Four Canadian Residents' Family Members Persecuted in China

Minghui/Clearwisdom correspondent Xin Zi reports: Four Chinese Falun Gong practitioners currently residing in Canada have family members who are being persecuted in China for practising Falun Gong. They share similar pain as well as the same wish: They hope that all kind governments and people of the world will pay attention to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and work together to help end the persecution.

Four Falun Gong practitioners from different parts of Canada recounted their family members' suffering at the hands of the Communist regime during a press conference in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 24th, 2007. They also hoped that the foreign minister of Canada would bring up the issue of the persecution of Falun Gong in his upcoming visit to China. The Canadian practitioners requested the release of all detained Falun Gong practitioners, including 15 family members of Canadian residents.

1. General manager of French company beaten and arrested in office

A group of police officers beat and arrested Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Ma Jian who worked as the general manager for PCM Pumps, a French company, in charge of China and North Asia. The arrest and abuse happened in his office on February 28th, 2007.

According to the latest news published on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, Ma Jian was charged with "using a [slanderous term omitted] to sabotage the administration of law" and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years of forced labour on April 18th, 2007.

Yao Lian, Mr. Ma Jian's wife, said, "After he was arrested, we contacted the French Consulate in China. One official in charge of economic affairs wrote a letter to the Chinese Public Security System and asked them to explain why they took him away. One week later a French consulate official and a staff member from the company went to the Dongcheng District Police Department in Beijing to enquire about the issues surrounding my husband's arrest. They explained things like illegal arrests have a huge impact on their company. The police refused to answer any questions and avoided meeting with the French officials. They agreed, however, to serve as the go-between with Ma Jian and the company, to deliver documents back and forth."

Soon, the company received pressure from Communist authorities and stopped asking about Ma Jian's case. His wife Yao Lian said, "They [PCM company officials] suddenly told my family that they would no longer get involved in this issue. They said they had hired a legal consultant to whom we should direct our questions."

Yao Lian said her husband Ma Jian had worked for the company for more than three years. The police did not explain the reason for the arrest, "I only heard the police and my family members say it's because [he practises] Falun Gong and he had contact with other Falun Gong practitioners. We never saw him after the arrest."

She said, "Later on they told my family to sign a detention notice. My husband was arrested on February 28th; it was March 22nd when we were told to sign it. The time of arrest on the notice was written as March 19th. My family said, 'The date in this document is listed as 19 days after the actual date of arrest. What supposedly happened during those 19 days? We cannot sign it, because this is not true!'

"The police in charge of this case said he was held in a brainwashing centre during those 19 days when he was out of police control. He claimed the police took over as of March 19th, 2007. They were only responsible from that date. The detention notice was the only written document presented to my family."

Yao Lian arrived in Canada on December 25th, 2006, and is currently living in Canada. She was shocked when she first heard about the arrest. She said, "I called his colleagues and asked, 'did the manager act any differently recently?' They said, 'No, not at all; just the same as always.' My husband was planning to attend a conference in France in early March 2007, and his colleagues said, 'Manager Ma Jian was very, very busy during that time. We worked long hours each day. He came to the office early in the morning on the day of his arrest and kept working and did not leave his office. There was nothing unusual; he was simply busier."

She said, "Everyone who knew my husband was shocked by the arrest and thought it was ridiculous. We still do not know specifically what had provoked the arrest."

"We started practising Falun Gong relatively early. My husband was held in a labour camp for 18 months before he started working for this company."

2. Purported ownership of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party ¹ VCD led to six-year prison sentence

Shanghai City citizen Lin Shenli is a permanent Canadian resident. He was incarcerated for two-and-a-half years for persisting in his belief in Falun Gong and was later rescued and relocated to Canada. The House of Commons passed Motion 236 in 2001, which requested the Prime Minister of Canada to urge Jiang Zemin, the Chinese president at the time, to release 13 imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners including Lin Shenli's brother Lin Mingli. Lin Mingli was released one month early, after the passage of Motion 236.

Last year, Lin Mingli was sentenced to six years in prison without any physical evidence or witnesses. The verdict was based on a single statement from someone who said, "Lin Mingli has VCDs of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party ," for which he was sentenced to six years in prison.

Lin Mingli's brother Lin Shenli said, "They had no reason to arrest him. After the arrest, agents from the 610 Office² and National Security officers spent one year to collect evidence but could not find anything. They arrested him before they looked for evidence. They did not show their ID cards when arresting him.

"They refused to give the family any explanation in the year following the arrest. We eventually learned they were seeking evidence everywhere. When the court announced the sentence last November, the only evidence was someone's alleged witness statement, which claimed Lin Mingli was making VCDs of the Nine Commentaries. It took them an entire year to come up with only a single statement. They subsequently sentenced the practitioner to six years in prison."

"My brother's arrest and detention violate the laws of China, especially those written in the constitution. My brother appealed to the intermediate court immediately after the sentencing. Perhaps the intermediate court also thought the sentence was ridiculous; so, at first they tried to find out my family's reaction. Unfortunately, Lin Mingli's wife was not very proactive and did not speak with the court officials. Two months later, the court called my brother's lawyer and told him the case had concluded and the original verdict was upheld. The lawyer was incredulous, because no hearing had been held. The court said, 'There is no need for a court hearing; this is a simple case.' The defence lawyer asked, 'Can I meet with the court officials and explain it to them? I don't think it's appropriate to conclude this case without a hearing.' They would not give him any chance, saying, 'The dust has settled. What you say won't make any difference.' The intermediate court did nothing to uphold justice.

"I had just learned Canada's foreign minister will visit China, so I wrote a letter calling for him to bring up this issue."

3. Four sisters incarcerated

Shen Yue, a Chinese student in Montreal recounted the experience of his mother and three aunts. He said, "My mother is in her 40s and worked at a pharmacy. My mother and her three sisters suffered from poor health, especially my oldest aunt. They regained energy and robust health after they started practising Falun Gong. My mother came across Falun Gong in 1997, and the practice made her very healthy both mentally and physically. That is why Falun Gong practitioners always persist in their belief, regardless of the severity of the persecution.

"My mother was sentenced to prison and incarcerated between 2000 and 2001. She was held in labour camp(s) many times after the persecution began in 1999. The situation was terrible. My mother told me, 'Someone stopped me in the street and asked if I practised Falun Gong. I answered yes and was put in a car.' No explanation was given. This was after 1999. On one occasion, my mother was with many other Falun Gong practitioners. She was charged with 'illegal gathering and disrupting public security.' In fact, they did not do anything except sit together.

"My aunts were under house arrest. My oldest aunt was not allowed to leave the house at any time, and the authorities refused to allow her son get a job or get married. They told him to watch his mother at home. Her husband had passed away two years earlier, so my aunt lives with her son. The government pressured my cousin and said to him, 'You must keep a close eye on your mother.'"

Shen Yue's two other aunts are still held at the Shijiazhuang Women's Prison. Mr. Shen said, "My second oldest aunt was sentenced to three years in prison, and my third aunt was sentenced to four years in prison. They are in poor health due to the persecution. Several months ago my third aunt almost died because of the brutal brainwashing and exhaustive slave labour. They have to work from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. daily.

"My mother went to see my aunts several days ago. It was not until then did she learn the awful condition of her sisters' health. They are subjected to brainwashing and are forced to follow the police officers' every whimsical command. They have lost their mind after constant, ruthless psychological torment. They no longer have any personality or willpower and do whatever they are told to do."

Shen Yue said his mother was savagely tortured. "When my mother was released from the custody centre I saw blood all over her toenails. She had not completely recovered from her injuries. She told me the practitioners were forced to walk around the drill ground wearing 11-pound shackles. They were made to run 50 laps in the snow, barefooted. Each day the guards hit them with sticks, rubber police batons and high-voltage electric batons. They had no personal freedom and were forbidden to do any Falun Gong exercises. They could not do anything that was not on the authorities' list. My mother held a hunger strike to protest and was force-fed.

"The other practitioners held with my mother had similar experiences. They are usually held together because Falun Gong practitioners are considered different. The officials locked all of them in one place. That particular prison held about 300 Falun Gong practitioners when my mother was taken there. There were two divisions in 2002 -- one for men and one for women."

4. Eight-year prison sentence issued without trial; evildoers fear exposure

It has been confirmed during a press conference that the Communist regime still incarcerates Toronto resident Zeng Xiaonan's mother Huang Xin. She is in her 50s and has been repeatedly arrested and detained. She was sentenced to eight years in prison without a trial.

During detention Ms. Huang was physically tortured and also injected with nerve-damaging drugs after which she could not speak or walk. She cannot recognise her husband. Zeng Xiaonan said his mother's suffering mirrors what has befallen millions of other Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Zeng Xiaonan said, "Each time I receive a phone call from China, or when an article on my mother is published on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, Communist officials would always 'visit' my father; in fact, they try to pressure him to stop making the facts known. It's obvious that what the evildoers fear most is the exposure of their crimes."

Note

1. Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party: Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party is a series of essays published in late 2004 that reveal the true nature of the Communist Party. The Nine Commentaries have led millions of people to renounce their membership in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). "A book that has shocked all Chinese around the world. A book that is disintegrating the Communist Party." http://ninecommentaries.com

2. "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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/5/1/153902.html