Daughter Sentenced, Mother Suffers Brutal Persecution for Making Appeal

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Qiu Yuxia was recently sentenced to three years in prison by the Jiamusi Middle Court, and she is now imprisoned in the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison. Ms. Qiu was arrested by the Jiamusi 610 Office¹ and the Jiamusi City National Security Team on July 2nd, 2008, while she was hiring a lawyer to make an appeal for her imprisoned daughter Ms. Ma Duo, who is also a practitioner. Ms. Qiu Yuxia is being tortured during her incarceration.

On May 23rd, during the Jiamusi Middle Court trial, Ms. Ma Duo was sentenced to three years imprisonment in Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison.

Ms. Ma Duo persists in practising Falun Gong and thus has been a victim of persecution perpetrated by local officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Ms. Qiu was also imprisoned in the Jiamusi City Forced Labour Camp for three years, since November 20th, 2000, and the guards tried to force practitioners to give up their beliefs. She was hung above the ground with her hands cuffed behind her back. As a result of this torture, she lost feeling in her hands. She could no longer care for herself and was almost permanently disabled.

Ms. Qiu was arrested while she was at home, at around 6:50 a.m. on December 13th, 2007. At around the same time, her daughter was also seized by police from her workplace, the Jiamusi Mobile Communications Company. At around 3.00 p.m., Ms. Qiu and her daughter Ms. Ma were both transferred to the detention centre.

On December 29th, 2007, Ms. Qiu's family was told to go to the Changhong Police Substation. Ms. Qiu's blood pressure rose up to 200 during her physical examination in the detention centre. Given her precarious condition, the detention centre ordered her family to pay 20,000 yuan² for her release. The detention centre authorities said that if her family paid the full amount, that she would supposedly be released at 3:00 p.m., and if they paid 10,000 yuan, she would not be released until 6:00 p.m. Negotiations lasted all night, and in the end, the detention centre accepted 1,000 yuan.

On January 14th, 2008, Ms. Qiu's family was told that the 610 Office planned to arrest Ms. Ma again and give her a heavy sentence. Ms. Qiu was forced to leave home to avoid arrest, but she had nowhere to stay. In order to help her daughter, Ms. Qiu wrote an open letter asking people to "help stop such crimes from occurring and to protect kindness." In the letter, she also described the torture she experienced in the detention centre.

Ms. Ma was sentenced to three years in prison by the Jiamusi Suburban Court. Ms. Qiu and her family have appealed the verdict, and they hired a lawyer from Beijing to defend Ms. Ma. Ms. Ma's friends and family went to the Jiamusi Middle Court with the lawyer at around 11:00 a.m. on July 2nd, 2008.

They were trying to look for Song Peixia to deliver Ma Duo's personal records to her. Song Peixia said that she had no time in the morning and made them come back in the afternoon at 1:15 p.m. In the afternoon, Ms. Ma's lawyer, her family, and friends returned to look for Song. They found that the Jiamusi City's National Security Team and its 610 Office member Chen Wanyou were there.

When they went to Song's office, Song was very rude and ordered them to leave, with only the lawyer being allowed to stay. Ms. Ma Duo's family and friends had to wait outside. Song talked with the lawyer for a while and then asked him to photocopy her personal records. She specifically asked him to go to a particular office in the building and nowhere else. Throughout the process, she was slowed down by deliberate delays, and they forced the lawyer to spend a large amount of time on minute technical issues. In the end, she took 20 yuan worth of photocopying fees and refused to give a receipt.

Throughout this process, Chen Wanyou was making calls on his mobile phone. He called more people who were involved in the persecution. Song also made calls until 3:00 p.m. and said that they should leave.

As they approached the gate, they realized that it was surrounded by many policemen. Liu Yan, head of the Jiamusi 610 Office, brought his squad, including Wang Fujin, Yin Zuqiang, Yu Zhiyong, Lou Jiangling, and others. People from the Jiamusi Public Security Bureau, Qianjin Division Bureau, Yonghe Detention Centre, Jiamusi Rural Division Bureau, and Changhong Detention Centre were all present.

The policemen grabbed the lawyer's arms and attempted to take him away. The lawyer warned them not to, so they forcibly took him to an isolated room in the building. At the same time, Ms. Ma's family and friends were forcibly taken to the Changhong Detention Centre.

An older lady, who was a witness to this incident, was also taken to the Changhong Detention Centre by the police. After more than two hours, the lawyer was allowed to leave.

Before this happened, at approximately 2:30 p.m., Chen Wanyou and four other policemen had already detained Ms. Qiu, who was waiting for the lawyer at the Jiamusi Central Hospital. They also detained three of her friends and brought them to the Changhong Detention Centre. Ms. Qiu and a friend were handcuffed there.

In the Jiamusi Detention Centre, Ms. Qiu held a hunger strike to protest the persecution, and she was on the brink of death due being tortured several times. The Jiamusi Detention Centre still refused to release her.

Her family and friends hired a lawyer to make an appeal for the second trial in the Jiamusi Middle Court. The Jiamusi Middle Court however, didn't inform the lawyer of the trial date, and the court upheld the original sentence without the lawyer, Ms. Qiu's family, or her friends present. Ms. Ma was then taken to the Women's Prison in Heilongjiang Province.

Ms. Qiu has been sentenced to three years imprisonment, and her family was not notified. She is to be sent to the Women's Prison of Heilongjiang Province soon.

Ms. Qiu Yuxia's younger sister, Ms. Qiu Yufen, was also arrested when she went to the courthouse with her sister and the lawyer. Later, her family was ordered to pay 1,000 yuan, and she was forced to sign the fabricated documents in order to be released. Six days later however, Ms. Qiu Yufen was taken from her workplace, the No. 1 Hospital affiliated with Jiamusi University. The authorities seized her under the pretext that they "needed to talk to her." It was clear that the Jiamusi Rural Division Bureau and the security section, where she was working, were all involved in her arrest.

In this case, a total of six Falun Gong practitioners were arrested, including Xiang Xiaobuo, Cai Rong, Qu Yujie, Qiu Yufen, Zhao Wenjie and Tian Hongying. They are now being held in the Jiamusi Detention Centre. Currently, practitioner Mr. Zhao Wenjie has very high blood pressure due being brutally tortured. He was released after he paid over 10,000 yuan to the detention centre. The other practitioners are still detained, however.

We appeal to all kind-hearted people all over the world to call for justice and help stop the persecution of these innocent citizens.

Related people:
Heilongjiang Province Jiamusi Executing Law Committee:
Qu Zhenyuan: 86-454-8223490, 86-454-8661798, 86-13946455777 (Mobile)
Jiamusi 610 Office:
Liu Yan, chief: 86-454-8667533, 86-454-8227116, 86-13304549777 (Mobile)Jiamusi Middle Court
Person responsible for Ma Duo's case, Song Peixia: 86-454-8620162 (Office)

Previous report:
Jiamusi District Court Stops Ma Duo's Family from Appealing http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/7/21/99129.html

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.org/mh/articles/2008/11/7/189386.html