Persecution of Mr. Qi Shuangyuan in Jiamusi Prison

Name: Qi Shuangyuan
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Huachuan County, Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 4th, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jiamusi Prison
City: Jiamusi
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced labour, torture, hands cuffed behind the back, physical restraint, imprisonment, extortion, denied visitation.

On the evening of September 4th, 2008, practitioner Qi Shuangyuan was arrested by police when he was chatting with his family members and neighbours outside. He was sentenced to a six-year prison term on November 21st. He was put into Jiamusi Prison on January 20th, 2009. In March 2010, he started having convulsions and fell unconscious eight times.

Below is an account from Mr. Qi's younger sister about the persecution against him.

I am Qi Shuangyuan's younger sister. On March 15th, 2011, I received a call from my family that my brother was in Jiamusi Centre Hospital. I rushed to visit him; however, the police stopped me from going inside. There were three policemen, one of whom was Division Director Li. They demanded to see my identification and wanted me to prove that I was not a Falun Gong practitioner. After repeated demands, I managed to see my brother.

My brother lost a tooth. I asked if it was due to being beaten by police. Division Director Li said: “Your brother has epilepsy, and he broke his tooth himself during a seizure.” When my brother was at home, he was in good health from practising Falun Gong. In 2001, he was arrested by armed police in Huachuan County. He was bound to an iron chair for seven days and nights in the Xigemu Labour Camp, in an attempt to force him to give up his belief. His flesh had been worn away from his bones due to the long-term torture. When he was released, he had high blood pressure due to the torture he suffered. This time he had developed epilepsy.

I asked my brother who had beaten him. He told me that he suffered the torture in Hongxinglong. During the autumn of 2008 as well as at the end of that year, Xu Lianbin, head of the Hongxinglong Police Bureau, incited the policemen and prisoners to persecute my brother. They forced his hands against his back with one hand cuffed below, and the other hand cuffed from above. They tortured him in this position for several days and nights, and did not let him go until he foamed at the mouth and started having a seizure. They cuffed him with shackles that weighed more than 130 pounds.

When he was in detention, our family suffered too. We went to the Hongxinglong Detention Centre to visit him. Every time we saw him, he was wearing cuffs on his hands and feet. The heavy cuffs caused him great pain. We hired a lawyer to defend him. However, Xu Lianbin insulted us several times and chased me, my sister, and my sister-in-law out of his office.

When my brother was transferred from Hongxinglong to Jiamusi Prison, we went to see him. Every time, Cao Jianwu, Zhang Qingfeng and Zhang Ping, as well as personnel from the transformation department, would ask us if we believed in Falun Gong and what we thought of Falun Gong. If we did not answer their questions, we would not be allowed to see my brother. In the autumn of 2010, I heard that my brother had seizures again, so I was very worried. My request to see him was refused by Zhang Ping. He said that if I did not criticise Falun Gong, I would not be allowed to see him. Whenever we went to see him, the police there would make our lives difficult.

Zhang Qingfeng from the transformation department extorted money from us several times. If we deposited money into his and his wife's mobile phone accounts, he would let us see my brother.

My two elder sisters were not allowed to see my brother because they both refused to say bad things about Falun Gong. My elder brother's bank account was frozen by the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong). When my brother was back home, he suffered seizures twice within two weeks. Zhao Jing, a policeman from Chengnan Police Station, went to his home to harass him.

Persons involved in the persecution against my family include Liu Hongyin, Head of the police bureau; Shen Yanfeng, Director of the Chengnan Police Station; Tan Fengyou, Director of the 610 Office; and Ni Li, Party Secretary of the Politics and Law Commission.

This is only what I know of the persecution against my brother.

Related article:

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2009/2/20/104969.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/4/14/239038.html