The Olympic Games are a peaceful and wonderful sporting event, but the ruling Chinese regime used it as a pretext to persecute kind people, intensifying the persecution of Falun Gong across the country during the lead-up to the Games. Many practitioners were arrested and detained. Some were sent to labour camps or prisons, and some subjected to brutal torture. In the Weifang region alone, more than 100 practitioners were arrested in early August and incarcerated in the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp in Zibo City.
Ms. Li Jingyan, 42, lives in Fujia Village of the Weicheng District. Prior to her beginning the practice of Falun Gong in 1998, Li Jingyan was in poor health and had to take medicine every day. She was unable to help the family on the farm. Her family spent a lot of money and time on getting her medical treatment. In 1998, someone introduced her to Falun Gong, and since that time she has tried to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and to be a good person. She recovered in less than six months, and was able to do well at home and on the farm. She treated people around her more kindly, as well. All of her family members were grateful towards Falun Gong, which brought peace and happiness to the family. This came to a sudden halt when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Gong.
Li Jingyan, along with several other practitioners in her area, appealed for Falun Gong to the government officials in the winter of 2000, telling them of the benefits of the practice. They were arrested and detained in a local retirement home. Li Jingyan tried to talk to the guards, "We practise Falun Gong and try to be good people. Why do you beat and detain us?" They immediately beat her with police batons. She lost consciousness and was sent to the town hospital for emergency care. The authorities eventually extorted 10,000 yuan1 from her family and released her. The persons responsible for persecuting her included the head of the town Politics and Law Committee Yuang Xidong, Yu Zongtan from Yu Village, Yu Haiyan, and others.
In the winter of 2001, while at a dinner party, the town Party Committee head Xu Wenli said, "Let's go get some Falun Gong." They arrested Li Jinyan and took her to the Changzhuang Village Office. They demanded that she lie face-down on the floor. She refused and stood still, so Xu Wenli kicked her to the ground. While beating her, he asked whether she would still practise Falun Gong. Li Jingyan refused to yield, and she was beaten throughout the night. The local village cadre wrote a guarantee statement renouncing Falun Gong on her behalf to the town government officials. Li Jinyan was then released. Soon after that, agents from the town police station forcibly took Li Jingyan to participate in a one-day brainwashing session.
On February 26th, 2006, as Ms. Li was preparing food at home, several agents from the Weicheng District Police Department and from the 610 Office2 arrested her. While she was detained in the Fayanshan Police Station, officers subjected her to a beating, breaking her nose in the process. The police station officials denied having done so and said, "We didn't see it. We didn't beat you." Li Jingyan was detained for 15 days and released after her family was forced to pay 15,000 yuan.
On July 9th, 2008 Li Jingyan was arrested again. Participating in the arrest were officers from the Weicheng Police Department, the 610 Office and the Wangliujieban Police Station. Ms. Li was held in the Wujia Detention Centre of the Weichang District. They told her family that they would send her to forced labour if they didn't pay. When her family refused to pay, the authorities told the family that she would be detained for a month. However, on August 8th, five practitioners, including Li Jingyan, were sent to Wangcun Forced Labour Camp in Zibo City without going through any legal procedures.
On August 12th, Ms. Li's family received a call from the labour camp and was ordered to send her some clothing. They also told her family that if they wanted to visit her in the labour camp, they needed to get a legal document from the local police station stating that the visitors did not practise Falun Gong. When her family members went to visit her without the required document, they were forbidden from seeing her and told to come back one month later.
We call on people to pay attention to the persecution of Falun Gong and help the arrested and detained practitioners. Please help to secure their release!
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/2008/9/13/185823.html
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