(Clearwisdom.net) According to the Epoch Times, Yang Shihong, a former member of the Discipline Inspection Committee and the director of Public Security in Wuhan City, was put on trial by the Intermediate District People's Court of Huangshi City on December 7, 2004. He was charged with embezzlement, bribery, and diversion of public funds.

According to the report, the 50-year old Yang Shihong, wearing a prison, uniform was taken to the court at 8:40 a.m. on December 7. The public prosecutor of the People's Court read the 6-page long indictment after the court opened.

Yang Shihong held many offices prior to his indictment, including: Jiangan District Magistrate of Wuhan City, District Secretary of the Political and Judicial Committee, member of the Discipline Inspection Committee, Chairman of the City Labor Union, Party Secretary of the Political and Judicial Committee of the City Public Security Office, Secretary of Prefecture Committee Political and Judiciary Committee of the City, and Director of the City Public Security Office. The Provincial Prosecutor made the decision to arrest him on suspicion of bribery on January 14, 2004, and he was arrested the next day.

According to the investigation conducted by the Prosecutor's Office, it was discovered that from 1994 to 1999 he and others were involved in the embezzlement of public funds in the amount of 3,789,690 yuan. His share was 1,843,846 yuan. Between 1996 and 2003, he used his position to help others make illegal profits. In return he received kickbacks of 2,125,000 yuan, 101,000 US dollars, 10,000 Hong Kong dollars, and two houses worth 511,080 yuan.

He didn't raise any objections to the charges brought against him during the trial.

The Hewan Drug Rehabilitation Center in Wuhan City, situated near Hankou Xinhuaxia Street, became a center to detain Falun Dafa practitioners from Wuhan City and the surrounding area. It has the reputation of being Wuhan's "Masanjia" because Falun Dafa practitioners are savagely tortured there.

According to the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net), Yang Shihong rose to power very quickly because he was very active in participating in the illegal persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. The Jiang group promoted him to Communist Party Member of the Discipline Inspection Committee of Wuhan City, Secretary of the Prefecture Committee Political and Judiciary Committee of Wuhan City, and Secretary and Director of the Public Security Office. He held power equivalent to the joint authority granted to the armed forces, the police, the military police, and the Special Forces.

With his newly acquired power, he began to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners with insane zest while embezzling large sums of public funds.

Since 2003, twenty-five employees of the Wuhan Municipal Intermediate Court have been arrested. Two of them are deputy directors and nine are presiding judges. While in power, Yang was very brutal in persecuting kind-hearted practitioners and also showed his extreme greed. He used his position to resell at inflated prices one thousand Mu [a Chinese land measure unit; 1 mu = 0.16 acre] of land in Wuhan City, providing him with exorbitant profits.

His followers and in-laws also committed countless crimes by extorting huge sums of money from Falun Dafa practitioners for personal gain. They also frequented restaurant bars, especially the ones that have a connection with Yang Shihong.

According to some sources, Yang Shihong and his followers obtained their illegal income from the following sources:

1. They used their authority to extort money from Falun Gong practitioners' family members. Beginning in 1996, they took money from these families, confiscating practitioners' property and belongings. They spent the money on food, drink, and going to the sauna. They even forced the practitioners' families to pay to have their homes renovated.
2. They took personal possession of property illegally confiscated from practitioners and their families including cash, vehicles, cell phones, computers, and all kinds of recorders.
3. They put illegally obtained money into their own pockets.
4. They appropriated funds allocated to them by Jiang's regime for their personal use.

The same sources also said that in persecuting Falun Gong, the Political and Judicial Committee obtains its funds from the taxpayers as well as from the illegal fines they impose upon practitioners and their families. For example, the Jianghan District Political and Judicial Committee and the 610 Office use the brainwashing classes to earn money. Every year, they are allocated four hundred thousand yuan from administrative expenditures for "building rent." Then they rent a remote, old, broken-down house. After installing wire fencing, they use the house to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. They divide the huge sum of money left over among themselves. In addition, Falun Gong practitioners detained there have to pay over one thousand yuan every month. By the time they are released, some have paid over ten thousand yuan.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/12/20/91795.html