Policemen in Tangshan City Imprison a Family of Four

Ms. Zhang Yueqin and her family of four live in Tangshan City. On July 10th, 2008, Ms. Zhang, her husband He Yixing, their daughter He Yan and son-in-law Sun Fengli were all arrested by police from the Lubei District Police Department in Tangshan. The police broke into Ms. Zhang's residence, breaking their windows and doors. They searched her residence, took many valuable personal belongings and more than 600,000 Yuan¹ cash (Ms. Zhang had borrowed the money to run a business with her partner).

They were all locked up in the First Detention Centre in Tangshan. A team of people from the Hebei Provincial 610 Office² came to the detention centre to brainwash all four of them. They also tried to bewilder them by saying, "You all follow compassion? But since you're imprisoned, see how much harm you've done to your family members?" The evildoers tried to force them to renounce their belief in Falun Gong. In July, Ms. Zhang was the first of the four who was subjected to the torture method Death Bed³.

On August 13th, the authorities at the Detention Centre refused to allow the lawyer to see Zhang Yueqin and He Yixing. Their excuse was that they had orders from higher authorities. On September 27th, the lawyer went to the Kaiping Labour Camp to get the daughter He Yan's signature for an appeal letter. The section head Wang told the lawyer, "You have to get a permit from the Province. We do not belong to the administrative district of Tangshan City." After that, he took the lawyer's ID and bar card. About 40 minutes later, a guard arrived. The lawyer explained to him the reason why he was there, and the guard replied that they needed the original copy of the appeal letter. He also complained that the seal on the bar card was not clear enough so that he could not prove it to be real. The lawyer said that they could simply go on line to verify it, but the guard rejected his request by saying, "We don't use the Internet."

In the morning of October 6th, their family members went to the Lubei Procuratorate in Tangshan to find out more about their situation. The deputy section head Zhang Shuli told them that due to some problems with the files, the lawyer could not see them. But at the same time, the family members learned that Zhang Yueqin and He Yixing's appeal was repeatedly dismissed and sent back to the Lubei Police Department with the excuse of "insufficient evidence." After many attempts, in the afternoon of the same day, Sun Lifeng's lawyer finally got to see him and the lawyer told him that he would submit a plea of "not guilty."

On the morning of October 8th, the family members went to see He Yan at the Kaiping Labour Camp. The guards Lu Haicun and Yang Haifeng refused to let them see her because she refused to recant her belief in Falun Gong. The family members accused the guards of breaking the law, however Yang Haifeng denied it and said, "You are attacking Chinese law. Get out."

Because their belief in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, Zhang's entire family has been repeatedly persecuted. In 1999, after the persecution started, the authorities at the factory that He Yixing worked for demoted He, and in addition, put him under house arrest. Zhang was locked up in the factory for a few months. In 2001, Zhang was detained at the Xiaobali brainwashing centre in the Fengren District for more than eight months. After that, she was transferred to the brainwashing centre at the Tangshan Textile University for more than two months. He Yixing was also detained in the Tangshan Power Plant for over two months, and was later transferred to the Women's Labour Camp in Beijing for over three months. He Yan was first detained at the Xinqu Thermal Power Plant, and later transferred to the brainwashing centre at the Tangshan Textile University. In November 2004, Zhang Yueqin and He Yixing were arrested by policemen from the Lunan District Police Department and the Yongongqiao Police Station at the Hehuakeng Farm Market. About five to six policemen brutally beat this elderly couple on the street.

Hubei Provincial 610 Office:
Zhang Guojun, Leader: 86-311-87906310 (Office), 86-311-87906898 (Home)
Wang Yongzhi, Assistant Director: 86-311-87908681 (Office), 86-311-87906766 (Home), 86-13931110731 (Mobile)
Ji Tingyu, Assistant Director: 86-311-87908895 (Office), 86-311-87906889 (Home)
Ding Xiufeng, Escort assistant: 86-311-87906533 (Office), 86-311-87900918 (Home)

Lubei Procuratorate: 86-315-3724090
Bi Tiesheng, Director; Zhou Quan, Deputy Director

Hebei Province First Labour Camp: Xu Deshan, Director: 86-315-3362702
Ruan Daguo, Deputy Director: 86-315-3368820; Gao Weili: 86-315-3368810

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.

3. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/10/18/187987.html