Mr. Gu Yunpeng Brutally Tortured, Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

Falun Gong Practitioner Gu Yunpeng, who was recently released from Xinjian Prison in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province after serving a three-year sentence for practising Falun Gong, was arrested again in February 2009. Once at the Daowai District Detention Centre, the guards tortured him, forcing him to drink water from the toilet, and injecting mustard oil into his nose and mouth while hanging him upside down. They handcuffed and shackled him, connecting the two. On June 16th, 2009, Daowai District Court officials sentenced Mr. Gu to five years' incarceration and sent him to the Xinjian Prison.

Mr. Gu, 31, was a computer lab technician in the Harbin Aircraft Company's Management Department. He sent emails to colleagues in 2003, telling them the truth about the persecution. Someone reported him to the authorities, resulting in his arrest at the hands of the Pingfang District police. Pingfang District Court officials handed him a three-year sentence. Mr. Gu was fired.

He was released from prison on October 30th, 2006 and returned home to Zhaodong City. Policemen Liu Weizhong, Zhao Renwu, Ren Jiansheng frequently harassed him at home. The police broke into his home in his absence and confiscated a computer and three Falun Gong books. Because of this, Gu Yunpeng decided to leave home and went to Harbin, to avoid police harassment from his home town persecutors.

In the afternoon on February 19th, 2009, more than a dozen Harbin police officers broke into the apartment Gu Yunpeng and fellow practitioner Chen Guojun shared and looked for "evidence." They arrested Mr. Gu in the evening and sent him to the Daowai District Detention Centre. Names of the policemen: Shang Yi, Yang Zhengmao, Zhao Xuejun, Li Shujun, Hou Tingyi, A Sigen, Song Mengchun, Wu Min, Qiao Haibo, Sun Zhiwen, Bai Zhenyu, Zhang Yidong, Zhao Zhenhai.

While in detention, Mr. Gu refused to give up his faith. He said, "Falun Gong is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" which made the guards furious. They ordered other criminal inmates to beat him and forced him to drink water from the toilet, giving him severe diarrhoea. But he was forbidden to use the toilet.

On March 6th, 2009, policemen Qiao Haibo and Bai Zhenyu from Daowai District Domestic Security Division sent Mr. Gu to the Harbin City 610 Office¹ "Reform School." As soon as he walked into the facility, Gu was brutally hit and kicked. The captors chained him to a metal chair, dragged his head down and emptied two bottles of mustard oil into his mouth and nose. The tortures left him bloodied. His family members arrived and found Mr. Gu crawling on the floor, with the handcuffs and shackles connected. They inquired why he was covered in blood. The police told them Mr. Gu suffered from a nose-bleed.

The morning of June 16th, 2009, Harbin Daowai District Court officials held an "open" trial to charge Gu Yunpeng and Li Guojun. The place was full of uniformed and plain-clothes police. When the police car arrived, people could see the two men squeezed on the floor behind the seats, their heads covered, wearing handcuffs and shackles.

Each practitioner was permitted to have only three family members in attendance. They had to show their IDs and submit to a body search. Only eight people sat in the courtroom - six from the practitioners' families and two policemen from the domestic security division.

When Gu's mother saw her son being escorted into the court-room, she was dismayed to see her son's emaciated body and dirty clothes. She whispered to her husband. A policeman rushed in, holding an electric baton and shouted to the older woman, "Get out if you talk!" Gu's father had to repeatedly beg the police for pardon, to allow his wife to stay.

Gu Yunpeng's parents hired lawyer Ms. Song Jingchao from the Dongxu Law Firm in Heilongjiang Province. They asked the lawyer to defend their son's innocence. Prior to the trial, Ms. Song also had to submit to a humiliating body search. Daowai District Court Chief Judge Chen Fengyan, Judge Li Xiaojing, Associate Judge Kong Linghong, Secretary Xun Chunhui and Daiwai District Prosecutor Xu Dan verbally threatened Ms. Song. They told her of the existence of an official document that says no one is supposed to defend Falun Gong practitioners. Lawyers could only argue for leniency, based on the evidence found concerning the defendant. "If you dare to defend his innocence, we will arrest you."

Ms. Song had to comply and defend Mr. Gu as guilty. The chief judge asked questions and she answered. It appeared that the lawyer was the defendant.

When Gu Yunpeng stated his right to his own spiritual belief and recounted the tortures he had endured the judges repeatedly cut him off, saying, "Arguing with the court will affect your sentence!"

The court and prosecutor ignored the law and human rights. Mr. Gu was sentenced to five years in prison, and as stated above, is incarcerated at the Xinjian Prison in Harbin City.

Persons responsible for Gu's arrest:
Zhaodong City Police Department Domestic Security Division
Team Leader: Ren Diansheng, 86-455-7796856; policeman Zhao Renwu: 86-455-7789400;
Liu Weizhong: 86-13199588610(Mobile)
Daowai District Domestic Security division; policeman Hou Tingyi: 86-451-88570956

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/2009/8/5/205920.html