Lanzhou City Police Arrest Twelve Falun Gong Practitioners

Falun Gong practitioners Wang Caixia, Yue Puling, Zhang Luchan, Jin Jilin and Chen Jianru went on a hunger strike on May 31st, 2012 to protest being detained in Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. Twelve days later, they were in critical condition. However, officials at the brainwashing centre refused to release any of them for medical treatment. The guards forcibly injected them with unknown substances. Worried about their safety, the practitioners’ relatives requested family visits and demanded their release multiple times, but all of their requests were denied.

The five practitioners’ relatives went to the brainwashing centre at around 9:00 a.m. on June 11th to demand their release. Many of the relatives had traveled long distances from other cities and a number of Falun Gong practitioners also came to support them.

At around 11:00 a.m. a woman came out of the brainwashing centre, and quickly dashed into a small supermarket nearby. She then started taking photographs of the relatives and practitioners outside the brainwashing centre with her mobile phone. When some people saw what she was doing, they immediately stopped her. Then six plainclothes police ran out of the brainwashing centre and started to arrest them. Several police vehicles from the Lanzhou City police arrived several minutes later and forcibly took the practitioners into custody.

It has been learned that twelve practitioners were arrested that day. Eight were detained in Yaoshuping Detention Centre, including Niu Xiaoqin (48), Li Ping (63), He Xiaolan (55) and Li Fubin (62). The other four, Sun Hong (50), Wu Lingfang (75), Wu Yuying (66) and Fu Julan (48), were held in the Anning Detention Centre.

Those involved in the persecution:

Luo Xiaohu, head of the Gansu Province Political and Judiciary Committee: +86-13893633886
Dong Jianmin, head of the Lanzhou City 610 Office
Chen Zhikai, head of the Lanzhou City Domestic Security Division: +86-13399317327
Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre: +86-931-2868792