The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners by Perpetrators in Gucheng County, Shandong Province (Part 1)

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For the past eight years, the police squad and 610 Office1 of Shouguang City, as well as members of the Gucheng County local government and Gucheng Police Unit, closely followed orders from Jiang Zemin's regime and cruelly persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners in Gucheng County using various inhuman methods.

Wang Junwen, Party secretary of Gucheng County's local government, arrested and extorted money from Falun Dafa practitioners

Wang Junwen (former party secretary of Gucheng county, who has been transferred to the Health Bureau of Shouguang City) cruelly persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners in Guchen County. During his tenure there, over 20 practitioners were detained under public security code, and over 30 were detained under criminal code, simply because they practised Falun Gong. In addition, many practitioners were sent to brainwashing centres and pressured to give up their beliefs, and many were cruelly tortured.

Wang also colluded with the Gucheng County police unit and arrested Falun Dafa practitioners several times. On the evening of October 14th, 1999, the local government and police unit sent people to raid the entire county, arresting over 80 Falun Dafa practitioners. They then took practitioners Li Kongfa, Zhao Xiushun, Li Hongjie and Li Hongze to the police station. Once they arrived at the police station, Zhao Xiushun and Li Hongjie were viscously beaten. Zhao Xiushun was pushed into the corner of a wall by police officers Zhao Maoyun (now retired) and Yang Yansheng. Zhao Maoyun stood on the victim's thighs, and Yan Yansheng stood on the victim's ankle and stomped on it several dozen times. Zhao Xiushun's thighs and ankle became swollen immediately and he was not able to move because of the pain. Later on, police officers Li Wanjun, Sang Qinjun, Yang Yansheng, and others, tore off Zhao Xiushun's shirt to cover his head and then beat and kicked him, using his own belt to whip him, leaving bloody marks on his back. He was beaten by the police with his hands cuffed to an iron chair2. The following day, the four practitioners were sent to the Shouguang Detention Centre and detained for 15 days. They were charged with practising Falun Gong and "disturbing social order." After they were released from the detention centre, the practitioners were again detained by the local government for 10 days, and each was also fined 550 yuan3.

On January 5th, 2000, Wang Junwen brought back 11 Dafa practitioners who were detained at the Shouguang Detention Centre for one month. In the evening, under orders from Wang, over 80 government staff members were forced to participate in the persecution of the 11 practitioners. Starting at 8:00 p.m. each practitioner was surrounded by over a dozen people from the county government. They were forced to take off their coats in the cold winter evening air, leaving only a thin layer of clothing. They were forced to hold blocks of ice over their heads with their bare hands and stand on the ice-cold ground barefoot. Whoever protested was severely beaten. The police forced Zhao Xiushun to stand barefoot in the snow in -10°C temperatures. At around 9:30 p.m., torture and interrogation of the 11 practitioners officially started. The Appeals Reception Office of the county government was used as a makeshift interrogation chamber. Over a dozen officers from the county government dragged the practitioners one after another into the room. They forced the practitioners to the floor face-down, with their limbs spread-eagle. They then took turns beating the practitioners with sticks until the victims could not move any more. Every practitioner's buttocks were severely bruised or were bleeding. These practitioners were not able to move their bodies for weeks after the torture; their clothing was meshed together with flesh and blood and was hard to peel off. Later, the practitioners were detained in the county government office for a week. Each practitioner was illegally fined 9,000 yuan. Their families were forced to pay the money out of fear that their loved ones would be beaten to death if they did not pay.

In the summer of 2000, the county government also detained Dafa practitioner Gao Zhengbang, an over 70-year-old man from Beifeng village. In order to squeeze more penalty money out of Mr. Gao, Wang sent villains wearing borrowed police uniforms to Mr. Gao's daughter's home. They threatened the man's daughter and forced her to pay 9,000 yuan. They also took the 40,000 yuan compensation money Mr. Gao had received after his spouse died in a traffic accident.

In August of 2000, Wang Junwen again arrested over a dozen Dafa practitioners. After being detained for 45 days, the practitioners were taken from Shouguang Detention Centre to the county government office to receive further torture. Wang ordered others to strip the practitioners and expose them to the baking sun. By dusk, the victims were badly sunburned. Their backs and shoulders were so burnt that they had big water blisters all over them. In the evening, Wang turned a garage into a torture chamber. The practitioners were dragged into to the garage, their heads covered with their clothing, and then they were brutally beaten. Just as before, each practitioner was held down by a dozen villains. Several strong villains beat the practitioners with sticks, and shocked them with electric batons. The miserable cries from the extreme pain could be heard several hundred metres away. The villains beat Li Hongjie with sticks. When he had counted 120 strokes, he passed out. After being beaten, Zhao Xiushun was dragged out of the garage and he passed out three times within 10 steps, but was revived by the shouting and shaking of the villains. Zhao Xiushun later recalled that at the time he had his eyes wide open but he was not able to see anything, and every breath required great effort. Gao Yulong and Guo Shibin were so badly beaten that they passed out and fell into the urine pit when using the toilet. Zhao Shiheng tried to urinate, but he passed out again just after he got up. Guo Shibin and Zhao Shiheng could not get out of bed for two months after they came back from the county government office. During the first month, they threw up everything they ate. After being beaten, the flesh on the buttocks of Gao Yulong and Sang Peiyao was separated from the bones. Wang Junwen extorted family members of the beaten practitioners for 23,000 yuan. If the families did not pay, Wang threatened to again beat the practitioners after their wounds healed. The families had to borrow money to pay the fine, fearing that their family members would be beaten to death otherwise. By the end of August 2000, Wang Junwen extorted over 700,000 yuan from the over 80 practitioners in Gucheng County. Each practitioner paid from 500 to 80,000 yuan. Wang Junwen used this ill-gotten wealth for his own enjoyment, including sight-seeing trips.

Police officer Wang Xuehai and others tortured Dafa practitioners using electric batons

In October 2002, police officer Wang Xuehai of the county police unit led police officers from the Shouguang Police Squad and took practitioners Li Kongfa and Li Hongjie to the city police bureau. They cuffed the practitioners' hands behind their backs and made them lie face down on the ground. Then the officers shocked them using two electric batons, from 9:00 a.m. until the evening. The practitioners were shocked numerous times; every shock burned their flesh, and the intense pain caused them to perspire heavily. When one person grew tired from shocking the practitioners, another one took over. As a result of this torture, the practitioners had their skin broken and bruised all over. Finally, the villains forced family members of the two practitioners to pay 3,000 yuan each. They threatened that if the families did not pay, they would send the practitioners to a forced labour camp. The families had to pay the money in order to bring their loved ones home.

In March 2003, officer Wang Xuehai seized Gao Yulong and his wife from Beifeng Village and took them to the Shouguang Police Squad. He cuffed their hands behind their backs, leaving them face down on the floor. Then he held Gao Yulong's body in place using a stool and shocked him using several electric batons. When Gao Yulong cried out in pain, the villain shocked his mouth. Gao Yulong had to clench his teeth and dared not make another sound. He was shocked for 8 rounds, from 9:00 a.m. until the evening. His entire body smelled of burnt flesh.

On September 19th, 2003, over a dozen people broke into Dafa practitioners (husband and wife) Zhao Shiheng and Sang Fengyin's home in Zujia Village. They handcuffed Zhao Shiheng without any explanation and started ransacking the house. When taking the practitioners to the police car, the policemen started beating the practitioners in front of several villagers. When the head of the village intervened, the villains threatened him and said: "Are you trying to interfere with state affairs?" The two practitioners were locked in two separate rooms at the police station. At around 2:00 p.m., after the policemen had their lunch and drinks, the brutal beatings began. Sang Fengyin's hands were cuffed behind her back and she was forced face down on the ground. Her mouth was gagged with a piece of dirty cloth. She was shocked with several electric batons all over her body, until her face was all bruised and swollen. Her face became totally unrecognisable, and she was unable to see for quite some time after the torture. Zhao Shiheng was locked up in another cell. The policemen duct-taped his mouth and cuffed his hands behind his back. They shocked him using electric baton. Not until over six months later, when husband and wife met again in Huaibei Prison, did Ms. Sang learn that several of her husband's teeth had been knocked out. In Huaibei Prison, Mr. Zhao was forced to perform labour for over 10 hours a day. He was exhausted and his legs and feet were so badly swollen that he could not wear shoes.

In October 2003, police officer Sun Longfeng of the Shaoguang Police Squad (in his 30's, one of the strongest policemen and most brutal in administering beatings, tel: 86-536-5298626), accompanied by Wang Xuehai of the local police unit, abducted Li Kongfa again from Zhaojia village. He robbed Li Kongfa of 200 yuan cash and brought him to Shouguang Police Squad to be beaten, shocked and whipped. Ma Wenhe and Guo Hongtang also participated in the beating. After they grew tired from torturing Mr. Li, the policemen detained him in the Shouguang Detention Centre for one month.

On the afternoon of December 30th, 2003, Wang Xuehai led policemen from the Shouguang Police Squad and arrested practitioner Ms. Li Shuyun, in her forties, from Beifeng village. The policemen ordered her to take off her pants and then chained her legs. They shocked her using electric batons, especially on the inner thighs and other sensitive areas. Then they dragged her into a room by pulling on the chains. Another villain jabbed bamboo sticks into her toes. After one night of torture, the perpetrators forced her family to pay 2,000 yuan before releasing Ms. Li. They ordered her not to tell people that she had been tortured in the police unit.

Facts of the torture of Dafa practitioner Zhao Liming

In late June 2000, Zhao Liming went to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong to the Central Government and was arrested and brought back to the Shouguang Detention Centre. On the day after he was brought back, a policeman asked him if he would continue practising Falun Gong. Mr. Zhao said without hesitation, " Yes! Why should I stop practising such a good exercise?" The policeman then told the inmates: "If he continues practising the exercises, beat him without mercy!" Thus, the inmates started viscously beating Zhao Liming at 10:00 a.m. using various torture methods, until he passed out at around 3:00 p.m. and had to be rushed to the hospital. The policeman in charge was afraid to take any responsibility, so he called the Gucheng County government agents and ordered them to take Zhao Liming back to the government office. The county government took him back and locked him up in a hot and humid garage for 28 days. During this period, Mr. Zhao was continuously beaten by agents from the government office. Eventually, his family paid a 20,000-yuan "fine." Mr. Zhao was then detained for 32 more days before his release.

In September 2001, seven or eight people broke into Zhao Liming's home and took him away without any explanation. On the way to the detention centre, Mr. Zhao broke free and went into hiding. He was later captured again and was sent to the Wangcun Labour Camp for two years.

Inside the Wangcun Labour Camp, Mr. Zhao continued to be cruelly tortured. The perpetrators were led by Wang Xingjiang, Wang Li, Liu Guowei and two others whose surnames are Sun and Gao. The tortures were executed by Liu Fengmin. During the first month, since Mr. Zhao refused to give up his beliefs, he was only allowed to sleep for half an hour each day and was closely watched by eight people. After one month, when the villains saw that his health not only did not deteriorate but that Mr. Zhao was growing stronger, they escalated the torture. Police officer Wang Xingjiang cuffed his hands behind his back and beat his legs using a board, and beat his feet using a ruler, trying to force him to give up his beliefs. Mr. Zhao endured such unbearable torture for over six months, and yet he still declared his firm belief in Falun Dafa. The perpetrators then started beating him even more viscously. Officer Wang Xingjiang put duct tape on Mr. Zhao's mouth and his tormentors hit him with a board, pinched his chest, dug their fingers into his ribs, and used various other torture methods. The torture went on for five hours, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., until Mr. Zhao passed out. The villains sent him to the hospital in the detention centre and then transferred him to the emergency room of #148 Hospital. Mr. Zhao woke up after four hours. He told the doctors and nurses of the tortures he went through in the labour camp. The villains were afraid that Mr. Zhao would further disclose their cruel deeds so they transferred him again to the secluded Intensive Care Unit of #38 Hospital. In the #38 Hospital, Mr. Zhao went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution he had gone through in the labour camp. Three days later, he was again sent back to the labour camp where he suffered another 86 days of cruel torture.

In the Intensive Control cell in the labour camp, Mr. Zhao was shackled on a iron bed every day. His meals and bathroom breaks were restricted. They put a portable toilet beside his bed and forced him to eat his meals while facing the toilet. The villains also mentally tortured him by placing a picture of the founder of Falun Gong under his feet and tried to force him to step on it. When he refused, the villains beat him and had several people force his feet down onto the picture.

On June 25th, 2005, Zhao Liming was arrested and taken to the Wangcun Labour Camp yet again. The details of the second arrest are not available.

After the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, Mr. Zhao's wife, Ding Shulian, was also relentlessly tortured by vicious people from the county government, the local police unit and the city detention centre. In late June 2000, Ms. Ding went to Beijing to appeal to the Central Government but was arrested and taken to the Shouguang Detention Centre. Since she refused to renounce Falun Gong, the villains locked her on an iron chair for three days straight. She was then forced to pay a fine to the county government of approximately 10,000 yuan. In September 2001, the villains from the county government went to her house to arrest her husband. Ms. Ding tried to stop them. Agents from the county government and police officer Li Wangjun from the local police unit grabbed Ms. Ding and threw her into a road-side ditch several metres deep. Not caring if she were dead or alive, they then hurried away with Mr. Zhao Liming as a captive. On November 20th, 2003, police officer Guo Hongtang from Shouguang Police Bureau forcibly took Ms. Ding from her home to the local police unit. Police officer Sun Longfen severely beat her, slapping her on the face and kicking her. Then they brought Ms. Ding to Shouguang Police Squad and forced a family member to pay 2,000 yuan before releasing her. During the period from July 1999 to November 2003, Zhao Liming and his wife had a total of over 30,000 yuan extorted from them by the county government.

The above are only a portion of the facts revealing how the former office of the Gucheng County government, the Gucheng local police unit and the Shouguang Police Squad persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. The information was obtained through evidence and witnesses.

During the period from July 1999 to date, the Gucheng County government has detained and fined over 80 practitioners, from a 76-year-old woman to a 14-year-old girl, with the fines ranging from 500 yuan to 85,000 yuan. Below are some of the actual sums extorted from Falun Gong practitioners:

Guo Changting: had over 60,000 yuan extorted; Li Hongze: over 40,000 yuan; Guo Shibin: over 85,000 yuan; Zhao Liming: over 30,000 yuan; Li Kongfa: over 70,000 yuan; Gao Yulong: over 70,000 yuan; Sang Peiyao: over 50,000 yuan; Zhao Xiushun: 67,000 yuan; Zhao Shiheng: 30,000 yuan. There are also more than 60 other practitioners who were fined between 500 yuan and 10,000 yuan.

To be continued...

Note

1. "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.

2. Iron Chair: The "Iron chair" is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time, see illustration at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html

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


Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/3/21/151231.html

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