Xuchang City Court in Henan Province Tried Mr. Bai Hongmin

Name: Bei Hongmin
Gender: Male
Age: 47
Address: Xuchang City, Henan Province
Occupation: Employee
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 28th, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Xuchang City Detention Centre
City: Xuchang
Province: Henan
Persecution Suffered: Detention, home ransacked, damaging force-feeding, forced labour, solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, hanging by handcuffs, brutal beating, electric shock, tying the ropes, extortion.

On the morning of November 22nd, Xuchang City Court in Henan Province tried Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Bai Hongmin secretly in a small room in the Yan’an Road Intermediate Courthouse. Mr. Bai’s wife and son did not learn about the trial until that morning. When they hurried to the courthouse, the trial was already well underway.

Mr. Bai pleaded not guilty and defended himself. He also told everyone present the truth about Falun Gong. The trial was adjourned hastily. Mr. Bai is still being detained at the Xuchang City Detention Centre.

Protesting the Persecution after His Arrest by Going on a Hunger Strike

Mr. Bai Hongmin is employed at the Xuchang City Agriculture Bureau. He is always very kind and willing to lend a helping hand. Thus, Mr. Bai is regarded by all as a good person.

On June 28th, eight or nine officers from Xuchang Police Bureau, 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and Nanguan Police Station, led by Xu Lihua, arrested Mr. Bai and his wife, Ms. Tao Zhili (also a Falun Gong practitioner and an excellent chemistry teacher at the No. 9 Middle School of Xuchang City, who was detained for a month in the city detention centre, then released) and ransacked their home.

It was said that this was a planned arrest. At 6 a.m, the police knocked on the door. Mr. Bai and his wife refused to open it, so the police called in a locksmith to open the door and then started to ransack the house. They confiscated a laptop computer, a small printer for family use, Falun Gong books, etc. Mr. Bai resisted and shouted, “Falun Gong is good! The Communist Party is persecuting Falun Gong!” The police arrested Mr. Bai and his wife and sealed the entrance of their house.

Mr. Bai went on a hunger strike in the Xhuchang City Detention Centre to protest the persecution. He was cruelly force-fed by the guards and became extremely weak.

Since the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party led by then-head Jiang Zemin in July 1999, Mr. Bai has been detained several times because of his steadfast faith in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.

Severely Tortured in the Henan Province No. 3 Forced Labour Camp

In January 2001 when visiting his hometown to celebrate the Chinese New Year, Mr. Bai was seized by officers from the Weidu District Police Sub-Division of Xuchang City. Without any legal grounding, Mr. Bai was sent directly to No. 3 Forced Labour Camp for three years.

Since he refused to give up his faith in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, Mr. Bai endured appalling torture, including: solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, hanging by handcuffs, brutal beating, electric shock, continuously bound with ropes, forced heavy labour beyond his endurance, etc. He was severely abused both physically and mentally. In order to force him to “reform,” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] the labour camp subjected him to a barbaric torture called “roasting a whole lamb.” His arms and legs were tied together tightly. Then they put a pole between his hands and feet and suspended him face down, followed by striking him with several electric batons, police batons, fists, and feet for a long time. Mr. Bai was tortured to the brink of death. He was covered with blood and his hands were almost disabled. He was not able to hold anything even several months after the torture. In January 2004 when the original three-year sentence was up, the police tacked on another year to his term.

Mr. Bai Previously Persecuted

In October 1999 when Mr. Bai went to visit a fellow practitioner, policemen Wen Jianwei and others from the Political Security Unit of the Weidu District Police Sub-Division of Xuchang City arrested Mr. Bai and took him to the cell for murderers in Xuchang City Detention Centre. Mr. Bai was viciously beaten by the other inmates. After one month when he was called out to be interrogated by the police, he steadfastly refused to be sent back to that cell, insisting that the police make a written recording of the inhumane torture he had suffered in the detention centre. He demanded that, if anything happened to him, the police would take full responsibility. The police were afraid to take on any responsibility, so they changed his sentence to a 15-day detention and released him after taking a fine of 2,000 yuan¹.

In February 2000, Mr. Bai was in a meeting at work when policewoman Liu Suping from Weidu District Police Sub-Division, pretending to be a fellow practitioner, called Mr. Bai to go somewhere. The police arrested him for “conspiracy” after Mr. Bai arrived at the agreed-upon location. He was first held in the detention unit for a month, then transferred to another detention centre for three more months. He was then released after paying a 900-yuan “boarding fee.”

In July 2000, Mr. Bai was again arrested when he exercised his right as a citizen and went to Beijing to appeal to the Central Government. The Weidu District Police Sub-Division forced Mr. Bai’s work unit to send a staff member to accompany the police to fly to Beijing and bring Mr. Bai home. Along the way the policeman ate and drank lavishly, then handed Mr. Bai’s work unit a 6,000-yuan expense tab, demanding payment. The work unit transferred these expenses to Mr. Bai. They detained Mr. Bai for one month.

In October 2000, someone was distributing flyers about the persecution of Falun Gong in Xuchang City. The police could not catch the person distributing the flyers, so they pretended that someone had reported Mr. Bai. They took Mr. Bai away again and ransacked his home without a proper warrant. Even though they did not find anything in his home, the police still detained him and demanded a payment of 300 yuan when Mr. Bai was released one month later.

Li Yanping, director of the Nanguan Police Unit, Wenbo Road, Nanto, Xuchang City: +86-13903993898 (mobile)
Persons directly involved:

Zhang Lei, chief of the Criminal Police Section: +86-13837436120 (mobile)
Lou Zhifeng, person in charge of the case
Xu Lihua, person responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong in Xuchang City Police Bureau (chief of the Domestic Security Division)

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/11/25/249824.html