The Persecution of Mr. Li Jianguo and His Wife, Zhao Shulan

Name: Li Jianguo / Zhao Shulan
Gender: Male/Female
Age: 65
Address: East Railroad Station Dormitory, Tangshan City, Hebei Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May, 2011
Most recent place of detention: Kaiping Police Substation
City: Tangshan
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced labour reform, long-term standing, sleep deprivation, tightening rope, beatings, electric shock, home ransacked, extortion.

Mr. Li Jianguo and his wife Zhao Shulan were persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because they firmly believe in Falun Gong. Mr. Li was sentenced to three years in a labour camp in 2000. In May 2011, the couple was arrested again. Their home was ransacked, and they were both sentenced to one year in labour camp, with the sentence being served outside of the labour camp.

Cultivating Falun Gong restored their health

Mr. Li and his wife are both sixty-five years old. They live in the Tangshan City East Railroad Station Dormitory. Mr. Li used to have duodenal ulcers and rheumatoid arthritis. His wife was in a car accident when she was young. Several of her vertebrae were fractured and she became paralysed. After years of treatment, she was able to go back to work, but she had chronic back pain and could not bear any weight. In 1996, they both began practising Falun Gong and abiding by the principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. In less than a year, both of them regained their health. They became firm and true Falun Gong practitioners.

Suffering all sorts of torture in labour camp

On July 20th 1999, Jiang Zemin's, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime and the CCP began persecuting Falun Gong. Mr. Li and fellow practitioners were persecuted by the Tangshan Public Security Bureau in 2000, and sentenced to three years in a labour camp. Mr. Li was held in the Tangshan and Baoding Labour Camps. He suffered all sorts of tortures, including long-term standing, sleep deprivation, tightening rope, beaten with a club, and electric shock. He was released in 2003.

Arrested again, belongings confiscated

On May 16th, 2011, the couple went to Wangqianzhuang Market. At around 10 a.m., a group of plainclothes officers from Zhengzhuangzi Township Police Station appeared at the market and dragged them to a police car.

They searched the couple, took away their mobile phones, cash, and bicycles, and used their key to enter and ransack their home without any proper authorisation. The couple was sent to the Kaiping Police Substation, and they were sentenced to one year in a labour camp, to be served outside of the labour camp.

They were held at the Tangshan Detention Centre for 15 days. When they were released on May 31st, they found that their home was a mess, and most of their personal belongings were gone. Without a proper warrant, no witnesses, and no family members present, the police had ransacked the home, and left no receipts for any of the personal belongings that had been taken.

The couple went to the Zhengzhuangzi Township Police Station several times to request the return of their personal belongings and asked to see a list of the items that had been taken. They saw the director of the police station, Zhao Xiwen, who returned only their bank book, microwave, and bicycles. The rest of their personal property has not been returned. When asked to return the cash that was taken that day, Zhao Xiwen denied that anyone had taken their cash. Later he revised his statement, saying that the amount of money was not right, and refused to return the cash. Regarding the list of personal belongings, he said that he would mail it to them. The couple has not received the list to this day.

Zhengzhuangzi Township Police Station, Li Chang, Zhang Zhiqiang: 86-13603258138 (Mobile)

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/7/6/43460.html