Agents in the Licheng District 610 Office1 in Jinan City, Shandong Province have followed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and ruthlessly persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners during the past several years. They arrested and detained many practitioners, sent practitioners to brainwashing centres, ransacked their homes, incited hatred against them, followed the practitioners, and sentenced them to forced labour and prison terms. Many happy families have been broken up and many practitioners have suffered tremendously.
Facts of Persecution - Arrest, Ransacking, Deprivation of Freedom
Practitioner Ms. Jia Xiufang was arrested many times for persisting in practising Falun Dafa; her home was ransacked and she was extorted out of money. She left home to avoid further persecution and was later arrested and sent to Liuchangshan Brainwashing Centre. She held a hunger strike for more than a week and became very weak. Her husband Mr. Wang Yanwu, in his 70s, who does not practise Falun Gong, went to visit her at the brainwashing centre but was forbidden to see her. Mr. Wang was devastated by his family's traumatic situation. He suddenly passed away in his hometown in Qufu after returning home. Their daughter and son-in-law were also arrested and detained. Many people were concerned with Ms. Jia Xiufang's plight and that of her family members. Her story was published several times on the Minghui website [Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net]. The Jinan City 610 Office agents released Ms. Jia on March 18th, 2005 due to public pressure.
Ms. Jia Xiufang, 54, is a retired worker from Licheng District General Chemical Fibre Corporation in Jinan City. She suffered from numerous illnesses but became completely healthy in 1995 when she started practising Falun Gong and had a happy family. After the CCP began persecuting Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, Ms. Jia's home was ransacked twice because she persisted in her belief. In early July 2001 she was arrested for saying, "I'll continue to practise [Falun Gong]!" and was sent to the Guodian Brainwashing Centre in Jinan City, where she was held for three months and extorted out of more than 10,000 yuan2. She was reported to the authorities and again arrested at 10:00 p.m. on October 28th, 2002. She was locked in a metal cage at the Dongfeng Police Department for about two weeks. 610 Office agents attempted to send her to a forced labour camp but the labour camp refused to accept her because she didn't pass the physical exam. She was taken back to the Dongfeng Police Station and again locked in a metal cage. It was late autumn and she was forced to stand barefoot on the icy concrete floor. She went on a four-day hunger strike but the police still refused to release her. Wang Yuejian, an officer from the Security Section of her former work unit, extorted 3,000 yuan in cash from her while she was held in police custody. He lied to her family and told them she would be released if they gave him money. Ms. Jia later broke free. She chose to live away from home to avoid further persecution. During this period, her and her husband's pensions and benefits were completely cut off.
Ms. Jia's daughter Ms. Jia Jun, who was still nursing her baby, was arrested on the morning of February 22nd, 2005 when distributing leaflets exposing the persecution. She was taken to the Beiquanfu Police Station. Ms. Jia Xiufang was staying with her daughter st the time to take care of her grandchildren. The 610 Office agents and police officers saw her when they ransacked her daughter's home and arrested her. The authorities also monitored her home near the chemical fibre factory. Ms. Jia Jun was later released because she had a newborn baby. The 610 Office agents ignored Ms. Jia Xiufang's old age and poor health. She had coronary artery disease at that time and high blood pressure. They sent her to the Jinan City Brainwashing Centre, disguised as the "Jinan Legal Training Centre" in Liuchangshan, Jinan City. They claimed that the Licheng District 610 Office and the police had tried in 2001 to send Ms. Jia Xiufang and some other practitioners to a brainwashing centre. Ms. Jia lived away from home for several years in order to avoid arrest.
Ms. Jia Xiufang held a hunger strike for about two weeks after being sent to the Liuchangshan Brainwashing Centre and became very weak. Her husband Mr. Wang Yanwu went to the centre on March 4th, 2005 and requested to meet with her, but his request was denied. Mr. Wang was devastated and he grew quiet. He returned to his hometown in Qufu and passed away suddenly when he was alone at home. His son and daughter-in-law found his body on the bed several days later. Before his death, he was physically fit and mentally healthy. He fully supported his wife's Dafa practice, both emotionally and financially, after he learned the facts about Dafa.
After Ms. Jia was sent to the brainwashing centre, her daughter Ms. Jia Jun went to the police, the 610 Office, the Politics and Law Committee on various levels, as well as the brainwashing centre. She told the officials that good is rewarded and evildoing is punished. She demanded her mother's immediate release so that she could go home and take care of her husband's funeral. The Jinan City 610 Office agents avoided Jia Jun. Licheng District Police 610 Office head Zhang Wenyuan and Wang Sijun, head of the Licheng District government 610 Office, refused to release Ms. Jia Xiufang. Zhang Shunian, deputy secretary of the Licheng District Politics and Law Committee, refused to release Jia Xiufang and verbally assaulted her. He spread rumours that Ms. Jia Xiufang didn't get along with her husband. Zhang Shunian also colluded with the Jinan City 610 Office brainwashing centre. They did everything to keep Ms. Jia Xiufang's husband's death from her to avoid legal consequences. They even forbade her to answer phone calls from her family. Ms. Jia Jun had to have her uncle help her with her father's funeral in Qufu.
When Ms. Jia Jun returned to Jinan City, she went back to the brainwashing centre with her uncle and again asked to see her mother. The officials refused, and when Ms. Jia Jun tried to reason with the officials, her mother, who was held on the floor above, heard her voice and poked her head out the window. Ms. Jia Jun saw her mother and shouted in a teary voice, "Mum, Dad is dead!" Ms. Jia Xiufang could not believe her ears and asked twice. Ms. Jia Jun shouted the same thing three times. Her pained voice echoed throughout the courtyard. Ms. Jia Xiufang was devastated. In the end, the brainwashing centre reluctantly agreed to let Ms. Jia Jun's uncle meet briefly with Ms. Jia Xiufang, who was extremely weak from the hunger strike and sudden grief. People were concerned about her and her family. Jinan City 610 Office agents released her on March 18th due to public pressure. Her son carried her home on his back.
Ms. Jia's son-in-law Wang Fengqiang was arrested on August 23rd, 2006 when distributing VCDs exposing the persecution at Donghuan World Square in Jinan City. He was taken to the Dongfeng Police Station in Licheng District, Jinan City. Officials from his workplace and from the Licheng District 610 Office sent him to the Liuchangshan Brainwashing Centre at 9:00 p.m. that evening.
Mr. Wang Fengqiang was born in 1973 in Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province. He was a technician in charge of building electrical equipment at Shandong Province Prison. He conducted himself according to the principles of Falun Dafa at all times and was well liked at work. His superiors began persecuting him after April 25th, 1999, when 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners peacefully appealed in Beijing. The officials talked to him, trying to persuade him to renounce Dafa. They put him in detention for a long time, sent him to a brainwashing centre, extorted a huge sum of money from him in the name of a fine, and fired him. He never once wavered in his belief. He was held in a labour camp for three years, from 2000 to 2002. Due to strong requests from his colleagues, his former workplace, Shandong Province Prison, re-hired him in 2003 as a contract worker responsible for electric machine production and sales.
He refused to go along with the brainwashing after the arrest. He broke free on August 30th, 2005 during a physical exam at Jinan City Chest Hospital. He decided to stay away from home to avoid arrest; however, he is the family's sole breadwinner. His arrest made life more difficult for his family.
Persecution of innocent and kind people at the Jinan Iron & Steel General Corporation
Before the persecution started in 1999, many employees at the Jinan Iron & Steel General Corporation practised Falun Gong. After July 20th, 1999, company officials at all levels, headed by general manager Li Changshun, the police and 610 Office agents, spared no persecution efforts. According to one estimate, at least 14 company employees and their family members who are Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced to forced labour over the past seven years, and at least 11 employees were arrested or sent to brainwashing centres since 2005 for practising Falun Gong.
Company officials ordered practitioner Mr. Liu Sitang, a retired worker in his 60s, to attend a brainwashing session aimed at "maintaining the advancement of Communist Party members." Mr. Liu said, "I have already quit the Party. What advancement is there to maintain?" Kou Xinggong, the Party secretary, and Jiang Xian, head of the Security Section, led about seven police officers and deceived Mr. Liu into opening his door. They then they barged inside and ransacked his home. Mr. Liu made his way out without encountering the officials. Other practitioners were taken away and held, awaiting trial without parole. Practitioner Ms. Xie Aiying, in her late 60s, is a retiree from the Jinan Iron & Steel General Corporation Hospital. She was sentenced to three years of forced labour in 2000 and held at the notorious Jiangshuiquan Women's Forced Labour Camp.
Mr. Liu was deceived and arrested by his superiors in March 2006. He was held at the Liuchangshan Brainwashing Centre for eight months. Licheng District 610 Office agents and Baoshan District Police Department officials colluded with the Licheng District Procuratorate and court. They extended Mr. Liu's detention period by three months. They tried him on December 4th, 2006. The evidence, however, came from the testimony of a prisoner serving an active term, which could not be verified in court. The judge did not issue a sentence.
Technical expert repeatedly persecuted through labour camp
Practitioner Zang Xiyong was a middle-level official at the Shandong Province Cotton & Flax Company. He was detained at the Liuchangshan Forced Labour Camp between 2000 and 2002 for persisting in his belief and was demoted when he returned to work. In order to make him renounce Dafa, his superiors paid him only 300 yuan in seven months in 2005. Mr. Zang is well liked. He and his wife have taken care of his brother's two children since his brother and his wife's death. They are guardians for four children including their own two. One of the four children is grown and working and three are still in middle school. Mr. Zang and his wife also take care of his mother, who is in her 70s.
Mr. Zang was arrested on December 9th, 2006 by police officers from Caishi Township and held at Licheng District Detention Centre. Yuan Guiying, head of the office from his work unit, led 12 police officers to ransack his home on the afternoon of December 13th, 2006. Licheng District 610 Office head Yuan Guiying deceived his family into opening the door, first threatening his family and then faking kindness. After they rummaged through everything but failed to find anything they wanted, they insisted on taking the children's computer. When the family refused, the officials lied and claimed they were taking the computer to the city police department for an identification test, and if the result came out okay, the family would get it back by signing a list of confiscated items. The family believed the police and signed the document, but the officials never fulfilled their promise, and without the family's knowledge, they later stole the evidence - the copy of the signed document that they had left for the family.
Licheng District 610 Office agents told the family to sign another document on December 20th, 2006. When the family arrived, they were confronted with a document that listed obscure charges filed against Mr. Zang. The family refused to sign and confronted the officials about the confiscated items and fabrication of charges without the knowledge of Mr. Zang's workplace superiors. The family cited relevant sections from the Constitution, Criminal Law, and Civil Law and Regulations on Reeducation Through Labour. The officials could not refute the family. Licheng District 610 Office agents couldn't get any evidence against Mr. Zang, but they still arbitrarily sentenced him to 18 months of forced labour on December 21st, 2006. When his family visited him at Division 7 of the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp, the officials refused to let them see him, saying, "You cannot meet with anyone who has not "reformed3"!" The family could not even deliver things to Mr. Zang.
Financial reward for reporting Falun Gong practitioners
The officials from the Licheng District 610 Office in Jinan City pay people to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. All street Party Committees in the Licheng District received orders from the 610 Office to assign personnel to monitor practitioners around the clock. People assigned to do this work receive varying amounts of money every month. The 610 Office also highly publicised a scheme that says one would receive a reward of between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan for reporting a practitioner.
In the past few years, many villagers brainwashed by Communist Party propaganda have reported practitioners. These practitioners' homes were ransacked and their property confiscated. They were extorted out of money in the name of fines and were sent to brainwashing centres, where they were forced to pay a high "brainwashing fee." Some practitioners were sent to prisons and forced labour camps.
Two middle-aged female practitioners were reported in January 2005 when distributing truth-clarification materials in a persimmon garden in Dongjia Town. Licheng District 610 Office agents and officers from the Dongjia Police Station took them to the Liuchangshan Brainwashing Centre. Each practitioner was extorted out of 3,000 yuan and charged an additional 100 yuan a day as a "brainwashing fee." The officials announced on the 25th day of detention that the practitioners had been sentenced to 18 months of forced labour. The practitioners were transferred to Jiangshuiquan Labour Camp to be further persecuted.
The 610 Office agents also impose fines on village management if practitioners live there. The fines vary from 1,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan, depending on the affluence of the village. These villages are also deprived of eligibility to win honorary titles. The two aforementioned female practitioners lived in Hancang. Licheng District 610 Office agents fined the Hancang Village Party Committee 6,000 yuan in order to incite hatred toward and put pressure on Falun Gong practitioners.
Below are the stories of Falun Gong practitioners from the Licheng District who were persecuted after being reported:
76-year-old Ms. Zhu Yuezhen sentenced to three years in prison
Practitioner Ms. Zhu Yuezhen, 76, from Jinan City, lived at a military sanatorium that is a residence compound for retired military officers near a railway hospital. She used to suffer from numerous illnesses including rheumatoid arthritis and stomach ulcers. One week after she started practising Falun Gong in March 1995, the pain stopped, and all of her illnesses disappeared after six months. She then obtained good eyesight and hearing from Falun Gong practise.
Ms. Zhu went to Erxian Village, Zhonggong, Jinan City on September 27th, 2004 to distribute leaflets exposing the persecution. Officers from the Zhonggong Police Station arrested her. She was interrogated inside the police station, and all of her fliers and VCDs were confiscated. In the afternoon, the police took her to the Xiqinglong Police Station and held her there for one night. They sent her to the Jinan City Legal Training (Brainwashing) Centre at 9:00 a.m. on September 28th, 2004. She was held on the third floor and was forbidden to go downstairs to eat. She was locked behind a metal gate and had to ask someone to open the gate in order to use the toilet. They extorted 3,000 yuan from her. Officers from the Zhongqu Police Department ransacked her home and took her phone card and senior card.
Several months later, at noon on May 4th, 2005, police officers working at the Jinan Arboretum saw Ms. Zhu distributing materials inside the garden and called the police. They arrested her and took her to the Qianfoshan Police Station and held her there for 24 hours. They ransacked her home the next day at noon and took all of her Dafa books and materials. Ms. Zhu was held at the district police department, where Party officials threatened that they would make her husband divorce her, cut off her pension and evict her from the military sanatorium.
The police also verbally assaulted Ms. Zhu and arrested her several times when she clarified the truth in Jinan City and in the suburban areas. For instance, the police arrested her on December 1st, 2005 when she was clarifying the truth in the Tianqiao District. They sent her to the Jinan City Detention Centre and sentenced her to three years in prison before the 2006 Chinese New Year.
Liu Ruiqiu persecuted for explaining the facts about Falun Dafa
Practitioner Ms. Liu Ruiqiu was arrested and detained many times for appealing for Falun Dafa and clarifying the truth. She was shocked in the chest with electric batons and brutally beaten; her home was ransacked and personal belongings confiscated. She is currently held at the Jiangshuiquan Women's Forced Labour Camp in Jinan City, where she is being tortured.
Ms. Liu is a retired worker from the Jinan Semi-Conductor Research Institute. In 1985, she was afflicted with numerous illnesses. She started practising Falun Gong in 1996 and quickly recovered her full health. Falun Dafa gave her a new life.
Ms. Liu went to Beijing to appeal during the 2000 Chinese New Year and was arrested and detained at the Keyuan Road Police Station in the Lixia District. The head of the police station at the time, Zhang Guisheng, tortured her during detention. Zhang Guisheng shocked Ms. Liu's chest with electric batons continuously for nearly one hour, making her lose consciousness for the rest of the night. Several days later, she was extorted out of 5,000 yuan and released.
Before the 2001 Chinese New Year, security officials at Ms. Liu Ruiqiu's workplace feared she would again go to Beijing to appeal. They called her to the workplace and told her to sign a guarantee statement3 that slandered Falun Gong. She refused. Security Section head Guo and officers from the Keyuan Road Police Station sent her to the Monitored Ward at the Shandong Province Police Hospital and held her there for seven months. She persisted in her righteous belief during this period, and the officials took her back to the brainwashing centre. Several people beat her for hours at the brainwashing centre. She sustained injuries all over her body. They also choked her, and she passed out from lack of air. The officials then took her back to the Monitored Ward at the Shandong Province Police Hospital. After a while, when they saw she still would not give up her belief, they sent her to the Jiangshuiquan Women's Forced Labour Camp and ordered collaborators4 to torture her. The collaborators physically and mentally attacked her until she was close to death. The officials were exhausted but still could not make Ms. Liu renounce Dafa, so they released her after deducting one year's pension.
Ms. Liu was arrested again at the end of October 2003 when explaining the facts about Falun Dafa at a market in the Licheng District. She was taken to the Licheng District 610 Office brainwashing centre, where she clarified the truth about the health benefits of Falun Gong from her personal experience. She went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The agents at the 610 Office didn't achieve their goal of "reforming" her, so they took her keys and ransacked her home. They confiscated her Dafa books, recorders, MP3 players and 4,000 yuan in cash. They released her after they found cash at her home.
Ms. Liu was reported and arrested once more on May 15th, 2006. Wang Decheng and other officers from Shunyu Road Police Station in the Shizhong District took her to the police station. Later on they joined officers from the Keyuan Road Police Station. About nine officers took her to her home and ransacked it. They took all of her Dafa books, MP3 players, some valuables and bank deposit slips after they had photographed these items. One week later, officers from the Shunyu Road Police Station sent her to the Jiangshuiquan Women's Forced Labour Camp and confiscated her bank deposit slips. Her family asked for them back, but the officials refused to return them. The camp guards have forbidden family visits.
The Licheng District Politics and Law Committee persecutors and agents from the 610 Office in Jinan City had a big hand in the persecution between 1999 and 2001. They set up a brainwashing centre at the Guodian School of Sports Competition in the summer of 2001. They sent to the centre everyone known to be a Falun Gong practitioner by the street Party Committee and the local police, which caused numerous practitioners tremendous financial and emotional trauma. The practitioners are deprived of personal freedom, and they are constantly physically tortured and mentally tormented at the centre.
Some practitioners were savagely beaten and otherwise physically abused for refusing to "reform." Some practitioners had to scrape together money from everywhere in order to pay the "fines" the authorities had imposed. Some practitioners were further transferred to the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp, the Liuchangshan Forced Labour Camp and the Jiangshuiquan Women's Forced Labour Camp.
Around 2000, many practitioners from the Licheng District were sent to the Huixianshan Brainwashing Centre in Xiuchuan Township, Licheng District. 610 Office agents ordered workplaces to assign people to monitor the practitioners at the brainwashing centre. A security chief at the Jinan Iron & Steel Group Co. Ltd. once threatened an elderly female practitioner who has a crippled leg, "If you don't reform, I'll break your good leg!"
Practitioner Ms. Jia Xiufang, a retired worker from the Jinan Chemical Fibre Factory, said in early July 2001, "I'll continue to practise [Falun Gong]!" She was sent to the Guodian Brainwashing Centre in Jinan City, where she was held for three months and extorted out of more than 10,000 yuan.
Practitioner Ms. Ji Guangli, 44, worked at the Jinan Electricity Meter Factory. She appealed in Beijing in July 2000 and was detained for 15 days. This was followed by a three-month incarceration at the Guodian Brainwashing Centre, ordered by Licheng District 610 Office agents in October 2000. During this period, she was hung up and savagely beaten.
Practitioner Ms. Liu Hongmei was secretly tried by agents at the No. 1 Court in the Lixia District, Jinan City on April 26th, 2003 and sentenced to seven years in prison. She recounted abuses at the brainwashing centre in her statement of appeal:
"The detention centre authorities made me sign a release statement on November 24th, 2000, but didn't let me go home. Because I did not "reform," immediately after I signed the document, officials from the Lixia District Party Committee and from the district government sent me to the Guodian Brainwashing Centre located at the Guodian School of Sports Competition in the Licheng District. I was completely deprived of personal freedom, and they extorted funds from my family three times for living expenses, in the amounts of 10,000 yuan, 5,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan. Living in prison-like conditions, I was charged 100 yuan a day at the brainwashing centre. A group of young men wearing camouflage uniforms monitored us 24/7. They would barge inside our bedroom at any time during the day or night and even yanked off our quilts to check if we were doing the Falun Gong meditation. We lived in constant fear and had no rights. We were often severely attacked, both verbally and physically, which left physical and mental scars."
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. "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.
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.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/2/1/148070.html
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