Recent Persecution of Practitioners in Hengyang County, Hunan Province

Recently, many Falun Gong practitioners in Hengyang County, Hunan Province, were arrested and their homes were ransacked. Mr. Hu Songbo, a schoolteacher at the Shuihu Elementary School, is a new practitioner and became healthy enough to be able to teach a class again. He wasn't released until the authorities extorted money from him. The following are additional incidents of persecution that practitioners in Hengyang County were subjected to.

Practitioner Dai Kuisong, a villager in his late 60s from Fuxing Village of Goulou Township in the Hengyang County, was conducting business in the Tiechang Market the morning of August 6th, 2007. Someone reported him for practising Falun Gong. Officers from the Goulou Township Police Station seized him and stuffed this elderly person into the trunk of a police car, in spite of the temperature being 1020 F. They sent Mr. Dai to a detention centre in the afternoon and held him for ten days in complete violation of the Chinese constitution. The day following his release, several police officers broke into Mr. Dai's home and confiscated his tape recorder, Falun Gong books and leaflets. The police also asked about the whereabouts of Mr. Dai's son, also a Falun Gong practitioner. At about 10 o'clock at night, a police officer suddenly appeared at his home, demanding to know his son's whereabouts and asking him if there were people not related to the family in the house.

Practitioner Ms. Zhong Mingying was arrested at her home in Yinshan Village, Goulou Township, Hengyang County, on August 17th, 2007. She was working out of town. That day, more than ten officers from the county's Political and Judiciary Committee, the township, the village and the police station arrived in two police vans and broke into her home, ransacked it, and took her away. They did not release her until ten days later. It was said that the police soon arrested her again and detained her for 15 days before they released her on September 27th, 2007.

On the night of August 17th, 2007, police officers broke into and ransacked practitioner Mr. Zhu Pingzhi's home in the Baiguo Village, Jingbing Township in Hengyang County, and took away equipment such as a computer, printer, CD burner, and materials worth a combined value of more than 20,000 yuan (about 1,250 British pounds). Mr. Zhu and his wife have escaped and decided to go into exile to avoid further persecution and arrest.

On August 23rd, 2007, officers from the Hengyang County Political and Judiciary Committee and from the Jibing Police Station arrived in two police vans at the home of schoolteacher Mr. Hu Songbo from the Shuihu Elementary School and arrested him. They kept him in the Jibing Police Station for a day and a half without providing any food or a blanket. They did not release him until his family members and school colleagues visited the police authorities several times and had 2,000 yuan¹ extorted from them.

Mr. Hu stopped teaching in 2005 due to illness. He started practising Falun Gong for health benefits between March and April 2006. In the second half of 2006, he was recovered and was able to teach again. Jibing Police Station officials had heard on August 23rd, 2007, that Mr. Hu was practising Falun Gong, so they harassed him at home, ransacked his home, and arrested him. They demanded that he pay them 5,000 yuan and told him not to practise again.

On September 12th, 2007, officers from the Jibing Police Station went to practitioner Zhong Yan's home, ransacked it, arrested him and fined him 2,000 yuan.

On September 22nd, 2007, officers from the Banqiao Township police station in Hengyang County went to practitioners Hong Fuyin and Tang Shoujun's homes, ransacked them, and confiscated Falun Gong books and leaflets exposing the persecution. The two practitioners escaped. Mr. Hong Fuying went to practitioner Dai Kuisong's home the next day, but in less than 20 minutes, more than ten officers from the Goulou Township Political and Judiciary Committee and from the Goulou Township police station, as well as village head Dai Mingjun from Fuxing Village, arrested Mr. Hong Fuyin.

Goulou Township Police Station:
Police officer Cai Yongguo: 86-13975461822
Police officer He: 86-13974798840

Office of Government Administration for Goulou Township:
Office: 86-734-6846715
Party Secretary Liu Junhui: 86-13875704999

Hengyang County Jibing Township Police Station: 86-734-6846882

Liu, the Section Chief in the Xidu Police Department: 86-734-6818488 ext. 6623

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.org/mh/articles/2007/10/2/163738.html