Massive Arrests and Brainwashing Classes in Fuyu County, Heilongjiang Province

(Clearwisdom.net)

Since Fuyu County Party Committee Secretary Zhao Wanshan took office in 2000, the lawless officials in Fuyu County, Heilongjiang Province, have escalated the arrests and beatings Falun Dafa practitioners. Brainwashing classes were held by various levels of the "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], by police stations, neighborhood committees and Falun Dafa practitioners' work units. Practitioners were forced to declare that they had given up the practice of Falun Gong, and were under constant surveillance by officials. Any time that practitioners were arrested while clarifying the truth to people, they were illegally fined, detained and even sent to forced labor camps or sentenced to imprisonment. When they were illegally interrogated, if the practitioners said they still practiced Falun Gong, they were deprived of their personal freedom, sent to a brainwashing class and forced to attend brainwashing sessions for several months. Even on holidays, the practitioners were still forced to attend the brainwashing class. Their families were seldom, and in some cases never allowed to visit them. The practitioners held in the brainwashing centers were denied their salary, and farm workers missed the farming season. Those who were illegally detained or sent to forced labor camps were frequently fired from their jobs. Sometimes, when a husband and wife were held in the brainwashing center together, their children were also forced to live in the brainwashing center with them.

For the past three years, brainwashing classes have continuously been held. The practitioners subjected to persecution ranged in age from 70-year-old seniors to young people in their twenties. If the practitioners declared that they were determined to continue practicing Falun Gong, or they refused to cooperate with the officials, they were randomly tortured and their original detention terms increased. If they refused to be brainwashed during the detention, the practitioners were then sent to a forced labor camp. As soon as the four-month long brainwashing class finished in April 2002, another one started. Most of the arrested practitioners were farmers. The class also included disabled people and several old women who, once they had been released from illegal detention, were abducted again and sent to the brainwashing class. They have been persecuted in the detention center and the brainwashing center for over six months. This brainwashing classes are ongoing, and police have had the practitioners under tight surveillance. One policeman, Feng Baogui, has beaten Falun Dafa practitioners many times. He is known for saying, "If anyone dares to write, "Falun Dafa is Good," I will break off their nails."

Even those practitioners, who somehow avoided being abducted and sent to the brainwashing classes, were still unable to live normal lives. Whenever there was an order coming from above, Falun Dafa practitioners were illegally investigated and monitored, forced to write statements renouncing their belief, fingerprinted and photographed. It is said that by using these materials, the "610 Offices" of the province and the city could then arrest the Falun Dafa practitioners who clarified the truth on the Internet. They threatened that any practitioners who refused to cooperate were to be sent to the brainwashing classes.

In April, the Fuyu County Police Department and the "610 Office" publicly announced that those who reported suspected Falun Dafa practitioners would receive rewards, varying in amount according to whether the arrested practitioners were subsequently detained, sentenced to a forced labor camp or imprisoned. During the past three years, in Fuyu County, over one hundred practitioners have been illegally sent to forced labor camps, and three have been illegally sentenced to imprisonment. There is no formal record of the exact number of Falun Dafa practitioners being illegally detained, fined, abducted and sent to brainwashing classes.

The principal criminals who have persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners in Fuyu County are as follows:

The Secretary of the County Party Committee: Zhao Wanshan
Assistant Secretary of the County Party Committee: Wang Zhaoxian
Head of the "610 Office": Wang Changshan
The Chief of Police: Liu Wenfu
The Assistant Chief of Police : Li Hongge
Member of the Police Department Political Committee: Tong Guangjie

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/8/10/34615.html

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