To prevent Falun Gong practitioners from appealing to the government, on February 20, 2001, the 610 Office (a governmental office set up to handle Falun Gong issues) in Changyi District, Jilin City, Jilin Province, initiated a "reform" class for Falun Gong practitioners under house arrest. The so-called "reform" class held as many as forty practitioners at one time. Their ages ranged from ten to eighty years old. They were either forcefully taken from their homes in the middle of the night by gangs with as many as eight men, or deceived by neighborhood officials, local police, or township leaders. In the detention center, practitioners were forced to sleep on cold and damp cement floors. They ate only two sparse meals a day and had to pay 10 Yuan a day for board expenses.
The following is the partial report of the persecution:
On March 5, because Li Xiaoming was illegally detained for practicing Falun Gong, his wife (who was one month from giving birth) had to travel to visit practitioner Li. Unfortunately, they died in a car accident on their way to visit Li. The provincial 610 Office and the local government both tried to shirk responsibility onto each other for the death of the wife and the fetus that had everything to do with the illegal detainment. Knowing that they were both in the wrong, the offices agreed to release Li Xiaoming unconditionally. However, he had already lost his family because of the persecution.
On March 7, the city secretary Zuo Ronglian, accompanied by the district director and secretary from Changyi, (he is also acting dean, vice dean and section chief from the 610 Office,) came to the class and spoke in a very loud voice, "I am treating you as sisters and brothers because there is still division among the people over how to deal with you. If I had it my way, I would have sent guns to solve the problem." Dafa practitioners asked, "Why did you arrest us? We did not violate any law." The secretary said, "You going to Beijing means me losing my position. Especially now as there will be thousands of journalists from around the world to cover Jiang Zemin's "Two Meetings," (i.e., the annual conference of the People's Congress and the annual conference of the Political Consultation) we can't let you go there and make Jiang lose face." (It was reported that Changyi district practitioners appealed in Beijing on March 5, the opening ceremony of the "Two Meetings.") The secretary continued to lecture the practitioners, including a 15-year old middle school student. He told the student things like, "You shouldn't go to school because the more knowledge one has, the more reactionary one will become." He also promised to release any practitioner who stepped on the picture of the founder of Falun Dafa, Mr. Li Hongzhi. None gave him an audience.
On March 8, officers from the 610 Office, local police, the neighborhood secretary and district leaders--all together about 20 to 30 people, went to practitioner Liu Yumin's home. (Liu had been illegally sentenced to a labor camp but was then sent home to seek medical attention for her beatings.) There was no one at home. The mob pried open her large security-door and ransacked the home. On the evening of March 9, Liu and her child came back home and saw the mess. Thinking that she had been robbed, she reported the incident to the local police station. They sentenced her to the "transformation class." On March 10, policemen Wang Guojun and Hou Zuoli beat Liu badly. The next day, she was beaten again. Liu told them "I will leave today." No one saw her that afternoon. Her steadfast resolve frightened the officers. Some wrote self-criticisms.
At midnight on March 10, a 2nd grade student named Hou Zhenlong (male, 10-years-old) was taken to the "reform" class with his mom. Prior to being taken from his home, his principal and school teachers forced all the students to sign their names to the "million people signature" which opposes Falun Gong. Hou Zhenlong firmly refused even though the school threatened to call the police on whoever did not sign.
On March 12, Zhao Dehua, the section chief from the 610 Office slandered the founder of Falun Gong. In response, Yang Yuxiang shouted loudly, "Falun Dafa is good! Return my Teacher's innocence! Please raise up your hand if you agree with me!" Practitioners raised up their hands spontaneously. This righteous act shook the heart of each practitioner and frightened the guards. Zhao Dehua charged the practitioners with disturbing public order and contacted the 610 Office. He also contacted Yang Yuxiang's local police station and requested that he be sentenced to a labor camp. The next afternoon, four to five policemen came and took Yang to the local police station and 610 branch office. When asked why they had come to take him away and whether they had any legal precedence for doing so, they answered, "No, we will worry about that later." At this point, other practitioners bravely stepped forward in objection and stopped the illegal arrest.
The 10-year-old child of a Dafa practitioner named Lu Dewen was also in the class because the child could not go to school without the help from his parents.
Lu Duwen and her husband are Falun Gong practitioners. Their ten-year-old son was taken to the "transformation class" because his parents had been detained. Lu's husband asked the officials when they took his boy, "Do you still have normal human feelings? Don't you also have a wife, son and daughter? You won't even spare a child? This is too cruel. China's laws, or the laws of any other country do not allow such ill-treatment to women and children..." They cowered at his words. Around midnight that night, Lu's body cramped virtually everywhere and had breathing difficulties. Her hands and feet cramped especially hard. The person on duty immediately called the 120 number (emergency phone number in China) and her condition stabilized at around 12:30 am. After this, Lu suffered sporadic debility. Even in such a condition, the Jilin officials would not release her; their excuse was that she only pretended to be sick. On March 22, Du's blood pressure was at 220. She felt dizzy, muddled and weak in her limbs. They did not monitor her life-threatening condition and she remained in such a state until April 8.
On April 5, the illegal class transferred to a new location. All together, more than forty people, including local politicians, legal secretaries, officers from the 610 Office, and members of the court of justice and procurers office escorted twenty-five Falun Gong practitioners, including elderly, women and children into two large buses. PPolice cars led the procession and the officials' cars followed. Passers-by were astonished by such a large lineup for a small group of peaceful people.
On April 7, section chief Zhao decided to hang the practitioners with handcuffs. Sui Hongxhin (male) refused to cooperate. Six to seven men tried to intimidate him and Zhao specifically ordered him to oblige; he still did not cooperate. After a long period of arguing, followed by pleading, Zhao and the other men gave up.
On April 8, a practitioner was missing. Zhao turned off the heat in response.
This illegal "transformation class" tried every way to torture Dafa practitioners. The perpetrators acted more and more viciously and the practitioners' situation became increasingly bitter. Their meals were reduced from one bowl to a half bowl and then turned into just a ladle full of porridge. The "transformation class" proclaimed that the Party would not reason with Falun Gong practitioners, no living person would be released without denouncing Falun Gong and that any death while in custody would be publicized as a suicide. The officials swore their allegiance to the Party and Jiang Zemin as they were earning more than one thousand Yuan a month for their work.
At the time of writing, these criminals were still committing these atrocities unchecked. There were still ten Falun Gong practitioners suffering from persecution in the "transformation class." We appeal to kind-hearted people from all walks of life in society and ask that they pay close attention to this matter.
List of the practitioners being persecuted in the illegal class:
Zhu Xiuyan, Jia Xiuying, Chen Shuqin, Guo Xiuying (15-year old), Lu Dewen, Xu De, Xu Zhongbin, Yue Nailiang, Du Zhenting, and Jiang Liwei.
Practitioner from China
April 27, 2001
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