Three Falun Gong Practitioners Brutally Arrested in Dalian City and Sent to Forced Labour

On December 2nd, 2008, officers from the Dalian City Domestic Security Division, Jinzhou District Domestic Security Division, and a group of eight plain clothes policemen (one of them is Lu Zhiqiang) from Liangjiadian Police Station of Jinzhou District barged into Yilin Photo Studio in Dengshahe Town. They forcibly took away married couple Mr. Yan Shoulin and Ms. Yang Chunmei, who were working there. Several eyewitnesses said, "We saw a few plain clothes policemen surround and brutally beat Yan Shoulin. The first one stepped on Yan's head while another one stepped on his legs. The third one kicked Yan's body brutally." Yan's ribs were broken. A couple of them carried Yan Shoulin to the car. Yang Chunmei was dragged into the car, and her clothes were torn in the struggle.

Yilin Photo Studio is located on a busy street in Dengshahe Town. When the police were abducting Yan Shoulin and Yang Chunmei, there were many people who gathered to watch. They witnessed with their own eyes the ruffian methods the police used to forcibly take away Falun Gong practitioners. Some citizens were outraged and said, "Go and sue them. The policemen behaved no different from criminal gangsters."

Two days later on December 4th, 2008, this same group of policemen came to 123 Secondary School in Dengshahe Town. They had the intention of arresting practitioner Mr. Zhang Hui. However, Zhang Hui was not present, so they forcibly took away Zhang Hui's wife Ms. Miao Yuhuan (also a Falun Gong practitioner) for no valid reason.

Later Mr. Yan Shoulin was incarcerated at Jinzhou Detention Centre while Ms. Yang Chunmei was incarcerated at Dalian City Drug Reformatory. She was later transferred to Dalian City Yaojia Detention Centre. Miao Yuhuan was incarcerated at Dalian City Yaojia Detention Centre. Zhang Hui was forced to leave his home to avoid further persecution.

The family members of the three practitioners were made to go through unnecessary pain and suffering. Yan Shoulin's father was outraged and worried. He felt so helpless in trying to rescue his son and under these conditions he fell ill and had to be put on an IV to sustain his life. Yan's mother worried about the safety of her son and daughter-in-law while taking care of her husband and her grandchild (Yan Shoulin and Yang Chunmei's 11-year-old son). The young child had to withstand the pain of being separated from his parents at such a young age. He has also fallen ill as a result.

Zhang Hui's father is very old and is paralysed on one side of his body. He requires constant care and supervision. His mother has severe heart disease which requires her to have medication at all times. She went to the Liangjiadian Police Station to ask for the release of her daughter-in-law Miao Yuhuan, but she was unreasonably chased out and reprimanded by policeman Lu Zhiqiang.

Miao Yuhuan's daughter Jinglian is only three years old. As her mother was arrested and her father was forced to leave home to avoid the persecution, the little girl is now homeless. Her aged grandmother and grandfather carried the child and traveled hundreds of miles to come to Liangjiadian Police Station, Jinzhou Domestic Security Division and Dalian Domestic Security Division to ask for the release of the child's mother.

On January 6th, 2009, little Jinglian, her grandmother and aunt went to the Jinzhou Domestic Security Division to look for the team leader Zhou Jun and the case officer Lu Zhiqiang to ask for the release of the child's mother. However, the authorities said that they had already sentenced Miao Yuhuan, Yang Chunmei and Yan Shoulin to one year of forced labour. Miao Yuhuan and Yang Chunmei was sent to Masanjia Reformatory in Shenyang City while Yan Shoulin is incarcerated at Dalian Reformatory.

Three practitioners were sentenced to forced labour and their family members were not informed, nor was there any official paperwork received as notification. When the family members asked Zhou Jun, "On what legal basis are you incarcerating Miao Yuhuan? What is the legal case and proof of any wrongdoing?" Zhou Jun immediately hung up the phone. When Zhou Jun got off work, he was about to pass by the main hall of the police station on his way home. He saw the practitioners' family members in the hall and hurriedly raced off to his car and drove off.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/1/10/193280.html