Mr. Yang Yongli Tells about the Persecution that He Has Been Through

Name: Yang Yongli
Gender: Male
Age: 54
Address: Maozhangzi Village, Goumenzi Town, Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province
Occupation: Farmer

Date of Most Recent Arrest: The second half of March, 2004
Most recent place of detention: Panjin Prison
City: Panjin
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Detention, home ransacked, extortion, torture, interrogation, beatings, denial of toilet use, forced labour, solitary confinement

When the persecution started in 1999, Mr. Yang Yongli went to Beijing hoping to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong to the authorities. Instead of listening, the authorities arrested him and sent him to a forced labour camp. When he tried to persuade the leader of the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) to stop the persecution, he was detained again. He was later sentenced for practising Falun Gong at home. While serving his sentence he was pressured to "confess" many times and was beaten by both guards and prisoners.

The following is Mr. Yang's own account of the persecution he has endured.

Recognising Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance

I started practising Falun Gong in 1997. A practitioner gave me a copy of the Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun. I thought Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong seemed so kind, and I was impressed by the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion- Forbearance, so I said to the practitioner, "This is a good cultivation."

My house was ransacked soon after the persecution started

On July 20th, 1999, Jiang started the persecution of Falun Gong. He used both police and spies to arrest Falun Gong practitioners. We local people had to go along with this, otherwise we would be taken away. One day the police ransacked my house, arrested me, and took me to the police station, saying that I was practising. They also took 50 yuan¹ from me. Later on, people from the police station and a leader of the county ransacked my house, took away many Falun Gong books, one audio system, and one TV. From then on, the police always harassed me and spied on me.

I went to Beijing to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong and was arrested and sent to forced labour

I went to Beijing with my wife, who is also a practitioner, in December 2000 to appeal against the persecution. When we arrived there, even before we showed a banner, we were caught by plainclothes police. They asked us if we were practitioners. I wanted to show the banner so I didn't answer directly. Instead, I said I was visiting my family there. Meanwhile the officer waved at a police car, which came over to me and stopped. At this time I shouted, "Falun Gong is good!" and "Falun Gong is righteous!" I was immediately beaten and kicked into the police car. Soon after that my wife was pushed into the car and arrested. She also shouted, "Falun Gong is good!"

There were hundreds of practitioners arrested that day. We were all detained in the basement of the Tiananmen Square Police Station. We shouted together, "Restore our freedom to practise Falun Gong! We were sent to different police stations in Beijing separately at about 3 p.m.

Two practitioners and I were detained in Xingcheng Police Station in Liaohua, Beijing. When the director talked to me, I told him how great Falun Gong was and why we had come to Beijing. We stayed in the office that night. A policeman asked me my name and home address, but I didn't tell him. He handcuffed me. The cuffs cut into my wrists and they bled. That same night, police officers searched me and took my ID. Then they took me to the Chaoyang Office in Beijing. Right after I arrived there, officer Li Guoqiang kicked me. They sent us, 12 people in total, back to our hometowns the same night. I was detained at Lingyuan No.1 Detention Centre on December 15th, 2000.

While I was detained, Li Guoqiang, Yang Guimin, Xu Shuang, and others from the Goumenzi Police Station questioned us while beating and kicking us. Guards hit my backside. My backside was red everywhere. They said bad things about Falun Gong, and they wouldn't let me use the toilet. My legs were beaten badly, and I could barely walk. Sometimes I woke up suddenly at night and felt uncomfortable in my chest. That wasn't over until I went home.

Chaoyang Forced Labour Camp

Then I was sent to Chaoyang Forced Labour Camp. I was supposed to serve a three-year term.

I wrote the so-called three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong, saying that I would give up cultivation. I was hoping I could get home earlier and start over again.

I tasted a lot of bitterness during the forced labour. I was sent to a team to work hard for 15 days, and was beaten and abused by prisoners. I didn't get enough food. Also, I had to feed the pigs. I was released after one year and 50 days.

Arrested and beaten again for telling the leader of the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners

In June 2002, I called the leader of the 610 Office, Pang Yujun, trying to persuade him to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. I was arrested by the Goumenzi police again. I was cuffed to a heating pipe. Pang Yujun said many bad things about Falun Gong. When he was tired of talking, he took off his shoes and used them to hit my head and face. My face was bleeding and unrecognisable. My eyes were full of blood. My eyes were only two slits. I could barely walk. They detained me for another 45 days and took more than 400 yuan from me before they let me go.

Sentenced because I did the exercises at home

On an evening in March 2004, three practitioners and I were doing the exercises in my house. Someone reported us. Fu Yanling, Chen Zhi, and Wang Guilin from Lingyuan National Security Guard Team and Guo Wenhua from Goumenzi Police Station came to my house and arrested me at about 10 p.m. They took away the Falun Gong flyers, one audio system, and 300 yuan the next day. The police took me to the Lingyuan National Security Guard Team the next day. Fu Yanling, Chen Zhi, and Wang Guilin pushed me down and kicked me. Another officer stood on my legs. They also made me stand with my legs and arms split wide apart, torturing me using every possible tactic till 2 a.m. On the 25th I was detained in Dahenan Detention Centre.

On April 6th, guards from the National Security Team brought me to their office to question me. I didn't listen to them. Chen Zhi therefore pushed me down and kicked me. They took off my trousers and beat me using my leather belt. My backside was beaten to purple, and my left leg had a bump from the beating. I was detained in Lingyuan No.1 Detention Centre that day.

After five months, Lingyuan Court brought me to trail under the protection of the National Security Guard Team without informing my family. The judge was Zhang Lijun (female). I cannot recall everything that went on. I refused to sign any of the materials and told them several times that my cultivation and effort to be a good person was righteous.

I was sentenced to three and a half years and sent to Jinzhou Prison on September 16th, 2004.

I was sent to Panjin Prison No. 3 team on September 24th.

When I was first sent to prison, I was forced to study the rules with other prisoners. Li, the director, asked me, "Will you practise or not?" I answered "I will!" He then said, "Do you want to go out alive or dead!" I answered, "I have not committed any wrongdoings, why should I go out dead! I will surely get out of here alive!"

I was tortured by both police and prisoners. Liang Youhui, the leader of the team, beat me because he thought that I walked too slowly. I wrote to the director of the prison, so he stopped beating me. The other leader of the team, Xia Chunlei, was always bad to me. He beat me all the time.

On April 1st, 2005, I decided to protest the persecution so I didn't work. Liu Rongfu, the team leader, saw that I wasn't working, so he abused me and grabbed my collar to push me to the floor. He kicked my head several times. My face was bleeding. After he was done, he just left. I then sat up and said loudly, "I didn't do anything wrong, so I won't work for you. You beat me, I will sue you!" I then started a hunger strike.

The next day I was put into a small room and cuffed onto a bench for a day. Then they took me to a handcraft workshop to work. I didn't co-operate with them, so Wang Zhonghai, another leader, kicked my chest hard. I could not breathe for a while. They put me in the small room again and cuffed me onto the bench for another hour. Tan Hongju also beat me and put me in the small room.

Several days later they wanted me to work in a field. I refused to. They made two prisoners drag me out of the prison. I then shouted, "Falun Gong is good! Falun Gong is righteous!" There were many guards outside the prison door. The team leader, Liu Rongfu, beat me with a flagpole that he took from one prisoner's hand. The flagpole was made of wood, and my arms, legs and back were beaten until they bled. I didn't work afterwards. One day I was dragged by two prisoners while I shouted "Falun Gong is good!" Team leader Zhang Lei beat me from behind. When I arrived at the field, I sat down and started to meditate. I meditated even as Liu Rongfu walked in front of me.

They didn't make me work after that. I studied the Falun Gong teachings and exercised in prison, and I also washed prisoners' clothes, and told them the facts about Falun Gong. I wrote letters to explain the truth to both guards and prisoners. I let prisoners read the materials that I wrote. I helped them to understand the truth.

This is a summary of the time that I was persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I left out many details. The total time that I was persecuted was four years, nine months, and 20 days.

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/6/22/225791.html