Police Brutality Critically Injures Hebei Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Cheng Rulin and Puts a Village under Siege

By A Falun Gong Practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net) Hebei Province's Cangzhou City "610 Office" [An agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] ordered people in the local police stations to persecute practitioners. Under the direct supervision of Security and Legal Committee Secretary Gong Caihua, policeman Wang Yixin and other fellow officers used all kinds of tools and techniques to torture Dafa practitioners. Among those detained, not a single person escaped the physical torture. Not long ago, 23-year-old female practitioner, Yang Mei, died as a result of torture. Starting in mid-April, police re-arrested many practitioners who were home on medical parole and those released after a hunger strike.

The most severely abused and mistreated was Mr. Cheng Rulin, a practitioner from Sunzheng Village, Luqiao Township/Huanghua City. Huanghua City Police Department personnel twice illegally detained Mr. Cheng and forced him to pay 15,000 Yuan [the average monthly income in rural China is about 200 Yuan, or $23.50] as penalty. In 2001, he was forced into hiding and subsequently his name appeared on the Cangzhou police's "wanted" list. Because of a phone conversation with Mr. Cheng Rulin, his younger brother, who is not a practitioner, was forced to pay 50,000 Yuan to the police to avoid arrest. His family went deep into debt and they are struggling to make ends meet.

Nine months have passed since July 2001 when Cangzhou City police arrested Mr. Cheng during a truth clarification effort. Police used various torture techniques on him. For instance, he was tied to a "Tiger Bench" [A torture device. Illustration can be viewed at:

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html ] for eight days and eight nights, during which he was also deprived of sleep. The police would shock him with electric batons, dig into his ribs with their fingernails. All these tortures achieved nothing. Mr. Cheng Rulin did not speak a word that the police wanted to hear. The angry policemen suspended him by handcuffs on a steel pipe, just high enough that his toes barely touched the floor. They also tied him onto the torture device called a "death bed." [The four limbs of the practitioner are stretched out and tied to the four corners of an icy-cold metal bed] Additionally, they also handcuffed him in a special way: to the back with one arm above the shoulder and one below. He also had to wear shackles. To protest the inhuman treatment, Mr. Cheng Rulin went on a hunger strike. Recently he was rushed to a hospital due to a tuberculosis-like condition. He was coughing up blood. Even during his hospital stay, four to five policemen watched him and his shackles were not removed. Due to Mr. Cheng's critical condition, the hospital could not provide effective treatment. Fearing he might die in the hospital, they discharged him.

Not wanting to take responsibility for his life, police sent Mr. Cheng Rulin home the night of May 2, 2002. Although they cared nothing for his well-being, they did not forget to send people to watch the critically ill Mr. Cheng Rulin. The next day, when fellow villagers saw a severely tortured Mr. Cheng Rulin they said angrily, "What crime did he commit to deserve this? What they did was worse than the actions of thugs and bandits!" Cheng's family members took photos as evidence and demanded justice. Mr. Cheng Rulin continued his hunger strike and asked that the government stop the persecution. Cangzhou City police personnel could care less about the request from Mr. Cheng's family and ignored the plea. Instead, they intensified the effort to intimidate, mistreat, oppress, threaten and abuse practitioners by sending thirty some police cars and over a hundred police officers and government employees to the village. They surrounded the whole village 24 hours a day and checked everyone that they saw. Falun Gong practitioners were not allowed to leave the village. Villagers' lives and daily routines were severely disturbed because each person was interrogated when he or she leaves the village for work. Falun Gong practitioners' basic right for survival has been abolished.

We appeal to international organizations and governments: please reach out and lend a helping hand to solve the current crisis.

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