Honest and Upright Mr. Lu Yuping Was Tortured to the Brink of Death in Tailai Prison

Mr. Lu Yuping, born in 1958, is a Falun Dafa practitioner from the Daxinanling District in Heilongjiang Province. He has worked in education and in a tax office, and was a secretary at the Songling District Land Tax Bureau in the Daxinanling District. He used to suffer from pulmonary oedema, but starting in 1995, when he began to practise Falun Gong, he became mentally and physically very healthy. He has been conducting himself strictly according to the principles of "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance." For example, he returned items that he had taken from his workplace, he took the initiative to resolve past conflicts with his coworkers, and he worked very hard and wasn't corrupt. Therefore, he was widely recognised as a model of honesty by his superiors at the Land Tax Bureau and was even awarded the title of "Model Worker for Honesty and Uprightness" at the county level in 1996.

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, the Political and Judiciary Committee of the Songling District, along with the police and other meddlesome staff from the Songling District Land Tax Bureau, threatened Mr. Lu in order to make him give up his cultivation. However, he steadfastly held on to his beliefs. Lu's mother, who is in her 70s, always taught her son to be a good person, but she was pressured until she knelt down in front of her son and tearfully begged him, "My son, let's not be good people for now." In 1999, people from the Discipline Examination Committee in the Daxinganling District set up a special study group to investigate Mr. Lu in order to find out all about his activities at work and during his free time. Announcing the final results of the investigation, Liang Xingzhong, the President of the Land Tax Bureau said, "He has worked in this area for many years but has never shown any signs of corruption and has never broken any laws." When Director Han of the Tax Bureau visited him at the detention centre, he cried and said, "Lu is such a good cadre!" While in court, the judge said, "No one is angry with you." However, the person in charge of Mr. Lu's case said, "Unless you tell me that you will give up practising Falun Gong, I will sentence you under some pretence." Mr. Lu was arrested in September 1999, and in October, the Songling District Court in the Daxinanling Area sentenced him to three years of detention at Taila Sankeshu Prison for allegedly posing a threat to "National Security." On February 22nd, 2002, he was finally released.

After his release on May 19th, 2002, he went to appeal for justice with regard to his three-year term. Ma Yong, along with a group of people from the Military Police Team in Jiujiang Farm, Neijiang City, arrested him again. He was then taken to the Jiagedaqi District Detention Centre. Wang Hua, who was on duty, searched him in the duty room and found over 200 yuan¹ in cash, which he confiscated. Mr. Lu was searched again by several plainclothes officers and then wrestled into the interrogation room. He was handcuffed behind his back to a metal chair, with his feet and body tied to the chair. He was wearing one layer of clothes and his shoes were removed. Mr. Lu asked for their identity and names, but one short man who was in his 40s stared at him and said, "Are we interrogating you, or is it the other way around? We are from the Provincial Police Bureau, and we are responsible for torture." Soon enough, Ma Yong ordered them to torture Mr. Lu and humiliate him. They beat him using a special leather belt, the soles of their shoes, and handcuffs. When he passed out, they poured cold water all over him to revive him and then beat him again. They released him from the chair and squeezed his head, hands, and feet. They stripped him naked and slapped him hard with a leather belt and whips until they were almost broken. Then they handcuffed him behind his back again and beat on his handcuffs, his back, hands, and feet. When his hands became swollen, they released him, pressed his hands on the table and rolled them around. They then handcuffed him to the metal chair, but Mr. Lu had by now developed difficulty breathing and almost fainted. At this point, the short man said, "We don't have enough tools in here." In response, Ma Yong stuffed two burning cigarettes into Mr. Lu's nose, and Dong Weiling, the person in charge of the Songling District 610 Office², asked Mr. Lu questions. The two burning cigarettes extinguished very quickly. The short person said in sinister way, "You smoked those fast. Carry on." Next, they took a bottle of white wine, forced Mr. Lu's mouth open, and poured the wine in. They shouted, "We'll make you break the rules!" Mr. Lu had to suffer the entire time from 10 a.m. to midnight. When they realised that they wouldn't get a confession, Ma ordered Wang Hua, the guard on duty, to take the prisoner to death row.

In October 2002, Jiagedaqi District Court in the Daxinganling Area secretly tried Mr. Lu Yuping, sentencing him to 14 years in prison on charges of "plotting with the Falun Gong organisation to destroy the legal system." Mr. Lu appealed on grounds that Falun Gong was not an organisation and that therefore the charges were not valid. The judge lied in the court, saying that Mr. Lu's family members and lawyer could not come to the court to defend him because they were preoccupied. As a result, Mr. Lu's legal rights were denied. At the court hearings, several procedural abnormalities were noted. For example, Mr. Lu's right to appeal was cancelled, and he was denied the right to appeal to the superior court. The court finally sentenced him based on false testimony. When Mr. Lu explained that his confession had been coerced through torture, the judge was silent. Mr. Lu then asked a jury member, "How do you explain passing this criminal verdict?" The juror answered, "I don't know." He then asked another juror, who answered, "The indictment explains your sentence." He then asked the judge, "Why did you sentence me to 14 years?" The judge answered, "I am monitored by several government organisations."

Mr. Lu's sentencing was a sham and unjust. Unfortunately, all the government lackeys scratch each others' backs and the situation has become incredibly corrupt. Officials who at best only nominally uphold the law are actually violating the law. In March 2003, Mr. Lu was taken to Tailai Prison where he continued to suffer torture.

In Tailai Prison, Mr. Lu explained the facts of Falun Dafa to every person working there. He exposed the brutal practice of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners at Sujiatun and told how their bodies were cremated. He did the exercises and protested being forced to perform slave labour. In March 2005, a few inmates, instigated by the guards, brutally tortured him in order to force him to do hard labour.

On March 22nd, 23rd, 2007, Tailai Prison held a brainwashing conference. They made use of Chen Bin, a former practitioner turned collaborator, to try to brainwash Falun Gong practitioners in prison. Mr. Lu pointed out Chen Bin's errors in four places in writing. After the conference, a practitioner from Qiqihar, Liu Jingming, was tortured to death. To cover up Lou's death, all practitioners were put under 24-hour surveillance. They were monitored even going to the restrooms and were not allowed to greet or chat with their acquaintances.

On April 7th, 2007, Mr. Lu developed symptoms of diarrhoea. He couldn't eat anything and became emaciated. He was transferred to Tailai Hospital for treatment and x-rays showed that he had developed "double pulmonary tuberculosis and an infection." In late-May, the hospital informed Lu's family of his critical condition and told them that he would be given parole for medical reasons. In mid-July, personnel from Tailai Prison went to the Songling District 610 Office, the Political and Judiciary Committee, and the Songling District Committee to discuss the matter of bailing out Mr. Lu, but the local 610 Office, political and juridical committee, and Songling District Committee refused to accept him. His family is extremely anxious and has gone everywhere to seek help in hopes that Mr. Lu will get home alive.

We urgently appeal to the world's human rights organisation, the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (PFC), and to all people of conscience to please help rescue practitioner Mr. Lu Yuping who is still detained at Tailai Prison and whose life is at stake. Help him to regain his freedom.

Relevant personnel and responsible parties:

Secretary of the CCP Committee in Songling District, Jiang Guise: 86-13804846578 (Mobile), 86-457-3321000 (Office)
Assistant to the Secretary of the District Committee, who is responsible for persecuting Falun Gong, Li Ping: 86-13804840709 (Mobile), 86-457-3321003 (Office), 86-457-3323303 (Home)
Person in charge of Songling District 610 Office Li Gang: 86-13089912019 (Cell), 86-457-3322019 (Office)
Person in charge of Heilongjiang Province Tailai Prison Zhao Binru: 86-452-8229203, 86-452-8239203

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

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/2007/8/3/160099.html