School Teacher Sentenced to Seven Years for Explaining the Facts about Falun Gong in Class

Ding Guoying, a twenty-nine year old elementary school teacher in Yingyang, Henan Province, was reported by the Zhangchang Village Elementary School Principal Zhang Wusong and the Communist Party Secretary of the Village to have explained the facts about Falun Gong in his class. Mr. Ding was arrested and detained at the Sanlizhuang Detention Centre. The court didn't even process his case until five months following his detention, during which time his family was not allowed to visit him. It wasn't until November 10, 2002, that his family learned he had been sentenced to seven years in prison and would be sent to a secret jail in Xinmi, the so-called the "Fifteenth Detachment," for further persecution.

Ever since Mr. Ding started practising Falun Dafa, he has tried his best to improve his Xinxing [heart nature] by following the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" in his everyday life. In June of 2001, he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, bringing with him many copies of his own cultivation experiences. He had written his solemn testimony "Falun Dafa is good" on the front and back of a T-shirt. In Tiananmen Square he put on this shirt, practised his exercises and meditation, distributed the copies of his cultivation experiences to the tourists on the square, and was arrested. A month later, he was sent back to Henan Province and detained in the Sanlizhuang Detention Centre.

The Party Branch Secretary of his village told Mr. Ding's mother, "The police have demanded a minimum of four thousand Yuan [An urban worker's salary is about 500 Yuan] for his release. Don't let him practise Falun Gong any more. It is truly forbidden. Even doing farm work is better than going to the Detention Centre." Ding's mother replied, "We don't even have four hundred Yuan, much less four thousand. His father isn't in town, and his grandmother is chronically ill. How can you get four thousand Yuan out of this poor family?" Mr. Ding's relatives finally bailed him out, but reportedly ended up having to pay seven thousand Yuan instead of four thousand. [Note: The political and legal system, the police department, and the local police stations of Yingyang regularly profit from the arrest and extortion of Falun Gong practitioners. According to private information from inside the Yingyang Police Department in July and August of 2000, those who arrest Falun Dafa practitioners directly receive 5% of the fine, while everyone else in the department divides up 10% of the rest. The local police stations recently gave every officer a fine quota of six thousand Yuan. The officers arrest Dafa practitioners, release them with a fine, arrest them again, and then demand another fine before releasing them. If they don't pay the fine the practitioners are sentenced or sent to forced labour "re-education." This corrupt behaviour has devastated the financial and physical health of both practitioners and their families.]

After his release from the Sanlizhuang Detention Centre in 2001, Mr. Ding Guoying was reassigned to teach in the elementary school in Zhangchang Village. After hearing their teacher had been arrested, Mr. Ding's teenaged students were frightened and worried. With tears in their eyes they exclaimed, "Our teacher is great! He never blamed us. Whenever we had questions, he always explained the answers to us patiently, with a smile, until we understood." "Our teacher is such a wonderful teacher, but he was arrested just for telling us that Falun Dafa is great. What they did isn't fair!"

Address of the "Fifteenth Detachment:"
East Songshan Avenue, #61
Xinmi, Henan Province, 452370
Tel: 86-371-981-243
Mailing Address:
Sub P.O. Box 9
P.O. Box 841
Xinmi, Henan Province, 452370

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/1/30/31487.html