The Persecution Suffered by a Married Couple in Jiangsu Province

Over the past 11 years, many Falun Gong practitioners in Zhangpu Township of Kunshan City in Jiangsu Province have suffered brutal persecution carried out by the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), the National Security Bureau, and the police substation of Zhangpu Township.

Wang Guiquan, 49, and his wife, Lu Linfang, 48, are farmers in Zhangpu Township. Ms. Lu started to practise Falun Gong in December 1996. Her husband started to practise in March 1999. As practitioners, they have experienced the magnificence of Falun Dafa (Falun Gong), and their family have all benefited from the practice.

From July 20th, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been using inhumane ways to deprive Falun Gong practitioners of their freedom of belief, forbidding them to practise Falun Gong. Over the course of the persecution, Mr. Wang and Ms. Lu have had the authorities knocking on their door constantly to harass them and search their home. They have been forcibly taken to brainwashing centres, have been arrested, suffered interrogation and torture, and have seen send to forced labour camps.

The couple was first arrested one morning several months after July 20th, 1999. Police officer Qu, the head of the Zhangpu Police substation, along with other policemen and several people from the National Security Bureau, were waiting at the gate of the couple's community. As soon as Mr. Wang and Ms. Lu came out of their home, they were arrested. The police took the couple to the Zhangpu Police Substation where Gu Ren, Wang Fuping, and several other policemen tried to make them write the so-called guarantee statement to denounce their belief in Falun Gong. They verbally abused the couple, threatened them, and tempted them with physical interests. However, the couple refused to write the statement and where therefore not allowed to go home. The couple were held for a whole day at the Zhangpu Police Substation.

Around June 25th, 2000, Mr. Wang and Ms. Lu went to Beijing to appeal to higher authorities, calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. They wanted to let the CCP know about their personal experiences and the benefits that they received from practising Falun Gong, but the local authorities would not listen to them. So, like many other Falun Gong practitioners, they went to Tiananmen Square to voice their appeal. Plainclothes police at Tiananmen Square beat them and threw them into a police car. At that time, all the police substations in Beijing were full of arrested Falun Gong practitioners. They took the couple to a playground and forced them to sit on the ground. They didn't give them food or water, and didn't allow them to use the toilet. There was someone monitoring the practitioners closely.

The next day, Wang Yinlin, sent by the Zhangpu Township government to Beijing, took the couple back to the local police substation. Police officer Fan, with two other people, searched their home. Wang Guiquan was detained at the Kunshan Detention Centre for a month. Ms. Lu was detained at the Suzhou Detention Centre for a month. During the detention, they were beaten and humiliated, verbally abused, and tortured during interrogation.

Sheng Aihong and Zhao Weizhong from the Zhangpu Police Substation, Shen Ping from the Kunshan City 610 Office, and several other policemen from the Public Security Political Security Department (now called the National Security Bureau) in Kunshan City interrogated Mr. Wang. They cuffed Wang's thumbs together with a special handcuff. They hit him with a mop handle and kicked him. Mr. Wang had bruises all over his body as a result of the beating.

Mr. Wang and Ms. Lu were arrested the third time around the end of 2001 or the beginning of 2002. One evening around 6 p.m., Shen Ping from the Kunshan 610 Office, Zhao Weizhong from the Zhangpu Police substation, and police from the Shanghai Qingpu 610 Office broke into the couple's home. They illegally searched their home and then took the couple to a police station at Qingpu in Shanghai. They were kept there for two days and were not allowed to sleep while police officers took turns interrogating them. They were then detained at the Qingpu Detention Centre for a month. Li Donglin, as the head of the Kunshan National Security Bureau, Shen Ping from the 610 Office, and police from the National Security Bureau went to Qingpu to take the couple back to the Zhangpu Police Substation. The same night, the couple were transferred to the Kunshan Detention Centre and detained there for a month. They were beaten and tortured. When the police got tired of beating them, they encouraged the criminals at the detention centre to continue to beat them. Mr. Wang lost conscious several times during the brutal beatings.

Mr. Wang was released with cuts and bruises all over his body. Two weeks later, when he still hadn't fully recovered, police from the National Security Bureau and the local 610 Office arrested Mr. Wang for a fourth time. They took him to the Kunshan Detention Centre and sentenced him to one year at a forced labour camp. Two months later, Mr Wang was released, as he was very weak and close to death.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/8/5/227984.html