Persecution Cases of Falun Gong Practitioners in Hongwei Township of Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province

(Clearwisdom.net) The following is information about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Hongwei Township, Qiezihe District of Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province. A number of practitioners were repeatedly arrested and their homes illegally ransacked. They were subjected to ongoing harassment and some were tortured to death.

1. Ms. Qi Yinghua (age 21) and Mr. Zhang Guangfu (age 30) are farmers. On June 26, 2000, they traveled to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and were illegally detained at the Qitaihe Detention Center. Zhang Guangfu was detained for 40 days. Qi Yinghua was four months pregnant at the time of her detention and therefore was allowed to return home 6 days later. Persons involved in the illegal arrests were: Bai Yuzhu (chief executive of the Township Government) and Chen Lu, a police officer. Township government officials extorted 2,000 yuan from the couple, and after they returned from Beijing, another 4,000 yuan was extorted. At the time, Qi Yinghua's husband Zhang Guangfu, father-in-law Zhang Hongzhi, mother-in-law Yuan Meie and mother Liu Shuling were also illegally taken into custody, and the officials extorted a total of 6,000 yuan from the family.

Due to having been tortured in detention, Qi Yinghua passed away on January 23, 2001, 17 days after she delivered a baby boy. She was 21 years old. The Chinese Communist officials claimed that Ms. Qi lost her life due to not taking medicine after practicing Falun Gong.

On September 17, 2002, Chen Youshu (township official), Liu Hui (Public Security director of the village), Wang Fengquan (chief of the village police station), Zhang Lijun (deputy chief of the village police sStation) and four policemen broke into the home of Zhang Guangfu, arrested him and took him to the town's police station, without following any legal procedures. They released Mr. Zhang after extorting another 2,000 yuan.

2. Mr. Zhang Hongzhi, age 56, Ms. Yuan Meie, age 52, husband and wife, and their son Zhang Guangping, age 28, are farmers. On February 21, 2000, Wang Jianfu (chief of the town police station), Yang Xiguang and Dong Tienan arrested Zhang Hongzhi without legal process. Mr. Zhang was detained at the Qitaihe Detention Center for 15 days and the officials extorted 270 yuan from them. In March 2000, to prevent practitioners from going to Beijing and appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong, Chen Youshu (Party secretary of the village) and Liu Hui (Public Security director of the village) extorted 3,000 thousand yuan from Zhang Hongzhi, Yuan Meie and Zhang Guangping. Police officers came to their home four times to harass and intimidate them. The police also extorted 800 yuan, claiming that this reimbursed them for picking them up in police vehicles (200 yuan each time).

On June 26, 2000, Zhang Hongzhi, Yuan Meie and Zhang Guangping traveled to Beijng to petition for justice for Falun Gong. They were arrested and detained for five days in Beijing and then returned to their home town by Bai Yuzhu and Chen Lu. The officials extorted 4,000 yuan and confiscated a TV, video player and stereo. Zhang Hongzhi was illegally sentenced to one year of forced labor and his family was detained for 40 days.

On September 17, 2002, Wang Fengquan (chief of the town's police station), Zhang Lijun (deputy chief), along with four police officers and town officials Chen Youshu and Liu Hui, broke into Zhang Hongzhi's home and confiscated a TV, video player. stereo, Dafa books and other belongings. Zhang Hongzhi and Zhang Guangping were illegally taken away and detained at the Qitaihe Second Detention Center. They were sentenced to a two-year prison term. The Chinese Communist Party officials extorted 2,000 yuan from Zhuang Hongzhi for the release of his son Zhang Guangping. Mr. Zhang Jr. was not released until 2004.

3. Ms. Guo Chunling age 32, is a farmer. On June 28, 2000, she went to Beijing to petition for the right to practice Falun Gong and was illegally arrested. On July 2, Bai Yuzhu and Chen Lu escorted her back and illegally detained her for 7 days. She was released after she fell ill. Before and after her trip to Beijing, Ms. Guo had 3,000 yuan extorted from her, and her home was ransacked. A TV, washer, stereo and copies of Dafa books were confiscated. On September 17, 2002, Wang Fengquan, Zhang Lijun, and several police officers, along with town officials Chen Youshu and Liu Hui, again ransacked her home and confiscated a TV, washer, stereo, Dafa books, exercise music, wedding videos, and much more.

4. Ms. Liu Shuling age 53, is the wife of a farmer. She operates a small convenience store. Before she started practicing Falun Gong, she was ill with rheumatic heart disease, hepatitis, cystitis, and myoma [a tumor] in her uterus, and many other diseases. She began practicing Falun Gong on February 20, 1998. All of the illnesses disappeared after she had practiced Falun Gong for two weeks. However, after the Chinese Communist regime began its persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, she suffered traumatic injury to her body and mind.

On February 19, 2000, Ms. Liu went to Beijing to petition for justice for Falun Gong. Police at Qianmen, Beijing arrested her. She was detained for two nights at the Qitaihe Liaison Office and was illegally fined more than 500 yuan by staff at the Qitaihe Liaison Office, including Xu Longzhen and a woman with the surname of Sun. At the same time, Wang Jianfu threatened and intimidated Liu Shuling's family and extorted 2,000 yuan from them. Her family believed that by paying this bribe, Liu Shuling would be released. However, after being taken back by Chen Lu and Wang Yucheng (Political and Judiciary Committee member) from Beijing, she was taken to the Qitaihe Detention Center and illegally detained for more than three months.

Around June 2000, Liu Shuling went to Beijing a second time to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. She was arrested at the Jiamusi train station. Chen Lu, Bai Yuzhu and two other police officers took her to the Qitaihe Detention Center. She was released after holding a hunger strike for more than ten days. Twelve days after she returned home, more than 30 persons broke into her house at midnight, including Bai Yuzhu, Wang Jianfu, and police officers Dong Jifu, Chen Lu, Dong Tienan and Yang Xiguang. They illegally arrested her again and took her to the Qitaihe Detention Center. On July 24, 2000, Ms. Liu was sentenced to one year of forced labor. She returned home on May 9, 2001.

On July 1, 2001, Chen Lu, Yang Xiguang, Dong Jifu and Dong Tienan, and ten other persons arrested Liu Shuling again and illegally detained her at the Qitaihe Second Detention Center for 13 days. She was then taken to the Harbin Women's Forced Labor Camp. Due to being tortured, her health condition had deteriorated, and the labor camp refused to take Ms. Liu, so she was taken back to the Qitaihe Second Detention Center. Four days later, she began a hunger strike. On the 4th day of the hunger strike, she was brutally force-fed. She was released after her health deteriorated severely from the torture and she came down with symptoms of illness. After she was taken back home, Ms. Liu was still being followed, interrogated often, harassed and her Dafa books were confiscated.

5. Ms. Chen Mingxia, age 43, is a farmer. In February 2000, her brother Chen Youshu, who was a village official and deceived by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, stopped her from going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He feared the CCP. Her brother beat her legs with a wooden club, seriously bruising them. Then he and Wang Jianfu illegally detained Ms. Chen for more than 60 days. In June 2000, she again went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong and was arrested. She was detained at a detention center, then sentenced to one year of forced labor. On the night she was sent to forced labor, Wang Jianfu, Bai Yuzhu, and other village officials ransacked her house. Only the children were at home. They confiscated a TV and a stereo.

6. Ms. Wang Yumei, age 49, is a farmer. One day in February 2000, police officers from the Lanfeng Police Station took her to the police station. Wang Yumei's relative wrote a guarantee statement for her saying that she would stop practicing Falun Gong. The police threatened that Ms. Wang's relative would be fired from his job if she did not comply, and then released her. In April 2002, Wang Yumei wrote a letter to the 610 Office in Qitaihe City to clarify the truth about Falun Gong. She announced in the letter that the guarantee statement written by others in her name was invalid and she would still practice Falun Gong. After the letter was sent, on May 29, 2002, Ms. Wang was arrested by Zhang Lijun, police officer Dong Tienan and other police officers from Qitaihe City. She was taken to Qitaihe Second Detention Center on May 30. In July 2002, she was charged with "disrupting social order," sentenced to two years of forced labor and taken to the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Center. During her detention, police from Lanfeng Police Station demanded that her older brother come to the station, where they extorted 1,000 yuan from him. They presented no legal documents.

7. Ms. Lu Ronghua, age 41, is the wife of a farmer. After July 20, 1999, she was constantly harassed. In order to prevent her from going to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong, village officials extorted 1,000 yuan from her. Chen Youshu and Liu Hui were involved in the persecution of Ms. Lu. On June 27, 2000, on her way to Beijing, Ms. Lu was illegally arrested and detained at the Qitaihe Detention Center. Her mother-in-law, 70 years old, was left at home without anyone to care for her. A group of people from the town, including village official Liu Hu, came to her house and confiscated a TV. Lu Ronghua was illegally detained for 40 days, and when she returned home Bai Yuzhu and Wang Jianfu illegally fined her 2,000 yuan for going to Beijing.

(Note: The "Lanfeng" Village mentioned above has been combined with "Hongwei" Village and are together now called "Hong Wei" Township. The following practitioners were from Hongwei Village.)

8. Mr. Zhang Zuobin is 55 years old. He was a migrant worker who resided in the Mishan area of Heilongjiang Province in 2002. On April 25, while clarifying the truth with Mishan practitioners, he was illegally arrested by staff from the Political Security Section of the Mishan Public Security Department and the criminal police team. He was sentenced to a four-year prison term and first taken to Hada Prison. He was later transferred to Mudanjiang Prison. In Mudanjiang Prison, Mr. Zhang was subjected to cruel torture. He still tries to block out the horrible experience at Mudanjiang Prison. Zheng Yutang (chief of the Political Security Section) and some of the inmates tortured him with the method called "carrying a sword in the back." They forced one of his arms to reach down from the back of his shoulder and the other arm up from behind his back, then bound the two hands together. Weights were then attached to his hands. If he did not cooperate with their unreasonable demands, they added more weights. Another cruel torture was called "space cap." This consisted of placing a plastic bag over Zhang Zuobin's head, to suffocate him. He could barely breathe. After a while, Zhang Zuobin displayed symptoms of stroke. He continued to study the Fa and do the exercises once released from prison, and is now healthy again, without having had to resort to medical intervention.

9. Mr. Yan Jingzhu, age 45, is a farmer. In early July 2000, because exercise tapes and Dafa books were found at his home, he was illegally detained at the Qitaihe Detention Center for 15 days. Those arresting Mr. Yan included Feng Limin (chief of the detention center) and Guan Xingzhan (Household Registry policeman). On the evening of January 20, 2001, Feng Limin and Guan Xingzhan broke into his home, and took Mr. Yan to the Qitaihe Detention Center for ten days. They extorted 270 yuan from him. In the spring of 2002, while studying the Fa with four other practitioners, he was illegally arrested by by Li Jingfeng and Xu Xue (police officers from the Hongwei Town Police Department), and Lian Jie (chief of the Hongwei Town Police Department). Yan Jingzhu was detained at the Qitaihe Detention Center for 15 days.

10. Mr. Sun Cunhai, age 32, is a farmer. At around 9:00 p.m. on January 20, 2001, Mr. Sun was arrested by Feng Limin and Guan Xingzhan and taken to the Qitaihe Detention Center, where he was detained for 10 days. They extorted 270 yuan from him.

The above represents only a fraction of the persecution cases of Falun Gong practitioners attributable to Hongwei Township Government officials. There are other practitioners who were forced become homeless to avoid further persecution. During the nine years of suppression, every practitioner has experienced some degree of harassment or torture. They were deprived of their freedom of belief, some were disabled from the torture and others were tortured to death. There are also those who had their organs harvested while alive, and sold by the Chinese Communist regime to transplant patients for economic gain.

We are calling on all people who uphold justice in this world to please help us stop the persecution immediately!

February 24, 2008

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/2/25/173071.html

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