Illegal Detention and Imprisonment

  • Sixty Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested for Distributing Shen Yun DVDs

    According to statistics from the Minghui website, there have been about 40 arrest cases since February 2014, involving over 60 Falun Gong practitioners who were arrested for distributing Shen Yun DVDs. Shen Yun, a New York-based performing arts company whose mission is to promote Chinese traditional culture, has been very popular overseas since its inception in 2006. Audiences of different nationalities, beliefs, and ages, have been deeply moved by the beauty and charm that Shen Yun imparts. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities have systematically destroyed China's traditional culture since the regime took control of China in 1949.
  • Documenting the Bizarre Trial of Mr. Li Shujun in the Xingcheng City Court

    Practitioner Mr. Li Shujun was arrested on August 24th, 2013, by police. His home was ransacked. His telephone had been bugged and monitored prior to his arrest. On the day of the trial, March 28th, 2014, it the court lobby, security checkpoint staff asked if anyone was a Falun Gong practitioner, and, if so, that person would not be admitted. During the trial when the judge and prosecutor spoke, the speaker volume was loud and clear. When Mr. Li and his lawyer spoke, the volume was abnormally low. In the end, the court did not allow any time for debate as is usual for such cases, nor was the verdict announced.
  • 70-Year-Old Mr. Lou Zhenkang Secretly Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

    The brother of 70-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Lou Zhenkang received a letter from the Zhejiang No. 2 Prison in February 2014, saying that Mr. Lou was sentenced to three years and has been taken to the prison on January 24th, 2014. Prior to this, his family had received no information about him for the past one and a half years while he was being held at the Jinhua Detention Centre since his arrest in August 2012.
  • Well-Respected Property Manager Twice Sentenced to Forced Labour for His Belief in Falun Gong

    A well-respected property manager, Mr. Li Zhongwei, from Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, has been twice sentenced to forced labour for his belief in Falun Gong. Mr. Li needed medical treatment several times as a result of the brutal torture he suffered in the labour camps. After Mr. Li was assigned as the property manager of Guanjing Village in June 2003, he quickly solved many of the town's practical problems with his resourcefulness and high moral character. The residents of Guanjing Village were outraged when Mr. Li was arrested in June 2006. Many members of the community tried in earnest for several days to come up with a way to obtain his release.
  • Ms. Zhang Chengjun, 75, Sentenced to Three Years' Imprisonment

    Ms. Zhang Chengjun, 75, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, and is being held at the Yaojia Detention Centre. Ms. Zhang has been arrested and persecuted many times because she practises Falun Gong. Officials from the Dalian Procuratorate have had her sentenced to forced labour twice over the past 13 years.
  • Arrested a Year Ago for Exercising in the Park, Thirteen Practitioners Face Unjust Trial in Shenyang City

    Dadong District Court in Shenyang City scheduled a trial for 13 detained Falun Gong practitioners on March 18th, 2014. These practitioners, ranging in age from 48 to 73 years old, were arrested for participating in morning exercises almost a year ago. They were severely tortured while in police custody. The police shocked Ms. Fu Hui's thighs and private areas with electric batons. Several practitioners were disfigured from beatings.
  • Falun Gong Practitioner in Her Seventies Taken Into Custody at Midnight by 610 Office Agents

    Practitioner Ms. Wang Guilan, who is in her seventies, went missing in November 2013. Her family later learned that Ms. Wang had been taken into custody in the middle of the night by the Huadian City 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), and taken to the Shahezi Brainwashing Centre in Jilin City. The brainwashing sessions started at 8:00 a.m. daily. The content of the so-called lectures was material that slandered Falun Gong.
  • More Than a Decade of Persecution: Jiangxi Police Continue to Detain Falun Gong Practitioner for Her Belief

    When the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Ji Shujun, 50, was repeatedly arrested, detained and subjected to the regime's notorious “education through forced labour.” She was sentenced to three years in a labour camp in 2002 after she went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. In the Gaoyang Labour Camp, Ms. Ji was beaten with electric batons, forced to stand for prolonged periods and forced to stand outdoors in the bitter cold and snow. She staged several hunger strikes to protest the mistreatment.
  • Police Secretly Install Tracking Device on Practitioner's Car

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Li from Cangzhou City, Hebei Province found a little black box under her car’s chassis on December 9th, 2013. The box was about 8cm × 8cm × 2cm. Ms. Li learned that it was a "locator," a tracking device. She removed it from the car and put it in the basement next to her parking place. Mr. Li’s home was ransacked at noon on December 11th, by eight police officers.
  • Detained for Exposing Torture in Forced Labour Camps, Ms. Lu Xueqin Denied Medical Care

    Ms. Lu Xueqin was arrested on May 2nd, 2013, for taking photographs that depicted various means of torture used on Falun Gong practitioners in Chinese prisons and forced labour camps. She has been detained ever since. Ms. Lu's health has drastically deteriorated while in detention. Her lawyer submitted a request to get her released on medical parole, but the Qingdao City Police Department has turned it down.
  • Ms. Jian Chengrong, in Her 70s, Arrested and Tortured

    On September 9th, 2013, police broke into 74-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Jian Chengrong's home. They claimed that Ms. Jian's home was the headquarters for local Falun Gong practitioners, and sent about 20 officers to ransack the elderly woman's home. They took away all of her Falun Gong books, as well as Ms. Jian's computer, printer, mobile phones, and about three thousand yuan in cash. Around 9 p.m., the police brutally interrogated Mrs. Jian. They hit her lower abdomen violently until it bled. Later they slapped her face and beat her.
  • Sham “Public Trial” Held in Nong'an County Court, Jilin Province

    A Nong'an County Court in Jilin Province held an illegal hearing on the afternoon of October 11th, 2013, without notifying the defence lawyers and family members of eight Falun Gong practitioners. All of the eight practitioners pleaded not guilty. Mr. Liu and Ms. Zhang accused the Domestic Security Division of extorting their confession by torture and stated that evidence that was obtained by torture was invalid.
  • Mass Arrest of Fourteen Practitioners in Maoming--Five Facing Trial

    Fourteen Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Maoming on November 2nd, 2013. Five are still being detained. Families of the arrested practitioners appealed to the authorities to release of their loved ones, but the authorities refused to see them. The police station deputy director claimed that the practitioners would be put on trial.
  • Trial Continues After Defence Lawyers Leave the Courtroom

    A second court trial for practitioners Ms. Liu Yanhua and Ms. Wu Wenjin commenced on October 22nd, 2013, without the presence of their three defence lawyers. Ms. Liu and Ms. Wu's relatives were very angry that the court officials acted in such an unfair manner. Defence lawyer Chu Yukun was unable to make it to the court on time, as his flight was delayed due to heavy fog. The two other lawyers then tried to contact Li Yongsheng, the presiding judge, to postpone the trial for a couple of days. However, he did not answer the calls.
  • Jilin City Party Secretary Launches Mass Arrests; An Inside Look at the Shahezi Brainwashing Centre

    More than 30 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested the night of October 17th, 2013. Some of the them were taken to the Shahezi Brainwashing Centre. Every day from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., propaganda that slanders Falun Gong is broadcast into the rooms. From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., they focus on personally abusing practitioners in an effort to break their spirits and force them to renounce their belief. Since becoming the CCP secretary, Zhang Xiaopei has been mercilessly persecuting Falun Gong as a means of gaining political favour for further promotion.