(Clearwisdom.net) A Dafa disciple from a county in Northeastern China was tortured to death in police custody. I called the county government. The person who answered the phone was the staff chief of the county government. I asked him for his opinion regarding the incident where an innocent man was arrested and then brutally tortured to death by police in a detention center. He answered, "Our county is a small county. If things like this happened, I would have known about it already." I confirmed that it had really happened, and that the police had cremated the body against the wishes of the victim's family. He said that he couldn't believe that such a thing could happen. "The only reason that this happened is that he was a practitioner of Falun Gong," I told him. The man answered, "I know that the government is trying to control Falun Gong tightly, but the country has law. Police brutality is wrong, let alone torturing a detainee to death. I absolutely doubt it." I told the man that the victim had refused to give up his belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." He answered, "What's wrong with 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance?' Why should a person be killed if he believes in 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance?' Something like this is a large incident in the region, I will investigate it." He was murmuring repeatedly, "This is not possible, this is not possible, we have law." I told him that the police murdered the practitioner and blocked the news; the news that you thought you would know was all blocked. I gave him the name and the address of the murdered practitioner.
I felt very troubled after the phone call. I sensed that clarifying the truth is very important. An innocent person trusts the government with his whole heart, and refuses to accept the fact that evil things are happening around him. If such a life was dragged to an abyss by evil because we failed to clarify the truth, then we are committing crimes.
The incident reminded me of the response of some policemen to the truth of the Tiananmen Square "self-immolation." I told them that the self-immolation was a Chinese government setup to defame Falun Gong; Liu Chunling was killed by a powerful blow on the head from a policeman using a heavy object. She had an 80-year-old mother and 12-year-old daughter. The 80-year-old woman lost her only spiritual and financial support. Chinese culture believes that offspring dying before the parents is the most unfortunate incident. If the government had told the "fact" as they had lied to the people, why didn't the government allow the old woman to speak out? When journalists interviewed the woman, she cried, "Please don't ask. The government does not allow me to speak." Those policemen who listened to me would ask me to stop every time at this point. Innocent and kind-hearted people have a hard time accepting that crimes are committed around them. By nature, they are reluctant to accept the cruel facts.
Our responsibility is significant. In front of the brutal and insane persecution, we have no choice but to clarify the truth as quickly as possible. We have to have the sense of responsibility and urgency to save sentient beings; let go of the attachment of time, but not waste any time, and use every minute and second to save lives. Let's make sure that every step is solid on our journey to assist Master in rectifying the Fa.
October 4, 2002
