Persecution Suffered by Three Practitioners in Anxian Village, Laiwu City, Shandong Province

Falun Gong practitioners in Laiwu have suffered many of the same types of persecution, such as arrest, detention, brainwashing, forced labour, imprisonment, inhumane torture. Their homes have been ransacked and their family members blackmailed. The following are the stories of three Falun Gong practitioners from Anxian Village in Laiwu City.

On April 24th, 2000, Zhang Fuxiang and Ren Xucui from Anxian Village went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. The Beijing police arrested them when they arrived. Their work colleagues later escorted them back home. On the morning of April 27th, 2000, Police officer Liu Qing, from the Public Security Office in the Laiwu area, went to their village with several of his staff. They took them to the village offices. The first thing Liu Qing did was to ask for money.

Each of the two practitioners was told to hand over 500 Yuan¹ before 12 p.m. Ren Xucui's family managed to give him 500 Yuan, but Zhang Fuxiang's family failed to do so. Liu Qing told the other policemen to tie her to the electricity pole. Then Duan Dengju, Director of Politics and Security in Anxian Village, used the village broadcasting system to shout and denounce Falun Gong and its practitioners. Most of the villagers were attracted to the loud broadcast. They came out to see what was happening. Some of the kindhearted villagers offered to pay for Zhang Fuxiang's release. However, when Zhang's family handed over the borrowed money to Liu Qing, he said, "It's too late now! You must pay 1000 Yuan instead!" Zhang's family had to borrow another 500 Yuan and give it to the police. Only then did the police release Zhang from the pole she had been tied to for several hours.

On August 7th, 2000, Falun Gong practitioners Duan Mingxin and Ren Xucui were at Zhang Fuxiang's home watching the video lectures by the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi. Someone who didn't know the truth about Falun Gong reported them to the Party Secretary Xian Baoyou. Xian immediately took Duan Dengju with him to Zhang's home. Together they broke in and started cursing loudly. They took the video player and the tapes. The next day Duan Mingxin, Ren Xucui and Zhang Fuxiang tried to get the video player and tapes back. Xian Baoyou said, "I can only return them on three conditions: one, you can't go to Beijing to petition; two, you can't meet with one another; three, you can't practise Falun Gong." The three practitioners rejected the conditions. On the evening of August 15th, 2000, they went to Duan Dengju's home to claim the player again. Duan had the player at his home and refused to give it back to them. He rang up Xian Baoyou claiming that the three Falun Gong practitioners were making trouble in his home. Xian Baoyou said, " Take them to the village office."

Xian Baoyou summoned the head of the town, Mr. Wang, to the office when they arrived. He also summoned Fan Dianhai, Fan Liyu, Fan Shixin, Zhang Yong and a few others to the office. After all of them had arrived, Xian Baoyou started loudly cursing the three Falun Gong practitioners and took a big knife from his pocket. He pointed the knife at their chests and shouted, "I'll stab you one by one!"

Then he started yelling, beating and kicking them. He saw a thick wooden stick in the room. He grabbed the stick and swung it at Duan Mingxin saying, "Let me smash you to death!" Someone tried to seize the stick and took it out of his hands. He then noticed a saw in the room and picked it up. He put the saw to Duan Mingxin's neck and yelled, " I'll saw off your head!" Someone seized the saw as well. When he was too tired to beat them, Xian Baoyou ordered his followers to carry on the beatings. He said, "Beat as hard as you can! We have orders from above anyway! Beating them to death counts as nothing. Wait and see, I'll get several packages of detonators and blast all their homes!"

By now someone had gone to Zhang Fuxiang's home and told her family what was happening. Zhang's husband went to the office and tried to reason with them. However, he was kicked to the ground by Xian Baoyou. He said, "Damn you! Get out of here!"

The three Falun Gong practitioners were thus beaten for a whole night by the members of the Communist Party. Xian Baoyou then ordered the electricity and water to their homes be cutoff. The following day, Xian summoned the police and sent the three practitioners to the detention house. The were detained for 15 days. The village broadcasting system often broadcast anti-Falun Gong propaganda and newspapers slandering Falun Gong were posted everywhere. Duan Dengju often announced on the broadcasting system that, "Falun Gong practitioners' families are anti-revolutionary families; their children are not allowed to go to universities or join the army." If any Falun Gong practitioners tried to talk to each other, the village broadcast would denounce them. This put great pressure on them.

On December 24th, 2000, the three practitioners went to Beijing again to appeal for Falun Gong. They were again arrested upon arriving. Zhang Fuxiang and Ren Xucui were escorted back to Laiwu and detained for 15 days. Duan Mingxin was taken to a police station in Beijing. The police took off all his clothes except the underwear and chained him to a tree. They poured a huge barrel of cold water on his body and let him freeze for a whole night. After he was sent back to Laiwu, the police station in Nanye and the sub-branch of the public security bureau in the city area detained him in a detention house in Laiwu. The village head asked Duan Dengyu, Fan Dianhai and two or three others to go Duan Mingxin's home to ask for money. Fan Dianhai lied to Duan Mingxin's family by saying, "The party secretary said if you hand over 1000 Yuan, Duan Mingxin won't be sent to the detention house." The family believed him and tried very hard to borrow 1000 Yuan from different sources. After giving the money to them, they waited for Duan Mingxin's return, only to find that Duan had been sent to the detention house already.

Duan Mingxin was badly tortured in the detention house for more than 20 days. When he was about to be released, the public security bureau asked his family to go the detention house to get him. His family asked the leader of the village to go with them, as they didn't understand the procedures. Duan Dengju was sent on behalf of the village. When they arrived at the public security bureau, the police asked them to pay money. Duan Mingxin's family said that they had two students in the family and they had financial difficulties. The police then said, "If this is the case, you can go to get him without paying the money. " After they got Duan Mingxin from the detention house, Duan Dengju insisted that the driver stop when they were passing the public security bureau. He insisted they go inside again. Duan Mingxin's family asked, "We've already finished all the procedures, why do we have to go in again?" Duan Dengju said, "You must listen to me as I am here! Get in!" After going inside, Duan Dengju went into the office on his own . No one knows what he said inside. After he came out, he asked Duan Mingxin's family to pay 1000 Yuan. The family had to pay.

On March 4th, 2001, the three Falun Gong practitioners were sent the Tieche town to undergo brainwashing. They were persecuted there for 15 days.

In the spring of 2002, a brainwashing centre was set up in Xiaoyi and the authorities wanted to send Zhang Fuxiang and Ren Xucui there. At that time Zhang Fuxiang's father was ill and bedridden. So she was at her father's home looking after him. One day she received a letter from her own family saying that her daughter was sick. She went back home to see her daughter and was discovered by Duan Dengju. Duan immediately rang the officers in the town. Six or seven people came. No matter how hard Zhang Fuxiang tried to explain to them, they still dragged her into the van and took her to the brainwashing class in Xiaoyi.

Worried about her seriously ill father and young daughter, Zhang Fuxiang managed to escape from the brainwashing center. However, she was later seized by the police and sent to the women's labour camp in Shandong Province, where she was detained for three years. She suffered all sorts of tortures in the camp. After she was released, the village and police station in the town still assign people to her home and monitor her day and night.

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/26/138679.html