Mr. Liu Wuqiang, Former Deputy Head of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region's Legal Office, Cruelly Harassed

Mr. Liu Wuqiang was Deputy Head of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region's Legal Office. After regaining his health by practising Falun Gong, Mr. Liu has been repeatedly persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. The torture and hardship have taken a severe toll on his health, but Jiang Zemin's henchmen still continue to harass Mr. Liu. More details of his story follow.

Mr. Liu Wuqiang is 45 years old. After he started to practise Falun Gong in 1998, the kidney disease that had troubled him for many years disappeared without a trace. He became diligent at work and kind to others. In fact, he was honored with the Outstanding Government Employee Award of the Year in 1998. As a result, many of his colleagues became interested in Falun Gong and started reading Falun Gong's books. Jiang Zemin's regime later intensified the persecution against him for his positive influence on his colleagues.

After Jiang Zemin started publicly persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, the Discipline Committee of Xinjiang Autonomous Region ransacked Mr. Liu Wuqiang's home. He was fired from his government job in March 2000 for practising Falun Gong. In December 2000, Mr. Liu went to Beijing to peacefully appeal for Falun Gong. Afterwards, the police put a bounty on his head, giving Mr. Liu no choice but to leave his home and go into hiding. In January 2001, the police ransacked his home for the second time and abducted his wife Ms. Chen Qinglan, who also practises Falun Gong. After beating Mrs. Liu savagely, the police sentenced her to two-and-a-half years in a forced labour camp.

Mr. and Mrs. Liu have a son who attends elementary school. Because of Jiang Zemin's persecution against Falun Gong, the boy was left in the care of his elderly grandmother. When the Legal Office at Mr. Liu Wuqiang's former work place was recognized as "Outstanding Civil Organization," Jiang's regime withdrew the award plaque from the Legal Office because Mr. Liu Wuqiang practises Falun Gong. The Chinese Communist government even suspended the bonuses of all the employees at Mr. Liu's former place of employment. Mr. Liu's boss became a victim of "guilt by association" with Mr. Liu, and the Legal Office 'itself was subject to disciplinary action. The Public and State Security Bureau's' massive hunt for Mr. Liu subjected him to a difficult life of tremendous pressure and terror. The hard life took a severe toll on his health and emotions. His kidney disease recurred, and he had kidney failure. In December 2001, Mr. Liu's family sent him to Weifang City People's Hospital in Weifang City, Shandong Province, for emergency resuscitation. While he was still in the Intensive Care Unit, police from the Xinjiang Autonomous Region and Weifang City State Security Bureaus put the hospital under surveillance around the clock. The police even interrogated Mr. Liu in the ICU, despite his health condition. They were going to take him away when the chief doctor and Mr. Liu's family begged them to leave Mr. Liu alone and let him finish his medical treatment. The police declared, "We couldn't care less that Falun Gong practitioners need medical attention [due to the police's torture and mutilation.] We do care about those Falun Gong practitioners running freely on the streets."

Mr. Liu Wuqiang lived in a government-assigned apartment. After he was released from the hospital, the police had his telephone disconnected and ordered the management office to charge him regular rates, which are higher than the rates for government employees, for his gas, heat, water, and other utilities. The police also had his pension and medical insurance cut off. Deprived of his income, medical insurance, and basic utilities, Mr. Liu could not even afford a minimal existence. He had no choice but to go live with a relative in Shandong Province and to borrow money to pay for his medical and living expenses.

But the Chinese Communist government and the police did not stop their persecution there. They kept making long-distance calls to Mr. Liu at his relative's home to threaten and harass him. They even teamed up with the public and state security bureaus in Qingzhou, Shandong Province. They publicly harassed his relative at work and made his relative's neighbours watch Mr. Liu for long periods of time. In February 2002 the Chinese Communist government and the local 610 Office tried to create a new lie about Falun Gong. They paid Mr. Liu a visit in the name of analyzing his medical expenses, but during the visit they tried to talk Mr. Liu into renouncing Falun Gong and saying that he had kidney failure because he practises Falun Gong. He did not give in to their demand. In May 2003, five months after Mr. Liu Wuqiang had a kidney transplant operation, Mr. Lv Xianqi, Chairman of the Chinese Communist government's office in Shandong Province, paid Mr. Liu another visit. Lv told Mr. Liu, "The Secretary of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region's Chinese Communist Party Committee, Mr. Wang Lequan, is very angry. He ordered an investigation into how you paid for your medical bills. Did Falun Gong supply you with money? Do you still attend Falun Gong's activities?" When Liu Wuqiang explained to him that it's not what Wang Lequan had imagined at all, Lv promised to report what Liu Wuqiang had said and try to help him resolve his financial difficulties. However, he made a call to Mr. Liu Wuqiang after he returned to his office and asked him to renounce Falun Gong because the Secretary of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region's Communist Party Committee demanded it. Mr. Liu refused to give in to his demands as well.

In July 2004, Mr. Liu Wuqiang wrote an appeal letter titled, "Please Intervene in the Genocide Against Humanity in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region" and sent it by registered mail to Mr. Wang Lequan of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region's Chinese Communist Party Committee, asking for his help to end the crimes against humanity and Falun Gong practitioners and against the Chinese Constitution. Mr. Liu has not received any reply from Wang Lequan. Mr. Liu is still living in debt. The persecution committed against Mr. Liu Wuqiang clearly illustrates Jiang Zemin's policy against millions of Falun Gong practitioners to "defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, [and] destroy them physically."

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/12/27/92269.html