Exposing the Tongzhou District 610 Office and Domestic Security Team's Persecution of Practitioner Yang Shaocheng

Prior to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the Tongzhou District 610 Office¹ and Domestic Security Team officials tried to sentence practitioner Mr. Yang Shaocheng but failed. Since then, they have been harassing Mr. Yang and ransacked his home. In January 2009, despite Mr. Yang's deteriorating health, they arrested and detained him at the Forced Labour Administration Bureau.

On May 12th, 2008, personnel from the Tongzhou District 610 Office, the domestic security team, and the Songzhuang Town Police Station used the excuse of preparing for the Olympic Games to arrest and detain Mr. Yang at the Tongzhou District's Songzhuang Town Police Station. Subsequently, they ransacked his home. On May 13th, they transferred him to the Tongzhou District Detention Centre.

The 610 Office and the domestic security team personnel sentenced Mr. Yang to two years and six months of forced labour. However, his blood pressure was extremely elevated, so the labour camp authorities refused to take him. Finally, the 610 Office, district police department, and domestic security team officials issued a written notice for "custody outside prison" and released him.

After his release, the Tongzhou District Detention Centre policemen continued to harass Mr. Yang at his home, ransacking his home yet again and summoning him to report to the detention centre for a health examination. When the policemen asked Mr. Yang if he was under "custody outside prison," Mr. Yang replied, "What is the crime I've committed? If no crime was committed, why are you talking about 'custody outside prison?'" He also told them that practising Falun Gong was his right since the Constitution guarantees freedom of belief, that there was nothing wrong with doing this. Rather, the Jiang Zemin [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime was responsible for disregarding the law and committing crimes. The police had no response, and Mr. Yang returned to his normal life.

The authorities installed surveillance cameras near Mr. Yang's home in order to continuously monitor his activities. They also ordered his work unit to allocate a dedicated vehicle and several people to monitor him, leaving him with no personal freedom.

On January 14th, 2009, Tongzhou District Detention Centre police once again summoned Mr. Yang for a health check. His condition remained lower than the standard required for forced labour. However, the authorities decided to initiate the forced labour sentence anyway. They also informed the labour camp officials that the previous "custody outside prison" did not count, and the sentence of two and a half years of forced labour should officially begin on January 14th, 2009. Currently, Mr. Yang is detained in the Beijing Police Department's Forced Labour Personnel Administration Bureau.

The Forced Labour Personnel Administration Bureau is infamous for using brutal torture on practitioners. Since the bureau authorities do not allow families to visit the detainees, Mr. Yang's current situation is unknown.

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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/3/14/197084.html