Beginning in March 2006, the 610 Office1 and police department of Gucheng County in Hebei Province started another round of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. Police from the detention centre and each local police station arrested practitioners, sent them to forced labour camps, and extorted money from them. According to an inside source: "The director of the police department assigned quotas to each subordinate section and police station. We dared not touch the real criminals, so we decided on Falun Gong practitioners to make up the numbers. It was easy to do and profitable, since we could hold them until they forked over the money. When the police department ran over budget, they would arrest 30-40 Falun Gong practitioners and get 200-300 thousand yuan2. Then the director and section heads would have some money to squander for a while."
From the evening of March 1st, 2006, to the next morning, the police arrested 13 practitioners; in mid April, they arrested another four; from the morning of May 11th to the afternoon of May 12th, they took away at least seven practitioners. Several other attempts were not successful because the police could not give a valid reason or show any legal documents when the practitioners demanded them.
Several police dragged Qinghan Town practitioner Ms. Li Binrong from home and tore her pants in the process. Ms. Li was kept unlawfully in the detention centre for more than a month and fined an unknown amount of money.
Ms. Wang Xiuzhi is in her 50s and lives in the county. On the morning of March 2nd, she was taken away from home by about seven officers. They put her in the detention centre for more than 20 days. In just a few days, a once healthy woman was tortured until she suffered a heart attack. In addition, her body was so swollen and so painful that she could hardly walk. Even after her release for medical treatment, the police still constantly went to her home to harass her. As a result, the whole family lived in fear and pain.
Practitioners Ms. Zhou Guilan and Liu Yuanzhen asked for 500 yuan back that had been seized by the Political and Security Section, but officer Shao Li simply ignored their requests. Moreover, a few days later, the Zhengkou Town Police Station told them to come to the police department to get the money, but instead, after the two ladies got in the police car, they were taken to the detention centre. The police dragged them inside. Liu Yuanzhen protested, "What you are doing is illegal. You trapped me here. I have a young child unattended at home. If anything happens to my child, you will be fully responsible for it. You must release me today." However, Shao Li and others pretended they didn't hear anything and just left them there.
Liu Yuanzhen was released. But Ms. Zhou was kept there for over two months, during which time, she went into shock several times. However, Shao Li and the other officers didn't pay attention to it at all and still sent Ms. Zhou to the Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp for two years. While undergoing a physical exam there, Ms. Zhou had a heart attack and fainted. According to law, this kind of critically ill patient cannot be sent to serve forced labour, yet Shao Li and the others insisted. Ms. Zhou's family was very upset because they have already paid a great deal of money without getting her back.
Wang Chunlan was arrested from home by police department officer Cui Jian and others. After being persecuted for two months in the detention centre, she was sentenced to one year of forced labour in the Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp.
Ms. Zhang Guizhi is from Xinzhuang Township. Because she kept practising Falun Gong, she was subjected to persecution in the detention centre many times. In 2002, she was sent to prison for three years and was released on the 2005 Chinese New Year. Unable to stand the pressure of one arrest after another, Ms. Zhang's husband died in 2003. Due to financial difficulties, Ms. Zhang has lived on irregular work. On March 2nd, 2006, while she was working, a group of police officers arrested her and took her to the detention centre. Two months later they sent her to Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp, again for an unknown term.
Ms. Dong Yanwen is from Gucheng Town. She has been threatened by police many times for practising Falun Gong. Last year her mother died from illness related to the stress. On March 2nd, 2006, Ms. Dong was taken to the detention centre by police from the Gucheng Town Police Station. She has a four-year-old son at home and was not set free until her husband demanded her release from the police department many times and paid the extortion fee.
Liu Zhiwen from Xiazhuang Township was arrested many times for practising Falun Gong. In 2000, he was "illegally sentenced3" to two years in prison. On March 2nd, 2006, Mr. Liu was arrested by local police. After two months in the detention centre, he was sentenced to three years in prison. When Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp refused to take him because an exam disclosed an illness, he was sent back to the detention centre. After extorting several thousand yuan from him, authorities released him.
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Lanfen is close to 60 years old and owns a hotel. On the evening of March 1st, 2006, Cui Jian and other police officers told her and her husband to go to the Zhengkou Police Station because they had to "investigate their hotel." Her husband was released that day, but Ms. Li was sent to a detention centre to do forced labour. She suffered tremendously in both mind and body and even had a heart attack. In late May she was sent to serve 18 months in Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp. Due to her illness, the labour camp would not accept her, so the Gucheng Detention Centre kept her. Her family's only option was to pay 5000 yuan to get her back.
On May 11th, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Shen Yingqin was arrested at home. Police officers Shao Li and Zhai Hongjun took her to the detention centre. They attempted to send her to the Hengshui Brainwashing Centre without success, so they are keeping her in the detention centre indefinitely.
On the afternoon of May 12th, more than 20 police officers, including Cui Jian and Sun Guoheng, suddenly broke into practitioner Ms. Ye Shufang's place to search it. They also took advantage of the situation to get Ms. Ye's daughter-in-law, practitioner Wei Xiubian, to come home from work and arrested her as well. They put her in the detention centre for one month and the National Security Division extorted over 1000 yuan from her.
In the afternoon on May 12th, police arrested practitioner Ms. Fang Xinzhi and injured her arm by twisting it. Her left hand became so painful that she could not hold anything. They kept her in the detention centre for one month and extorted over 1000 yuan from her. Her daughter had to live at home alone, in constant worry. Last year, Ms. Fang's husband was sent to three years in Handan Forced Labour Camp because he practised Falun Gong.
Practitioners who were arrested and detained in May also include: Ning Liying from Juntun Township and Yang Fuyun from Caokou Village of Jianguo Town, as well as Wang Changgen and Zhao Zanhuan from Sanlang Township.
The above represents only a small portion of the cases of persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Gucheng police. More evildoers and their crimes will be exposed in the future.
Note
1. "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.
2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
3. Illegally sentenced: 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 arrested")
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/7/30/134330.html
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