(Minghui.org) After the Chinese Communist Party regime began to persecute Falun Gong in July 1999, officials of the former Jiangcheng Township (now renamed Dajidian Town) in Baoding City, Hebei Province actively followed the persecution policy.
They arrested local practitioners who held fast to their faith, raided their homes, extorted money from them, seized their ID cards, detained them in detention centers and brainwashing centers, gave them forced labor terms, and sentenced them to prison.
These officials included:
- Wang Dan (王丹), secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of Jiangcheng Township from July 20, 1999 to 2001- Zhang Aichen (张爱臣), secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of Jiangcheng Township after Wang Dan- Bai Shan (白善), director of Jiangcheng Township Government in 2001, now deceased- Wang Keling (王克林), chief of Jiangcheng Township Police Station, now deceased- Wang Weijun (王卫军), chief of Jiangcheng Township Police Station after Wang Keling- Liu Guitang (刘桂堂), Party secretary of Liuzhuang Village, Jiangcheng Township- Ge Limin (葛利民) and Huang Tao (黄涛), contract staff members of Jiangcheng Township government, tasked with persecuting practitioners
The following are select persecution cases during above officials’ tenures.
Ms. Zhan Jinyan Persecuted to Death Days Following Her Arrest
Ms. Zhan Jinyan, a resident of Yinzhuang Village, Jiangcheng Township, was in her 20s when the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999. She was detained for refusing to renounce Falun Gong and Huang Tao savagely beat her during her detention. After her release, her electricity was cut off.
After she went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong on November 26, 2001, her husband reported her to the police the next day. Officers from Jiangcheng Township Police Station immediately drove to Beijing. By the time they arrived in Beijing, Ms. Zhan had already been arrested by the Beijing police. They found her at the Yanqing County Detention Center and escorted her back.
Ms. Zhan’s family was notified by the Jiangcheng Township government on November 29 to go to the Yanqing County Hospital. They rushed to the hospital and she was already unconscious, with her upper and lower jaws severely misaligned. She passed away three days later, leaving her two-year-old child behind.
Zhang Aichen, Wang Kling, and Huang Tao were responsible for her death.
Repeated Persecution Forced Mr. Li Shunli into Displacement for Years and Led to His Death
The officials of Jiangcheng Township repeatedly detained Mr. Li Shunli and tortured him. He was forced to leave home in 2002 and had been on the run for years. He passed away in 2015.
Liu Guitang ordered village accountant Liu Dengge to take Wang Dan and four other people to arrest Mr. Li on January 1, 2000. Mr. Li was taken to the police station where Huang Tao hit him in the face with the book Zhuan Falun, Falun Gong’s main book. Later a dozen people from the township government and the police station beat him up before taking him to the local detention center.
After he was released, the township government sent people to his home to check on him every day, since they were afraid that he would go to Beijing to appeal. When he went to Baoding for his business, Wang Dan drove there every day to harass him, which forced him to give up his business.
Zhang Aichen replaced Wang Dan in 2001 and continued to harass Mr. Li on sensitive days. Sometimes Zhang harassed him at home several times a day, and sometimes even after midnight.
Mr. Li managed to leave home for Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on April 26, 2001. Local police and the township government officials came to his home several times to harass his family. When he returned home, Zhang Aichen, Huang Tao, and another person seized him right away and took him to the township government.
Over a dozen people came up to the car when they arrived. They dragged Mr. Li out of the car and beat him. His face was bruised. They then tied him to a tiger bench torture device with his hands cuffed behind his back, and started to load bricks under his feet, until he passed out.
Huang Tao hit his left ankle with a shovel a dozen times and his left leg swelled badly. He was then handcuffed to a pillar in a meeting room, and a dozen people beat him until he lost consciousness. He was then handcuffed to a metal pipe and left to lay on the concrete floor overnight, with two people watching him.
Mr. Li was taken to the detention center the next afternoon. Sixteen days later, he was transferred to the brainwashing session held at Dongyinzhuang Elementary School, which was operated by the officials from Xinshi District 610 Office. He and other practitioners were forced to do physical exercises and read books that slandered Falun Gong every day. Anyone who refused to renounce Falun Gong was subjected to random beatings. Mr. Li was slapped in the face a few times. On another occasion, after he was slapped, two people hit his buttocks dozens of times with a rubber club, and his buttocks were bruised badly.
While Mr. Li was detained in the brainwashing session, Liu Guitang and Zhang Aichen came to his home and asked his father to pay for his “brainwashing tuition,” at 100 yuan per day. His father was forced to pay 800 yuan. The officials then came to the brainwashing center the next day to ask Mr. Li to pay 3,000 yuan for the food expense. Mr. Li ended up borrowing 2,000 yuan to pay for the extortion before he was released.
In July 2001, Zhang Aichen and the police summoned all the Falun Gong practitioners in Mr. Li’s village to the village office and tried to force them to sign repentance letters promising to give up their belief. Mr. Li refused. Then he lived away from home to avoid further persecution. They put him on the wanted list across Hebei Province.
When he returned home one night in 2000, he was discovered by police officers who were staying nearby to catch him. He managed to escape.
A week before the Chinese New Year in 2004, Mr. Li returned home with some goods for the Chinese New Year celebration, but was reported by the people monitoring his home. Wang Weijun and six others broke into his home and pushed him into the yard. His belt was ripped off during the standoff and his trousers were torn open. When he was taken to the police station, Zhang Changlin, chief of Xinshi District Domestic Security Division, was waiting for him. He burned Mr. Li’s hands with a lighter. Mr. Li was taken to the detention center that night.
Mr. Li held a hunger strike for eleven days at the detention center. His family was called over to check on him two days later. By then, Mr. Li was skin and bones. He was released after another two days.
The police subsequently came to his home every other day to check on him. As soon as he recovered, the police arrested him, on February 16, 2004, and gave him three years at the Baoding Forced Labor Camp. After the labor camp refused to accept him after he failed the medical examination, the police had to release him again. He left home one more time, at 6:00 a.m. the next day, and one hour before the police came. He went into hiding.
The authorities closely monitored his home prior to the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Unaware of the situation, Mr. Li returned home one day in July 2008. Worrying about his safety, his mother asked him to leave immediately. Right after he left, people from the township government and police station barged into his house. They then searched for him in the neighborhood.
Mr. Li was arrested on July 17, 2008. Both the detention center and the forced labor camp refused to admit him. He was released on September 21, 2008, after the Beijing Olympics was over.
On September 7, 2009, Huang Tao and four people came to his home to harass his family, and took his family household registration book.
Besides the persecution from Jiangcheng Township, Mr. Li had been tortured after being arrested in Beijing and other neighboring places. Torture, repeated detention, long-term displacement, and constant harassment took a toll on his health. He passed away on January 24, 2015.
Mr. Feng Jiying’s Wealth and Family Business Targeted in Persecution
Mr. Feng Jiying’s family ran a flour mill and were well off financially. To prevent him from going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, Zhang Aichen sent people to stay in his home to watch him around the clock for 15 days (three shifts in a day with about six people in each shift). They forced his family to provide meals to them. They sometimes dragged him out to buy wine, meat, vegetables, etc.
They targeted his wealth and raided his home several times, taking away valuable possessions, including furniture, electronics, and decorations, along with Falun Gong books and materials. They confiscated his car twice and forced him to pay a certain amount of money before returning it. They smashed the glass of the six rooms of a newly constructed house and cut off electricity.
They also went to the flour mill and took away all the wheat, flour, and bran. They threatened to smash the flour machine and demolish the mill. Mr. Feng was extorted of 5,000 yuan to save the factory.
These people also repeatedly broke into his mother’s home to harass and intimidate her, sometimes pushing her around. The constant persecution almost caused her to have a mental breakdown.
Ms. Feng Suzhen and Non-Practitioner Husband Suffered Persecution
After Ms. Feng Suzhen went to Beijing to seek justice for Falun Gong after July 20, 1999, the officials and staff members from the township government, police station, and village repeatedly arrested, detained, and harassed her. They sometimes knocked on her door in the middle of the night and shouted her name, causing a disturbance for the neighbors. She was tailed when going out and could not live a normal life.
Over 20 people came to her home on October 1, 1999, some by motorcycle and some by car, which filled the alleyway of her house. Led by Wang Dan, they ransacked the house, throwing things all over the floor. When Ge Limin asked Ms. Feng if she had any Falun Gong books, she did not respond. Ge then punched her face. She became dizzy and her face was swollen. They confiscated all the Falun Gong books and took her to Jiangcheng Township Police Station. Her daughter was resting at her home after giving birth to a child and was deeply terrified by the incident.
At the police station, a man in his 30s took a Falun Gong book and hit her face with it. Her face was bruised and battered. She was then handcuffed to a utility pole with her arms behind her back. Huang Tao and others took her to the Baoding Detention Center after Wang Dan interrogated her.
At the same time, Ms. Feng’s husband, Mr. Han Yongxiang, sent their daughter back to her in-laws’ home. However, just after he was back home, Ge Limin seized him and took him to the township government. They took him to a room and Ge kicked him on his leg to have him kneel down. He forced him to curse Falun Gong’s Master. A young man then slapped him in the face over a dozen times. They then forced him to go home to fetch 600 yuan to cover Ms. Feng’s meal expense. Mr. Han dragged his weak body more than two miles from the township government and got the money.
Mr. Han could subsequently not eat much and his health went downhill. He developed several diseases and became incapacitated. He is now unable to take care of himself.
Persecution Through Brainwashing
After the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999, most Falun Gong practitioners in Jiangcheng Township were taken to a brainwashing center in Yinzhuang Village, Damafang Township, where they were forced to watch propaganda slandering Falun Gong.
The first session was seven days long and the practitioners were each ordered to pay 3,000 yuan for “tuition.” When the practitioners resisted paying, the fee was reduced to 2,000 yuan. Practitioners had to pay before they were released.
The second session was held in late May 2001 for three days. Each practitioner was forced to pay 100 yuan per day, and those who did not cooperate during the session had to pay 300 yuan per day.
There were also brainwashing sessions held at the Jiangcheng Township government from time to time. Practitioners were forcibly taken there and subjected to brainwashing, torture, and extortion.
Mr. Feng Ruihe Carried Away While Bedridden
Mr. Feng Ruihe went to Beijing shortly after the persecution began on July 20, 1999, and was arrested there. Beijing police tortured him and broke several of his ribs. When he managed to return home, he had to remain bedridden for recovery. However, the officials from the township government came, forcibly carried him to the car, and took him to the brainwashing center in Yingzhuang Village.
Since Mr. Feng had trouble taking care of himself, Li Ji from the police station led people to the home of his sister, the above-mentioned Ms. Feng Suzhen, and took her to the brainwashing center to take care of her brother. Their meals were the leftover food from the staff members of the brainwashing center.
The siblings were forced to watch videos defaming Falun Gong every day. They were also ordered to curse Falun Gong and its Master; and ordered to write statements promising to give up the practice. Three days later, they were extorted of 300 yuan for food expense and released. However, people from the township government and the police station came to Mr. Feng’s home frequently to harass him. They even verbally abused, punched, kicked, and slapped Mr. Feng and his wife when they did not cooperate. This went on for several years.
Three township officials forcibly took Ms. Feng to the village office on April 18, 2000, where she was subjected to brainwashing around the clock and ordered to write statements renouncing Falun Gong. When she tried to tell them the truth about Falun Gong, she was slapped in the face and hit on the ankles with sticks.
Ms. Jiang Yutian, a Disabled Woman, Beaten to Bleeding
Ms. Jiang Yutian, in her 60s, is disabled. Zhang Aichen and others took her to a brainwashing session. Since she told them the facts of Falun Gong, they beat her all over her body with soft bamboo boards and thin willow branches, and slapped her in the face numerous times.
During the beating, her sister-in-law came to visit her. Seeing the situation, she begged and tried to stop the beating, “Don’t beat her. If she dies, you will be held responsible!”
One man said, “No one will be held accountable. It was ordered from the above. We will just bury her if she is dead.” They continued to beat Ms. Jiang in front of her sister-in-law. She was covered with blood all over her body.
Her family had to pay a generous amount of money to get her released.
Ms. Wang Qin Subjected to Brainwashing and Long-Term Harassment
After Ms. Wang Qin returned from her trip to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, she was tricked into going to the village office, and arrested there. The officials interrogated and intimidated her, and didn’t allow her family to deliver food to her. She was released after four days.
Shortly afterwards, Zhang Aichen led a group of people to her house and took her to a brainwashing session in Damafang Township. They forced her to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and copy the slanderous words on the blackboard. She did not cooperate.
Ms. Wang was subjected to physical abuse while in custody, including being forced to run, do cleaning work, plow and tidy the fields. After four days, she was extorted of 200 yuan and then released.
The police subsequently forced her to report to the township government every day. Later, Liu Zeng from the township government, came to her house every day to check on her. The harassment went on for almost a year.
One morning in 2000, Li Ji and a few other people came to her home and forcibly took her to Jiangcheng Township government. They pushed and shoved her on the way. One man slapped her brutally on both sides of her face and hit her on her ankle bones and legs with a small club. Zhang Aichen came and slapped her again, making her stumble and almost fall down. A group of staff members watched and laughed. The man then slapped her in the face again.
Her family pleaded with Zhang Aichen and others for her release, and was extorted of 500 yuan. Zhang claimed the fund as her security deposit for not going to appeal for Falun Gong.
Other Cases
In May 2001, two Falun Gong practitioners were arrested while distributing Falun Gong materials. Zhang Aichen tortured them, and their faces became swollen and bruised as a result. Each of them was extorted of 16,000 yuan and detained. When Zhang and others went to raid one of the practitioners’ homes, he slapped the practitioner’s son several times and confiscated new appliances that his son had prepared for his wedding.
Huang Tao and four people broke into practitioner Ms. Liu Fenglin’s home in Liuzhuang Village, on September 7, 2009. They rummaged around in his mother’s room, and took away two Falun Gong books.
They next went to practitioner Ms. Li Xirong’s home and took away the family’s household registration book.
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