Persecution Cases in Laishui County, Hebei Province

1. Persecution of Falun Gong practitioner Liu Zhiping

Mr. Liu Zhiping started to practise Falun Gong before Jiang Zemin's [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime started the persecution in 1999. Liu Zhiping was sent to a brainwashing centre in August 1999.

In April 2000, 610 Office¹ officials in Laishui County ordered police officers from the Zhaogezhuang Police Station to arrest Liu Zhiping from his home and to sent him to the Laishui County Chinese Communist Party (CCP) school. Liu was detained there for 18 days and was "fined" 3370 yuan². The following work units were involved: the Laishui County 610 Office, the county government branches, the Zhaogezhuang Town government and Police Station. People who were directly involved in this persecution were Li Zhensheng (head of Zhaogezhuang Town) and Jia Yongbao (head of the town Party committee).

On July 20th, 2000, practitioners Liu Zhiping, Wei Chunlan, Cao Jiwei, Liu Xiuhe, Meng Qingying and Meng Qinglian were called to the town government and detained. The practitioners held a hunger strike to protest their detention. They were released three days later. Although they didn't eat anything, they were still ordered to pay 100 yuan for meals. People involved in the persecution were Li Zhensheng, Li Yin, Yang Xiuhua (from Laishui County), Liu Xingyue (from Baijian), Zhang Xiushan (from Baijian), Jia Yongbao, and Zhang Wengang. The work unit directly involved in the persecution was the Zhaogezhuang Town government.

Two days before the Qingming Festival in 2001, Liu Zhiping was arrested and detained in the Zhaogezhuang Police Station for one day. Police officers involved in the arrest were He Yuxin, Ren Mengtian, and Zhen Zhanjiang. When they arrested Liu, they threw away his shoes and tore his clothes. His family was extorted of 200 yuan.

On November 2nd, 2002, Li Zhensheng led seven or eight people including Fang Yongwu and Li Yin and broke into practitioners' homes around 11:30 p.m.. They arrested Liu Zhiping, Wei Chunlan and Meng Xianbin and took them to the town government office. Next day the practitioners were sent to the Laishui County Detention Centre. After being detained for about 50 days, Liu Zhiping started a hunger strike to protest the detention and later was sent to the county brainwashing centre. Liu Zhiping's family demanded his release several times. They were extorted of 1,000 yuan and also spent about 300 yuan for meals. During the last several years, officials have extorted more than 5,520 yuan from Liu Zhiping.

People involved in Liu Zhiping persecution were Li Zhensheng (head of Zhaogezhuang Town), Jia Yongbao (head of the town's CCP committee), Li Yin (head of the political and judiciary committee), Fang Yongwu and others.

2. Persecution of Falun Gong practitioner Cao Qingmei

Ms. Cao Qingmei is over 70 years old. She had several diseases before she started to practise Falun Gong. One of them was a tumour in her throat, from which she suffered a lot. She had spent several thousand yuan to have it removed through surgery. However it grew back again. Just when she struggled and was at the brink of death, she began to practise Falun Dafa in 1997, and soon all of her diseases disappeared. She also learned how to be a good person and the purpose of life.

In the spring of 2000, Cao Qingmei and three other fellow practitioners went to the Laishui County government to speak out for justice for Falun Gong. Armed police officers arrested them. They were taken to the courtyard of the county police department and were cuffed from the back to concrete poles for more than three hours. Later they were sent to the detention centre and were detained for three days and three nights. Then they were sent to the county's CCP school and had to endure forced brainwashing sessions for two weeks. During that time, the police and locally hired thugs brutally tortured Cao Qingmei and other practitioners. They whipped the practitioners with wet ropes made of hemp or with whips made of electric wires, and also beat them with the handles of mops. The practitioners had to kneel on the mop handles, on concrete blocks with sharp corners, or on the ground for long hours. They forced practitioners to move around on their knees. They tied practitioners' hands behind their backs and forcefully pulled up their arms behind their backs, thus causing severe pain. They tried to force practitioners to write a guarantee statement to give up Falun Gong with all kinds of methods.

Those responsible work in the Laishui County "610 Office", the county government branches, Zhaogezhuang Town government and Police Stations. People involved in the persecution and torture were Li Zhensheng, Fang Yongwu, Li Yin, Yang Xiuhua and others. When Cao Qingmei was released home, they also extorted 3,300 yuan from her.

In July 2001, people from the Zhaogezhuang town government and Police Station and the head of the village, Meng Zhaojian and the village committee member Meng Qingwei came to Cao Qingmei's home. They searched and confiscated her home and arrested Cao Qingmei. They also handcuffed her in the yard of the town government and exposed her an entire day to the hot sun. She was extorted of 200 yuan.

On August 31st, 2006, Cao Qingmei and two other fellow practitioners were followed by police officers when they were distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the truth about Falun Dafa. They were first detained in the Laishui County Police Department and later in the county detention centre. The next day, the deputy of the town police station and the head of the village searched and confiscated three practitioners' homes. They took away all Dafa materials, a tape recorder and two tapes. Cao Qingmei started a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was released on September 4th. Her family was extorted of 450 yuan.

For several years, the confiscation and extortions inflicted on Cao Qingmei amounted to about 4,190 yuan.

Contacts:

Liu Shuhua, deputy of Zhaogezhuang Town, 86-312-4578756
Zhaogezhuang Town Police Station: 86-312-4578695

3. Persecution of Dong Guangqin

Ms. Dong Guangqin was from Xiaofengkou Village, Zhaogezhuang Town in Laishui County. Because of her belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance", she had been sent to a brainwashing centre and extorted of 50 yuan shortly after the persecution began in 1999. On October 1st, 1999, she was detained in the town government with other practitioners to prevent them from going to Beijing to appeal. The village cadres kept harassing and threatening her since then. Dong Guangqin died on January 23rd, 2003.

4. A persecution case - described by a young practitioner

In March 2002, I was discharged from school because I explained the facts about Falun Dafa in my school. The head teacher of my class was Cheng Fengxia. The principal of the school is Zhang Ze.

At midnight on August 25th, 2002, led by Ren Mengtian, head of the Longmen Township Police Station, more than 30 police officers including Du Jianzhu broke into my house. Without showing any legal papers, they broke into locked cabinets and searched the house. Du Jianzhu kept scolding me while conducting the search. They took away Falun Dafa books. My father was taken to the local police station. After they had extorted 3,000 yuan, they still sent my father to the detention centre. When my mother and I went to the police station to enquire about my father, Ren Mengtian beat us brutally. Three months later, Wang Fucai and Dai Chunjie sentenced my father to two years of forced labour. My father was sent to the Balizhuang Forced Labour Camp in Baoding City. During the SARS period in 2003, Du Jianzhu and Li Man from the Longmen Township Police Station colluded with Zhang Yongzhi from the township government. They came to our home to harass us.

My father suffered from brutal treatment in the labour camp. He was so weak that he couldn't take care of himself. On June 25th, 2004, my father was allowed to come back home. However, the next day, the police officers Li Man and Sun Zhongmin from the local police station immediately came to our home to harass us. Later Li Man often followed and monitored my father. One week after my father was back home, Wang Fucai from the county "610 Office" and Dai Chunjie from the political and security section came to harass us again. They were very rampant and ordered my father not to go outside.

Contacts:

Longmen Township Police Station: 86-312-4617110
Longmen Township government: 86-312-4617137, 86-312-4617179

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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/9/20/163041.html