To the Citizens of Luannan County, China: Atrocities Are Right in front of You, Don't Disregard Them

Dear senior citizens and villagers in Luannan County:

Do you know there are many kind hearted people around you who are being illegally arrested¹ and sentenced to forced labour camps or prison because they are steadfast in their belief of "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance" and stand up for the truth? They endure cruel torture, beatings and mental abuse. To them, a day feels like a year. Please take a look back at the past six years, especially the persecution that has been suffered by Luannan area Dafa practitioners.

Dafa practitioner Ms. Liu Sujun from Luannan County, Hebei Province, is thirty-nine years old. Because her persistence in cultivating Dafa, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has not stopped persecuting her for the past six years. She has suffered through different types of torture, including being "cuffed and hung up," "Tying the Ropes," "Dead Person's Bed²," force-fed, shocked with electric batons and many other inhuman means of torture. In May 2001, the forced labour camp and Luannan County 610 Office³ forced Ms. Liu who was seven months pregnant into hospital to have an abortion. On November 25th, 2005, the Luannan County "610 Office" abducted her from her office. She has been detained and tortured in the Luannan County Detention Centre since then.

Since the start of the persecution of Falun Dafa on July 20th, 1999, Liu Sujun and many thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners began their long and self-initiated path of exposing the persecution. She has gone to Beijing to appeal, and has been detained numerous times at the Luannan County Detention Centre. In December 2000, she once again went to Beijing to appeal and was detained and tortured at the Luannan County Detention Centre. In January 2001, she was sentenced to two years at the notorious Kaiping Forced Labour Camp in Tangshan City.

Inside the forced labour camp, she began a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was barbarically force-fed. Most of the time the police tied her to a chair in a very intolerable position. Once she resisted so the police dragged her by the hair for more than 20 metres. She was badly battered and her face was covered with dark purple bruises. Another time during a night in March in Northern China, she and another practitioner were tied to a fence. The police opened the window to freeze them. Liu Sujun went into convulsions. Her legs and abdomen were swollen for a long period of time, yet no medical treatment was given to her.

In May 2001, the forced labour camp discovered that Liu Sujun was seven months pregnant. The forced labour camp and Luannan County 610 Office dragged her to a hospital to force her to have abortion. This was at the time that the communist regime boasted was their "best human rights period." In September 2001, Liu Sujun was taken to Kaiping Forced Labour Camp. She was not allowed to sleep for a couple of days and nights, collaborators⁴ took turns trying to brainwash her and used all kinds of different of methods to make her give up her practice of Falun Gong.

One night in October 2003, at around 1 a.m., officers from the Luannan County 610 Office once again arrested Liu Sujun at her house and ransacked her home. This was the second time that she was sentenced to two years in a forced labour camp. In October 2004, she escaped from the forced labour camp. The same night, the police caught her and took her back to the forced labour camp and she was brutally beaten. Policewoman Yan Hongli and a few others tried to force her to kneel down but were unsuccessful. They then shocked her with electric batons and locked her inside a closed room next to the corrections department in the forced labour camp. Thick foam boards were pasted on the walls. There was only a small window for meal deliveries. A bedpan was placed at the centre of the room, the air was filthy and a light was on 24 hours a day. One had no idea if it was day or night. There were two metal rings cemented onto the floor. All the walls inside the room from top to bottom were covered with enlarged, horrible pictures, depicting bloody, eerie scenes that were scary and intimidating.

After her term at the forced labour camp was up, Liu Sujun was locked up at the Tangshan City Textile University Brainwashing session where the persecution continued. It lasted three months. Not long after she returned home from the force labour camp, on November 25th, 2005, the Luannan County 610 Office arrested her and ransacked her house. They took her computer and many personal belongings. She was detained and tortured at the Luannan County Detention Centre.

Mr. Liu Zongyong is a forty-seven-year-old native of Jieling Village, Bencheng County, Luannan City. He went to Beijing to appeal about Falun Gong. He had been destitute and homeless for a year in order to avoid arrest. After returning home he was once again arrested and taken to the Luannan County Detention Centre and was detained there for 8 months. In November 2005, he was reported to the police when he tried to have picture of the founder of Falun Dafa developed at a photo studio. Once again he was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison. He is appealing to the court.

Ms. Zhang Lianzhi, is 50 years old, she worked for the street office of Bencheng County, taking care of the real estate in Qianxixiao district. Since July 20th, 1999, she has been arrested numerous times. After she was arrested on January 21st, 2001, they cuffed her hands and feet for 12 days like a death row criminal. The bonds weigh 18 kg, the handcuffs were linked with the ankle cuffs, and one could only stand with a bent back. Those who are tortured with this method, suffer from extreme back and leg pain. She was sentenced to Tang Shan City Kaiping Forced Labour Camp in the beginning of 2001. The policemen there beat up Falun Gong practitioners and frequently use electric batons to shock them. During her darkest day, Zhang Lainzhi experienced tremendous pressure physically and mentally; she was in extreme pain. She coughed day and night, but the only intention of the police in the labour camp was to "transform⁵" her. She was detained there for more than a year.

On April 21st, 2004, Zhang Lianzhi was again arrested and sentenced to 4 years.

She is now detained at Mancheng Prison in Baoding County, and is still suffering persecution.

Ms. Chen Liying is a 30-year-old teacher from Luannan City. Because she refused to give up her belief, she was detained at Luannan Detention Centre. Police officers have placed her in with criminals for 5-8 months. The inmates colluded with police to steal Chen's savings. In order to force her to sign a Guarantee Statement⁶, Tang Xiaoli shocked her for more than an hour with two electric batons, inserting them into her clothing to shock her bare skin. She even tied her spread eagle on a bed. (At that time she was only 25 or 26 years old). They did not untie her or let her out of bed for more than two weeks. Chen had to relieve herself in her pants and there was no one to clean or care for her. Finally, because her four limbs had swollen to such a scary state, the police untied her. Since she had been tied up so long, her four limbs were covered with dark bruises and her blood circulation was blocked. Her sudden release caused severe pain lasting a whole night. Policewoman Tang Xiaoli tortured her with "Tying the Ropes," and the ropes cut into her flesh. The black bruise mark that the rope left on her shoulder could easily be seen even after a year. Due to such a long period of inhuman torture, Chen has suffered serious physical injuries and mental trauma.

Some practitioners suffered serious illnesses before their cultivation, however after beginning the practise, not only their health improved but their moral standard also increased. When they are under persecution, they still treat every one around them with "Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance." However, under high pressure, many people, because of self-interest and personal gain, persecute these kind-hearted people.

Luannan County Political and Judicial Committee Secretary: 86-315-4122721
Luannan County Procuratorate Arrest Branch: 86-315-4122523
Luannan County Procuratorate Office: 86-315-4122162
Luannan County Court Office: 86-315-4122829
Luannan County Court Appeal Office: 86-315-4122196
Luannan County Court Police Office: 86-315-4122167
Luannan County Security Bureau Main Switch Board: 86-315-4122301, 86-315-4122259

Note

1. Illegally arrested: Contrary to what former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who initiated the persecution, and the Chinese Communist Party would like the world to believe, practising Falun Gong is NOT illegal in China. Although the Public Security Department issued an unconstitutional set of restraints on the practice at the onset of the persecution in 1999, no laws have been passed by the only legislative body in China, the People's Congress, banning Falun Gong or granting the police the authority to arrest Falun Gong practitioners for practising the exercises or distributing flyers. For a more complete discussion of the illegality of the persecution of Falun Gong, please refer to the article "The Ban on Falun Gong—A Dictator's Whim, Not the Rule of Law". (Variation: "illegally sentenced")

2. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

3. "The 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.

4. "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

5. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

6. "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/4/15/125266.html