(Clearwisdom.net)

To The Family Members of police and "610 Office" personnel in Datong Prefecture:

We are Falun Dafa practitioners. We are so fortunate to have obtained Falun Buddha Fa in this lifetime. It has helped us learn the principles of living and the meaning of life. Our great Teacher told us "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance" is the characteristic of the universe and the only criterion for evaluating good or bad people. He also taught us to assimilate to this characteristic and be good people that are responsible to society, other people, and ourselves. After we practiced Falun Gong, we obtained good health and happiness. Thus, spreading from one person to another and from one heart to another, in a short period of a few years over 100 million people in this country began practicing Falun Gong. This is the great fortune of the Chinese people.

However, out of its jealousy of Falun Gong's popularity, Jiang's regime started to madly persecute Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners on July 20, 1999. Overnight, the nationwide media started to slander this good practice that teaches people to be good and healthy. The practitioners in Datong Prefecture appealed to and visited the government to tell them the facts about Falun Gong based on our own experiences and to help the government understand Falun Gong. Yet, the practitioners were accused of making trouble and getting involved in politics, and have since then experienced a bloody persecution.

In Datong, we practitioners were intimidated and threatened. Our families were also implicated. We were followed, watched, illegally detained, brainwashed and even paraded through the streets to be publicly humiliated. Just for practicing Falun Gong, some of us were forced to leave home and some were detained many times or penalized with heavy fines. Practitioners were detained in detention centers. The police in Datong Prefecture beat us brutally with police batons and plastic clubs. They put heavy iron chains (weighing several dozen pounds) around our heads and hands, and forced us to walk around the yard. We could not even straighten our backs, and had to move inch by inch. Afterwards, we were still prohibited from going inside. During chilly winter days, we were forced to freeze outside. The 2nd Detention Center of Datong City transferred us to the Taiyuan Forced Labor Camp on a snowy and icy day, and we had to go outside barefoot, with only a single layer of clothing.

The number of Falun Gong practitioners that have been illegally detained, sent to forced labor camps, and sentenced to jail terms in Datong Prefecture is the greatest in Shanxi Province. In prison we were forced to do heavy labor for long periods and were subjected to all kinds of brutal torture. In 2001, the police in the Datong Forced Labor Camp prohibited us from sleeping. On those cold winter days, they often confined us to an empty room, stripped off our clothes, and poured cold water on us. Sometimes, they ordered seven to eight ruffians to surround us and beat us. Sometimes, the police even did the beating themselves with police batons and electric batons, until we were on the brink of death.

In the forced labor camps of Shanxi Province, the police shocked our mouths with electric batons and stripped off our clothes and exposed us to the burning sun to humiliate us. They also ordered ruffians to curse, attack, and beat us with iron hooks. They also kicked us, punched us, dragged us by our hair and threw us against walls, beat female practitioners in their stomachs, poked female practitioners' private parts, and forcibly stuffed excrement into practitioners' mouths. Because of our firm belief in Dafa, we were deprived of all personal freedom and dignity in the forced labor camps. The vicious police prohibited us from using the restroom and forced us to swallow excrement and urine. They confined us in cells and deprived us of sleep for days on end. As soon as we closed our eyes, they beat us. They also prohibited us from talking to each other. Some of us had bruises and wounds all over our bodies from the beatings, and were too battered to be recognized. Some of us lost teeth as a result of the torture, and some of us had edema throughout our bodies and could not even stand up or walk.

In the Women's Forced Labor Camp of Shanxi Province, one practitioner was shocked by the police with a 220 volt electric current. As a result, a once healthy woman suffered a mental collapse. However, the police lied and said that this practitioner, who was tortured to this state, was insane as a result of practicing Falun Gong. In the men's forced labor camp, one practitioner was tortured to death but the labor camp still tried to hide the truth. They told the people in the camp that this practitioner was out on medical bail, while they told people outside the camp that this practitioner had died from an illness. The actual murderer was not punished and instead received a reward and was released ahead of his term. The police who instigated this atrocity received monetary rewards and promotions. The Women's Forced Labor Camp of Shanxi Province receives a large amount of funds from their superior and the honorary title, "A Civilized Labor Camp," for brutally persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

In order to deny their responsibility, the policemen who persecuted us used the excuse of executing the orders of their superiors. Many of them gradually became clear-minded through our truth-clarification, and they were able to tell right from wrong and choose good over evil. They positively realized that Falun Dafa is the righteous way, and started to protect us privately. But for those who are still doing bad deeds against Dafa practitioners, judgment from history is awaiting them.

To you, the family members of the political and legislation departments, as well as police departments, don't you feel shocked when hearing about all these vicious crimes and atrocities? During the persecution, the cruel physical and mental torture used on Falun Gong practitioners results in great suffering for practitioners' families; it is the kind of mental anguish that is beyond description. Perhaps your relatives have been involved in the persecution. Kindhearted people, we all have mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, wives and children. Please let us together tell the truth to them for their sake as well as their families' and relatives' sake. Stop them from doing more bad deeds!

Dafa practitioners from the Datong Area

December 1, 2003