(clearwisdom.net)

Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/5/13/48028.html

III. Abduction – A Crime Committed by Jiang's Regime with Ill Intention

Abduction is done with an ill intent. The means used by Jiang's regime to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, including extortion, violence and holding practitioners as hostages, are the same tactics as those used by abductors. The intention of Jiang's regime is to eradiate Falun Gong through abduction, torture, brainwashing and murder. Jiang's notorious policy, "Ruin practitioners' reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy their bodies" is carried out by police and government officials at all government levels.

Clearwisdom has reported that corrupt police and government officials in China have extorted huge amounts of money from abducted Falun Gong practitioners.

Take Guan County, Shandong Province as an example. The local police there extorted several million yuan from practitioners, calling it "fines". They never issued receipts to practitioners and their family members. They also ransacked practitioners' homes one after another. If they found any Falun Gong books or materials, they would send practitioners to labor camps or brainwashing centers. There was a saying in the local area, "[Police] release [practitioners] after arresting them and extorting money, and they arrest them again to extort more money. The police have no way to make money if they do not do so."

The illegal arrest of practitioners is often accompanied by violence, for instance, breaking into practitioners' homes, ransacking them, beating and kicking the practitioners, pulling their hair, tying them up, handcuffing them, dragging them on the ground, etc. Sometimes anti-riot police were even called in to threaten practitioners.

On the evening of September 28, 2001, led by the mayor of Shijiazhuang City, Zang Shengye, around 30-40 armed policemen from the Shijiazhuang City Public Security Bureau, the Qiaoxi Public Security Branch and the Qiaoxi District Dongli Police Station stormed into a residence at No. 300 Gongnong Road in the Kaida district. They acted violently against people in the residence, slapping people in the face and striking at people's heads. They abducted six Falun Gong practitioners and confiscated their personal belongings including: four computers, two printers, two VCD recording devices, one scanner, and two motorbikes. On September 29 and October 3, following the above abduction, Dongli and Ninganlu police kidnapped another two people. The number of illegal arrests reached eight including, Zhao Lishan, Zhang Shijun, Niu Mingang, Yang Xiaojie, Lan Qizhi, Shi Yan, Zhang Lingjiang, and Liu Runling. At around the same time, the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau mobilized almost its entire security force to search the whole city, investigating and arresting so-called key organizers. All known Falun Gong practitioners and their friends and families were being followed, their phones and cell phones tapped and recorded. Mr. Zhao Lishan's son, Zhao Liang, was detained for no reason for four days. Shijiazhuang City was in a shroud of terror.

Abduction is just the very first step in Jiang's regime's persecution of Falun Gong. After violently taking practitioners away from their homes, the police resort to a multitude of means to attempt to force practitioners to give up their cultivation of Falun Gong. Those who persist in their cultivation are sent to brainwashing centers, mental hospitals, labor camps, or jails, where they are tortured both physically and mentally. Abducted practitioners are asked to make a choice between their belief and their lives. Those who choose to hold firm to their belief often pay a heavy price, sometimes even with their lives.

The abduction of overseas practitioners has the same goal of eradicating Falun Gong. After kidnapping overseas practitioners, the National Security Bureau often tries to control them mentally, hoping to get them to provide intelligence after they go back to their resident countries. The purpose of such action is to extend the persecution overseas and eradicate Falun Gong.

Charles Li, who was mentioned in part I of this article, is an example of Jiang's regime holding practitioners as hostage. As a U.S. citizen, Charles needed to get a visa stamped at the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco before his departure to China. His abduction by the Chinese police was premeditated. In October 2002, Jiang Zemin was sued for genocide, torture and crimes against humanity in the U.S. Some observers say that the arrest of Charles Li is the Chinese government's attempt to bargain with the U.S. government on the lawsuit against Jiang.

According to Article 35 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration. However, the police departments and the national security bureau in China are ignoring the constitution and abducting its own people at will and holding them as hostages to bargain in diplomatic and human rights campaigns.

During the past five years, Jiang and his illegally established agency of "610 Offices" that are charged with persecuting Falun Gong have continuously made policies to try to achieve their goal. These policies are made known to the local governments through branch offices of the "610" agency. The policies include, "Any means used to deal with Falun Gong is not overkill," "Death from torture is to be recorded as suicide," "Cremate the bodies without identifying the identities," "Open fire on those caught distributing Falun Gong materials," etc. Every order results in more brutal persecution of Falun Gong.

Various written or oral orders to abduct practitioners are also delivered to the local governments, resulting in mass arrest of practitioners in numerous places. The most typical example is the mass arrest of practitioners in Changchun in March 2002.

On March 5, 2002, the truth-clarification TV programs "Falun Dafa Spreads to the World" and "Self-immolation or a hoax'" were aired in the cities of Changchun and Songyuan in Jilin Province. Afterwards, Jiang issued an order to kill practitioners without pardon. The head of the central "610 Office", Liu Jing, and others came to Changchun to direct the persecution. Jilin Province authorities then started to arrest practitioners on a large scale. In the Changchun area alone, over 5,000 practitioners were abducted. Several people were beaten to death during the interrogation. Those who directly participated in the broadcasts were tortured and sentenced to heavy prison terms of up to 20 years. One of the major participants, Liu Chengjun, was shot twice in the leg after being arrested, handcuffed and shackled. He was then sentenced and jailed in Jilin Prison, where he was tortured for 21 months before he died on December 26, 2003.

The abductors include provincial and municipal police, national security bureau staff, "610 Office" staff, village and town police stations, security guards of various workplaces, and party secretaries at different levels. Under Jiang's rule, abduction is no longer considered a crime, but treated as a task that governments must accomplish. With abduction considered legal, Jiang's accomplices are doing evil without constraint. When the abductors were questioned by practitioners, "Why would you arrest us, who only want to be good people'" they replied, "We have no choice. The higher-up orders us to do so. Jiang gives us the order and if you want to argue, go find him to reason."

Abduction takes place anywhere, be it public places including Tiananmen Square, streets, parks and workplaces, or private homes. Abduction also happens any time, during holidays, on sensitive dates or just a regular day.

Abduction has now become a government action based on Jiang's various policies and secret orders aimed at eradicating Falun Gong.

Even during the persecution, practitioners continue to follow the teachings of Falun Gong. When faced with abduction, torture, mental abuse and murder, they are always peaceful and rational, kindhearted and persistent. They keep clarifying the true situation to people. When people compare practitioners' compassion and tolerance with Jiang's regime's hysteria, they become more and more clearheaded, and they are coming forward to condemn and resist the persecution, and protect practitioners. The following four stories explain this point.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Yulan, the local community director in Nanjing City of Jiangsu Province, was arrested at the end of 2000. The news spread quickly throughout the local community.

At first, people didn't believe it. Some went to Zhang Yulan's home and her community office to check things out. Zhang's home had been searched and left in a mess. The lock on her office desk had been forced open. There was no doubt: She had been arrested.

The people's doubt quickly turned to anger. People knew Zhang Yulan had done many good things and was widely praised as a good person. How could such a good person be in jail'

People went to the local police station and angrily questioned police. "Why did you arrest Zhang Yulan'"

The police answered, "It's an order from the higher authorities. She practices Falun Gong; it is a political issue."

People refused to leave and kept talking about what they thought of Zhang Yulan.

"We only know she is a good person, the best communist member in the party of all those we know.

"She did practice Falun Gong. So what' At the annual evaluation of the local community office, she got 100 percent of the votes and continued to hold the office; she is the only elected people's representative who ever won 100 percent of the votes.

"For seven years, she has volunteered to wash clothes and bed covers for those old people who didn't have children to take care of them. She has taken care of a blind person for seven years. She organized volunteers to help with grocery shopping for old people. She cares for us like our own daughter. All other leaders should act like her."

Facing these enraged faces and listening to the indisputable facts, the police had no response. They closed the gate and said only, "The order came from the higher authorities. We can't resolve the issue."

"Where is Zhang Yulan detained'" the people demanded. They kept knocking at the gate but didn't get any answer.

"Let's go to the police department. Ask them to return her," They said.

That evening, many strangers came to the community and talked to every family. "Be smart. Why do you want to take a risk for someone else' Don't interfere with the police. If the communist party turns hostile toward you, it won't matter who you are. They will arrest you or even kill you without any reason! Old people should think of the consequences to your children. Young people should think of the consequences to your family. Take care of your own things and do not care about someone else's problem." Many plainclothes police were also seen wandering around in the community. People had to give up their plan to gather together at the police department to ask for Zhang Yulan's release.

Several older people in the community were the first to discover where Zhang Yulan was detained. They went to the detention center every day to ask to see Zhang Yulan. After being refused, they spoke out about Zhang's grievances at the gate of the detention center.

They said, "Zhang Yulan is the best director in our community. She used her own salary to help us. She takes care of us like she is our own daughter, helping old women to take baths, helping us wash clothes, do grocery shopping, or have a birthday party. During the Spring Festival Holiday, she took us to her own home to have dinner and spend Chinese New Year's Eve together. During the holidays, she took us out to see different places. She helps the unemployed find jobs. For seven years as the director of the local community office, she has done such good things consistently. The first year she was appointed director, the local resident community was changed from one that lagged behind to one that is a model of the resident communities."

The police tried to drive them away at first. Eventually, the police were moved and started to listen to what they said.

One day, an old man, Li, a widower without children, regained consciousness from his hospital bed. The first thing he asked was to be carried to see Zhang Yulan one more time.

Since learning of Zhang Yulan's arrest, Li had been kneeling down in the community office with others to ask for her release. After the request was rejected, the old man became sicker and sicker. He said that he would only have a few days to live and he could not leave the world in peace until seeing Zhang Yulan one more time. The community had no other way but to carry him to the detention center.

At first the detention center refused his request. Li told the police that the debt of gratitude he owed Zhang Yulan was as heavy as a mountain. One time, he had been sick with a pain in his stomach that made him wish he were dead. Zhang Yulan used her fingers to remove little by little the excrement that wouldn't come out. "You see, even one's own daughter would not do such a thing. Yulan did. Now she is persecuted in jail. If you don't want me to see her one more time and say a few words before I leave the world, I will sue you in front of the king of the afterworld after I die. She just practices Falun Gong to be a good person. What law did she violate' If you refuse such a request from a dying old man, do you have any human nature left'"

The police had no answer for the old man. They held a long meeting to discuss the issue and finally decided to allow him to see Zhang Yulan through the glass.

The reputation of Zhang Yulan's deeds is widespread in the detention center. Even drug offenders admired her and wanted to give up the past and be good people. Some said they had learned from Zhang Yulan and would practice Falun Gong after they returned to society.

Because of Zhang Yulan's great influence on the society and her persistent attitude in practicing Falun Gong, the higher authorities wanted to "execute one as a warning to a hundred" and decided to hold a public trial. However, it never happened. Several months later, people learned that the public trial was canceled, and Zhang Yulan was going to be sent to jail in another place. It was not until Zhang Yulan's family received a request for money from Nantong City Prison that people realized Zhang Yulan had been sent away secretly.

Some police said privately, "If one becomes a person like Zhang Yulan, even being in jail is a honor."

Zhang Yulan was detained illegally in the detention center until she was sentenced to seven years in jail in August 2002. She is still detained at Nantong City Prison of Jiangsu Province.

At approximately 8 o'clock on an evening in February 2004, seven police officers from Shandong Province came in two police vehicles to arrest Falun Gong practitioners who lived in a village within their jurisdiction. They abducted a male practitioner first, and then attempted to arrest a female practitioner. The husband of this female practitioner was not home at that time, so she locked the door. Without knocking on the door, the police pried open the door and broke into her home. They dragged her out, and some of the police even kicked her from behind.

As she was being dragged out, this female practitioner shouted, "Help! Criminals are attacking me!" Upon hearing her cry for help, her fellow villagers rushed out with sticks and hoes to see what was going on. They surrounded the police. The police hurriedly explained, "We are from the police station." The villagers replied, "It doesn't matter even if you are from the police station. Her husband is not home. Why do you want to arrest her'" The police showed their IDs and said, "We have IDs. We're in charge of Falun Gong." The villagers did not budge and said, "We don't care."

The police wanted to push away the villagers, but the villagers said, "If you come forward, we'll beat you with sticks. You said you're in charge of Falun Gong. Show us evidence [to justify your attempt to arrest her]."

The police took out some Falun Gong truth-clarification materials and said, "This is the evidence [note: they wanted to show that the female practitioner posted truth-clarification materials]." The villagers said, "That's fabrication." Seeing the villagers stare at them with anger, the police had to leave. Some villagers noticed that their vehicles did not even have a license plate.

Early the next morning, the police came again; however, the female practitioner was not home. The police found an old paint barrel from her home, and put it in front of her door, attempting to fabricate evidence that she painted truth-clarification signs.

According to the villagers, the town government had once held a meeting for all village party secretaries. They also intended to hold a brainwashing class later on, but the party secretaries all refused to cooperate. It is obvious that the people are awakening and coming to know the truth.

Cheng Jilin was a business owner in Luqiao Town, Huanghua City, Hebei Province. After he began the cultivation of Falun Gong, he returned money his customers and business partners had overpaid him many times. The local people all knew he was a good person.

On the morning of March 25, 2004, 6-7 policemen broke into his shop and started to drag him outside. Cheng shouted, "I didn't commit any crime! You're violating the law, and you're the law-enforcement personnel!" He struggled, but was still forced into the police van. However, he tried his best to grab the van door with his hands. The police tried to force him to let go of his grip, but failed. So they shut the door with his hands still there. He was injured and started bleeding profusely. His wife rushed to the van to stop it from starting and she kept calling for help, "Villagers, the bandits are here again to arrest good people! Help!"

Villagers and practitioners who heard the call for help came from far and near. The police waved their ID and said, "We're police! Don't obstruct us!" People shouted, "Police are supposed to protect the people. How come you're harming people like this! I say you're fake!" "Without criminal evidence, how dare you arrest people'" "Let go of him!" His family members came up to pull him out of the van. They noticed that his head was tucked underneath the seat, and he could not move. The blood on his hands stained the van. Seeing this, villagers were very angry. In the end, the police fled without taking him away.

On February 19, 2004, policeman Hou Dajian from Anping County Police Department, Hebei Province, along with police from Liangkui Township Police Station and Henghui Area arrived in four police vans to arrest a female practitioner in Hancunpu Village. Her family members firmly resisted the illegal action. The fellow villagers were very angry about the police's actions. They condemned the police. Some asked, "Why would you arrest Falun Gong practitioners, who are good people'" "You've come to our village several times to arrest people. Have you ever informed us of what's going on'" Rendered speechless, the police fled.

If more people come together with practitioners to condemn the persecution and resist the abduction, the persecution would soon end.

From January 26 to January 28, 2004, the international conference on "Genocide in the New Era" was successfully held in Stockholm, Sweden. Friends of Falun Gong Europe and International Advocates for Justice were joint sponsors of the event. Using the persecution against Falun Gong in China as an example, participants held comprehensive discussions from multiple perspectives concerning the symptoms of and possible responses to various forms of genocide in today's world.

While this conference was in session, an international forum on "Prevention of Genocide," sponsored by the Swedish government, was being held in the National Conference Center across the street. Delegations from 58 governments attended this forum.

The simultaneous convening of these two conferences in this city has brought the urgent subject of genocide to the attention of governments, non-governmental organizations, and people in various disciplines in the international community. Discussions centered on genocide, its historic lessons and current evolution, how to expose it, and how to prevent and stop it.

According to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of the United Nations, genocide is defined as intentional actions taken "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group" through such means as "killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, and deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part...."

This session of the international forum of "Genocide in the New Era" has transmitted an important and urgent message: A large-scale persecution depriving people of their rights to life and spiritual pursuits is taking place today in China! From the facts documented throughout the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China, we have witnessed that this genocide extends to the destruction and extinction of victims' beliefs and conscience in addition to simply killing human beings.

Over 100 human rights attorneys, representatives of non-governmental organizations, celebrities, and diplomats from Europe, Asia, and North America attended the forum of "Genocide in the New Era." Over four years of persistent suppression of Falun Gong as well as Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful resistance throughout this period has focused the attention of more and more legal experts on the serious charge of genocide in this persecution. Attending were the five attorneys who represented Falun Gong practitioners in the trials against Jiang on the grounds of genocide in the U.S., Belgium, German, Taiwan, and Spain attended, attorneys who represent Falun Gong practitioners' lawsuits against other high-ranking Chinese Communist Party officials responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong across the world, and other legal experts interested in the subject.

Having filed the successful lawsuit against the former dictator of Chile, the prominent human rights lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier stated at the forum, "We know one day, maybe tomorrow, we will bring these dictators to trial. We are not in an isolated position, as we are here for innocent people instead of politics and economic benefits. What we want to do is bring Jiang, Li and Luo to justice." Looking back on the case, he said, "There were different opinions among the legal circles of other countries around the world; some people thought Chile was too far away from us and that there was no hope in suing him. Even in such difficulty, we have walked through all of the hardships step by step, and successfully sent him to the trial of justice."

On the evening after the press conference, the largest TV Station in Sweden broadcast its film of the conference three times.

Vancouver Sun reported on January 21, 2004, the RCMP is keeping a watch list of 15 high-ranking Chinese officials, accused of torturing and oppressing members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. These officials include Jiang Zemin, Beijing City Mayor Liu Qi, and "610 Offices" officials. Not long after, the list was increased to 45 Chinese officials. If any of the officials sets foot in Canada, the RCMP will "look into" their alleged criminal actions

On March 9, 2004, U.S.-based Friends of Falun Gong (FoFG) and World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) jointly submitted a detailed report to the U.S. Government yesterday, providing information on 102 Chinese officials who have directed or physically carried out severe violations of human rights against Falun Gong practitioners. The violations documented in the report include arbitrary detention, widespread torture and death from torture as well as other extrajudicial executions. These Chinese officials could be denied entry into the United States, or face deportation if they are already here, for their particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

At present, over 20 lawsuits have been brought up by Falun Gong practitioners against Jiang and his accomplices including officials from Chinese Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC, Li Lanqing, Zeng Qinghong, Luo Gan and Wu Guanzheng, as well as head of Ministry of Public Security Zhou Yongkang, head of Ministry of Culture Sun Jiazheng, officials from Ministry of State Security and China Central Television. Jiang Zemin got most lawsuits among all these officials. Falun Gong practitioners in six countries and regions have sued Jiang for genocide.

2004-4-14