(Clearwisdom.net) On September 6, 2008, at around 10:00 a.m. Xinjiang Province, Urumqi City Falun Dafa practitioners Mr. Cao Hongqi, aged 71, and Mr. Zou Kewen, around 50 years old, were arrested by the secret police. The police were following Mr. Cao as he went to his rental apartment near the Beiyuanchun Market from his home on Youhao Road. Following the arrests, the police ransacked the men's homes. They confiscated a laptop computer, a desk top computer with two CD burners, a big paper cutter, and a printer, as well as Falun Dafa books from Mr. Cao's home. At Mr. Zou's home, they could not find anything.
At the same time, the police also arrested Mr. Zhang, Mr. Ma, and Ms. Xu from the Shayibake District of Urumqi City; Ms. Ma from the Construction Machine Shop; and Ms. Zhu from the Shuimogou District, Urumqi City. (These five practitioners range in age from 60 to 70.) All their homes were ransacked. Mr. Ma and Ms. Zhu were later released because the prison refused to detain them due to their high blood pressure. The police extorted 5,000 yuan from Ms. Zhu. Ms. Zhu refused to cooperate with the police and was left alone. Mr. Ma got away and is currently moving from place to place with no where to stay.
These arrests were deliberate and premeditated. Every time an arrest was made, it was accompanied by two to three police vehicles involving at least ten officers from the 610 Office. The operation was under the command of Assistant Chief Yu Shoubin from the 610 Office of Urumqi Municipal Public Security Bureau and coordinated by 610 Office personnel Ren Yi, Cheng Xueli, Du Shecheng, Li Gangquan, and Chen Gang, in collusion with Barke's District Public Security Sub-bureau.
Mr. Cao Hongqi was originally a local volunteer coordinator. He was a senior engineer employed at the Urumqi Colored Metallurgy Design Research Institute in Xinjiang. After the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999, he was arrested and sentenced to serve a four-year prison sentence. He served his term at the Xinjiang Fifth Prison. On December 3, 2004, while clarifying the facts and distributing informational materials, he was once again arrested and sent to a labor camp for a one-year term. He suffered innumerable physical and mental hardships and inhuman torture in Changji Forced Labor Camp in Xinjiang.
Mr. Cao was under constant surveillance. The police sent out retirees from their own workplace to monitor his daily activities and report everything he did back to the police. From July 2008, they assigned two additional community workers to follow and monitor Mr. Cao intensively. In the middle of July, he went to Shihezi Army Camp to offer his condolences to his sister on the death of her husband. Officers with the Saryebarke District Police Department, the Friendship Road Police Station, and the 610 Office were startled. In the midst of the commotion, they finally interrogated Mr. Cao's daughter and coerced her into revealing her father's whereabouts. His daughter didn't know the address of Mr. Cao's sister's relative. Finally, the police found out that Mr. Cao was in Shihezi City. The army battalion and the regimental division didn't want to deal with the issue directly, so they phoned Mr. Cao's sister's relative.
A year ago Cao Hongqi's wife died of a severe illness. He could not take care of her because he was in prison. His son and son-in-law in Beijing are disabled and depend on the government to supplement their income. Mr. Cao used to look after his 16-year-old grandson. Because of Mr. Cao's arrest, they have become destitute.
Urumqi Municipal Public Security Bureau 610 Office: 86-991-4633110
Cheng Xueli: 86-13899911232 (Cell)
