The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Luzhou, Sichuan Province

1. Practitioner Mr. Tang Shikui, imprisoned in a forced brainwashing camp, did not see the sun for three years

Mr. Tang Shikui is 42 years old. He was a shoe craftsman in the Sixth Group of Zhulin Village, Mianhuapo Town, Naxi Precinct, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. On February 20, 2001, Mr. and Mrs. Tang were working at their booth when the Communist Party Branch Secretary of Zhulin Village, Mr. Chen Fuxiang, and a policeman named Long Wuhou from the Mianhuapo Police Station in Naxi Precinct, unlawfully arrested Mr. Tang. They also ransacked Mr. and Mrs. Tang's home without a search warrant.

Mr. Tang was sent to a local brainwashing centre where he was monitored around the clock. The brainwashing class moved four times before finally being conducted at Xianhe Hotel in Tianxiandong. Mr. Tang was locked in a room and forbidden to leave. He was not allowed to use hot water during the winter. His food was rationed and consisted mainly of rotten vegetables. He was only allowed to take a bath every ten days to two weeks. He was forbidden to speak to anyone outside the room. There were at least one dozen Falun Gong practitioners in the brainwashing centre while Mr. Tang was imprisoned there. For a period of three years, Mr. Tang was not allowed to leave his room or see the sun. He was imprisoned in the brainwashing centre until August 13, 2003.

Even after Mr. Tang returned home, the police monitored him for a very long time. The police ransacked his home at will, and held Mr. Tang and his family in constant terror. There was never a moment of peace for them.

2. Practitioner Ms. Yang Li, forced to stand still for five consecutive days and nights at a brainwashing centre

Ms. Yang Li is 41 years old. She is a Falun Gong practitioner from Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province. On the morning of November 25, 2003, Mr. Liu and two police officers from the State Security Team of Midtown Police Department in Guangyuan City illegally arrested Ms. Yang at her office. The police ransacked her office and home without a search warrant. They confiscated computers, Falun Gong books and truth-clarification materials.¹

Ms. Yang was unlawfully detained in the Wangcang County Detention Centre for 53 days. During her illegal detention, she was interrogated by the police. They wanted to know who gave her the truth-clarification materials. They threatened to sentence her to two to three years of forced labour if she refused to reveal the whereabouts of the practitioners who gave her the Falun Gong materials. Ms. Yang was imprisoned in the forced labour camp for close to one year before she was transferred to a brainwashing centre for further persecution.

On October 15, 2004, Mr. Tan and Mr. Feng Kai from the State Security Team of the Police Department in downtown Guangyuan City, as well as Mr. Liu Min from the 610 Office2 in downtown Guangyuan City, transferred Ms. Yang Li from the forced labour camp to Lianhuashanzhuang Forced Brainwashing Centre in Guangyuan City. The following day, Ms. Yang practised the Falun Gong exercises as usual. Yue Wushan, a male warden at the brainwashing centre, punished her by depriving her of sleep and forcing her to stand still for five consecutive days and nights. The prolonged standing caused Ms. Li's lower legs to swell to the size of her thighs. After five days, Ms. Yang was unable to walk. The efforts of the hired thugs at the brainwashing centre were unsuccessful in getting her to renounce Falun Gong.

The Guangyuan City Brainwashing Centre was established in May of 2004. To date, there have been at least 60 Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned in this centre. Many practitioners have suffered savage beatings and other forms of physical and mental torture. Some practitioners were tied to a bed (called the Death Bed), for seven days and nights, and deprived of sleep during that time. Some practitioners suffered mental breakdowns as a result of the severe torture, and were unable to take care of themselves.

3. Ms. Cheng Sigui was illegally detained and had her home ransacked five times

Ms. Cheng Sigui is a 65-year-old Falun Gong practitioner. She was a factory worker from Longmatan Precinct, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. Before she practised Falun Gong she suffered from many illnesses, including hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, plasma cell cancer and breast cancer. Both of her breasts had been removed in efforts to treat her cancer. In addition, she had difficulties with her right elbow after fracturing it. Her illnesses forced her to go to the hospital often, and she suffered a great deal of pain. Her annual medical costs were several thousand to several tens of thousands of yuan³. After Ms. Cheng began to practice Falun Gong in May of 1996, all of her illnesses and medical problems disappeared. She no longer had to pay any medical expenses.

In July of 1999, Jiang Zemin and the Chinese Communist Party began to openly persecute Falun Gong. Starting on July 19, 1999, the police ransacked her home five times and arrested and detained Ms. Cheng repeatedly.

Because Ms. Cheng's husband was a volunteer contact person for Falun Gong in the Longmatan Precinct, the Deputy Chief from Longmatan Police Department ransacked Ms. Cheng's home on the night of July 19, 1999. The police confiscated numerous copies of Zhuan Falun, Teacher's Fa lectures on VCDs and audiotapes, and other Falun Gong materials worth over 2,000 yuan. The police illegally arrested her husband and interrogated him that night, releasing him after 9:00 a.m. the following day.

On February 12, 2001, the illegal arrests happened for a second time. The police from the local "610 Office" arrested Ms. Cheng without a warrant and sent her to Huangjingshan Detention Centre. Because the police were unable to find any "evidence," her son and employer bailed her out three days later.

On September 25, 2001, the persecution happened for a third time. Because Ms. Cheng continued to clarify the truth about Falun Gong, and distributed materials telling the facts about Falun Gong, the police unlawfully ransacked her home again and detained her in the detention centre. The police handcuffed her hands behind her back and chained her to the window bars. The police also threatened to torture her on the tiger bench and put her on an "electric chair." One month later, her employer and her son bailed her out after the police collected 5,000 yuan in ransom and a statement from them guaranteeing that Ms. Cheng would not practice Falun Gong after she was released.

The fourth time the police ransacked Ms. Cheng's home, she was still imprisoned. The police confiscated large banners imprinted with, "Falun Dafa is good" and "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance," that practitioners in Longmatan Precinct had used during group practice of Falun Gong exercises. They also stole many copies of Zhuan Falun and other Falun Gong materials.

On September 17, 2004, the police ransacked Ms. Cheng's home a fifth time. While the police were ransacking, Ms. Cheng and two elderly female practitioners were distributing truth-clarification materials on the streets. Lu County Police Department, Longmatan Precinct Police Department and the local "610 Office" sent a large police force and many police cars to unlawfully arrest the three elderly women. They arrested Ms. Cheng and imprisoned her in the detention centre before they sentenced her to one month in a forced labour camp. During the preliminary physical examination, the doctor diagnosed that Ms. Cheng had hypertension and many other types of illnesses. Therefore, the forced labour camp refused to take her. She is currently under house arrest and police surveillance.

4. Ms. Luo Linrong's house is ruined while she languishes in a brainwashing centre

Luo Linrong is 53 years old. She lives in the 12th Group of Mianzi Village, Mianhuapo Township, Naxi Precinct, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. She used to suffer from anaemia, fatigue, stomach problems and arthritis. She was on medication, but it did little to improve her health. In December 1998, Ms. Luo began to practice Falun Gong and to conduct herself according to Falun Gong's cultivation principles of truth, compassion and forbearance. Before long, she was free from illness and became very healthy and energetic.

In December 2000, Ms. Luo borrowed several hundred yuan to travel to Beijing. She wanted to appeal for Falun Gong, but the Beijing police arrested her in front of Tiananmen Square. Three days later, the "610 Office," the State Security Team from Naxi, Luzhou, as well as some employees from the Mianhuapo Township government, came to Beijing and escorted her back to Luzhou and imprisonment in the Naxi Precinct Detention Centre. In March 2001, because Ms. Luo was doing the Falun Gong exercises in the detention centre, a prison doctor surnamed Kong put her in handcuffs for 11 days and nights. Three months later, Dr. Kong suddenly suffered a stroke and died. It is most likely that, according to traditional Chinese wisdom, Dr. Kong met with karmic retribution for persecuting Falun Gong. In addition, a prison policeman named Zhang Jinhui used a police baton to beat Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Lin Guanghua, Ms. Wang Huizhen, Ms. Zhang Yuanhua and four others. He, too, met with karmic retribution when he fractured three ribs in a car accident in 2002.

After nine months in the detention centre, Ms. Luo was transferred to a brainwashing centre run by the 610 Office, located in Luihe Guesthouse. Later, they changed the location of the brainwashing centre to the Weather Bureau. In December 2002, they transferred Ms. Luo and many other practitioners in a van to the Tianxiandong Hotel. They locked them in separate single rooms and forbade them from talking to each other. In June 2003, the 610 Office collected a ransom from their families in exchange for their freedom. For those who could not afford to pay the ransom, the 610 Office would take the practitioner's house for ransom. Ms. Luo and two other practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest the collection of ransom. Mr. Zhang Yong, the mastermind behind the brainwashing centre, threatened to torture them with force-feeding and injections of psychiatric drugs. The practitioners remained unmoved by the threats. Ms. Luo even told him, "You will face legal consequences if you dare to do so." On the fifth day of hunger strike, Ms. Luo and the other two practitioners were released.

However, Ms. Luo Linrong's found her home uninhabitable; weeds grew out of the brick walls and flooring, walls had fallen down and the roof had collapsed. After Ms. Luo was imprisoned, Ms. Luo's husband, Jiang Zufu, lived alone at the house. The Communist Party Secretary of the village named Guo, two police officers named Li Fuquan and Zeng Er, and a villager named Wang Fuxiu brought over 20 thugs to Ms. Luo's home and demanded money from Mr. Jiang Zufu. After having robbed 300 yuan from him, the thugs wanted more. They came to harass Mr. Jiang again to "borrow" money from him. When Mr. Jiang failed to produce the money, they stole the TV. Additionally, they called him "an enemy of the Chinese Communist Party" and threatened to put handcuffs on him and lock him up in prison. They wanted to scare him. Mr. Jiang became terrified and went into hiding. Because the house was abandoned for years, some steel bars that were going to be used for repairs were stolen, along with everything that was worth anything. Their home had become a ruin.

Note:

1. Clarifying the Truth: Because of the persecution in China and the unrelenting hate campaign carried out by China's state-controlled media, Falun Gong practitioners have been actively "clarifying the truth" -- explaining to the public the facts about Falun Gong and exposing the persecution. Truth clarification activities include face-to-face conversations with people, posting notices and posters, handing out flyers, and hanging banners. Outside of China, where Falun Gong is freely practised, practitioners further expose the persecution through anti-torture reenactments, art exhibits, Internet websites, books, magazines, newspapers, movies and letter writing. The goal of clarifying the truth is to help people understand Falun Gong, to dispel the lies of the communist regime in China and to raise public support to end the persecution. (Variations: "clarifying the truth", "truth clarifying", "truth-clarifying", "truth clarification", "truth-clarification", "clarifying the facts", "clarified the truth", and "clarified the facts")

2. The 610 office is 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.

3. Yuan is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.