Ms. Cheng Liyun Tortured and the Victim of Extortion by Acheng District Police in Harbin

Name: Cheng Liyun
Gender: Female
Age: 49
Address: Acheng District of Harbin
Occupation: Employee of Uninterrupted Power Supply Factory in Acheng District of Harbin
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Harbin Second Women's Detention Center, a.k.a. Yaziquan
City: Harbin
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, hung up, imprisonment, torture, force-feedings, home ransacked, interrogation, detention

Since 1999, Ms. Cheng Liyun has been arrested multiple times, as well as been the victim of extortion by Acheng District and Harbin officials. She has been detained at the Acheng District 2nd Detention Centre, Songfengshan Police Station, Acheng District Police Bureau, and Harbin 2nd Women's Detention Centre,. Her family has been anguished because she has been persecuted.

In June 2000, Ms. Cheng and a number of practitioners went to the Beijing Appeals Office to speak out on behalf of Falun Gong. Teng Jianhua, head of the Law Enforcement Division of the Acheng Liaison Office in Beijing, took her to the liaison office. She was detained at the Acheng 2nd Detention Centre,, where all the practitioners were forced to bend their heads toward the ground, with their hands pointing upward.

On June 19th, 2000, practitioners who were detained at the Acheng 2nd Detention Centre, went on a hunger strike to protest the mistreatment. They, including Ms. Cheng, were force-fed with salty water and cornmeal. Ms. Cheng came down with a high fever, rapid heartbeat, and a migraine. After over three weeks of detention and torture, Acheng District Police and the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) extorted 5,000 yuan¹ from her family before releasing her. The security division of her company also extorted 5,000 yuan from her.

In November 2000, Ms. Cheng and other practitioners went to Beijing again to unfold a Falun Gong banner in Tiananmen Square. The Acheng Liaison Office contacted her employer, who brought her back to her hometown. The company security division at her place of employment demanded that she and her family sign a statement that she would not go to Beijing in the future and extorted 3,000 yuan before releasing her.

In July 2002, Police Chief Yin of the Acheng District's Yuanzhongchang Police Station and several officers arrested Ms. Cheng and many other practitioners and detained them at the Acheng 2nd Detention Centre. Ms. Cheng was held for over two months, tortured and fingerprinted before being released.
Close to the end of 2002, under orders from the Acheng District 610 Office, the security division from her place of work and policemen Chen Shengqi and Wang Zhi from the security division waited for Ms. Cheng near her home. As soon as she appeared, they beat and threw her to the ground. They ripped off the buttons on her clothes, scratched her hands, and bruised her arms. Her entire body was covered with dirt. They attempted to take her to the police station. The bystanders asked Chen Shengqi why they were arresting Ms. Cheng. After a few moments, Ms. Cheng's husband arrived at the scene and held onto the two police officers. Ms. Cheng used the opportunity to escape but had to stay away from her home. The next day, Chen Shengqi reported Ms. Cheng's husband to Zhai Xuezhong, associate manager of the Uninterrupted Power Supply Factory, who fired her husband. Only after Ms. Cheng's relatives went to argue with Zhai Xuezhong did Zhai back down and re-instate him. A few months later, Ms. Cheng was followed by Zhao Lijun, a policeman from the Uninterrupted Power Supply Factory, and another policeman. They took her to the security division, interrogated her, and forced her fingerprint onto the interrogation documents.

In December 2007, Wang Ying, chief of the Songfengshan Police Station, and other officers arrested Ms. Cheng, as well as other practitioners, and took them to the Acheng District Police Bureau. Chen Yuhao, deputy captain of the domestic security team; Li Juncheng from the Politics and Law Committee; Wang Ying, chief of the Songfengshan Police Station; and several other officers interrogated Ms. Cheng. They handcuffed her behind her back and pulled the cuffs upward while her head was forced toward the ground. They also beat her shoulder brutally, causing injury. Another practitioner, Yu Shufan, was beaten until unconscious during interrogation.

After the interrogation, officers Mao Hongliang and Sun Yanjun from the Songfengshan Police Station and Hedong Police Station broke into Ms. Cheng's home and confiscated Falun Gong books and photos of the founder of Falun Gong. Around 3 a.m., Ms. Cheng Liyun and the other practitioners were taken to the Acheng 2nd Detention Centre. After 15 days of detention, they were transferred to Harbin 2nd Women's Detention Centre, a.k.a. Yazijuan, where they were stripped, searched, and forced to sit on a bench for a long time. Because Ms. Cheng refused to cooperate and did not recite the detention centre regulations, the police beat her, ordered the inmates to curse at and kick her, and deprived her of sleep. During her detention, she was interrogated many times by the Acheng officials. The Acheng District court tried her in secret. They didn't notify her family and sentenced her to a one-and-a-half-year prison term. Ms. Cheng refused to sign the sentencing document. Li Jianguang from the court signed on her behalf.

During the many years of persecution, Ms. Cheng's family has suffered terrible mental anguish. Her husband could not bear it anymore and petitioned for a divorce at the Acheng District Court on August 9th, 2008, and again in May 2010.

The persecution has caused so many cases of injustice and countless families to break up with members either dead or divorced.

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/2011/5/20/241164.html