The Continuing Persecution of Beijing Practitioner Mr. Cao Dong
(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Cao Dong, a Falun Gong practitioner in Beijing, is
currently detained and being persecuted in Tianshui Prison in Gansu Province in
retaliation for an interview he gave to the Vice President of the European
Parliament in which he exposed the persecution of Falun Gong. He met with Vice
President of the European Parliament Mr Edward McMillan-Scott on May 21, 2006,
and told him about the severe persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Mr. Cao was immediately arrested by police from the Domestic Security Division
and taken to Gansu for detention. He was "illegally sentenced" to five
years in prison just before Chinese New Year's eve in 2007. His lawyer said that
the only evidence justifying the sentence was a false confession. At a meeting of the European Parliament on the afternoon of August 7, 2008,
Vice President McMillan-Scott made a speech about the persecution of Falun Gong
practitioners Cao Dong, Niu Jinping, and Zhang Lianying and the persecution of
human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng and dissident Hu Jia. He expressed his concern
for the safety of Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Cao Dong was born in Qingyang City, Gansu Province, on July 4, 1972. He
graduated from the French Department of Beijing Foreign Language University in
1995. He worked in the tourism industry. He lived in Room 704, Unit 1, Building
6 in Baozhuzhi, Zhaojialou in the Dongcheng District of Beijing. On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute
Falun Gong. Many practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for justice and demand
that the government clear the name of Falun Gong. The CCP, however, sent out
military and civilian police to arrest practitioners who appealed for Falun
Gong. Beijing practitioners Cao Dong and Yu Zhou (who was persecuted to death in
February 2008) managed to rent places to temporarily accommodate many
practitioners from around China who came to appeal for Falun Gong. On August 20,
about 200 practitioners held a Fa conference at Tasha in Liang
Township, Fangshan District, Beijing, and shared experiences for nearly four
hours. Practitioners agreed that cultivators had no enemies. Falun Gong had
never been against the government. Under the current circumstances, they agreed
that practitioners should talk to the government about Falun Gong peacefully,
rationally, and kindly. The CCP called this incident the "August 20th
Tashan Assembly." Cao Dong and Yu Zhou were considered the organizers of
this assembly. Officers from the Fangshan Police Department illegally
arrested Yu Zhou and other practitioners who attended the Fa conference.
They deceived Cao Dong into going to a meeting by guaranteeing that these
practitioners would be released. After they met Cao Dong, they arrested him
immediately and took him to the Fangshan Detention Center and then transferred
him to the Qiliqu Dispatch Station in Beijing. Due to efforts by his friends,
Mr. Cao was released two months later. He had been tortured. In November 1999 Mr. Cao accompanied a practitioner from outside of Beijing
to see Beijing practitioner Ms. Ren Qiongfang. The CCP recognized Ms. Ren's
husband, Li Xuejun, as "a key Falun Gong practitioner." Their home was
secretly monitored by police. On the way home, Cao Dong was arrested by the
police who had secretly followed him. He was interrogated, but none of his
behavior was found to violate the law. Officers from the Xicheng Police
Department took him to his local police department, the Dongcheng District
Police Station, where he was asked if he practiced Falun Gong. Cao Dong replied
yes. Then he was taken to the Dongcheng District Detention center where he was
illegally detained for a month. On February 25, 2000, Cao Dong and another practitioner, Gao Feng, returned
to Beijing from Lanzhou by train. The train police found Gao Feng reading Zhuan
Falun and asked them whether they practiced Falun Gong. They replied
yes. The train police then arrested them and took them to the Jining City Police
Department in Inner Mongolia. The two were put in administrative detention on a
charge of "reading Zhuan Falun on the train." They were taken
to the Jining City Drug Rehabilitation Center where they were locked up with
drug addicts. Because they continued practicing Falun Gong there, police and
drug addicts severely beat them. According to Chinese law, the maximum period
for administrative detention should not be over 15 days. But the rehabilitation
center detained Cao Dong and Gao Feng for 22 days before releasing them after
being pressured by their family members. On October 1, 2000, Yang Dong, a policeman who was in charge of the
Zhaojialou area in the Dongcheng District of Beijing, received an order that
said that he should forcibly take all Falun Gong practitioners in his area to
the police station and detain them to prevent them from going to Tienanmen
Square to appeal for Falun Gong. Yang Dong went to Cao Dong's home early in the
morning, intending to take him to the police station. Cao Dong's wife refused to
open the door for him. Yang Dong, however, stayed outside his house. Cao Dong
had to go to work that day because he had to go to the airport to meet a foreign
tourist group. He opened the door. Yang Dong grabbed him, but Cao Dong said that
he had to go to work. Yang Dong didn't believe him and followed him to the
travel agency where Cao Dong worked. He found out that Cao Dong indeed had to go
to the airport and so he returned to the police station. But his superiors
reprimanded Yang Dong and demanded that he bring Cao Dong to the police station
by any means. They sent other three policemen to the airport with Yang Dong. But
Cao Dong managed to avoid them. Yong Dong and other officials from the city
security bureau went to the home of Cao Dong's employer to investigate Cao
Dong's situation. The employer told them that Cao Dong was very upright and was
doing a good job. Unable to get evidence against Cao Dong of any wrongdoing, the
officials from the security bureau threatened his boss, saying "Such a
dangerous person! How can you let him do work related to foreign affairs? Are
you able to shoulder the responsibility if anything happens?" Cao Dong
learned of this incident later. To protect his workplace and his employer from
persecution, he faxed a resignation letter to his employer, who expressed deep
regret to see him go. His employer asked someone to pass a message to him:
"You are welcome to come back at any time. Our door is always open to
you." On November 19, 2000, when Cao Dong and several other practitioners were
meeting in a flat in Kandan, Fengtai City, police broke in and arrested them.
They confiscated his mobile phone, over $6,000 in cash, his household
registration book, and wallet and didn't give a receipt. They kept this
confiscated property. The police found several banners and accused Cao Dong of
bringing them in. Cao Dong was first detained at the Haidian Detention Center,
where he was interrogated and deprived of sleep every night for a week.
Policeman Li Jun along with two other officers tried to extort a confession from
him by torture during the interrogations. They repeatedly shocked the artery in
his neck resulting in hair loss, until he became bald. One month later, Cao Dong
was transferred to the Seventh Department of the Beijing City Detention Center
and then was transferred to the Fengtai Detention Center. On March 1, 2001, Fengtai District Court "illegally sentenced" Cao
Dong to four and a half years in prison for printing Falun Gong
truth-clarification materials. When the court session opened, no
lawyer was allowed to defend Mr. Cao or help him enter a not guilty plea. After
the sentencing, the detention center didn't allow him to appeal. In May, he was
transferred to the prisoners' dispatch center, where a policeman by the surname
of Zhang shocked him for practicing the Falun Gong exercises until he lost
consciousness. One week later Cao Dong and fellow practitioner Gao Feng were taken to
Lanzhou Prison in Gansu Province. Police from the Prison Entrance Team
handcuffed Gao Feng and hung him from a horizontal bar with his feet barely
touching the ground for nearly one hour. They hung him like this three different
times. Every time, he fainted from the intense pain. To protest their illegal
detention, Cao Dong and Gao Feng started a hunger strike. They refused to eat or
drink. In order to separate them, on the fifth day the prison sent Cao Dong to
Pingliang Prison in Gansu Province. Cao Dong was kept at Pingliang Prison for four years. On May 19, 2005, his
term was over. According to Chinese law, prisoners must be released if their
term is finished. But the CCP never follows the law in Falun Gong cases. Because
Cao Dong had not been "transformed," the prison sent him directly to
the 610 Office in Qingyang City. The 610 Office tried to make Cao
Dong write a guarantee statement. They threatened to send him to the
"transformation" base in Gansu Province for further persecution. Cao
Dong refused to write the guarantee statement. After much effort by his family,
he was released and returned home safely. One year later, on May 21, 2006, Cao Dong had an interview with the Vice
President of the European Parliament about the human rights situation in
mainland China. He told the Vice President of his personal suffering, what he
had seen and heard in prison, and how Falun Gong practitioners been subjected to
many kinds of torture. That same day, the Second Section of the Beijing National
Security Bureau secretly arrested Cao Dong. They tortured him in order to get
information on overseas Falun Gong practitioners and practitioners in other
areas. They handcuffed Cao Dong to a chair and didn't allow him to sleep for six
days and five nights, during which time eight people divided into four shifts
and took turns threatening, intimidating, and swearing at him, 24 hours a day
non-stop. They pushed Cao Dong half a meter away from a TV set and turned the TV
volume to the maximum while playing a VCD slandering Falun Gong. They forced him
to watch and hear it. During the course of this round of persecution, the
perpetrators injured his left eye. Under this mental and physical torture, Cao Dong started to vomit blood and
pass blood in large quantities every day. He once fainted and nearly died. Three
times he was taken to a hospital for emergency treatment. The CCP officials then
sent Cao Dong to the Chaoyang District Legal Training Center where he was
further persecuted. They squandered huge amounts of manpower and resources to
try to brainwash and "transform" him. They flew people to his parents'
home to threaten and deceive them, intending to use pressure from his parents to
"transform" Cao Dong. They videotaped his parents and brought the tape
back to Beijing to show Cao Dong in an attempt to soften his will. They
confiscated his telephone book and threatened him by saying that they would
arrest all practitioners who had contact with him in an attempt to force him to
give in. They tried to deceive him by saying that as long as he cooperated with
them, he would be released shortly. When all these methods failed, the Second
Section of the Beijing Domestic Division secretly transferred him to the Gansu
Provincial Security Bureau. They did this to avoid the attention of the
international community. The Second Section gave orders to the Gansu Provincial
Security Bureau to deal harshly with Cao. On September 4, 2006, Cao Dong was sent to the Gansu Provincial Security
Bureau. On September the 27 Qingyang City Procuratorate announced
the formal arrest of Cao Dong and detained him at the Security Bureau detention
center. Officials from the Security Bureau came to secretly talk to him. They
said that as long as he agreed to gather information on overseas Falun Gong
practitioners and activities for them and as long as he said such sentences as
"I have come to this stage all because of the poison of Falun Gong,"
the Security Bureau would set him free on bail once he was sentenced. Cao Dong
refused them. On December 22, manipulated by the Second Section of the Beijing
Domestic Security Division and the Gansu Provincial Security Bureau, Xifeng
District Court in Qingyang City secretly opened a session against him. Cao Dong
and his lawyer demanded that the prosecutor provide evidence for any crimes
committed by Cao Dong. The prosecutor could not show any evidence and was
speechless in the cross examination. After the session, the judge told Cao Dong
that as long as he wrote something to denounce Falun Gong, everything would be
"easy to solve." Cao Dong refused to write any such statement. On January 29, 2007, Xifeng District Court secretly sentenced Cao Dong to
five years in prison for the crime of "providing overseas organizations
with materials and information on the persecution of Falun Gong followers"
(from the verdict). On March 22, 2007, the Qingyang City Court rejected Cao
Dong's appeal with no reason stated. On May 24, 2007, the Gansu Provincial Security Bureau secretly sent Cao Dong
to the Tianshui Prison in Gansu Province where he was isolated with inmates who
monitored him 24 hours a day. They locked him alone in a cell with four
criminals taking turns watching him 24 hours a day. He was not allowed to leave
the cell even for a little while, and not allowed to listen to the radio or
contact anyone. Other people were not allowed to contact Cao Dong either. The
four criminals were a murderer, a drug addict, a pimp, and an economic offender.
The prison told the four inmates that Cao Dong could commit suicide at any time
and had mental problems and ordered them to monitor him strictly. They set up a
reward system for the four inmates. If they did their job wholeheartedly, they
then their sentences would be reduced; if they didn't do the job properly, they
would have time added to their sentences. Instigated by the prison, the four
inmates often swore at, threatened, and intimated Cao Dong and sometimes beat
him. In May 2008 in an anti-earthquake shed, the drug addict swore loudly at Cao
Dong when he went to the toilet by himself. He beat Cao Dong but was later
stopped by other inmates. On June 26, 2008, the prison held a meeting on
Welcoming the Beijing Olympic Games. All Falun Gong practitioners were required
to attend. In the meeting Cao Dong said he wanted to make a speech. Two inmates
didn't allow him and dragged him out of the meeting room. These inmates received
40 points as reward for their "good work" and had their sentences
reduced. On June 1, 2008, one inmate said hello to Cao Dong when he passed the
window of Cao Dong's cell. The four inmates beat him severely and the prison
officials also interrogated him. Cao Dong was assigned hard labor in the Second
Prison Area which had the toughest working conditions. Cao Dong has been in this isolated and controlled situation for more than one
year, and the abuse is still going on. After he was sentenced, Cao Dong applied for an appeal, but his application
was intercepted by the Gansu Provincial Security Bureau. When he arrived in
Tianshui Prison, he wrote the appeal again and tried to send it to his lawyer.
The prison, however, didn't let him mail it out. At the end of 2007, Cao Dong's
family tried to hire a lawyer for him but needed him to write a letter of
authorization. The prison didn't let him send it out to his family. As a result,
Cao Dong has been unable to enjoy the right of appeal. The prison also told him
that he was not allowed to mention his case in letters to his family, not
allowed to mention when he was arrested, when he was sentenced, when he was
transferred to Tianshui Prison, or what the prison was like. Otherwise, all the
letters would be intercepted. A belt and a watch that his family sent him were
confiscated by the prison. Even newspapers and magazines his family subscribed
to for him were taken by the prison. Cao Dong took this matter up with the
officials in the prison many times, but they ignored him. Cao Dong is being
deprived of all his legal rights. Among the 15 prisons in Gansu Province, Tianshui Prison is the special base
for "transforming" Falun Gong practitioners. It has a so-called
"Anti-Falun Gong Section," which specializes in persecuting
practitioners. In 2006 a practitioner from Qingyang, Liu Zhirong, was beaten to
death by the guards in the prison. To deceive the outside world, the prison
created false evidence to "show" that Liu Zhirong died as a result of
suicide. They used this incident as an excuse to strengthen the persecution of
Falun Gong practitioners. From April 9 to April 11, 2007, the prison held a
so-called "Advocate Civilization and Oppose Evil Groups" picture
exhibition. They put up propaganda materials such as the fabricated Tienanmen
Square Immolation Incident to deceive prison guards and inmates who didn't know
the truth about Falun Gong and incited their hatred towards Falun Gong and Falun
Gong practitioners. The "Anti-Falun Gong Section" often instigated
inmates to force practitioners who were very determined in their belief to watch
VCDs that viciously slandered Falun Gong. They didn't let practitioners sleep
and forced them to watch such VCDs 24 hours nonstop, intending to
"transform" them. An inmate who was released from there said that Cao
Dong was locked up in a cell separately as soon as he was sent there; four
inmates followed him 24 hours a day in turn, and he was not allowed to contact
anyone or do exercises outside the room. He has been locked up in the cell for
more than one year. Further details of his imprisonment are unknown due to the
strict censorship. What we do know is that he is very weak, has suffered hair
loss, and his face is very pale. This inmate said, "He is so shaky and weak
that the wind could blow him away." Cao Dong's father, Cao Douxu, and mother, Gao Jumei, live in Qingyang City in
Gansu Province. They are locally well-known teachers. They are in their 60s and
have retired. His father suffers from cerebral hemorrhage and cannot walk
properly and has difficulty in speaking. His mother has to take care of his
father because he cannot look after himself. His mother is not in good health
either. Last year she had a relapse of a leg ailment and couldn't walk. She
improved after medical treatment, but she still cannot walk. Cao Dong is their
only son. His parents have no one looking after them. The harassment and
deception from the Second Section of the Beijing Domestic Division and the
Qingyang City 610 Office, as well as Cao Dong's imprisonment, have affected them
deeply. They have been traumatized to the brink of collapse. Cao Dong's wife, Yang Xiaojing, is also a Falun Gong practitioner from
Beijing. She was illegally put into forced labor camps twice. In May 2006 when
Cao Dong was arrested, she was still in the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp.
After she was released, she tried to hire a lawyer and appeal for her husband.
During the process she was monitored by the Beijing Police Department and
harassed by them many times. In December 2007 police in the Dongcheng District
forcibly took her to the police station and then to the Fengtai Domestic
Division where she was interrogated for a day. At the same time they searched
her home for any Falun Gong materials so that they could secure
"evidence" to put her in prison. But they found nothing and had to
release her. Due to fear of further arrest and ill health, Ms. Yang had to leave
home to avoid further persecution. She now has to move from place to place. Cao Dong's home in Beijing has been ransacked several times. On May 26, 2006,
Hu Songtao and Chen Shoushui from the Second Section of the Beijing City Police
Department took keys from Cao Dong and illegally entered his home without
notifying any of his family members. They confiscated valuable property such as
a laptop worth at least twenty thousand yuan, didn't put the items
they confiscated on the official list, and then privately kept them. On the
evening of November 19, 2000, police from the Fengtai District broke into Cao
Dong's home at Yueqiao and took his mobile phone, six thousand yuan in cash, a
bank card, and a telephone card, among other items. Again, they didn't
officially record the items they confiscated and took for themselves items worth
fifteen thousand yuan. In December 2007, police from the Fengtai Domestic
Division again broke into Cao Dong's home and stole property, claiming they were
looking for evidence to convict his wife. We appeal to international human rights organizations, governments, and all
people for their attention to and support of Cao Dong and his family. Let's work
together to appeal for Cao Dong so that he can be released from prison.
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/8/6/183502.html,http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/1/19/193741.html
Yearly Archive
Printer Version
feedback@clearwisdom.net