The Persecution of Practitioners in Huangmei County, Hubei Province

For many years, the Chinese Communist Party's policy for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners has been: "Ruin their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically." The 610 Office¹ and police station in Konglong Town, Huangmei County, Hubei Province, have been following policies initiated by former dictator Jiang Zemin to persecute practitioners. Many practitioners have been harassed, arrested, detained, and brutally tortured.

In May 2001, Xingyu villager and practitioner Wang Chenghua was arrested many times. On June 28th, 2001, practitioners Mr. Zhang Huaping, Ms. Lu Jinhua, Ms. Jiang Meirong, and Ms. Chen Dinghua were arrested. On June 30th, 2001, the Konglong Town 610 Office chief Sun Zhiqiang and police chief Mei Zezhong, along with a gang of police officers invaded Xinggang Village and rounded up practitioners Ms. Xing Taohua, Ms. Hong Aie, Ms. Luo Xiju, Ms. Liu Dengrong, and Mr. Fu Canhua. Without any explanation, these people were detained for 15 days, and the police extorted 500 yuan² in cash from each of them. On July 1st, 2001, police chief Mei Zezhong and one of his men arrested practitioner Wang Chuping in Wangbei Village. On July 19th, 2001, Mei Zezhong and Sun Zhiqiang opened up the so-called "Education School" (brainwashing centre) for the town's practitioners and extorted 100 yuan from each of them. Practitioners who didn't pay were beaten, starved, and detained. The following are a few examples of persecution.

1. Mr. Wang Chuping, 43, a resident of Wangbei Village who had hepatitis B, recovered completely after practising Falun Gong in 1997. When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, police chief Mei Zezhong intimidated and forced Mr. Wang Chuping's family to inform Chuping, who worked in Wuhan City, to return home for monitoring and remain under house arrest. This caused financial problems for his family and interrupted his daughter's education as was no money available to pay her tuition.

On the evening of July 28th, 1999, Mei Zezhong and Zhang Hongliang, along with six other police officers, invaded and ransacked Mr. Wang's home without showing any legal documents. Even though they didn't find what they wanted, they still arrested Mr. Wang and took him to Konglong Police Station for a brutal interrogation. When Mr. Wang confirmed that he still practised Falun Gong, the police pulled out his leather belt and whipped him with the metal buckle, not only shredding what he was wearing but also hurting him very badly--blood was everywhere. The police also burned him with cigarettes. The brutal beating went on until dawn. He was then pushed into a small concealed room with mosquitoes. After they were done with their breakfast, Mr. Wang was transferred to Shili Detention Centre in Huangmei County for a 15-day administrative detention. After the detention, Sun Zhiqiang, head of the town 610 Office, took Mr. Wang to the Huangmei Meishan Brainwashing Centre. Again, Sun Zhiqiang extorted 500 yuan from Wang Chuping's wife.

2. In May 2004, the home of Wang Chenghua, 65, a Falun Gong practitioner in Xingyu Village, was ransacked by a gang of officers from Konglong Town Police Station. The police didn't find what they wanted, so they took two cans of paint from Mr. Wang's home as "evidence" in order to have him arrested and put him in the detention centre for 15 days.

In July of the same year, the police invaded Mr. Wang's home again and, without showing any legal documents, arrested him and took him to the town police station for brutal interrogation. "Where did you get the two cans of paint in your home we took as evidence the last time? What were they for?" When Mr. Wang didn't respond, the police pushed him to the ground and hit him hard all over his body with a long torch, until the torch broke. Even then Mr. Wang said nothing. So they hit him with the flat of a long knife until the knife bent, and then they hit him with the handle, making him pass out many times. Mr. Wang was tortured in this manner for 24 hours. When he was released the next day, the police threatened him, "Don't tell anybody anywhere that we beat you, otherwise, we'll continue to come after you." When Mr. Wang got home, he wasn't able to get out of bed for a long time because he was seriously injured both physically and mentally.

3. Mr. Fu Canhua, 62, is a resident of Xingang Village, Konglong Town. Because he is a practitioner, the police have often interfered with his family. On July 17th, 2004, when Mr. Fu was about to fertilize his fields, Sun Zhiqiang, head of the town 610 Office, along with ten police officers, blocked his way. Mr. Fu said, "I have only been home for a few days after being detained, tortured, and 'brainwashed,' so I am behind in my farm work for this year. How can you be so unreasonable and criminal?" As a few officers broke into his house, they saw nothing but a banner saying "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Is Good." They took it down. When Sun Zhiqiang said, "This is evidence of a crime," the other police jumped on Mr. Fu and took him away.

Seeing what was about to happen, Mr. Fu's wife tightly held her husband's legs to prevent the police from taking him away. Villagers in the area saw this old couple being dragged for 20-30 metres and yelled, "Dragging this old couple this way could cause death--what would you do if anything happened? You always do bad things and nothing good. Everybody thinks that Fu Canhua is a good person--why are you arresting him? Today, we won't forgive you." Seeing the situation, the police dejectedly withdrew.

4. Ms. Wang Chune, 43, is a resident of Kongdong Village in the Town of Konglong. Before practising Falun Gong in 1997, she had a serious ulcer, but afterwards, she became healthy physically and mentally. Since her husband worked out of town, she worked at home in the fields, looked after their son, and greatly improved her relationship with her parents-in-law.

After the CCP started persecuting Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, the police frequently showed up to harass her. She has been repeatedly arrested, detained, and taken to brainwashing sessions, which seriously jeopardized her family life and caused her family financial hardship. In May 2008, when Ms. Wang refused to open the door of her home to the police, they climbed over the wall around the back door, ransacked her home, took away Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution and arrested her. They took her to the town police station, where she was brutally interrogated. She was handcuffed to a chair, denied use of the bathroom, deprived of sleep, and brutally persecuted for an entire night. The next day she was taken to Shili Detention Centre in Huangmei County for an "administrative" 15-day detention.

Since returning home, Ms. Wang has been continuously monitored with non stop interference. One time, when her house was somehow unlocked with no one at home, the police took the opportunity to get in and take Falun Gong items and a DVD recorder as well. After finding out what happened, Ms. Want went to the police station to ask for the return of her property. The police not only didn't return anything but also retained her identification card.

Responsible personnel:

Sun Zhiqiang, Konglong Town Political and Legal Committee, head of the 610 Office

Mei Zezhong, Konglong Town Police Chief
Yu Gang, Deputy Police Chief

Policeman Yin Xiaofeng, who also took part in persecuting practitioners in Caishan Town
Policeman Cao Hong

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.ca/mh/articles/2009/3/25/197750.html