Whole Family Persecuted: Father Dies, Mother Detained, Son and Daughter's Marriages Obstructed

Ms. Chen Shufen, 45, lives in Baisha Village in Chengguan Town, Boye County in Baoding City, Hebei Province. She and her husband Huo Shimin began Falun Dafa practice in 1998.

On July 20th, 1999, when Jiang Zemin's regime started persecuting Falun Gong, Ms. Chen went to Beijing to appeal for just treatment of the practice. For this she was detained at the county detention centre. One night in October 1999, at around midnight, she was brought to the Town government office. Seven or eight officials led by Hu Boxue, Liu Yuechuan, and Yao Chuanliang beat Ms. Chen, causing her body to be covered with bruises. Her toe was broken, and one of her eyes was hit, and turned blue. Liu Yuechuan still said, Your family is different from others, you need to turn in more money; you should give me eight thousand “yuan¹.” He also confiscated a TV and a tricycle.

In 2000, Lili, the lead authority in the political protection department of the county public security bureau, once again arrested Chen Shufen and detained her for six days. Afterwards she was forced to pay one thousand yuan to be released. She went home, but her life was still not peaceful, as police and government officials still came to her house to harass her constantly.

In late May 2001, Lili once again brought four police officers, and intruded into her house. They wanted to take her to the Public Security Bureau, but Chen refused to go. She tried to talk to Lili, but Lili called Wang Hongli and four more people. Chen exposed on site that Lili had secretly and corruptly taken Dafa practitioners' money. Lili thus threatened to take Chen's husband to the Public Security Bureau instead of Chen. Lilitried to find a way out for herself. Ultimately she decided to imprison the whole family.

Since then, Chen has not dared to stay at home, and left home to avoid further persecution. Later, her husband Huo became homeless. However the evil authorities still won't give up, and have tried to find the whereabouts of this couple everywhere, including their relatives' homes.

In 2002 the country Public Security Division even offered a reward to catch this couple. Lili exerted all her strength to arrest Dafa practitioners. She became zealous in her search and sometimes didn't go home for several days and nights. In order to get the attention of higher authorities and get raises and promotions she arrested Dafa practitioners. Police took Ms. Chen's photo to Anguo City to help officers there recognise her. Because the situation was so urgent, the Chen couple rented an apartment in Anping county. Unfortunately Lili found out and led other police one night in October 2002, to jump over the wall and break into the home. They dragged Chen's son Huo Lei by his hair out of his bed while he was sleeping. A bunch of hair was left in the yard. Little Huo simply didn't want to go with them, but the inhuman police forced and dragged him outside and threw him into the police car. In the yard was a long mark left from Huo's shoes after being dragged out.

After arriving at the Public Security Bureau, the police forced the boy to tell the location of his parents. Little Huo refused to tell no matter how much the police beat and kicked him. They ruthlessly beat him, using an electric baton to shock him, and threatened him, “If you don't tell us where you parents are I will beat you to death, and throw you out. No one in your family will know about this.” Eventually the fourteen-year-old boy could not withstand the brutality and was forced to tell them the location of his parents.

Lili sent at least three cars, filled with more than ten police officers to Anping County in Hengshui City at night. At around 3:00 a.m., while the Chen couple was asleep, they dragged them to the car immediately without any time for them to prepare, thus they didn't even have coats and shoes. They took the couple to the Public Security Bureau and started beating them. At that moment the situation was very horrible. Their son, Huo's body had not an inch of good skin left, due to the beatings. One of the police officers even threatened Huo by saying, “I am beating you to death and I will report that you committed suicide.”

After little Huo was released to go home, not only did his body suffer from the torture, but mentally he was also affected by the feeling of guilt. Thus for several days and nights he could not eat and drink, and his mouth was full of puss from the injuries. He had a constant headache, and dared not touch his head with his hand, for it was extremely painful. This condition lasted for a very long time. The police had also taken a Suzuki 125 motorcycle from the home. Chen's husband was sentenced for three years in a forced labour camp. He stayed in the Bali Zhuang Forced Labour Camp in Baoding City and was subjected to persecution there (he was released in autumn 2004). Chen was first detained in the detention centre in Boye County, and was then transferred to the detention centre in Xushui County. To protest against the persecution Chen held a hunger strike for weeks. Several times she was force fed. She looked as thin as a lash. Later she was detained in the Second Jail in Shijiazhuang, then transferred to the Shijiazhuang Women's Jail where she is today (she was sentenced to nine years).

Chen's son was engaged at seventeen years of age, and the girl's brother planned to join the army (the main channel to get rid of the farmer residence title). The authorities did not just persecute Chen's family member, they also went to the girl's house to threaten the girl's family by saying, “If your family does not cut off its relationship with Chen, then your son cannot join the army.”

Because the husband and wife were both sentenced,their family condition became very poor. At that moment Huo Shimin's father was sick in bed, and he also had a mother who was more than ninety years old. Huo's father missed his son and daughter-in-law very much, and felt very sad. He passed away in spring 2004, before Huo came home. His grandmother and mother are still healthy. Ms. Chen's son and daughter both reached a marriageable age. Only because their mother practises “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance,” and persists in her belief is she being detained. Both the son and daughter's marriages were interfered with. All family members, relatives and friends are worried about them. What kind of society allows authorities to treat people this way?

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/2007/4/7/152341.html