Retired Official Tong Ruiqing and His Family Persecuted by Nanle 610 Office in Henan Province

Name: Tong Ruiqing
Gender: Male
Age: Late 60s
Address: Daming County, Handan City, Hebei Province
Occupation: Retired Official at the Handan Municipal Labour and Social Security Bureau
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 10th, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jilin City Detention Centre
City: Nanle County
Province: Henan
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, extortion, torture, home ransacked, interrogation, detention

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Tong Ruiqing, a retired official from Handan City in Hebei Province, was sentenced to one year of forced labour. He has been detained for nearly three months at Nanle County Detention Centre in Henan Province. On October 20th, officers from the Nanle County Police Department and agents from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) submitted his case to the Nanle County Procuratorate again in an attempt to persecute him further.

Nanle County Police Department Arrests Tong Ruiqing and Sentences Him to Forced Labour

Mr. Tong is a retired official of the Handan City Labour and Social Security Bureau. In 1997, after he started practising Falun Gong, the dozen illnesses that plagued him disappeared. Now, this nearly 70-year-old man has been forced to leave his home in order to avoid persecution by the Chinese Communist Party.

In 2003, An Zhenzhi, head of the Congtai Domestic Security Division, collaborated with agents from the 610 Office and led a group of people to arrest Mr. Tong. They raided his home, confiscated his photocopier and sentenced him to two years of forced labour. He was imprisoned in the Handan City Forced Labour Camp.

On the afternoon of March 8th, 2008, police from the Daming County Police Department and the Domestic Security Division mobilised five police cars with two dozen accomplices to force their way into Mr. Tong's house. They confiscated his computer, printer, over 50,000 yuanNote cash, bank deposit book with over 60,000 yuan in savings, his wage card and other personal belongings. According to incomplete statistics, approximately 130,0000 yuan, as well as valuable clothing, were taken away by police in this raid.

Mr. Tong was not at home during the raid, so the police took his family members as hostages. His daughter-in-law, Bai Shunfeng, oldest granddaughter Tong Xiaokai, second granddaughter Tong Xiaoning and grandson Tong Tielong were also present during the raid. Police officers arrested 14-year-old Tong Tielong and handcuffed him for one day and one night at the police department. They threatened, coerced and forced him to reveal the addresses of other practitioners. Although Tielong was subsequently released and allowed to go to school, the officers demanded that he keep his mobile phone switched on around the clock and be at their beck and call. The teenager was afraid to go to school, yet he dared not miss school. Sometimes upon returning home from school, the police were already waiting for him outside the school gates. They pulled the boy into the car and continued to make him direct them to the homes of other practitioners.

On the afternoon of March 9th, agents arrested Mr. Tong's daughter-in-law Bai Shunfeng and her daughter Tong Xiaoning. They locked them in Wanti Detention Centre in Daming County, and then released Ms. Bai's daughter Tong Xiaokai and son Tong Tielong to look for their grandfather. On April 8, officers from the Daming County Domestic Security Division deducted 20,000 yuan from the cash they confiscated from Mr. Tong's house and released Tong Xiaoning.

Mr. Tong Ruiqing was arrested by Nanle County police on July 10th while buying fruit on the street in Nanle County in Henan Province. He was later detained at the Nanle County Detention Centre and subsequently sentenced to one year of forced labour.

Ms. Tong Cunshu Sent to Forced Labour for Trying to Rescue Her Brother

Mr. Tong's family hired a lawyer to defend him. On September 2nd, Ms. Tong Cunshu, Mr. Tong's younger sister and his lawyer went to the Nanle Police Department to complete the legal procedures. Afterwards, as they prepared to visit Mr. Tong in the detention centre, a vehicle from the Nanle County criminal police team intercepted Ms. Tong's car, redirecting it back to the police department. Ms. Tong was taken to the Daming Police Department afterwards by someone from the Daming County Domestic Security Division.

Ms. Tong Cunshu's 90-year-old mother went to the Daming County Police Department to demand her daughter's release. Two officers forcibly carried the elderly woman out of the police department and threw her outside. (Full story: “Ms. Tong Cunshu Arrested when Seeking Justice for Brother” http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/9/27/128357.html)

On September 9th, police from the Daming County Police Department and the 610 Office sentenced Ms. Tong to forced labour and sent her to Shijiazhuang Women's Forced Labour Camp. Her family learned that she had been sentenced to one and a half years of forced labour only after she phoned them from the labour camp.

Nanle Domestic Security Division Office: +86-393-8845989, +86-393-8825795

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/2011/11/14/249266.html