forced to leave home, as well.

Beijing Police Beat the Grandmother on the Head, Detain and Mistreat Her

Yuanyuan's maternal grandmother, Ms. Fu Ruhuan, is 58 years old, and now lives in Yuanyuan's home in Chongqing.

Before Ms. Fu began to practise Falun Gong, she suffered from many illnesses, including serious bronchitis, late-stage tuberculosis, decade-long ear diseases, and wrist fractures that didn't heal. She visited many major hospitals and medical specialists without relief. She was forced to take more than 200 yuan worth of medicines every month. After her savings had been exhausted, Ms. Fu still suffered from pain and was unable to walk. A doctor once told her family members, "There is no hope for her. Just feed her well." Fortunately, Fu Ruhuan learned Falun Dafa in June of 1997. Six months later, her illnesses disappeared one by one and in fact, she could even carry 80-pounds on her shoulders. Stunned to see this change, her friends and neighbours asked her, "What kind of miracle pills did you take?" "It's Falun Gong that saved my life," Ms. Fu answered.

On July 20, 1999, the former president Jiang Zemin launched the suppression of Falun Gong and orchestrated the large-scale persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. To appeal for Falun Gong, Ms. Fu Ruhuan went to Beijing. She left home on December 22, 1999 and arrived at Tiananmen Square on the 24th. There were numerous plainclothes officers on the square looking to capture Falun Gong practitioners. One of them asked her, "Do you know if Falun Gong is good or not?"

Hardly had Ms. Fu Ruhuan replied, "Good," then the officers on the square swarmed towards her and beat her up. One of them viciously punched her head. He even took a rest and then continued the beating. After the police officers had beaten her almost unconscious, they dragged Ms. Fu to the police car and took her to the Tiananmen Police Station for detention. Without giving her even a drop of water, she was transferred to the Chongqing Office in Beijing, who escorted her home on December 25.

On December 26, 1999, police took Ms. Fu Ruhuan from Chongqing to the Police Department of Tongnan County. While swearing at Ms. Fu, Zhang instructed a female officer to search her body and steal 100 yuan, without giving any receipt. In the evening, they detained her. Later, Zheng extorted 1,000 yuan from Ms. Fu's husband in the name of transportation expenses. After imprisoning her in the detention centre for one month, they transferred her to a rehabilitation centre and imprisoned her for another four months. They finally released Ms. Fu after extorting an additional 1,500 yuan from Ms. Fu's husband.

As a result of the head injury from the police beatings in Beijing and the duration of physical and mental persecution in the detention centre, Ms. Fu Ruhuan suffered partial memory loss after arriving home. Furthermore, police frequently came to Ms. Fu's home to harass her. Unable to live at home normally, Ms. Fu Ruhuan moved away during the Chinese Spring Festival of 2003 to live with her daughter, Ms. Wu Yongmei, also a Falun Gong practitioner.

On February 21, 2003, Ms. Fu Ruhuan and her older sister Fu Ruxian went shopping together in the Jielong Bridge Bus Station Market in Tongnan County, when Zhang Liang and his accomplices abducted them once again. Officer Li Hengyi struck Fu Ruhuan's head in front of many shoppers and took the sisters to the Police Department of Tongnan. As before, Zhang instructed a female officer to body search Ms. Fu and they stole about 130 yuan. Then they escorted the sisters to the Tongnan Detention Centre.

In the detention centre, Ms. Fu Ruhuan held a hunger strike, together with other Falun Gong practitioners. On February 26, Zhang brought in a woman to force-feed them. She stuck a tube directly into Ms. Fu's nostril and started to force feed her. As soon as the food was forced in, blood spurted out of the tube. When the tube was pulled out, it was literally filled with blood. Since then, Ms. Fu has been frequently coughing and spitting blood. In fact, she has become extremely weak. She cannot live on her own and she must be assisted to walk even to toilet. Despite her terrible health condition, the authorities imprisoned her for over forty days. When she was released, Zhang finally issued a detention warrant that stated no specific detention dates; rather it stated that Ms. Fu had been in detention for a duration of only fifteen days (as opposed to the actual forty-some days).

After being released from the detention centre, Ms. Fu Ruhuan could not live without assistance. Her memory loss became more and more serious and she nearly became a dementia patient. She was afraid of strangers. Whenever she heard any loud voice, she would be so frightened that she would tremble all over. As for the public toilet near her daughter's home that she used to be so familiar with, she would forget how to get back home after going there. After her family members taught her the front and back of a garment, she would still dress herself incorrectly. In spite of Ms. Fu's mental sufferings, Zhang Liang keeps pressuring the local officials to look for her in an attempt to further persecute her.

The following people are responsible for the persecution of Zhang Yuanyuan's family:

Zhang Liang: 86-23-44582011, 86-23-44552429, 86-13709428300 (Mobile)

National Security Brigade of Tongnan County: 86-23-44582011

Cai Pin, the head of the "610 Office" of Tongnan County: 86-23-44568968, 86-23-44551812, 86-23-44566068, 86-13808337398 (Mobile)

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

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/8/29/82877.html