Sichuan Police Steal Elderly Woman's Life's Savings, Accuse Her of Intravenous Drug Use as Justification for Their Crime

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Tan Chun, 66, is from Daishi Town, Guangan City, Sichuan Province. Her husband died long ago. She supports her whole family by collecting recyclables and doing housecleaning and other odd jobs. Her 6-year-old grandson, her 92-year-old mother, and her congenitally blind son all rely her to take care of them.

Ms. Tan's daughter wired money to her in October 2009, to help with living expenses for her grandson and her blind son. Local officials got wind of this and ransacked Ms. Tan's home, claiming she was an intravenous drug user. They held her blind son in custody overnight, and took her to a detention centre where she was held for one month.

Below is Ms. Tan's account regarding her ordeal:

I received the money from my daughter on October 13th, 2009. Local officials Xiang Yuncheng and Zeng Xiangyi showed up at my door the next morning, claiming that the money was from a "Falun Gong organisation," for me to make materials informing people about Falun Gong and the persecution. They deemed it "illegal income."

Xiang Yuncheng made several phone calls, and Dashi Town Police Station officer Tang Guofu, policeman Dai Wenwu and a few others, Street Committee staff Liu Wei and Zhang Qizheng, Security Team head Liu Jiatong, Daishi Middle School Political Education head Xie Zhongfu, and Daishi Town head Ding Yulin soon arrived at my place. Without producing a search warrant, they broke into my home. They cooked up a story saying I used intravenous drugs and had needles, cocaine, a fax machine, and counterfeit money in my home.

Even though my son is blind and severely disabled, the officials still took him to the police station, where they interrogated and intimidated him for a whole day. They didn't release him until around six o'clock in the evening.

Before arresting me, they called for additional agents, including Domestic Security head Zhang Qiang, a clerk, and a deputy head from the police station. There were more than a dozen people. They confiscated three MP3 players, three copies of the Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun, cash, more than 40 CDs, envelopes, several hundred plastic bags, a cotton bag, and a DVD player my daughter had sent me. My daughter kept a safe in my place, which the police didn't spare, either. These people stayed for more than ten hours, turning my house upside down. They even searched my chicken coop and recyclable materials pile.

Then they took me to the police station where they beat me and tried to make me reveal the sources of my Falun Gong materials and the names of practitioners I had contact with. I simply refused to answer. At night a policewoman searched me and confiscated money, my keys and my ID card she found in my pockets.

The police took me to the Guangan District Police Office on October 15th, before transferring me the next day to the Guangan Detention Centre.

Learning of my son's and my arrest, my daughter and son-in-law, who were working out of town, rushed back to our hometown. They saw personal belongings and recyclable materials everywhere on the floor. Their son and elderly grandmother were on their own, frightened, with no one to take care of them. Grandmother was so sick she became bedridden. My blind son became mentally disoriented after being shocked when trying to boil a kettle of water. While cleaning up the mess, my daughter also noticed that my deposit book with more than 10,000 yuan¹ in it was also gone. My deceased husband saved for over 20 years to accumulate that sum of money. I didn't want to spend a bit of it, despite how hard it is to support the family. The local officials and police, however, simply robbed us of our hard-earned savings!

My heartbroken daughter went to the police station, pleading to see me, but the police refused.

Intimidated by the police officials, my daughter had to kneel before the police for several hours. They eventually allowed her to see me after she went up from the first floor to the fifth floor - on her knees. The meeting was terminated after we were able to exchange only a few words.

Every day, my daughter went to the departments involved, petitioning for my release. She told them how my family needed me, but the officials simply kicked the ball around. As a result, my daughter ran from one place to another for more than three weeks. In the end, the Domestic Security Division agents told my daughter to write a guarantee statement as a condition for my release. They also ordered her to leave her phone number and address so they could continue to intimidate and harass her. I was released one month later.

During my detention, Daishi Town Communist Party head Jin Chaoming worked with police station head Tang Guofu to instigate everyone on the Social Security roll in the town to spread rumours that Falun Gong practitioners used intravenous drugs. Daishi Elementary School principal Li Caiji instilled fabrications into his teachers and ordered them to poison the minds of their pupils and parents. Many people who didn't know the truth developed hatred toward Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners. The local officials also went to check my younger brother's property and confiscated his and my other relatives' bank deposit books. My brother later managed to get his deposit book back. All my relatives worked out of town. The local officials attempted to freeze their bank accounts. I went to talk to bank employees and made clear to them that they had no right to interfere with citizens' personal assets; otherwise, they'd be violating the law. Given my numerous efforts, the local officials eventually gave up their attempts to freeze my relatives' property and bank accounts, but they stopped payment of my son's Social Security benefits.

Dashi Town Police Station head Tang Guogu: 86-826-2745111 (Work), 86-826-2742179 (Office), 86-13982666001 (Mobile)

Daishi Town Head Ding Yulin: 86-13982696968 (Mobile)

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/2010/5/14/223537.html