The Persecution of Practitioner Lu Yongchang and His Family: All Four Family Members Sentenced to Long Prison Terms

Late one evening before the 2002 Mid-Autumn Festival, four police officers broke into the home of Mr. Lu Yongchang with shovels in their hands. Mr. Lu Yongchang, a Falun Gong practitioner, lived in Qingyang Township, Jiutai City. Three of his family members were able to escape undetected. Ms. Lu Guixia also managed to escape from the authorities after being detained at the police sub-station. Mr. Lu's family eventually became homeless and destitute in order to avoid direct persecution. On June 8th, 2004 they were arrested. On February 2nd, 2005, Mr. Lu, aged 69, was accused of "disruptive behaviour" and sentenced to one year in prison. Mrs. Song Xiuqin, aged 67, was sentenced to three and a half years' imprisonment. Mr. Lu Xianjie, aged 42, got five years and Ms. Lu Guixia, aged 32, was sentenced to four years in prison.

As part of the verdict (No. 320) handed down by the People's Court in Jiutai City, Jilin Province, the court record stated: "After hearing the evidence, it's found that the defendants Lu Xianjie, Lu Yongchang, Lu Guixia and Song Xiuqin used metal rods and axes to strike police officers from the Qingyang Police Sub-Station in Jiutai City, while they carried out their duties at the defendants' house at 12 a.m. on September 17th, 2002."

Without addressing each and every inconsistency in the court's statement, several obvious fabrications should be addressed: when the officers were supposed to have carried out their duties according to the law, it was well after 9 p.m., when most farmers have already gone to sleep, so how could the defendants have been ready to attack the police? The statement said, "The testimony of Zhang Dongfang, Wu Yunju, Zhang Zeguang and Zhang Wei show that on the evening of September 17th, 2002 they went to Lu Xianjie's house to check on Falun Gong practitioners according to a previous arrangement." Yet none of these policemen showed up in court, and the written testimonies of these four policemen were not consistent with each other.

Is there any personal freedom and security in China for Falun Gong practitioners? As arranged by officials from the Jiutai City Police Station, policemen stormed into the residences of local citizens in the middle of the night. The practitioners have been systematically pursued and subjected to arrests by these so-called government officials for several years as a matter of routine. Besides being illegally detained and sentenced, the practitioners have also been forced to attend a "Legal Education Programme." Upon hearing the term "Education Class," many of those who've been through the "Cultural Revolution" tremble with fear. This "Education Class" has nothing to do with legal education; it is instead intended to make attendees renounce Falun Gong by utilising force and torture.

The following is a description of what really happened at Lu Yongchang's home at 12 a.m. on September 17th, 2002.

Around 9 p.m., the whole family went to bed. The flashing lights of a police car woke Lu Guixia up. There was a loud noise as the door was pried open, then the police broke into the house, carrying shovels. Lu Guixia didn't know what was going on and jumped out a window. She was knocked to the ground by police officers that were hiding there. Several policemen beat her savagely and dragged her to a waiting police car. She was taken to the police substation in Jiutai City, where officers were posted to guard her and the other three members of the Lu family. On the way, an officer made a phone call while sitting on Lu Guxia. The officer contacted other policemen, instructing them to go and get the other three members of the Lu family. The police chained Lu Guixia to an air duct at the sub-station, and then went back to the Lu home to get the rest of the family. They had all managed to escape undetected, however, and the police failed to arrest them. The officers were very angry when they returned to the police sub-station, and they beat Lu Guixia so cruelly that she was disfigured and lost her hearing, which she still hasn't recovered. Later, Lu Guixia also managed escape under cover of night.

The Lu family became destitute and homeless fugitives and only made enough money to survive by performing hard physical labour. Their possessions were stolen, and their house fell into disrepair for lack of regular maintenance over the next few years. The roof leaked, the yard was full of weeds, and those who passed by looked away sadly. For several years, local government officials and police officers repeatedly persecuted all four members of the Lu family

Before the police came to arrest the family, they had often gone to their home to harass them. Song Xiuqin and Lu Guixia were sentenced to one year of forced labour because they went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa. Lu Yongchang's 1.2 acre field was taken from him by force and assigned to someone else for three years by the Dayuan Village Committee of Qingyang Township; the land was later sold for 4,000 yuan¹, which was embezzled by the police.

In 2004, along with the National Security Team at Jiutai City, the police arrested all four members of the Lu family from the residential area of Fenjin Township, Kuancheng District, Changchun City. They were held at the detention centre in Jiutai City. The authorities stole 3,400 yuan, a mobile phone, and a tape recorder from them.

Police substation at Qingyang Township Jiutai City: 86-431-2122310.

Note:

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 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/2005/7/10/105724.html