Mr. Lu Chunshan Suffers Ten Years of Persecution for Practising Falun Gong

Name: Lu Chunshan
Gender: Male
Age: 42
Address: Pingchang County, Sichuan Province
Occupation: Civil service employee for the Pingchang County Tax Bureau
Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 13th, 2005
Most recent place of detention: Xinhua Forced Labour Camp
County: Pingchang
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, beatings, solitary confinement, tiger bench torture, fired from workplace, physical restraint, cigarette burning, extortion, prison term extension
Key Persecutors: Mou Xingfu, Domestic Security agent: 86-13981651961 (mobile), 86-827-6882902 (Xiaolingtong Mobile), 86-827-6227605 (home)

Mr. Lu Chunshan, 42 years old, was a civil service employee for the Pingchang County Tax Bureau in Sichuan Province. He had been weak and suffered many illness since he was a child. In October 1997, his classmate introduced him to Falun Gong. Shortly after starting the practice, he regained his health. In 1998, Mr. Lu donated 500 yuan¹ to help flood victims although his financial situation at home was tight. He followed the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance at his work and did not accept bribes. His co-workers and the high-level officials at his workplace all recognised Mr. Lu as a kind person and praised him often.

But due to his belief in Falun Gong, Mr. Lu has suffered more than 10 years of persecution.

1. Detained for Appealing in Beijing

On January 3rd, 2000, when Lu Chunshan arrived at the Beijing West Train Station to appeal to the central government for justice for Falun Gong, he was arrested and detained at the Beijing West Train Station Police Department. He was handcuffed to a cement post for three days.

On the same day, in Mr. Lu's hometown, police officer Mou Xingfu and other officers from the Pingchang County Police Department ransacked Mr. Lu's office and dormitory. They confiscated his personal belongings and Falun Gong books.

On January 8th, 2000, Mr. Lu was brought back to Pingchang County and detained at the Pingchang County Detention Centre. A few days later, officials from his workplace came to the detention centre and announced that he was fired. After his family was forced to write a guarantee statement for him to stop practising Falun Gong, the authorities released Mr. Lu on February 4th, 2000.

2. Sentenced to Forced Labour

At around 10:00 p.m. on October 19th, 2000, over a dozen officers from the Pingchang County Police Department, including Mou Xingfu, broke into Mr. Lu's home and ransacked it. They confiscated Mr. Lu's personal belongings and took him into custody.

That night, they used torture while interrogating him. Mou hit Mr. Lu's back with a baton with spikes, severely injuring his back. Another officer, Wu Xianxian, slapped him and burned his face with cigarette butts. After extorting 10,000 yuan from Mr. Lu's family, the police released him 30 days later.

At noon on December 20th, 2000, Mou and other police officers came to the small book store Mr. Lu managed and arrested him again. Three days later, he was sentenced to two and a half years of forced labour.

On December 28th, 2000, Mr. Lu was sent to the Xinhua Forced Labour Camp. When the camp guards saw him doing the meditation at night, they made him run 100 laps around the field.

On January 16th, 2001, Lu Chunshan along with more than a dozen practitioners held a hunger strike to protest the persecution of Falun Gong. They were all sent to the 4th Ward to do extremely heavy labour. They had to work more than 10 hours a day.

On January 20th, 2001, since Mr. Lu and Mr. Yang Zhi refused to comply with forced labour, Section Chief Yu Xingcai stripped off their clothes and tied them up with ropes with their hands behind their backs. The ropes were so tight that they cut into their flesh. Then Yu kicked them to force them to kneel on the ground.

Beginning on June 6th, 2001, the labour camp officials started to implement brainwashing as an effort to "reform" practitioners and force them to renounce Falun Gong. Mr. Lu was awakened six times on the first night and was allowed to sleep only three hours the next night. During the day, practitioners were forced to watch videos that defamed Falun Gong. When they refused to co-operate, they were beaten.

On December 9th, 2002, the camp officials began another round of brainwashing. If practitioners refused to participate, they were shocked with electric batons, tied with ropes, beaten, or their prison terms were extended.

On February 19th, 2003, Mr. Lu was electrically shocked twice a day, tied up with ropes and severely beaten. Due to the torture, he lost the hearing in his left ear, his wrists and shoulders were left with bloody wounds, and his chest was severely injured from being kicked.

On October 19th, 2003, after two years and 10 months of detention, Mr. Lu was released and came back home. Due to the long-term physical and mental torture, he was very weak, and some of his teeth were loose.

3. Monitored, Harassed and Sentenced to Forced Labour Again

Officials from the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and police from the Domestic Security Division often came to Mr. Lu's home to harass and threaten him. He was also constantly monitored.

Right before New Year's Day of 2004, police arrested Mr. Lu and detained him for 15 days.

At around 10:00 a.m. on January 13th, 2005, Mou Xingfu and five other police officers broke into the newspaper stand that Mr. Lu was managing and searched the place. They slapped and kicked Mr. Lu really hard. When he tried to run away from the beating, they surrounded him and beat him even more severely. As a result, he ended up with black eyes, bruises all over his body, and blood all over his clothes. Then they took him into custody.

On January 27th, 2005, Mr. Lu was secretly sentenced to three years of forced labour and sent to the Xinhua Forced Labour Camp again. At the labour camp, he again suffered various forms of torture, including solitary confinement, the tiger bench², forced labour, brainwashing, and other methods.

On March 22nd, 2008, Mr. Lu came home after three years and 70 days of detention. Although he was not yet 40 years old at the time, all of his hair had become grey and he had lost four teeth. Right after his release, the authorities started to monitor him again. The officials from local Domestic Security Division, local police station, and his former workplace all came to his home to harass him a total of seven times.

4. Family Suffered Persecution

Over the past ten years, Mr. Lu's family fell apart. His wife left home, leaving two young daughters behind. His parents have to take care of them.

Mr. Lu's sister, Ms. Lu Chunxue is a disabled person. She also practises Falun Gong. In September 2001, she was arrested and later sentenced to five years in prison.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

2. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/4/15/221597.html