The Tragic Story of Mr. Li Qingsong's Family

Mr. Li Qingsong and his wife are both Falun Gong practitioners. They live in Qian'an City, Hebei Province. They both graduated from college in the 1990s, had a son and their entire family lived very happily. However, since the Communist regime in China began persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, their family could no longer enjoy peace. The couple have spent more time apart than together. The child had to live sometimes without his dad's care, and sometimes without his mom's love, and sometimes without both, completely losing the carefree life he enjoyed before. Mr. Li's elderly parents also suffer from worrying about their son, daughter-in-law, and daughter constantly being arrested and put into labour camps. Currently Mr. Li is held in the Qian'an City Detention Centre. It has been 15 months.

Mr. Li previously worked in the local Centre of Management and Service of Rural Economics. He worked very hard and was very proficient at his work. He was a good son to his parents, a good husband to his wife, and a great father in the eyes of his son. But even such a good person as he has been arrested many times since Jiang Zemin's [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime began persecuting Falun Gong in 1999.

Mr. Li began practising Falun Gong in 1999. At the end of 2000, police captain Peng Minghui lead a number of police and a co-worker of Mr. Li to search Mr. Li's home. They found a copy of Zhuan Falun, a Falun Gong book. They separately took Mr. Li and his wife to the police station and tried to force them to write pledges to not practise Falun Gong. Mr. Li was held there for 15 days and was charged 3,000 yuan¹. Mr. Li's wife was fined 1,000 yuan. In the detention centre, Mr. Li was abused by the police many times. Policemen Peng Minghui and Wang Shiwu (who has already received karmic retribution, dying at the age of 48) tortured Mr. Li brutally. They took off all his clothes and used electric batons to shock his genitals. They whipped his body over 100 times with a leather belt. Peng Minghui also tortured Mr. Li's wife with electric batons.

After July 20th, 1999, the day the persecution began, the leaders in Mr. Li's work place were forced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to constantly pressure Mr. Li to give up Falun Gong. On July 13th, 2001, State Security captain Peng Minghui, policeman Pu Yonglai, and policeman Ha Fulong, together with people from Mr. Li's workplace, arrested Mr. Li and his wife and put them in the detention centre. Later they were sentenced to one year of forced labour. They were held in Hehuakeng Forced Labour Camp in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. During that year, Mr. Li suffered from torture, including sitting for long periods of time on a tiny, ridged stool and being shocked by three electric batons at the same time. After Mr. Li and wife were arrested, the police from Qian'an City Police Station searched his home and took away 1,500 yuan worth of computer equipment.

In the beginning of September, 2003, Mr. Li and his wife were reported for passing out flyers about the persecution. They were again arrested. After they were held in the detention centre for a month, they were transferred to a brainwashing centre. In there, practitioners were not allowed to talk with each other and were watched by personnel constantly. Practitioners did not have any personal freedom, and they would be beaten for doing the exercises. The person who beat practitioners the most brutally was Yang Yulin, who was a local director of the 610 Office². After Mr. Li was held in the brainwashing centre for half a month, his retina began to bleed for an unknown reason. After strong requests from his family, he was finally released. His wife was held in the brainwashing centre for one year and two months. She was tortured very badly. She was often beaten brutally, and once she was not allowed to sleep for three days and three nights. She could not see clearly afterwards, and her legs could no long feel anything.

However, the CCP did not stop the persecution against Mr. Li. In 2004 he was again arrested. Without any legal procedures, he was directly sent to Hehuaking Forced Labour Camp in Tangshan City for two years. Later he was transferred to Handan City Forced Labour Camp, where he suffered inhuman torture. He was beaten so badly that his clothing was full of big and small holes and had many bloodstains. Even today one still can easily see the scars on his body. After two years when it was time to release him, with strong requests from his family for releasing him, the Forced Labour Camp reluctantly agreed to let him go. But the police from Qian'an City instead held him in the Qian'an City Brainwashing Centre for another several days, and by then he no longer had feeling in his legs.

On June 1st, 2006, his wife was reported for passing out flyers and was put in the Kaiping Forced Labour Camp in Tangshan City. On October 1st, 2007, the police from Qian'an City went to Mr. Li's home in his hometown, jumped into the yard at night, and arrested Mr. Li and his sister. Mr. Li and his sister resisted the persecution with a hunger strike and after two days were released.

However, just several days later, on December 22nd, 2007, police from Qian'an City again arrested Mr. Li. He was tortured with electric batons and there were bloodstains everywhere on his underclothes. He has been held in the Qian'an City Detention Centre up to now, 15 months in total. During this time, the Qian'an City Court held several sessions and could not find any evidence of guilt, but the court simply refuses to release him. He has been detained much longer than the legally prescribed time limits.

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/2009/3/22/197606.html