Mr. Cao Dong and His Wife Face Extreme Difficulty on the Eve of the New Year

On December 31st, 2006, Beijing was covered with snow. However, during this season of greetings, many families are still suffering from being separated due to persecution by the Chinese Communist regime. Ms. Yang Xiaojing, the spouse of Mr. Cao Dong, had to brave the cold wind and snow on the eve of the new year to bring attention to the plight of her husband, and call for his release.

Her husband, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Cao Dong, was arrested after he met with Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice President of the European Parliament, on May 21st, 2006. During the first six months after his arrest, Mr. Cao was tortured by many methods by the police in Beijing, and was then transferred to the Gansu Province State Security Division Detention Centre located in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. On December 22nd, 2006, Cao Dong was prosecuted on four charges, including "collusion with overseas anti-CCP (Chinese Communist Party) forces," "illegal interview with reporters abroad," "releasing news on Clearwisdom.net" and "possession of VCDs and brochures related to Falun Gong."

Apparently, all of the charges were aimed at retaliating for the disclosure of the persecution of Falun Gong to Mr. McMillan-Scott. To shift the focus from the international community and deceive the public, when the CCP regime prosecuted Cao Dong, all of the charges appeared to have nothing to do with his meeting with Mr. McMillan-Scott. As a matter of fact, another Falun Gong practitioner, Niu Jinping, who met with Mr. McMillan-Scott, has also been harassed by the National Security Bureau, the 610 Office¹, police station and even the Neighbourhood Committee. His detained wife, Zhang Lianying, was persecuted more seriously than before by the Beijing City Women's Forced Labour Camp and presently she is being forced to perform slave labour making various products.

In court, Cao Dong's lawyer, Mr. Ma Guangjun pleaded his innocence on all four charges. But the judge still insisted on the first charge, and said that it does not necessarily target his contact with Mr. McMillan-Scott.

After the hearing, the judges said they were not authorised to go to trial. The 610 Office in Beijing was directly in charge of the case. If those who follow the CCP do not stop their involvement in the persecution, their future will end in tragedy, as Mr. McMillan-Scott wrote in his letter to the Chinese Ambassador, Mr. Guan Chengyuan: "All those involved in the persecution of human rights defenders and other categories in China are now identified for future trials under the International Criminal Court."

Mr. Dong's wife, Yang Xiaojing, who was just released from Beijing City Women's Forced Labour Camp after two years of persecution, is very worried about her husband. Her parents and her parents-in-law have all been threatened by the CCP and are too frightened to appeal for their beloved.

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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/1/2/145983.html