An Elderly Mother's Appeal

Name: Lu Zhiyong
Gender: Male
Age: 47
Address: Farming and Herding Bureau in Heishui County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province
Occupation: Forest police officer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Heishui County Detention Centre
City: Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture
Province: Sichuan Province
Persecution Suffered: Loss of job, detention, physical restraint, forced labour, sleep deprivation, electric shock, force-feedings, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, torture

I am a mother in my 70s. In September 2009, my son, Lu Zhiyong, came to visit me in Dujiangyan City but was arrested on his way home. I have been worried about his well being ever since. Recently I heard that he will be tried in Heishui County Court.

Zhiyong graduated from a law and political science college. He used to be a Heishui County forest police officer and was well respected at work. Since he began practising Falun Gong, he has been living his life according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and trying to be a selfless person. He was a police officer who, in the line of duty, risked his life protecting both people and property. In one incident, he bravely stopped an attempt to steal lumber. At the checkpoint, when the driver of the truck was speeding to get away and other police officers were quickly getting out of the way to avoid getting hit, Zhiyong stood in the middle of the road to stop the vehicle. The driver was awed by Zhiyong's courage.

I remembered that right after Jiang Zemin, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] launched the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Zhiyong, who was recognised as a model police officer and was a candidate to succeed the deputy director of the Heishui County Public Security Department, went with his wife and daughter in his police uniform to join more than 30 other local practitioners to exercise at the Heishui County Square and show the people that Falun Gong is a righteous practice. As a result, his supervisor confronted him and ordered him to choose between Falun Gong and his career. Zhiyong firmly replied, "I choose Falun Gong!" He was placed on administrative leave.

In June 2000, as the persecution of Falun Gong continued to escalate, Zhiyong and his wife, Ms. Rao Qun, went with their daughter to Beijing to make an appeal for Falun Gong. They were beaten in Tiananmen Square and held at the Beijing Office of Sichuan Province. Later they were escorted back to Heishui County and detained for three months. Zhiyong was dismissed from work and placed on a one-year probation at the 904 Forest Farm, with no communication facilities and limited transportation. While the average salary of the workers in the farm was between 1,700 and 1,800 yuan¹ per month, Zhiyong received only 300 yuan per month.

In June 2001, the chief of Section One in Heishui County Public Security Department went to the Farm to promote a propaganda programme as fabricated by Chinese state TV. Zhiyong exposed all the lies in the programme and was severely beaten. He decided to go to Beijing again to make an appeal for Falun Gong. Without any means of transportation or money and with only the beans and pancakes he had prepared, Zhiyong walked for seven days and nights in the thick forest. But before he got beyond the Heishui County line, he was arrested by the police who had been searching for him.

One day, forest police officers Zhou Bin and Chen Aiguo and officer Chen from Section One of the County public security department went to talk to Zhiyong. Zhou Bin told Zhiyong that the organisation had decided to send him for an 18-month study programme, but in fact they sent him to the Xinhua Forced Labour Camp in Mianyang City for an 18-month sentence.

Zhiyong was tortured in many different ways in the forced labour camp. He was forced to stand still from 6:00 a.m. to midnight. The next day, he was beaten in the chest so brutally that he was unable to talk or even move without a great deal of pain. He was tied up with very thin ropes eight times within ten days; he was shocked with one to four electric batons at a time; he was beaten with a club covered with nails, causing his flesh to tear. Zhiyong was once beaten with the nail-covered club for over 40 minutes. He was covered with injuries. Through his pain, Zhiyong sang "Falun Gong Is Good" loudly, and the other Falun Gong practitioners who were detained at the forced labour camp sang along with him. Many practitioners who had been "transformed [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]" declared that their "transformation" statement was invalid and that they would continue to practise Falun Gong. In another incident, Zhiyong was forced to stand for 15 straight days.

As a result of the long-term torture, Zhiyong had an accumulation of fluid in his lungs and serious cramping in his limbs. It was very difficult for him to get out of bed. Under police orders, the hospital diagnosed him with "tuberculous pleurisy." Zhiyong's condition was very serious, so he was released on February 2nd, 2002. After returning home (in Xinjin County), he resumed his reading of Falun Gong books and doing the five exercises. Several days later he was able to get out of bed and walk on his own. He was fully recovered after only a month.

In the afternoon on April 16th, 2002, while he was alone, officers from the Xinhua Forced Labour Camp broke into our home to take him away by force. Though Zhiyong resisted, several officers grabbed him and dragged him on the ground for more than 60 metres. He lost his shoes as he was being dragged, but he continued to shout, "Falun Gong is good! Falun Gong is righteous!"

After being detained at the forced labour camp for 21 months, he was released on the eve of the 2004 Chinese New Year. Some of his former colleagues drove to the forced labour camp to pick him up and told him to go back to Heishui County to reunite with his wife. But as soon as he got there, he was taken to a hostel and was pressured to promise that he would give up his practice of Falun Gong. His wife went to Heishui County to pick him up but was only allowed to see him for a short period before she was forced to leave. The next morning she prepared some breakfast and went to see him again, only to be told that he had been taken to the forest farm in the mountains.

Zhiyong and his wife Rao Qun were 80 kilometres apart, and her workplace would not allow her to take time off to see her husband. They could only exchange notes through people from the mountains who came to Heishui County for groceries. To protest this inhuman treatment, Zhiyong went on a hunger strike for more than a month. Not until he was on the verge of death was his wife allowed to see him. When Rao Qun got to the 904 Forest Farm, Zhiyong, who is 1.78 metres tall, weighed only 45 kilograms. His hair was totally white. Rao Qun walked several miles of mountain road until she found a public telephone to call us and tell us what she had seen. Two of Zhiyong's nephews and I rented a mini van and went to the 904 Forest Farm.

We reasoned with the forced labour camp officials and told them, "Zhiyong is a good person. All Falun Gong practitioners are good people. He is dying, but you never notified us. You'll be responsible for any consequences." We then put Zhiyong in the mini van and left. The forced labour camp officials sent two cars to try to stop us. We went on a different road to escape them. When we got home, we found that the police had blocked our entrance. Three officers from the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and the Forest Public Security Department tried to take Zhiyong away. We reasoned with them and they agreed to release him.

This was the first time Zhiyong's family had been together for the New Year since 1999. Soon after, Rao Qun was reported and taken to the Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zhizhong County.

Zhiyong returned to work at the 904 Forest Farm. Whenever he came down the mountain to buy supplies, he always tried to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to others. In 2005, he was taken to the Xinhua Forced Labour Camp again for singing "Falun Gong Is Good." By then Rao Qun had been detained for the second year. I had to support my granddaughter on my meagre pension.

Since Zhiyong was very firm with his belief, he was the key target at the forced labour camp and was transferred to the notorious Section One of the Division Seven, where he was brutally tortured. He told us during our phone conversations that he was frequently beaten.

Early October 2006, we told Zhiyong over the phone, "Your daughter is just fine. She is doing well at school. Her Chinese composition was praised by the teacher, and she is No. 1 in the class in math." The forced labour camp officials interpreted this as "passing on information" and an excuse to beat Zhiyong until he passed out and was rushed to the hospital. The forced labour camp guards often beat the practitioners while they were on the phone so that the families could hear them scream. We, too, have heard Zhiyong scream from the beatings during our phone conversations.

Besides the physical torture, Zhiyong was also subject to medical abuse. The police drugged his tea, his food, and the IV that was used when he was force-fed. Because of the drugs, he developed heart palpitations, fever, dizziness, blurred vision, weak extremities, lack of energy, difficulty walking, slow reactions, and deteriorated memory. These symptoms lasted for about a month. For several days he was forced to wear a tight uniform, which cut off circulation, causing muscle pain, heart palpitations, trembling in his limbs and insomnia. He was also being force-fed. Chife Yu of the Section and Nurse Rong pushed the tube through Zhiyong's nose into his stomach, causing him excruciating pain and nearly choking him to death.

We went to visit Zhiyong in December 2006 and found that he had become extremely thin and his face was blue. We told him to eat. Zhiyong said, "It's not because I don't eat. It's because I can't eat. I can only eat a tiny bit of food at lunchtime."

Zhiyong was tortured to the point of near death before he was released from the labour camp in February 2008. The Heishui County Public Security Department continued to send officers to monitor us. This lasted until the earthquake in Sichuan in May 2008.

Before the college entrance examination in the summer of 2009, the Heishui County authorities threatened Zhiyong's daughter, Yinghao. She courageously wrote to the authorities, saying: "I have a good father who is a faithful believer of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, but has been detained."

On September 19th, 2009, Zhiyong came to Dujiangye City to visit me. On the way back, he was arrested by Heishui County police who had been following him. They beat him until he was unconscious for two days. The arrest notification the police gave to Zhiyong's wife was dated several days after his arrest. Officer Zhang Zhiqiang and officer Pu were assigned to Zhiyong's case.

Zhiyong is facing trial. Like thousands of other Falun Gong practitioners, Zhiyong is a good person who believes in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They have not done anything wrong, nor have they violated any laws. According to the current Chinese laws, Falun Gong is not a crime, nor are the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance! On the contrary, it is those law enforcers who have been persecuting Falun Gong practitioners who are violating the laws and committing crimes. It is those individuals who have sabotaged the enforcement of law and the Chinese legal system. Article 300 of the Criminal Law, which has been used specifically to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, is a vicious, groundless act that is totally unconstitutional.

For related reports, click http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2009/12/20/113246.html, http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/5/7/97096.html.

Note

1. "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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/12/18/214619.html