Weifang Communist Agents Detain and Brutally Torture Li Tianmin and All Five Members of His Family

Li Tianmin and his family live in Weifang City, Shandong Province. They are all Falun Gong practitioners. On October 11th, 2007, all five of Mr. Li's family members and relatives were once again arrested by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government officials. At present, Mr. Li Tianmin is being detained in the Weifang Detention Centre; his wife, Ms. Lou Hongmei, has been sentenced to two years of forced labour and is in the notorious Wang Village Forced Labour Camp; and his mother-in-law was detained in the 610 Office¹ in Weifang awaiting brainwashing sessions. While detained, she was tortured, and her former illnesses relapsed and she was sent home. Li Tianmin's brother-in-law was also sentenced to two years of forced labour and detained in Zhangqiu Forced Labour Camp. His sister-in-law was also detained in a detention centre but has been released.

Since the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, over a dozen of his family members and relatives, including Li Tianmin, his wife, his parents, parents-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law, have been severely persecuted and tortured by the CCP. Most of them have been arrested and detained numerous times. Their residences have been ransacked. One of them was sentenced to prison terms, three of them were sentenced to forced labour, and two of them were tortured to death.

Mr. Li Tianmin is 37 years old. He started practising Falun Gong in 1995. He triedto live strictly according to the requirements of Falun Gong. People around him say that he always cared about and helped other people.

In June and July of 1999, the Fangzi District Government published an article in the Popular Science Forum that slandered Falun Gong as well as articles written by practitioners. The effect was very damaging. Li Tianmin and Lou Hongmei went to the Fangzi District Government with some other practitioners in order to speak out for justice for Falun Gong to the people who published the article. They asked the editors of the magazine to stop slandering Falun Gong. However, the district CCP party head, Huang Weilian, ordered local police officers to detain Li Tianmin and his wife for 24 hours. On July 14th, 1999, several practitioners went to the municipal building (the enquiry office is next door) to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. They stayed for more than 24 hours. Because of that, people at the municipal CCP party committee and officials from the municipal government held an urgent meeting. They invited 10 practitioners who had appealed to attend the meeting. Li Tianmin was also invited. The mayor, Wang Boxiang, and the deputy mayor, Hu Gang agreed to stop publishing articles that slandered Falun Gong. They also promised not to punish the practitioners that appealed. At the end of the meeting, they documented the agreement. Mayor Wang Boxiang told Li Tianmin, "Don't be afraid. The municipal government will not punish you, and I mean what I say."

Yet, five days later, on July 20th, police officers from the municipal police station broke into Mr. Li's residence and arrested him. Their excuse was that Mr. Li "disclosed national secrets" and that he "gathered Falun Gong practitioners and attacked the municipal government." After Li Tianmin had been detained for six months, he was sentenced to four years' imprisonment on February 2nd, 2000. Officials at the mid-level court in Weifang City were pressured by officials of the Municipal Political and Judiciary Committee to sentence Mr. Li.

In the court, the judge asked Li Tianmin if he needed a lawyer. Mr. Li replied, "I don't need one, because I'm not guilty of anything. Practising Falun Gong is not a crime. The facts are the best self-defence for me." In the meantime, he pulled up his sleeves and trouser legs to show the wounds and scars he received when he was tortured by the police. The scene shocked those who were present, and the judge was speechless.

After Mr. Li was sentenced to one year on October 27th, 2000, Ms. Lou Hongmei was sentenced to three years of forced labour and admitted to the Women's Forced Labour Camp in Jinan City.

Li Tianmin's sister-in-law and her husband (Lou Aiqing and Ji Jun) also practise Falun Gong. In October 2000, after Ms. Lou Aiqing went to Beijing a second time to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong, she was detained, and subsequently became homeless. Soon after that, she went to Qingdao City with a fellow practitioner, Xu Bing, to explain the facts about Falun Gong to people. She was arrested and detained in the Kuiwen District Detention Centre in Weifang City. Two months later, on the evening of December 24th, 2000, Ms. Lou Aiqing was tortured to death.

Li Tianmin's mother cried over her son's arrest and her daughter-in-law's misery in the detention centre. She cried until she had no more tears left and was almost blind. The long-term spiritual suffering caused her to faint frequently. She often talked to herself. After hearing about the death of her daughter-in-law's sister, Ms. Lou Aiqing, Li Tianmin's mother started to worry about the safety of her son and his wife. She became extremely worried and frightened. She was unable to sleep and kept calling "Tianmin, Hongmei." She constantly repeated, "They are good people! Tianmin is a good son. They did not do anything wrong. I miss them!"

Before his mother passed away, Li Tianmin's family pleaded with the prison officials to let him go home to see his mother one more time. Officials ignored the family's request, and Mr. Li wasn't able to see his mother before she passed away.

Mr. Ji Jun is employed at the Township Business Administration Bureau in Weifang City, Shandong Province. Because he remains steadfast in his belief in Falun Gong, he has been detained numerous times. In early 2000, he was sentenced to three years of forced labour and imprisoned in the forced labour camp in Qingdao City, Shandong Province. The labour camp did not tell him about the death of his wife, Lou Aiqing. Three years later when he was released, he went home, happy that he would soon see his wife and daughter. After he got to Weifang from Qingdao, he learned the sad news of her death.

In 2003, Li Tianmin was released from prison. There was nothing left at home. His father was close to 80 years old and needed his help. To support his family, Mr. Li opened a printing store with a partner to make ends meet.

In the afternoon of March 13th, 2006, the head of the Police Department in Weifang City, Ding, took a group of policemen and broke into Mr. Li's store and searched it. Afterwards, they searched his residence. Even though they failed to find any "evidence" to use against him, they arrested Mr. Li and detained him at the local police department until that evening. Before he was released, the police confiscated his car, cell phone, an MP3 player, and many other personal belongings. From then on, they started to follow and monitor Li Tianmin.

At noon on October 11th, 2007, Mr. Li was taking care of his father in the hospital. Led by Gu Zhiyong, police officers from the Domestic Security Team, Kuiwen Branch, forcibly arrested Mr. Li right in front of his sick father. In the meantime, at about 2:00 pm, the same gang also arrested Ms. Lou Hongmei at home.

In the afternoon, the police arrested Lou Hongmei's mother, brother, and sister-in-law. In addition, they also ransacked their residence.

On October 30th, 2007, policeman Gu Zhiyong took a gang of officers and broke into the residence of Lou Hongmei's brother-in-law. They confiscated almost everything, including a TV set, a refrigerator, a DVD player, cash, and personal IDs. They even took torches. Gu screamed, "Our goal is to not leave anything, so that you won't be able to eat. From now on, we are dealing with practitioners one by one. Before the Olympic Games, we will get rid of all of you." Even when the practitioners tried to tel him about the goodness of Falun Dafa and explain that practitioners are innocent people being wrongfully persecuted, he would not listen but exclaimed, "You said that evil will go to hell? I'm sound and alive here. Go get that saint of hell, I'll kick him to death!"

Mr. Li Tianmin's mother-in-law, Fan Fumei, is over 70 years old. She has been to Beijing several times to appeal since 2000, and has been arrested and detained. Besides that, she has also lost her second daughter, Lou Aiqing, who was tortured to death. Lou Hongmei was first sentenced to forced labour, and her two sons-in-law were both sentenced to forced labour and prison terms. Even in the face of these huge difficulties, Ms. Fan Fumei remains steady in her belief in Falun Gong. On October 11th, 2007, Ms. Fan was arrested along with her daughter and daughter-in-law. Mr. Li's father-in-law witnessed the arrests of his wife and his four children and the ransacking of his residence.

Ever since his arrest, Mr. Li Tianmin has been on a hunger strike to protest the unjust persecution. The prison guards have force-fed him and he is currently very weak.

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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/11/30/167426.html