After 8 Years of Imprisonment, Mr. Liu Dexi in Dalian City Detained Again

Just 6 months after being released from 8 years of imprisonment for practising Falun Gong, Mr. Liu Dexi was arrested again. The arrest was carried out by officers from the Sanshilibao Police Station on May 22nd, 2012, as Mr. Liu posted fliers in Sanshilibao Market in Dalian City to expose the persecution of Falun Gong. Mr. Liu is currently detained in the Puwan New District Detention Centre.

Mr. Liu Dexin, 44, is from Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. In 1998, while conducting business in Dalian City, he met a Falun Gong practitioner who inspired him to also embrace the practice. Mr. Liu underwent great changes both physically and spiritually from practising Falun Gong. He quit gambling, stopped quarrelling with his wife and began to treat his customers with honesty and integrity. He would always return the money to customers who overpaid. One of his clients said: “I have been in business all my life. I have never seen anyone as honest as him.” Seeing remarkable changes in Mr. Liu, his family members also began to practise Falun Gong.

Family persecuted for 13 years for practising Falun Gong

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Liu and his family have suffered numerous hardships for their faith. In November 1999, Mr. Liu, his wife and another family member went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong. However, as soon as they arrived in Beijing, an inn keeper reported them to the police. They were arrested and sent to the Zhejiang Province Public Security Bureau Office in Beijing. After being detained there for 2 days, officials from Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City, transferred them back to Taizhou and held them in a detention centre. Mr. Liu and his wife were detained for 21 days and 7 days, respectively. The police extorted 30,000 yuan¹ from his family.

In January 2001, Mr. Liu went to Beijing again and unfurled a banner that said, “Falun Gong is good.” As a result, he was severely beaten by the Beijing police, arrested and taken to the Taizhou Detention Centre. Local police then tricked Mr. Liu's wife into stepping out of the house and arrested her as well. She was sent to a forced labour camp for 6 months. Mr. Liu was detained in a labour camp for 2.5 years.

In March 2003, after Mr. Liu was released, he and his wife went to Dalian City to start a business. Police from Jiaojiang District in Taizhou followed them there and continued to harass them. The couple had to become homeless for a year to avoid being arrested again.

Policeman Wang Lingen and Chen Xin of the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) came to Mr. Liu's house at 9 p.m. on March 1st, 2004. Pretending to need the landlord's phone number, they enticed Mr. Liu to open the door and then immediately arrested him. Mr. Liu's wife was forced to jump out of the window from the third floor to escape the arrest. As a result, she punctured her lung and fractured her pelvis. The hospital staff said that her life was in danger and that she would likely be paralysed or have a disability for the rest of her life.

Mr. Liu's wife firmly believed in Falun Gong. As soon as she regained consciousness, she started practising Falun Gong exercises. Three days later, her bones were miraculously healed, and surgery was no longer needed. One month later, she was able to walk again. In 2 months, she recovered completely.

After Mr. Liu's arrest, approximately 10 people, led by Wang Lingen, interrogated him by torture. They wouldn’t allow him to sleep, and he became mentally disoriented as a result. The police then forged his signature on the interrogation note, which Jiaojiang Court subsequently used on August 12th, 2004, as “evidence” to sentence Mr. Liu to 10 years in prison.

Mr. Liu appealed the verdict and submitted a defence statement for the new trial on March 1st, 2005. However, the court upheld the unlawful conviction. Mr. Liu was shackled, handcuffed and transferred to a prison in Jinhua City. After being rejected by the fifth and fourth prisons, he was sent to the Second Prison of Zhejiang Province.

In prison, guards attempted to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] Mr. Liu through torture. They forced him to sit on a small bench all day long, not allowing him to move. They brutally beat him with a thick stick until it broke and broadcast TV programmes slandering Falun Gong to break his faith.

Mr. Liu was subjected to such torture and brainwashing for 4 years, until, under extreme pressure, he wrote a guarantee statement to renounce his faith in Falun Gong. From 2008 onward, Mr. Liu was forced to do heavy labour for 8 hours a day.

The authorities also continued to harass Mr. Liu's family. On March 9th, 2009, more than 20 policemen broke into his wife's workplace, ransacked the place and arrested a worker. Mr. Liu's wife was forced to leave home and become homeless to avoid getting arrested. The police in Jiaojiang District then repeatedly harassed her family, pressuring them to reveal her whereabouts and get her to come back.

Mr. Liu was released in November 2011, after 8 years of imprisonment. However, he was arrested again on the afternoon of May 22nd, 2012, just six months after his release, for posting informational materials about Falun Gong near Sanshilibao Market. Officers from the Sanshilibao Police Station made the arrest. Mr. Liu is currently detained in the Puwan Detention Centre.

Over the past 13 years, the Liu family has been torn apart due to the persecution. They have also lost their business and a stable income. Mr. Liu's 15-year-old daughter has been forced to live alone, without her parents.

Parties involved in the persecution:
Jiaojiang Detention Centre: +86-576-8223781
Second Prison of Zhejiang Province : +86-571-86244176

Wang Wei, captain of Sanshilibao Police Station: +86-13942086906 (Mobile)
Lin Xuzhi, captain of Jiaojiang District police: +86-139045769099 (Mobile)
Domestic Security Division in Taizhou: Wang Kui
Zhang Liming, director, Jiaojiang District Detention Centre

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.