Authorities of Shandong Province Viciously Persecute Practitioner Mr. Gai Guangqi

Mr. Gai Guangqi is a 56-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner in Laiyang, Shandong Province. After becoming a practitioner, his health improved and his spirit was uplifted. After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Dafa, Mr. Gai went many times to appeal in Beijing, speaking out in support of Dafa. As a result, he has been detained, suffered extortion and torture many times at the hands of local authorities, suffered three years of forced labour, endured brainwashing and more.

Tortured with an Extra Large, High-voltage Electric Baton

One night in October 1999, Zhang Shaohua and Liu Jingtao from Lanzi Village Police Station led a group of policemen and broke into Mr. Gai's home. They took him and another practitioner to the police station and then took most of the people who had learned Dafa in the village to the village government building and questioned them one by one. They asked, "Are you still practising?" The people that answered that they were not practising were immediately sent home. Those that said they were practising were not allowed to go home. Mr. Gai and over ten practitioners boldly declared that they were indeed still practising. The policemen handcuffed Mr. Gai to a big tree in the yard, but because the tree was too thick, it was difficult to close the handcuffs, so they forced them shut. While the handcuffs were cutting deep into Mr. Gai's flesh, the police went to eat at a restaurant. For more than two hours Gai Guangqi sweated profusely and almost passed out. The village cadres smiled sinisterly and asked, "Are you still practising?" He still answered, "Yes!" At night, they locked him up in the county detention centre.

In the detention centre, Mr. Gai practised the exercises. When the prisoners went to do aerobic exercises, he meditated in the room. A police officer discovered what he was doing and put a high voltage electric baton through the door hole to shock his fingers while he sat in meditation with his arms extended on either side. Mr. Gai did not move. The surprised policeman returned to office and said to other policemen, "The Falun Gong in cell No. 8 is so strong. I tortured his fingers with an electric baton, and he did not care." Police officer Yang said, "That's because your electric baton is not powerful. Watch how I fix him tomorrow."

At noon the next day, officer Yang took an especially long, high-voltage electric baton and pointed it at Mr. Gai, who was in the yard. He then asked, "Are you Falun Gong?" Mr. Gai smiled and said, "Yes!" Yang demanded, "Show me the practice." Mr. Gai replied, "Okay. Watch!" Then he began to do the first set of exercises "Buddha Showing a Thousand Hands." Everyone watched: the staff came out to watch and the prisoners in their cells also watched through windows or doors. Mr. Gai was halfway through when Yang said, "Stop!" Mr. Gai thought: "How can I listen to you? You asked me to do the exercises so I am doing the exercises. Then you say stop? I need to finish the first set of exercises."

After Mr. Gai finished the first set, Yang ordered prisoners standing nearby, "Bring him here!" Immediately three to four prisoners came, twisted his hands, pulled his hair, and pushed him into a big iron gate. From behind his back Yang pulled out the large electric baton, which was emitting a blue flame, and extended it straight towards Mr. Gai's face.

The large electric baton moved from his face to his neck and back again, but he did not make a sound! Yang was unable to get out of an awkward situation, so he put the electric baton into Mr. Gai's mouth, but it still had no effect.

In front of everyone, policeman Yang brandished a 70 to 80 centimetre long electric baton, fiercely beating Gai Guangqi's shoulders and arms with it while berating him. A policeman watching said, "Easy. Don't break the electric baton." Yang continued to shock Mr. Gai on the head, face, neck, mouth and other places, and hit him with hit him with it as well. It lasted nearly an hour. Gai Guangqi made no noise at all. Yang then shouted angrily, "Go back and clean the floor for me."

Mr. Gai immediately went back to clean the floor. Suddenly four to five strong men came in, kicked him, making him fall to the ground, and dragged him to the corridor. They fiercely kicked and stomped on him, and when he had almost passed out they dragged him to the No. 2 cell and tied him to the "Dead Person's Bed." His hands, arms and legs were tightly bound with iron chains and he could not move. He was not allowed to use the toilet. The police ordered other prisoners to beat him with hard shoes continuously, until they forced him to say "I am not practising" against his will.

Beaten with Shoes Until Blood Gushed from His Mouth

In February 2000, Mr. Gai went to Beijing to appeal for a second time. He and two other practitioners were going to hang a banner that read, "Falun Dafa is Good" on a rostrum in Tiananmen Square. He went up to check the terrain first, but because he was wearing a Falun Gong badge, he was taken by the police to a Beijing sub-bureau, and questioned about where he was from. He refused to give his name or address, so the police tortured him in many ways including handcuffing him behind his back, forcing his head to touch the ground and forcing him to raise both arms for a long time without moving, but he still refused to give them any information.

Because of his accent, he was thought to be from Jiaodong. At night, a group from Zhaoyuan City said, "Hand him to us. We would rather take him by mistake then let him go." They forced him into the rear of car for over 80 kilometres. Because of the dust and the muggy air he felt like he was suffocating. They took Mr. Gaito a residence, cuffed his hands to a heating pipe, and began to torture him. One person slashed h is face while cursing him. After quite a while, this person got tired, took a rest on a sofa, and then used a leather shoe to slap Mr. Gai's face, ears, nose and mouth with all his strength. Blood gushed from his mouth. After more than an hour of the beating, he was a disfigured, his face covered with bruises and blood. The police still did not get any information from him.

The authorities called the Laiyang Office in Beijing and said,, "We have a Falun Gong here, and no matter how we torture him, he says nothing. From his accent, he is probably from your area." The police from Laiyang came and recognised Gai Guangqi. They immediately took him to the Laiyang Office in Beijing. A CCP official asked, "Gai Guangqi, will you return to Beijing?" He answered, "As long as Dafa is being slandered and persecuted, I will go!" The other person forced him to squat on the ground, lower his head and not look up, then fiercely attacked his head with the sole of his shoe while asking, "Go or not? Go or not?" Gai Guangqi answered, "Go! Go! Go!" Each response more powerful than the last.

At last, the person fiercely chopped at the back of Mr. Gai's head with something. Everything before his eyes turned black, and he let out an astonishing and pitiful yell which frightened them and they hurriedly asked, "How are you? Are you sick?" He quickly replied: "I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, I am not sick. What did you hit me with?" That person said, "You are not ill now, and you were not ill before?" Gai Guangqi replied: "Before I practised Falun Gong, I was not only ill, but suffered from many diseases." "What diseases?" "I had pleurisy when I was young; suppuration turned to fluid in my abdomen in the later period, and I nearly died. When I was 45, while helping a neighbour carry a large pig, I hurt my side and dislocated a bone in my back and nearly became disabled. The pain recurred twice a year and grew more and more severe, leading to symptoms of paralysis. I was lucky to learn Dafa and fully recover." The officials then said, "Ok, no need to say more. We'll go back to tidy you up!"

That night, on the train going back Gai Guangqi successfully escaped. With no money, he begged for food on his way to Beijing for the third time.

A Policeman Smashed a Stool on His Shoulder

In April 2000, while Mr. Gai Guangqi was sharing experiences with some practitioners in Tangezhuang Town, he was reported and taken to the local police station. At night, Yu Hongwen, the former Lanzi Village Politics and Judiciary Committee member, led a group of people to handcuff Mr. Gai to a heating pipe, so that he could neither squat nor stand upright. Then Yu Hongwen punched him in the head, his face, and neck and kicked his chest and ribs while cursing at him. The dirty words were revolting to the ear. He beat Gai Guangqi for almost an hour, until the blood flowed freely and was on his last breath.

When day broke the next morning, they sent Gai Guangqi to the County Detention Centre for further persecution. He refused to cooperate, sign his name, or be fingerprinted. He did not eat food or drink water to protest the persecution. On the morning of the seventh day, Laiyang City 610 Office¹ agent Liu Kai and another police officer interrogated Mr. Gai. Liu at first in soft tones said, "You do not eat or drink. If you damage your body, whom do you suffer for? You can still be healthy by practising another qigong. Why must you practise Falun Gong? Let it go!"

Gai Guangqi replied, "Even if you threaten to cut off my head , I only want 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.' You have captured me, one person, but there are many more! Will I give up Falun Gong? No way!" Then, the other police officer barked, "I will bury you alive!" Mr. Gai said, "I wouldn't practise Falun Gong if I feared death!" The police officer in a violent rage, grabbed a broken chair and smashed it on Gai Guangqi's shoulder. Then, as he raised the stool to smash it over Gai Guangqi's head, the broken stool and its legs fell to the ground.

Mr. Gai was detained for over a month, and then officials from the Laiyang 610 Office transferred him to a brainwashing centre in Chengnan Village for over 40 days. During that period, Yu Hongwen and village official Chi from Lanzi Village came to beat Gai Guangqi three times. Each time before they left, they said, "Make efforts to practise and I'll come to beat you when I have time!"

Over 40 days later, Gai Guangqi still refused to give up the practice. He was taken back to a small storehouse in the Lanzi Village government yard, handcuffed to a chair, and his clothes were pulled off. Yu Hongwen and Li Xiaodong whipped Gai Guangqi with a rubber tube and wooden clubs in turn. His back, buttocks and legs were covered with bruises, and stayed blue and purple for a long time. They tortured him for an afternoon and stopped only when they were tired.

They only gave him two steamed buns and a few pickled vegetables each meal during this period. Finally, Party Committee Associate Secretary Li Xiaodong and Yu Hongwen threatened Gai Guangqi's family. They ordered the family to pay 5,000 yuan² to have him released! In the face of the village government's verbal threats, his family felt they had no choice and gave them 2,000 yuan. They had borrow the other 3,000 yuan from relatives. Only then was Gai Guangqi released.

Taken to a Forced Labour Camp and Brainwashing Centre

In October 2000, while Gai Guangqi was on the way back from shopping, police from Lanzi Village Police Station stopped him at the Lanzi Village Cement Factory, kicked him to the ground, handcuffed him, took him to the police station, and beat him. Mr. Gai asked, "Why do you illegally seize people?" Manager Zhang Shaohua threw a stack of flyers on the ground and said, "Look, this is evidence!" Before Mr. Gai could respond, they closed the door and left, and sent him to the county detention centre that afternoon for further persecution. Around midnight ten days later, they sent Mr. Gai and three other practitioners to Wangcun Forced Labour Camp in Shandong for three years of forced labour, without any legal procedures.

On March 2nd, 2005, Mr. Gai Guangqi and his wife were having lunch at home. Laiyang City 610 Office agents colluded with Li Tong from Jiangtuan Town Police Station. They took Gai Guangqi from his home to Laiyang Party School Brainwashing Centre on the pretext of "talking to him" and held him there for 47 days. He went on a hunger strike to protest the arrest. Mr. Gai escaped from the brainwashing centre at 9:10 a.m. on March 8th, 2005.

Zhang Shaohua, former manager of Lanzi Village Police Station: 86-5357219209(Home)
Yu Hongwen, former Lanzi Village Politics and Judiciary Committee member
(current deputy head of Jiangtuan Town): 86-535-7213618
Li Xiaodong, former Lanzi Village political work secretary: 86-535-7219363

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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/27/138732.html