Police from Changsha City Torture Falun Gong Practitioners

Five practitioners, including Liu Peilan and Li Zhigang, were arrested in Wangcheng County, Changsha City, Hunan Province by officials from the Qiaoyi Police Station on the evening of April 17th, 2010. In order to coerce confessions from them, three male practitioners were tortured for several hours by officials from the Qiaoyi Police Station and Wangcheng County Domestic Security Division. One practitioner is still currently detained at Wangcheng County Detention Centre. Officials from the Domestic Security Division have forbidden his family members to visit him, and ransacked his home.

At around 10:00 p.m. that evening, three police officers from the Qiaoyi Police Station arrested two male practitioners. The police severely beat the practitioners, squeezed their throats, twisted their hands, batted at the practitioners' faces and kicked their legs. One practitioner's leg was beaten so severely that it bled continuously and copiously and the blood even flowed out of his woollen long johns.

The two practitioners were shoved into the back of the police car with their hands cuffed. Later, three other practitioners were arrested and shoved into the police car while they were walking, by police officers from the Qiaoyi Police Station. Ms. Liu Peilan, one of those three practitioners is 70 years old.

At the Qiaoyi Police Station, several police officers continued to severely beat the three male practitioners by slapping their faces, kicking and continuously beating their bodies and heads with three-centimetre-thick wooden sticks. One officer used the stick to beat practitioners' necks, and the backs and tops of their heads. He struck the practitioners with so much force that the stick was split into two pieces.

Another police officer lifted a practitioner up by grabbing his collar bone with both hands, and shined a special high beam flashlight in his eyes. In addition, that police officer slapped the practitioner's face, harshly kicked him, and tightly handcuffed him so hard that the circulation in his hands was cut off. Handcuffing people like this for a long period can lead to one's hands becoming disabled or even necrotic.

Another male practitioner was subjected to continuous torture for seven to eight hours from around 10:00 p.m. that night to the morning of the following day by Tang Wei, head of the Wangcheng County Domestic Security Division. His hands were cuffed tightly the entire time. But Tang Wei sometimes lifted the handcuffs, which caused the practitioner burning pain, causing him to scream several times. In addition, the practitioner's leg was beaten, causing a large bump due to the severe kicking Tang Wei administered with his leather shoes. Moreover, Tang Wei used one hand to pull the practitioner's hair and used his other hand to punch the bridge of his nose. The whole time he tortured the practitioner, Tang Wei threatened him, "I want to cause you internal wounds, the kind that can't be cured by any medicine!"

Hu Xin, deputy head of the Domestic Security Division rolled up newspapers and then severely lashed a practitioner' eyes with them. The practitioner's eyes were beaten so severely the skin around them turned black and it was extremely painful.

Liu Peilan and Li Zhigang were transferred and detained at the Wangcheng County Detention Centre on the evening of April 18th. Li Zhigang's home was ransacked on April 21st. Right now, Li Zhigang is held at Wangcheng County Detention Centre; his family members are forbidden to visit him.

Li Zhigang, 41, earned his Ph.D. in computer science at the National University of Defence Technology located at Changsha City in Hunan Province. He has been detained at the Military Prison under the Political Department of Guangzhou Military Zone, Beijing Military Zone Command Detention Centre, Chenzhou Military Prison in Hunan Province and Jinshi Prison in Hunan Province for more than six years.

Related articles: "Dr. Li Zhigang is Sentenced for Five Years and Tortured in the Military Prison in Chenzhou City, Hunan Province" (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/1/26/44444.html)
"Ph.D. Student from National University of Defence Technology Brutally Persecuted for Almost Five Years" (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/1/13/56508.html)

List of those responsible for the persecution:

Descriptions of the three police officers from Qiaoyi Police Station who forcibly arrested practitioners:
(1) About 1.73m tall, in his thirties
(2) Round face, about 1.68m tall, around 35 years old
(3) A little thin, about 1.65m, in his thirties

Tang Wei, head of Wangcheng County Domestic Security Division: 86-13787291388
Hu Xin, deputy head of Wangcheng County Domestic Security Division:86-13574168088
Qiaoyi Police Station in Wangcheng County: 86-731-88431003
Wangcheng County Detention Centre: 86-731-88071929
Chen Dingjia, head of Wangcheng County Police Department: 86-731-88175008
Peng Kaiyi, political head of Wangcheng County Police Department: 86-731-88175048
Liang Zhiping, head of Wangcheng County Political and Judiciary Committee: 86-731-88072688 (Office), 88062293 (Home), 86-13908496488 (Mobile)

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/4/26/222230.html