Lawless Officials Kidnap and Force Practitioners to Pay For their Own Brainwashing

Since July 20 1999, lawless officials in Hengshui, Hebei province have been violating the law while "enforcing" the law. They abuse their power to persecute Falun Gong practitioners who live according to "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." Over the past three years, in downtown Hengshui alone, forty Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally sentenced to a labour camp. There have been countless numbers of cases in which practitioners have been kidnapped, detained, and even held past their scheduled release dates. An Xiukun and Xiao Xingai from downtown Hengshui, Liu Qiusheng from Fucheng County, and a sixty year-old practitioner from Jing County were tortured to death. Guo Zhijiang and Cai Yongcun were illegally sentenced to 12 years and 9 years respectively. Since the spring of 2001, Hengshui city officials acted illegally and started another round of persecution toward Falun Gong. Under their planning and control, a group of thugs ransacked practitioners' homes.

On March 5, 2001, a few dozen Falun Gong practitioners from Hengshui City were kidnapped from their homes and sent to a brainwashing class. They would not even spare a seventy-year-old lady. Since they firmly resisted persecution, Li Jing from the Taocheng District Culture and Sports Bureau and Yin Chunmei from Hengshui City Chemical Factory, were sent to a detention centre.

Since September 2001, Hengshui City has set up another brainwashing centre. Many people were forced to attend. Many people had no choice but to leave their homes and workplaces, drifting from safe haven to safe haven. Practitioners subjected to the brainwashing have to pay 3500 Yuan for a 15-day "class." If they don't pay, they are not allowed to leave. Not long after Shan Shufang was released from the labour camp, she was sent to a detention centre for clarifying the truth. She went on a hunger strike for 26 days and then she was released. A few days later she was sent to brainwashing class again. Because she firmly resisted the evil's persecution, she is now being detained at the Shijiazhuang brainwashing centre. The “610 Office” sent Guo Suling for brainwashing while her husband was left dying in the hospital of liver cancer.

On the evening of the Chinese New Year (February 11, 2002), the city "610 office" and Public Security office used a fire truck ladder to force their way into Falun Gong practitioner Zhong Cunjie's home. He was not at home, so they tried to take away his wife, also a practitioner. She had previously been captured for posting Falun Dafa materials and sentenced to labour camp, but she did not pass the physical exam at the camp and was sent back home. In March 2002, Zhong Cunjie was captured at a relative's home. Now he is being illegally detained at a detention centre. His home doesn't look like a home any more. His wife has left home to avoid illegal arrest and is no longer able to take care of his ninety-year-old mother.

Hengshui City Second Middle School teachers Sun Liansheng and Liu Hongluan, Hengshui City Science Committee employee Kang Yanxiang, Huayang Real Estate employee Xin Mingru and Hengshui City Chemical Factory employee Yin Chunmei have all left their homes to avoid further persecution. The school principal expelled Liu Hongluan's daughter because she clarified the truth about the persecution to her schoolmates.

At the beginning of June 2002, Yuan Qingai, a teachers' college worker, finished serving an illegal sentence in labour camp, however she was not allowed to return home. Instead, the City "610 Office" took Yuan Qingai directly for brainwashing.

Hengshui officials' have reportedly directed "610 office" workers, police stations and those responsible for various workplaces to again start looking for Falun Gong practitioners, asking them whether they still practice Falun Gong. If the answer is "yes," practitioners are sent for brainwashing. The "610 office" has also used collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture] as tools, giving them a quota of practitioners to brainwash.

The stories above are just a few examples of the situation faced by practitioners in Hengshui City. We hope the lawless officials in Hengshui City will wake up and stop their wrongdoing quickly.