The Recent Persecution of Practitioners in Tonghua City, Jilin Province

Falun Gong practitioners detained in Changliu Detention Centre in Tonghua City, Jilin Province, include Tao Lianfeng and Ms. Chen Hongyu from Liuhe County and Ms. Shao Xiulian, Mr. Yu Hai, and Wang Ronglan from Tonghua City. Wang Ronglan was sentenced to four years in prison.

Mr. Yu Hai, a professor in Tonghua Normal College, was arrested and taken to the national security detention facility on April 7th, 2009. At 11:30 a.m. police officers Lin Taiyuan, Han Dongqiang, and Zhao Jinbo ransacked the home of Mr. Yu's mother, Shao Xiulian. Ms. Shao, a retired teacher from the No. 4 Middle School of Tonghua City, was also arrested and taken to the same detention facility. Police handcuffed her to the headboard of a bed and interrogated her about the source of Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution. Ms. Shao, who is 63 years old, was handcuffed for about 30 hours. At 7:30 p.m. on April 9th, she was taken to Changliu Detention Centre. Mr. Yu was taken to the same detention centre at 2:00 p.m. on April 9th.

Ms. Chen Hongyu from Liuhe County was detained in Changliu Detention Centre. She was brought to trial at 3:00 p.m. on March 28th, 2009. Once she got out of the gate, she was handcuffed and forced into a black car. Her head was covered by black headgear. After driving about one and a half hours, she was brought into an interrogation room, and the head cover was removed. According to criminals in Changliu Detention Centre, they were once secretly taken there, too, their heads covered in black headgear. They did not know where they were going. Ms. Chen was handcuffed to an iron chair¹ and had cold water poured on her. The policemen who participated the interrogation included Wang Zhihan, Chi Haibin, and Zheng from Tonghua Public Security Bureau and another woman. They lied to her, saying that her husband had admitted the materials were from a certain practitioner, and told her to admit it, too. They also tried to force her to sign papers.

Chen Hongyu was handcuffed to an iron chair for 24 hours and did not get anything to eat or drink. After that, her head was covered again and she was taken back to Changliu Detention Centre. It was already 4:00 p.m. on March 29th, 2009. When she got back, she was blue in the face, and her clothes were wet. Before that, Ms. Chen had been taken from her workplace to Jianshe Police Station in Liuhe County by police officers Wang Zhihan and Yue Xuefeng, and her home was ransacked and she was arrested.

Some time ago, practitioner Ms. Yang Jing was detained in Changliu Detention Centre. After one week of detention, nobody knew where she was sent.

Members of Tonghua City National Security Team
Team leader: Jing Guiquan
Vice team leader: Tian Yuenan
Political Instructor: Cao Qiuxia
Policemen: Lin Taiyuan, Han Dongqiang, Zhao Jinbo, totally six people

Note

1. Iron Chair: The "Iron chair" is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time, see illustration at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/13/198871.html