Ms. Duan Linxia, Victim of Ongoing Detention and Extortion

Name: Duan Linxia
Gender: Female
Age: 50s
Address: Qianan City, Hebei
Occupation: Retired from Malan Village Supply Store, Qianan
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 17th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Qianan Detention Centre
City: Qianan
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, extortion, home ransacked, detention
Key Persecutors: Peng Minghui, Geng Jiyang, Ha Fulong and Wang Shiwu from the Domestic Security Group of Qianan; Li Chunyin from Malan Village Police Station

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Duan Linxia was most recently arrested on the morning of December 17th, when she was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong at Panzhuangzi Market at Shaheyi Township of Qianan City. Ms. Duan was first detained at the Shaheyi Town Police Station. In the afternoon, she was taken to the Qianan Police Department by Sheng Maobin and other policemen from the Qianan Domestic Security Group. Ms. Duan's husband, Mr. Liu Jianhua, was arrested in the afternoon. Her home was ransacked, and police confiscated the family's new car. Ms. Duan's husband was released that night. Ms. Duan is still being held at the Qianan Detention Centre.

Ms. Duan started to practise Falun Gong in June 1996. Prior to that, she had arthritis of the spine, rheumatism, and other medical conditions that caused her severe pain. One month after she began practising Falun Gong, her illnesses disappeared.

On July 22nd, 1999, Ms. Duan went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. The next day, she was arrested and taken back to Malan Village. She was detained at Malan Police Station for over ten days. She was later detained by her employer for a while. Her wages were halted for a long time, and she was not allowed to return to work.

In July 2000, Ms. Duan was arrested again, and detained at the Qianan Detention Centre for almost a month. She was arrested many times during the next few years and 3,000 to 5,000 yuan¹ was extorted from her family each time. She was once taken to Yueting County in Tangshan City, where police beat her. She was released after her family paid 7,000 yuan.

In October 2007, after policemen in Qianan arrested many Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Duan and her husband went to the police department to explain the facts about Falun Gong. They were detained and sent to the Qianan Detention Centre. A few days later, they were released after their family paid 10,000 yuan. Ms. Duan's husband was shocked with electric batons in the back, his underarms, chest, feet, and other areas for over an hour. Her son-in-law (not a practitioner) was also detained for a day and had to pay 5,000 yuan.

Ms. Duan was badly harmed both physically and mentally during her arrest. She suffered muscle atrophy; her hands and feet looked disfigured, and she was in great pain. Eventually she became bedridden and could not move at all; her husband had to assist her with the activities of daily living. Her grave condition lasted for over a year.

Around 2:00 p.m. on March 1st, 2010, shortly after her recovery, Ms. Duan was arrested again. Policemen Pu Yonglai and four others went into her home while one policeman stayed outside and guarded the entrance. After entering their home, policeman Pu Yonglai said, “What do you have?” Ms. Duan said, “We have nothing.” Pu Yonglai and another policeman said, “Then let's search.” Without a warrant, they searched the upstairs of her home. They did not find what they were looking for, but still wanted to take Ms. Duan's daughter's laptop. Ms. Duan and her husband tried to stop them. Pu Yonglai said, “We will take it back and examine it. If there isn't any problem with it, you will just have to ask for it.” Ms. Duan and her husband asked them to examine it at their home. The police said they could not do it there. In the end, they took the laptop. Later, Ms. Duan's husband asked for the laptop back many times, but Pu Yonglai used various excuses and never returned it.

After looking upstairs, the police still wouldn't give up. They insisted upon looking in their basement and asked Ms. Duan to open the door for them. Ms. Duan's husband said Ms. Duan had difficulty walking, so he would open the door for them. The policemen refused his suggestion. After some hesitation, Ms. Duan went down the stairs to open the basement door. The policemen did not find what they wanted in the basement, either. The policemen asked Ms. Duan to go with them because the National People's Congress and People's Political Consultative Congress meeting was ongoing. Ms. Duan said, “What does the meeting have to do with us?” When Ms. Duan refused to leave, the police just carried her to their car.

After this arrest, Ms. Duan was sent to the Kaiping Forced Labour Camp in Tangshan on March 4th, 2010. The camp rejected her because of poor physical health. Ms. Duan was then detained at the Farmers' Law Enforcement Group in Qianan and placed in the brainwashing centre on the fourth floor, where Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted, for over 20 days. Ms. Duan went home after her family paid 10,000 yuan.

This account of Ms. Duan's detentions and arrests preceded her current imprisonment at the Qianan Detention Centre.

Personnel involved in the persecution from the Domestic Security Group of the Qianan Police Department:

Sun Jian, chief: 011-86-13832985958 (Mobile)

Peng Minghui, deputy chief (former group leader of the Domestic Security Group): 011-86-13832984718 (Mobile)

Jiang Donghua, group leader of the Domestic Security Group: 011-86-13785512639 (Mobile)

Sheng Maobin: 011-86-13933444036 (Mobile)

Pu Yonglai, assistant group leader of the Domestic Security Group (in his 40s): 011-86-13832987825 (Mobile); Pu's wife's name is Wang Fang: 011-86-137032511869 (Mobile), 011-86-0315-763-5136

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/2010/12/27/4169.html