A Bitter Experience for Mr. Cheng Jingfu, a Falun Gong Practitioner in Henan Province

Name: Cheng Jingfu
Gender: Male
Age: a senior citizen
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Retired

Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 17th, 2008
Most recent place of detention: Detention Centre
City: Zhoukou
Province: Henan
Persecution Suffered: Detention, home ransacked, extortion, beatings, physical constraint
Key Persecutors: Gao Fen, director of Shanan Domestic Security Division, Zhoukou

Mr. Cheng Jingfu, who is retired from Zhoukou Real Estate in Henan Province, was persecuted several times because he wouldn't give up practising Falun Gong.

Mr. Cheng's house was ransacked three times and his personal belongings were confiscated. While he was in prison, he was beaten more than 20 times, and his family had 15,000 yuan¹ extorted from them. Mr. Cheng was sentenced to three years of imprisonment on the last occasion, while his wife was sentenced to four years.

The main culprit responsible for these acts of persecution is Gao Feng, the director of Shanan Domestic Security Division in Zhoukou.

In November 1999, Mr. Cheng was arrested by Gao Feng, at the time the vice director of the Zhoukou Police Station, and police officer Liu Yingdong, who was later promoted to vice director of Shanan Police Station.

They alternately tied Mr. Cheng to a tree and handcuffed him in an office over a two day period, then took him to a detention centre. He was beaten in the detention centre and was forced to pay 500 yuan at first, followed by 3,000 yuan to secure his release and a further 2,000 yuan as a so-called "margin." The procuratorate also forced him to pay an additional 3,000 yuan on two other occasions.

On May 17th, 2008, Mr. Cheng and his wife and his wife's sister were publicly distributing information about Falun Gong, and the police found out about it. Gao Feng was notified and, together with police officers, they arrested and questioned the three practitioners. They ransacked Cheng's house and took them to a detention centre.

The detention centre wouldn't take Mr. Cheng because of his poor health, so they sent him home. Gao Feng later sent false evidence to the procuratorate in Chuanhui District, and Mr. Cheng and his wife were sentenced to three and four years imprisonment respectively.

Mr. Cheng was persecuted outside the prison because of his health, but his wife was sent to Xinxiang Women's Prison. Their retirement salaries were taken away, and they now will have to live with their children. Their families tried to rescue them, but Gao Feng instead forced them to pay 5,000 yuan.

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/2010/2/27/218933.html