(Clearwisdom.net)

On May 22, 2003, Jingyang District Court of Deyang City, Sichuan Province sentenced two Falun Dafa practitioners without any charge. The two practitioners were Mr. Yang Daifu and Mr. Jiang Shengui. Mr. Yang and Mr. Jiang were sentenced to five and four years of imprisonment respectively. No one was allowed in the courthouse except for their relatives. All those who went in the courthouse were subjected to full-body searches; not even a piece of paper was allowed to be taken in. When Yang Daifu appeared, his relatives and those who knew him were shocked to see him. They could hardly recognize him. He had not shaved for a long time, and his body looked swollen and deformed. It was clear that Yang had been cruelly tortured.

Yang Daifu was a civil servant. He used to be a solider in the army; after he was discharged, he worked at the Personnel Bureau of Deyang City. Yang then worked in the Office of the District Party Committee as the Head of the Secretariat. He later became the Associate Chief of the Secrecy Bureau in Jingyang District. Everybody who knew Mr. Yang can attest to the fact that he is hardworking and kind.

In May 1997, Yang Daifu started to practice Falun Gong. He used to have chronic bronchitis and breathing problems; he had to take a break after walking two flights of stairs. Nothing seemed to help. Although his wife is a Chinese medicine doctor, she could not help him. He had visited many famous doctors in the area, but they could not cure him. Mr. Yang spent tons of money on medication every month. After he learned Falun Gong, all diseases disappeared. He became more energetic and worked even harder.

When Jiang's regime started persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, local police officer Hong Qi took Yang Daifu to the local police station. The police tried to force Yang to give up Falun Gong and to hand over all his Falun Gong books and tapes. On July 22, a media smear campaign started, and the government forbade all people from practicing Falun Gong. On July 23, Yang was demoted from his position in the Secrecy Bureau and transferred to a position in the local Shoufeng Township. He retired in May 2001.

While Mr. Yang was working in Shoufeng Township and later staying home in his retirement, local authorities kept harassing him, pressuring him to write a guarantee that he would not continue to practice Falun Gong. Furthermore, they told Yang to write according to the government prescribed format; he was not allowed to tell the truth. He was also told to write things defaming Falun Gong. They threatened Yang that he would be fired and his party membership revoked if he did not comply. Local "610 Office" (1) even brought in a TV crew and made him renounce Falun Gong in front of the camera. They told Yang that if he refused their demands, he would lose his job and his party membership, and his daughter's university application would also be affected. They even threatened to take away his wife's license to practice medicine. Yang was also followed everywhere he went by the authorities. Under such tremendous pressure, Yang was forced to write and say something against his conscience.

On August 23, 2002, Yang was sharing his experience with other practitioners (about 90 of them) in a farmer's house in Shengshan Village, Huangxu Township. They were discovered by the police. Led by the local police section chief, Hong Qi, thirty to forty police officers from Deyang City and Jingyang District police stations surrounded the practitioners and rounded them up by pushing and dragging them into police vehicles. All practitioners were taken to Jingyang District Detention Center. Yang was seen as the organizer, and thus he was booked as a criminal and locked up at the Jingyang District Detention Center.

For nine months he was at the detention center, the police did not allow his family members to visit him until he was on trial and sentenced on May 22, 2003. He had been held at the detention center beyond the illegal limit. When people heard about his sentence, some commented, "This is unfair to him. He is such a nice guy." Others said, "We don't understand any more. What's wrong with practicing Falun Gong? Good people are being punished and corrupted people are getting away. What's right? What is wrong?"

Among the 90 practitioners that were taken into custody, dozens of them were detained, more than ten of them were sent to forced labor camp, and two of them sentenced to prison. Their respective employers dismissed both Yang Daifu and Jiang Shengui. Yang also lost his party membership. Both of them are jailed at the Deyang Prison, and they worked in Huangxu 95 Factory (2). According to information, the prison does not allow their relatives to visit them. The prison authorities demand their relatives to first write a guarantee and then help pressure them to renounce Falun Gong. Otherwise, the local police station will refuse to authorize their prison visit; neither will the prison allow them to visit.

This is what happened to a civil servant who has worked for the country for many decades. All he wanted to do was to have good health and be a good person. As a result, he was subjected to all these abuses. Every person of conscience would hope to put an end to these violations of human rights and laws and the trampling of peoples faith.

(1) "610 Office" -- An agency specifically created by the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches.

(2) Huangxu 95 Factory is operated by Deyang Prison. Prison inmates are forced to work in the factory with no compensation.