Cases of Falun Gong Practitioners Persecuted in Ninghe County, Tianjin

Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners in Ninghe County, Tianjin have been sentenced, and sent to labour camps and brainwashing centres. Three practitioners have died as a result of torture; 28 were given prison terms, 103 practitioners were sent to labour camps, and more than 230 were detained in brainwashing centres. The following is an account of the persecution several practitioners endured.

1. Ms. Yue Jingnai

Ms. Yue Jingnai is a resident of Lianzhuang Township, Ninghe County, Tianjin. She was once held in a labour camp.

While Ms. Yue was on her way to Lutai Township around the time of July 20th, 1999, a gang of officers from the Lianzhuang Township Police Station arrested her and others. Township Party head Ren Xiesheng detained Ms. Yue and others in the township government courtyard. All were compelled to watch TV programmes that slandered Falun Gong.

Ms. Yue was arrested in Beijing when she went to appeal for Falun Gong on November 30th, 2000 and held in the Lianzhuang Township Police Station after being taken back. Two police agents searched her residence. She was interrogated that same evening and locked inside a cage with another practitioner.

The next evening Ms. Yue was transferred to the Ninghe County Detention Centre and detained there for 19 days. She was subjected to one year of forced labour and incarcerated in the Dagang Women's Labour Camp. While there, not only was she forced to do hard labour, but a female guard named Luo Hong forced Ms. Yue to stand, facing a wall, with her body bent, sometimes having to hold this posture up to seven hours straight. Another female guard named Guo Ling constantly tried to brainwash practitioners by forcing them to read materials and watch videos that slandered Falun Gong.

2. Mr. Li Xiuzhong

Mr. Li Xiuzhong is a resident of Lianzhuang Township. The village Party head asked Mr. Li and his wife Cui Xiangyun to appear at the police station in December 2000. They then were detained in a large conference room with dozens of other practitioners.

Lianzhuang Township Party head Ren Xiusheng, township deputy head Yang Huijun and police station head Wang Qizhong, along with policeman Li Songling displayed slanderous materials and attempted to force the practitioners to sign a guarantee statement to renounce practising Falun Gong the persecutors had drafted. If the practitioners refused to sign, they were prohibited from going home. Mr. Li refused to sign; he was thus locked up in the conference room, to be subjected to brainwashing. Three days later, police station head Wang Qizhong escorted Mr. Li to the Ninghe County Detention Centre. Fifteen days later, the guards extorted Mr. Li's family out of 2,500 yuan¹ and then released him.

Mr. Li went to Beijing to appeal on January 6th, 2001. Nanmen Police Station agents in Beijing arrested him and he was taken back by Lianzhuang Township police station agents that same day. Township Party head Ren Xiusheng, deputy township head Yang Huijun, police head Wang Qizhong, and policemen Li Songling and Dong Zenglou beat and kicked Mr. Li. They forced Mr. Li to kneel on the snow-covered ground, handcuffed him and then locked him in a metal cage for a whole night. The next day the abusers transferred him to the Ninghe County Detention Centre where he was held for more than a month. He was then subjected to three years of forced labour.

In 2001, Mr. Li was taken to the Shuangkou Labour Camp in Tianjin. While there, he was forced to stand with one foot on the ground, with the other foot raised half a metre. If he lowered his leg by a fraction, the guards incited inmates to hit his foot with a wooden club. In the summer he was forced to stay under the burning sun, and he was deprived of toilet use. He was forced to do 15 to 16 hours hard labour a day and sometimes had to work for the entire evening. When he was in Division 2, guard He Jun shocked Mr. Li with electric batons. When he was detained in Division 1, guard Yang Zhiqiu made an inmate brutally beat Mr. Li. Guards Dong Xiu and Cheng Liwei used electrical batons to shock him and rubber clubs to hit Mr. Li cruelly, until he became incontinent and was unable to move.

When Mr. Li was transferred to a brainwashing class in Division 3 in December 2002, he was forced to watch the slanderous materials.

Three years later, policemen Yu Wenchun and Zeng Guoxian arrested Mr. Li at home at 5:00 a.m. one day in January 2005. As soon as he arrived at the police station, Ninghe County Policeman Yun Peigang, and 610 Office agent (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) Du Mingyue, body-searched Mr. Li, handcuffed him and then took him to the Ninghe County Detention Centre, where he was held for 30 days, and then transferred to another detention centre for 15 days. Then he was given a one-year forced labour term, transferred to the Shuangkou Labour Camp and locked up in Division 3.

Labour camp brainwashing centre head Wu Mingxing ordered inmates to beat and curse Mr. Li. He was deprived of sleep and forced to watch slanderous TV programmes. Guard Xu Peng tried to force Mr. Li to write the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong once in the middle of the night. When he refused, Xu Peng instigated inmates to push Mr. Li onto a bed and then kick and beat him. He sustained five broken ribs.

3. Ms. Li Suping

Ms. Li Suping is a resident of Lianzhuang Township, Ninghe County, Tianjin. Ms. Li and another practitioner went to the Ninghe County Government office in August 1999, to explain the facts about the persecution and Falun Gong. Police station head Wang Qizhong and policeman Dong Zenglou arrested and held them in a township building. Township political head Ren Xiusheng and his accomplices tried to force them to write guarantee statements to denounce Falun Gong.

While in the township building, the guards intentionally kept the windows and doors open in the evenings to let the mosquitoes in. Mr. Li was detained there for six days.

Ms. Li was arrested for the second time in December 2000. Policemen in the station where she was held tried to force her to write the three statements to denounce Falun Gong, but she refused. The persecutors took her to the county detention centre. She showed severe illness symptoms, which entitled her to be released, but only after her family paid 1,000 yuan.

Ms. Li and a few other practitioners were once again summoned and told to report to the police station in January 2001. Police tried daily to force them to write the "three statements," but were refused. That is why they took the practitioners to a brainwashing centre where they were detained for two months.

Three years later Ms. Li was arrested on the evening of May 28th, 2004. Participating in the criminal act were Dong Zenglou and the new police station head Wang. The arrest happened while Ms. Li posted factual Falun Gong materials. Domestic Security Team interrogated her and other practitioners in the police station. The persecutors attempted to discover the source of the materials. When Ms. Li refused to tell them, Du Mingyue slapped her face three times. Since the practitioners refused to co-operate, they were locked up in the county detention centre. Ms. Li was informed a month later that she was to be transferred to a labor camp. She went on an eight-day a hunger strike and was forced fed. She remained in the detention centre for three extra months and was eventually taken to the Banqiao Labour Camp in Tianjin. She was given a two-year term.

Labour camp guards tried to force Ms. Li to "expose and criticise" Falun Gong and write "personal responses," but she refused. Because of that she was forced to stand facing a wall from 5:00 a.m. till 11:00 p.m. Consequently her legs were swollen, but she was still forced to do hard labour. The guards involved in the persecution are Liu Chun Yan and Feng Jing.

4. Li Guangyuan and his wife, Mo Weiqiu

Mr. Li Guangyuan and his wife, Mo Weiqiu, reside in Lianzhuang Township. They have been detained and forced to do hard labour and given jail terms several times.

Village heads Wang Yuguo and Wang Fengqun told the couple to appear at the township government in December 2000, to talk. Wang Yuguo and Wang Fengqun ordered them to pay money and demanded they not appeal for Falun Gong. Mr. Li firmly refused and was held there for six days. After that, police station heads Wang Qizhong and Dong Zenglou took them to the Ninghe County Detention Centre where they were held for 15 days. Once again, they were released only after their family members paid the officials 500 yuan for Mr. Li, and 1,000 yuan for Ms. Mo.

Mr. Li went to Beijing with three other practitioners on January 6th, 2001 to appeal for Falun Gong. In Beijing, Wang Qizhong and Dong Zenglou from the Lianzhuang Township Police Station, and Yang Huijun from the township government kicked and hit them, and took them to the police station. They were forced to kneel on the freshly snow-covered ground. The persecutors confiscated Mr. Li's more than 1,000 yuan cash. The practitioners were handcuffed and locked in a metal cage inside the police station. His residence was ransacked, and the family's tricycle, worth over 5,000 yuan, was confiscated. His family had to pay 2000 yuan ransom to get it back. This time Mr. Li was in the Ninghe County Detention Centre for more than 20 days.

Officials handed Mr. Li a three-year forced labour term on February 1st, 2001 and transferred him from the county detention centre to the Shuangkou Labour Camp in Tianjin. Inmates cruelly beat him on the first day in the labour camp. They used wooden clubs and acted under orders from camp head Dong Xiu. The next day, camp head Dong Xiu and a guard named Shi Guang, inmate Fan Zhigang and others tried to force Mr. Li to write the three statements, but to no avail. Then they forced him to bend his body with his head touching a wall. Shi Guang then hit his back with a wooden club and his elbow. One of Mr. Li's ribs was broken right away, but Fan Zhigang still forcibly pushed against Mr. Li's legs with his knees until Mr. Li could no longer stand up.

Ms. Mo was summoned by village officials to appear for a talk at the township building on March 28th, 2001. Instead of a talk, they held her in a brainwashing centre and persecuted her for four months.

Some police officers went to Mr. Li's residence in 2002 and took a picture of Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong. They arrested Ms. Mo and interrogated her at the police station. Ms. Mo escaped from the police station when the policemen were not watching.

Four months later Ms. Mo was arrested while she was at her mother's residence in Guangxi Province and was held in a county detention centre. Policemen arresting her were Pan Xiaoshan, Wang Conghua and Yu Wenchun. After 28 days of detention, Ms. Mo held a five-day hunger strike. Then she was released, but was monitored around the clock.

Mr. Li was released from the labour camp in 2004, but was arrested once again six months later for posting the message "Falun Gong is good" with his wife. The couple were held in Ninghe County Detention Centre. Their home was ransacked, and Falun Gong books and a printer were confiscated.

During detention, the couple were interrogated numerous times. Du Mingyue slapped Ms. Mo's face three times, making her dizzy and immediately after that. Ninghe County Court officials handed each of them a four-year sentence. Mr. Li was later transferred to Prison Ward 5 in the Gangbei Prison in Tianjin on May 23rd, 2004, following six months in the detention centre.

Ms. Mo was taken to Tianjin Women's Prison on December 23rd, 2004 where she was forced to do hard labour, watch slanderous TV programmes, and write responses to the brainwashing.

5. Ms. Duan Yuling

Around July 20th, 1999, Liangzhuang Township government officials held Ms. Duan Yuling in the township office where policemen interrogated her and tried to force her to sign her name. Because she refused, she was prohibited from going home and detained in a conference room overnight.

Participating in her capture and interrogation were agents from the Township Police Station. The policemen tried to force her to sign her name but Ms. Duan would not co-operate, resulting in her overnight detention.

One day during the winter, while picking peppers, a message came from township political head Ren Xiushen, and police station head Wang Qizhong asking her to come to the village office. When they questioned if she still practised Falun Gong, Ms. Duan replied in the affirmative. She was forced to stand outside the wall of the big conference room at the township building for an entire day. It was snowing, and her feet were frozen. She was deprived of food and not allowed to use the toilet. In the evenings her legs were frozen and numb, and she could not bend over. She was held for five days in the township compound and released only after being extorted 2,000 yuan. Unfortunately, only a few days later Ms. Duan was taken to the Dayu brainwashing centre.

6. Ms. Li Xiuqin

Ms. Li is a resident of Lianzhuang Township, Ninghe County. The evildoers frequently went to harass Ms. Li. One day the township head brought a mob of policemen, including Ren Xiusheng, Li Weidong and Wang Jizhong to demand Ms. Li pay a 1,000 yuan fine. Policeman Li Songling then took Ms. Li to the township office and from there transferred her the next day to the Dayu brainwashing centre.

Persecutor Yan Shurong supposedly drove Ms. Li home from the brainwashing centre once, lying that they were taking her home for a visit because her son was sick. As soon as Ms. Li got out of the vehicle, a person with a video camera said that he did not catch her while she was stepping out of the car. It turned out that those evildoers were making a fake TV programme. They even had a doctor come over from the hospital, pretending to administer an IV to her son. They made a documentary of the video recording to show to the public how much they cared about the practitioners. On another occasion, Yan Shurong brought someone from the central TV station to Ms. Li's residence, to make another fake video. They lied, saying that Ms. Li did not want contact with her family after she started practising Falun Gong. They had all of her family members in the video.

Ms. Li's husband went to township government head Ren Xiusheng, demanding the return of the extorted money. Ren said, "We spent the money on food and drinks. There is only 400 yuan left for you. Even though the others have paid us money, they haven't asked for it back. You can go ahead and sue us anywhere you want."

¹

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/2010/5/1/222665.html