Practitioners Ba Xinmin and Others Suffer Persecution in Nanyang City, Henan Province

During the Olympic Games, the Nanyang City Police, National Security Bureau and 610 Office¹ collaborated to intensify the persecution of Falun Gong. They divided the city into clusters, and then into units of neighbourhoods, communities, villages and workplaces. They dispatched authorities to monitor, follow and report on Falun Gong practitioners. They arrested many practitioners, holding some in brainwashing centres, and extorting "deposits" from them.

The following practitioners were rounded up and held in Shijiankuaijie Hotel and Wuolong Hotel in the Wuolonggang area since August 1st, 2008: Xiao Hong, Xiao Tao (fake names), doctor Liu and his wife, Ms. Zhang, Mr. Du Sian (an elderly person whose son Du Xu had been tortured to death), Ms. Liu Yuanzhen (a teacher). Mr. Ba Xinmin, however, was detained in the Nanyang Second Detention Centre. Before detaining Ba Xinmin, the police locked him in a hotel (Editor's Note: In China, many "hotels" are actually detention centres, commandeered or converted by authorities to interrogate political prisoners and extract "confessions") to interrogate him and deprived him of sleep and food for several days. They put him in handcuffs, with a high voltage light bulb hanging right in front of him. A few days later, a healthy and strong old man was left a mere shadow of his former self. It's horrible to look at him.

Mr. Ba Xinmin, 60 years old, makes a living as a driver. All his illnesses disappeared shortly after he began practising Falun Gong. The formerly stubborn man seemed to have changed into a totally different person. Although he was in his sixties, he looked like someone in his forties. He saved his family money with his hard work and bought a TV, a computer, and a mini van. After practising Falun Gong, Ba Xinmin and his family lived in happiness and harmony with their relatives, friends, and neighbours. Feeling the magnificence of Falun Gong from him, his neighbours and colleagues enjoyed his company.

In December 1999, Mr. Ba was sentenced to two years in jail by Wuolong Police Department simply because he refused to renounce his beliefs. He suffered torture in Nanyang City Detention Centre. Every day he had to work for more than 10 hours, but was fed rubbish that even pigs and dogs would not eat. Two years later when he was released, his weight had dropped from 70 kg to about 45 kg due to malnutrition.

In the morning of August 5th, 2008, more than a dozen police vehicles filled with several dozen under-cover police from Nanyang Police Department, National Security Bureau, 610 Office, and the Tiexi Police Station surrounded Ba's neighbour's courtyard. They climbed over the wall that separates the two courtyards, pried open the front gate of Ba's house, and took away Ba's computer, printer, a van, cash, and other personal belongings. They arrested Ba, his wife, their neighbour, and relatives who were visiting at the time. The police took them to the Tiexi Police Station to interrogate them. They locked up Ba's neighbour, relatives and his wife (none of whom practise Falun Gong) downstairs, and extorted various sums of money (2000 to 5000 Yuan²) from them before letting them go home. They hid Ba in a "hotel" and interrogated him in private. They brutally tortured Ba because they thought he coordinated Falun Gong activities in the area.

One policeman said, "Who would find justice for Falun Gong? We are not doing anything to stop murder and arson. Instead, our orders require us to punish Falun Gong, and it doesn't matter how severely."

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/8/30/185020.html