Chapter 8 Women, Children, and the Elderly

8.1 WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND THE ELDERLY (Continued)

8.1.31 53-year-old woman detained on New Year’s Day

Victim: Zhu Sufang, female, 53, Jiangsu Province

Location of incident: Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China

Description:

Zhu Sufang is a Falun Gong practitioner from Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. On New Year’s Day, she held up a banner reading “Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance” in Tiananmen Square and then was taken to the Yancheng City Liaison Office in Beijing by the police. Later she was sent back to the local Dafeng City Public Security Bureau for detention. She started a hunger strike on January 3rd when her Falun Dafa books were confiscated. She was released at 2:00pm on January 16. Her books were also returned to her.

8.1.32 A female practitioner was arrested at home

Victim: Gao Yulan, female

Location of incident: Her home, Jiangsu Province, China

Description:

The local police department intensified its persecutions against Falun Gong practitioners. Gao Yulan was arrested at 5:00am on December 31st, 1999, while she was practicing Falun Gong at home. The police dragged her by her hair, slapped her face and kicked her. What is more, the police pushed her head under the water to punish her. Torture like that lasted for 16 days. She suffered from all kinds of inhumane mistreatment.

8.1.33 Female graduate students were kicked out by Huanan Normal University

Message received: January 17, 2000

Victim: Pan Dongzhen, female, graduate student

Location of incident: Her home, Hunan Province, China

Description:

Pan Dongzhen, a graduate student in the Foreign Language Department of Huanan Normal University, was dismissed from the university because she went to Beijing to appeal several times. After she was released from administrative detention for the second time, she was arrested again while she was eating with four other practitioners at her home. She is now under criminal detention.

8.1.34 Four practitioners sent to forced labor camps because they had gone to Beijing to appeal

Message received: January 13, 2000

Victims:

1. Zhang Yaqun female
2. Wang Kai

3. Wang Shilin Location of incident: Chengdu City, Sichuan Province

Description:

Zhang Yaqun was given a sentence of a year and a half in a forced labor camp without trial. She went to Beijing to appeal, and she was detained afterwards. After she was released, she was again arrested while watching a video of “Jesus” at Wang Kai’s home. Wang Kai and Wang Shilin were sent to forced-labor camps because they went to Beijing to appeal.

8.1.35 A Court in Shijiazhuang City put Liang Yening on a show trial

Message received: January 12, 2000

Victim: Liang Yening, female

Location of incident: Shijiazhuang , Hebei Province

Description:

The Court of Changan District, Shijiazhuang, put Falun Gong practitioner, Liang Yening, on a show trial. Although a poster outside the Court claimed that people from all walks of life were “welcome” to audit the trial, many practitioners had received a notice from their supervisors that they were not allowed to take a leave from their work to attend the trial. The police dispelled more than 50 people who attempted to audit the trial to 20 meters away from the Court. The show trial lasted for only an hour and a half. Liang Yening had been detained for more than 3 months before she was put on show-trial. She did not appeal for herself at all, as it was no use in such a show trial.

8.1.36 A female staff member of the Sichuan Army District was dismissed from the CCP Party

Message received: January 11, 2000

Victim: Zhang Huifang, female

Location of incident: Her home, Sichuan Province, China

Description:

Ms. Zhang Huifang, a staff member of the Department of Services in Sichuan Army District, was dismissed from the party and her post. Her apartment was also taken back by the authorities (in China, the apartments of workers are usually owned by the state). Later she arranged to rent an apartment near the Luyou Village Police Station. Since the police station had sent police officers to monitor and interrogate Ms. Zhang everyday, which disturbed her neighbor, the landlord had to take the apartment back. Therefore, Ms. Zhang had to stay with her friends in turns.

8.1.37 Liu Jing from Jiangxi was tortured In Tiananmen Square Police Station

Message received: January 11, 2000

Victim: Liu Jing, female

Location of incident: Beijing, China

Description:

Ms. Liu is a Falun Gong practitioner from Jiangxi Province in China. On December 22nd, 1999, she went to Tiananmen Square to practice Falun Gong with seven other practitioners. After a few seconds, the police arrested them and took them to a van. Ms. Liu was stripped of her clothes and her head was hit against the window of the van. She was then taken to Tiananmen Square Police Station and held for two days. During detention she experienced a full body search, interrogation, and torture. She was released on December 24th. Below are the pictures taken after she was released.

Photos taken after Ms. Liu was released from the police station.

8.1.38 The contact person of Falun Gong in Wuhan City sentenced to eight years in prison

Message received: January 10, 2000

Victims:

1 Xu Xianglan, female, main Falun Gong contact person in Wuhan City 2 Wang Hansheng, Xu Xianglan’s husband

Location of incident: Wuhan, Hubei Province

Description:

The Wuhan First Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Xu Xianglan, the chief contact person of Falun Gong in Wuhan, Hubei Province, and her husband, Wang Hansheng, to eight years and six years in prison respectively on Thursday.

The court was unable to find evidence to support accusations in state news media that Falun Gong founder, Li Hongzhi, shared huge profits made by the couple’s sales of Falun Gong books and photos. It said the couple had not yet been able to discuss an appeal with their lawyer.

8.1.39 78 year old woman was detained and monitored by police

Victim: Wang Shuzhen, 78, female

Location of incident: Her home, Sichuan Province, China

Description:

On December 26, 1999 Ms. Wang, living in Dongchenggen Street of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, went to Beijing in order to tell the truth of Falun Gong to the central authorities. After she was escorted back to Chengdu, she was under home arrest instead of being sent to a detention center, because the police were concerned about her old age. The police told all her neighbors that they should immediately report to the police station anyone who went to visit her. In order not to bring trouble to fellow practitioners who might visit her, Ms. Wang had to stay with her children in turns.

8.1.40 Cold water was poured on her back and neck and froze under her feet

Message received: January 8, 2000

Victim: Cheng Fengrong, female, 42

Location of incident: Nihe Detention Center, Shunyi County, Beijing

Description:

Five practitioners including Ms. Cheng were arrested by Shunyi Public Security Bureau. Police slapped Ms. Cheng while handcuffing her to a tree. She was later brutally beaten by police using a broom. The broom broke into two pieces. After she was beaten, she was forced to stand on the snow with barefeet. She was handcuffed to a tree and forced to squat down. She would be punched and kicked once she could no longer maintain this position. Police also poured two basins of cold water on her back and neck. The cold water froze under her feet. Up to now, black and blue marks can be found on her legs. A 52-year-old practitioner showed us the bruises from police torture. She told us that a police officer had used a string of keys to scratch back and forth on the bridge of her nose. The bruises on her face were very obvious when she was sent to the detention center.

8.1.41 Over 100 female practitioners have been sent to Masajia Labor Camp

Message received: December 27, 1999

Victims:

1. Chunqing Zhang, female
2. Hang Zhu, female
3. Qing Liang, female
4. Xiaohong Zhang, female
5. Yusong Sha, female
6. Xingqin Yin, female
7. Xiujuan Yang, female and many more All from Dalian and other parts of Liaoning Province, China

Location of incident: Liaoning Province, China

Description:

Zhang Chunqing, Zhu Hang, and other practitioners have been suffering further persecutions for exposing previous police torture. So far, over 100 female practitioners have been sent to the Masanjia Labor Camp in Shenyang City. Eighteen of them are from Dalian city; others are from other locations of Liaoning Province. The number of male practitioners in the labor camp is unknown. Liang Qing from Dalian was detained in the Yaojia Detention Center in Nanguanling for going to Beijing to appeal on July 20th; she was freed after 26 days of detention. Later, on October 24, she was arrested again at her home because she had notified the foreign media about the inhumane police torture of Zhang Chunqing and other practitioners. Her computer and other equipment were also confiscated. Practitioner Li Duo was arrested together with her. Later, Liang Qing was sentenced to 3 years of forced labor and Li Duo was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor.

Zhang Chunqing is now being detained in the Mashanjia Labor Camp for three years of forced labor. Her family only received a verbal notice of her detention without detailed information.

Zhu Hang, an associate professor from Dalian Industrial University, is now being detained in a hospital for mental patients and is forced to accept the treatments given to mental patients because she refuses to give up Falun Gong.

Zhang Xiaohong is now being detained in the Yaojia Detention Center because she had gone to appeal. Sha Yusong has been sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor because his previous experience in the detention center was revealed on the Internet. Yin Xingqin and Yang Xiujuan are now being detained in a drug addiction center because their experiences were related on the Internet.

All sentenced and detained practitioners are forbidden to receive visits from their families.

8.1.42 Falun Gong leaders jailed for up to 18 years

Message received: December 26, 1999 from Reuters

Victims:

1. Wang Zhiwen
2. Li Chang
3. Ji Liewu
4. Yao Jie

Location of incident: Beijing

Description:

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court sentenced four leaders of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong to up to 18 years in prison Sunday on charges ranging from stealing state secrets to causing deaths. Police threw a security blanket around the Intermediate People’s Court for the one-day trial in western Beijing, and the defendants now have 10 days to appeal.

The court sentenced Li Chang, 59, a former deputy director of the Public Security Ministry, to 18 years in prison for illegally obtaining state secrets and using the cult to undermine the implementation of the law and cause human deaths, Xinhua said. The court also sentenced Wang Zhiwen, 50, a former Railways Ministry official, and Ji Liewu, 36, a former manager of a state-owned non-ferrous metals company in Hong Kong, to 16 and 12 years in prison respectively, Xinhua said. Yao Jie, a 40-year-old woman who worked at a real estate firm, received a seven-year prison sentence, it said.

All four are members of the Communist Party, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. The center said the trial had been postponed twice, apparently due to international pressure. U.S. concerns over religious freedom in China have recently focused on Beijing’s harsh crackdown on the movement.

At least 20 Falun Gong adherents were rounded up outside the court earlier this month as they showed support for the defendants, the center said. It was not immediately known if any of the passers-by questioned by police outside the court Sunday were practitioners of Falun Gong, which claims a global membership of more than 100 million.

8.1.43 Practitioners tortured for exercising their legal right to audit the trial

Message received: December 26, 1999

Victims: Cheng Fengrong and 4 other practitioners

Location of incident: Beijing

Description:

Five practitioners were arrested because they had attempted to audit the trial of the former four major contact people of Falun Gong on December 26. Two practitioners were detained in the 3rd cell of Nihe Detention Center of Shunyi County, Beijing.

Cheng Fengrong, 42 years old, was one of them. Police slapped Ms. Cheng while handcuffing her to a tree. She was later brutally beaten by police using a broom. The broom broke into two pieces. After she was beaten, she was forced to stand on the snow with bare feet. She was handcuffed to a tree and forced to squat down. She would be punched and kicked once she could no longer maintain this position. Police also poured two basins of cold water on her back and neck. The cold water froze under her feet. Up to now, black and blue marks could be found on her legs. Some other fellow practitioners who had attempted to audit the trial together with her also suffered physical torture of various degrees. They were forced to take medicine after they were tortured.

A 52 year old practitioner had also been detained in the 3rd cell for going to appeal on December 14. She showed us the bruises due to police torture. She told us that a police officer had used a string of keys to scratch back and forth on the bridge of her nose. The bruises on her face were very obvious when she was sent to the detention center.

Another practitioner was detained there on December 7 for going to appeal. In the detention center, police filled her with medicine, salt water and food during her hunger strike. The male criminals pushed her down on the ground and plugged a pipe into her nose, which made her nose bleed for half a day. Later she was put in shackles and nailed to a hardwood bed.

8.1.44 Chinese-American scientist detained In China, released by pressure

Victim: Feng Lili, female, Chinese-American scientist

Location of incident: Shenzhen, P. R. China

Description:

(San Diego Union) Surrounded by test tubes and a maze of laboratory equipment at Scripps Research Institute’s Immunology Department, scientist Feng Lili is back in her safe and sanitized world of science. Yet Feng suddenly breaks down when she speaks of her arrest on a recent visit to China for being a practitioner of the banned Falun Gong meditative movement.

Feng was en route to central China, where her family settled after the revolution, to visit her 78-year-old father and 69-year-old mother when she was arrested at 1 a.m. December 15 at a friend’s house in Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong. She was meeting with a group of Falun Gong friends, telling them how much support the movement has garnered abroad.

Feng was released at dawn after lengthy questioning, but was detained later that day when she returned to the Shenzhen Police Station to collect her travel documents. Feng said she already had convinced many fellow prisoners including prostitutes and drug addicts, whom she called outcasts of society to practice Falun Gong. She asked to stay two extra days in detention, despite conditions there -- no shoes, little clothing and forced labor manufacturing hairbrushes 12 hours a day. Feng’s detention triggered diplomatic inquiries and political pressure.
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. asked American officials to intervene. When international media inquiries inundated authorities, police released Feng.

8.1.45 Ex-China captive claims torture

Message received: December 17, 1999

Victim: Tang Jian,, female, a Falun Gong practitioner in Denver, Colorado, USA

Location of incident: Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China

Description:

(By Bruce Finley, Denver Post International Affairs Writer)

December 17 - A suburban Denver woman detained in China for protesting China’s ban on the Falun Gong spiritual movement spoke out Thursday against captors who she said tortured her by pumping her stomach full of saltwater.

The trouble began when Tang Jian and other prisoners launched a hunger strike, said Tang, who is now home in Highlands Ranch after returning to Colorado on Wednesday night. After two days of refusing all food and water, Tang said, she was moved away from other Falun Gong detainees to another cell in a Guangzhou detention facility.

There, a guard approached and asked her to eat.

“I said: ‘No.’ I told him I wanted him to give me a reason why I was arrested and that I wanted to see an arrest notice,’’ Tang said. “I told him, “We did not commit any crime.’ He got angry. He shouted, “Who do you think you are?’ After that he kicked me. He walked close to me and kicked me. My body just moved a little. I was still sitting. Then he said they would feed me saltwater if I refused to eat.’’

A few minutes later, Tang said, “four or five big men put me on the floor’’ and chained her legs together. She felt a hand over her nose, she said, forcing her to open her mouth to breathe. One of the men jammed what she described as a semi-transparent plastic tube into her mouth. “I could see a big thing on my mouth.’’

She felt fluid - “salt with just a little water added’’ --pouring down her throat. She said it continued for three or four minutes.

“I thought I was dying. I couldn’t breathe. After that, my stomach hurt. I keep drinking water . . . I could not think. I threw up all over my body.. . . I kept throwing out
the whole night.’’

Tang said this kind of treatment - evidence she says that Chinese officials disregard human rights and “just do what they want’’ - ought to be forbidden Officials at the Chinese Embassy in Washington could not be reached for comment.

Tang’s husband’s parents still live in China; her parents and brother are in the United States. Tang said she weighed risks of speaking out very carefully. “I think I should tell the truth,’’ she said, “for the sake of other (Falun Gong) practitioners still in jail.’’ She said she heard other detainees received harsh treatment, but did not witness any.

Tang said she was freed after 15 days in police custody. U.S. Sen.Wayne Allard had intervened, asking U.S. consular officials to inquire about her in Guangzhou. Police detained Tang and other practitioners on November 25 in Guangzhou, where they’d gathered to defy China’s ban.

Chinese authorities are adamantly opposed to the popular Falun Gong spiritual movement, which blends slow-motion meditative exercise with eastern religious ideas.

They banned the movement in April - after thousands of practitioners surrounded government headquarters in Beijing near Tiananmen Square. Chinese officials in Washington say Falun Gong is not only illegal but dangerous and a threat to state authority.

Tang was among thousands caught in a massive crackdown that Chinese officials say has involved more than 35,000 policemen.

After lengthy interrogations about Falun Gong activities, she said, Guangzhou detention center officials said they were sending her back to Chengdu, her hometown in China. She moved to the United States in 1991to earn a physics doctorate at the Colorado School of Mines --and stayed in Colorado with her husband and daughter.

On the way to Chengdu, when she didn’t have money for her airplane ticket, she said, police escorts guided her to a bank and told her to withdraw money with her Visa card. Tang said she withdrew the equivalent of about $120 and caught the flight.

In Chengdu, local police questioned her constantly before releasing her to her husband’s parents. From there, she returned home via Beijing, arriving in Denver Wednesday night.

8.1.46 Liu Juhua from Tangshan City sentenced to 3 years of labor education

Message received: December 14, 1999

Victims:

1. Liu Juhua
2. Yang Xuezhen and two other practitioners

Location of incident: Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province

Description:

Liu Juhua from Tangshan City has been sentenced to 3 years of forced labor education in the labor camp of Shijiazhuang City because she had gone to Beijing to appeal three times.

On September 22 when she and another fellow practitioner Yang Xuezhen were stopped by a police officer near the Beijing Nationality Restaurant, the officer asked them whether they were Falun Gong practitioners. As soon as they answered “Yes”, the officer started to search their bags. On the same afternoon, they were sent to the Beijing Qinghe Detention Center. There, they were searched after they were ordered to take off their clothes. They were then interrogated till 2 o’clock the next morning and were not allowed to sleep. They were not allowed to talk to anybody either. Three days later, they were sent to Kaiping Detention Center in Tangshan City.

On November 15, 4 practitioners including Liu Juhua were sent to the labor camp of Shijiazhuang City

8.1.47 A practitioner sent to a labor camp for practicing exercises in Tiananmen Square

Message received: December 13, 1999

Victim: Zhu Qingxi , resident of Shandong province

Location of incident: Tiananmen Square, Beijing

Description:

Zhu Qingxi has been sent to a labor camp in Luoyang Henan province for 1.5 years of forced labor education because he practiced Falun Gong exercises in Tiananmen Square in October. She was employed at the Hospital of Dongying Shengli Oil Field of Shandong Province.

Currently, the Oil Field is detaining several practitioners. One of them has been detained for about 4 months.

8.1.48 Women sent to labor camps for 2 or 3 years without trial

Message received: December 12, 1999

Victims:

1. Zhu Ying, female
2. Yin Houmei, female
3. Chen Fengzhen

Location of incident: Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China

Description:

35 Falun Gong practitioners, including the three women mentioned above, have been sentenced without trial for 2 or 3 years.

8.1.49 Policeman intentionally let criminal try to rape a detained female practitioner

Message received: December 8, 1999

Victim: a Falun Gong practitioner.

Location of incident: unknown

Description:

Below is just part of the experience essay by the practitioner.

On September 28, 1999, I was detained by police at the local police station. One day, around dinner time, a male prisoner approached the window of my cell and told me to take off my clothes and perform Falun Gong exercises naked. I told him that I am a practitioner and I don’t want to be like you. After hearing that, he shouted from outside, “take off your pants”. At that moment, the policeman opened the door of my cell and this prisoner ran towards me. He pushed me down on the bed. I struggled with all my might and asked the policeman for help. The policeman did not stop the prisoner at all.

8.1.50 Female Ph.D. students were detained in Beijing

Message received: December 6, 1999

Victims:

1. Zhou Li, female, a graduate student in the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing
2. Yuan Xiaofan, female, a Ph.D. student in the Ecology Center, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing
3. Yan Xiaohua, female, a Ph.D. student in the Institute of Animals, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing

Location of incident: Beijing, China

Description:

In the Chinese Academy of Science, about 8 graduate students appealed for Falun Dafa. They were then detained as “criminal suspects”. Among them are Li, Yuan Xiaofan and Yan Xiaohua from the Institute of Animals. Yan Xiaohua has been dismissed.

8.1.51 Three Australian women were arrested in Tiananmen Square and expelled

Victims:

1. Dai Meiling, from Australia
2. Yi Qin, from Australia
3. Zeng Jianling, from Australia

Location of incident: Tiananmen Square, Beijing, P. R. China

Description:

At 4:00pm on December 4, three Falun Gong practitioners from Australia, Dai Meiling, Yi Qin, Zeng Jianling, and several practitioners in Beijing were arrested in Tiananmen Square when practicing Falun Gong exercises and holding a “Falun Dafa” banner. The three practitioners from Australia were expelled from Mainland China the next day. They have arrived in Hong Kong now.

According to AP report, police took away more than 20 practitioners who were doing sitting meditation in Tiananmen Square. A lot of policemen were patrolling around Tiananmen Square.

The following is some detailed information. During the morning of December 5th, there were few tourists in Tiananmen Square than usual because it was getting colder. However, there were more police officers, especially around the national flag pole and the People’s Hero Monument. Moreover, there were more than a dozen police vehicles around the square, which made the atmosphere quite intense.

After 9am, the police began to check some tourists. Those who acknowledged that they were Falun Gong practitioners were taken away. Around 10:15am, more than a dozen Falun Gong practitioners began practicing sitting meditation to the west of the national flag pole. Many police officers rushed over immediately; a police van also rushed toward the practitioners. Police officers pushed practitioners into the police van, and at the same time, dispelled tourists who were watching. They also examined carefully those with cameras in order to prevent them from taking pictures.

The whole process lasted more than one minute. After that, another five or six practitioners who did Falun Gong exercises in Tiananmen Square were also arrested.

8.1.52 Gao was injected with a stimulant in Dalian

Message received: November 29, 1999

Victim: Gao, female, the contact person of Falun Gong in Dalian, Liaoning Province.

Location of incident: Dalian, Liaoning Province, China

Description:

Ms. Gao was secretly arrested a long time ago. Even though she suffered severely, she did not give in. She was injected with a stimulant.

8.1.53 Four foreign female Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Guangzhou

Message received: November 26, 1999

Victims:

1. Sun Jie, female, a U.S. citizen, living in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
2. Anna, female, a Swedish student

Location of incident: Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

Description:

As reported by Chinese news net, 15 Falun Gong practitioners (most of them women) were arrested by police while practicing Falun Gong in Guangzhou on November 25. The arrested include one Chinese American (Sun Jie), two Chinese Australians and one female Swedish student (Anna).

The arrested successfully called their friends in the United States and Australia to reveal the event. The police are waiting for commands from their leaders as to how to deal with the four foreigners. They may be deported from the country. The remaining 11 people have been sent to a detention center.

The Swedish student, Anna, was released after one day’s detention. From the e-mail she sent after her release, Anna revealed that while they were exchanging their cultivation experiences in a private home in Guangzhou early yesterday morning, the police suddenly entered the room and arrested them.

A picture of the practitioners who were arrested in Guangzhou City.

This picture was taken before these practitioners were taken away by police. The police were just in front of them.

Anna said that during her detention, the police not only continuously interrogated her and forcefully searched her purse, but also did not allow her to eat or call the Swedish Consulate for help.

The U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou has asked the Chinese government about the detention of two Chinese Americans. But they were still not released as of November 26.

(The four overseas practitioners have now been released according to the latest news.)

8.1.54 Practitioner’s home was ransacked

Message received: November 24, 1999

Victims:

1. Zhou Lijia, female, Falun Gong practitioner, a resident in Beijing, China
2. Zhou Lijia’s mother, female, lives in her daughter’s home

Location of incident: Beijing, China

Description:

Beijing practitioners Zhou Lijia and her husband, Dong Zhang, Zhou Lijia’s mother and some other Falun Gong practitioners from Northeastern China who stayed at their home, were reported to the police by somebody. Their home was then ransacked. Up to now, their whereabouts are unknown. A practitioner had called their cellular phone number and home phone number many times but nobody answered.

8.1.55 The court put Gu Zhiyi, a retired senior instructor of Tax School on show trial

Message received: November 24, 1999

Victim: Gu Zhiyi, 63 years of age, female, a retired senior instructor of Tax School of Chongqing

Location of incident: Chongqing, Sichuan Province

Description:

Gu Zhiyi, a Falun Gong contact person in her 60s in Chongqing, was arrested on July 19th. In jail, she has suffered from 24 types of inhumane torture devices, including the “Tiger Stool” (lash thighs on a bench and then bend the legs to the opposite direction by adding bricks under the heels), piercing through the fingers with sharp bamboo sticks, electric chair, and electric shocks by connecting the head and bottom, etc. When Gu Zhiyi was asked whether she would continue to practice Falun Gong, she answered “yes” firmly all the time. Gu is still in custody.

The following is provided by Chongqing Falun Gong practitioners.

From 9:00am to 8:00pm of November 21, 1999, the Court of Yuzhong District in Chongqing opened a trial for Gu Zhiyi. During the whole trial, Gu Zhiyi appeared calm and kind, while the public prosecutor and the presiding judge often appeared angry and emotional. It was often the case that after the prosecutor finished his statements, the judge would ask Gu, “Gu Zhiyi, Did you hear that?” Gu replied, “Yes, I did.” The judge asked again, “Do you have any different opinion?” Gu Said, “Yes, I do.” But before Gu could finish her statement, the judge would interrupt her, “Gu Zhiyi, you cannot repeat what you have said.” During the whole course of the trial, the defense was continuously interrupted. He sighed, “Two sides should be equal in court. But this is not the case. We do not have the equal opportunity to speak out. Why don’t they just go ahead and sentence her?”

8.1.56 Practitioners were required to pay 3,000 RMB

Message received: November 19, 1999

Victims:

1. Hu Chunxiang, female, a resident in Anshu Town, Dongliao County, Jilin Province
2. Qu Hongmei, female, a resident in Shiyi Town, Dongliao County, Jilin Province
3. Yang Xu, female , a resident in Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province
4. Sun Xiuzhi, female, a resident in Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province

Location of incident: Liaoyuan City and Dongliao County, Jilin Province

Description:

In Liaoyuan City and some other counties, the detained Falun Gong practitioners are required to pay 3,000 Yuan (RMB). If one cannot afford it, the grain stock in one’s home will be taken away. Hu Chunxiang was able to get rid of her cancer after practicing Falun Gong. Because she does not want to give up Falun Gong, her grain stock was confiscated. Her husband was detained. The grain stock of Qu Hongmei’s was also confiscated.

Yang Xu and her 8-month-old baby were detained in the detention center. At that time, her husband was also being detained.

Before Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited China, some practitioners had been released. Later they were detained again. On November 17, 8 practitioners including Sun Xiuzhi were sentenced to a labor camp.

8.1.57 A female practitioner was fired for appealing for Falun Gong

Message received: November 16, 1999

Victims:

1. Zhou Shufang, female, a resident in Guiyang, Guizhou Province
2. Wang Ying, female, a resident in Guiyang, Guizhou Province

Location of incident: Guiyang , Guizhou Province, China

Description:

Zhou Shufang, a former employee of the tax department, was fired because she appealed for Falun Gong.

Wang Ying was detained although she did not go to Beijing to appeal. Wang Ying was on a hunger strike in the detention center for 5 days. Her family did not know her whereabouts until she was released.

8.1.58 Policemen stripped her clothes off; tied her feet and arms up

Message received: November 15, 1999

Victim: Bai Lili, female, a resident in Beijing

Location of incident: Beijing, China

Description:

On October 25, Bai Lili went to the Central Committee and State Council Appealing Office to appeal for Falun Dafa. She was received by police officers instead of officers from the appealing office. Later she was taken to the police station. After being interrogated, signing her name and leaving her thumbprint, she was sent to the Dongcheng Detention Center. At first, they stripped off her clothes to search her, and they found two Falun Gong books. Several police officers dragged her by the arms and some dragged her by the hair in order to take the books away, but they failed.

On the second day, the police officer again ordered her to turn in her books, but Ms. Bai refused. Instead, she asked the police officer to give her all the Falun Gong books they confiscated before. The policemen were angry. Several police officers said that they must get the books from her before noon. They then came over. Some dragged her by the hair and some dragged her by the arms. They tied up her two feet and two arms. Then they pushed her onto the ground. They seized her books and tore them apart, then squeezed some pages of the books into Ms. Bai’s mouth. When someone was coming, they dragged her into the room, and covered her head with a quilt. She almost choked to death.

She was detained in the detention center for 6 days. After she was released, she mentioned that she would appeal to President Jiang Zemin about Falun Gong. Now her whereabout is unknown.

8.1.59 China jails first group of Falun Gong contact people

Message received: November 12, 1999 from Reuters

Victims:

1. Song Yuesheng
2. Jiang Shilong
3. Liang Yulin, female
4. Chen Yuan

Location of incident: Haikou, Hainan Province

Description:

BEIJING, November12 (Reuters) - China jailed four leaders of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement for up to 12 years on Friday in the first known trial of members of what the communist government has decreed ``an evil cult.’’

The Intermediate People’s Court in Haikou, capital of the southern island province of Hainan, sentenced Song Yuesheng to 12 years in prison after a seven-hour trial, a court official said. Chen Yuan was sentenced 7 years in prison on similar charges of ``using a cult to violate the law,’’ Xinhua said. The court showed leniency to Jiang Shilong, who received 3 years inprisonment for showing ``sincere remorse,’’ it said.

Liang Yulin, a woman, ``admitted guilt with a good attitude’’ and was given a two-year jail term, it added.

The sentences were the first meted out by a Chinese court since the government banned Falun Gong in July and launched a crackdown. The movement claims 100 million members worldwide.

More than 100 Falun Gong members have been formally arrested in a nationwide crackdown and are expected to face trials. Many more are under various forms of administrative detention, like labor camps, which are not subject to the judicial process.

8.1.60 The interpreter for the October 28 press conference was jailed

Message received: November 11, 1999

Victims: Lei Xiaoting, female, a young teacher in the Foreign Language Department of Beijing University of Industry and Business

Location of incident: Beijing

Description:

During the morning of November 5th, Beijing police took Lei Xiaoting away from her dorm and put her into custody. The security section of the University said that the police suspected her of having attended the news conference held by Falun Gong practitioners on October 28th and interpreting for those foreign journalists. Currently, her parents are not allowed to visit her.

8.1.61 A 54yearold and 20 others have been detained without legal formality

Message received: November 6, 1999

Victims:

1. Wang Junhua, female, 37, Mishan, Heilongjiang Province. She is a state official of the Bureau of Raising Poultry in Mishan City, and a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Mishan City. She is also a Falun Gong practitioner and contact person of Falun Gong in Mishan City
2. Zhang Yulan, female, 54, Mishan , Heilongjiang

Location of incident: Mishan, Heilongjiang Province

Description:

On September 24th, the police department asked Wang Junhua whether she would continue to practice Falun Gong or not, and she answered yes. Therefore, she was thrown directly into the detention center and detained together with serious criminal offenders. Everyday, she was only served three small pieces of steamed corn bread and two bowls of cabbage soup. She is forced to sleep on the cement floor. She has not been released yet. During her detention, many of her supervisors went to visit her and tried to persuade her to give up Falun Gong. She refused.

Mishan City Police Department had confiscated the ID cards of many Falun Gong practitioners before October 1st for fear that these people would go to Beijing to appeal. They also required Falun Gong practitioners to write a pledge that they would not practice Falun Gong and not go to appeal. About 20 practitioners including Zhang Yulan have been detained without any legal formalities because they refused to turn in their ID cards and to write a pledge. If they want to get out, they must denounce Falun Gong and the teacher of Falun Gong, and then pay 3,000 RMB as a deposit. Because these practitioners do not want to say things against their conscience, they have not been released until now.

8.1.62 Adults were detained; teenagers were home alone

Victim: Cheng Shuhua, female, employee of the Department of Advertisement, Cable TV Station of Jixi, Heilongjiang Province.

Location of incident: Jixi, Heilongjiang Province,

Description:

Cheng Shuhua was escorted back from Beijing on September 10th because she had appealed to authorities about Falun Gong. At that time, she was wearing short sleeves. Later her family wanted to send her some sweaters, but the police department did not allow it until September 24th. Her husband was also detained for the same reason. Ms. Cheng’s sister and her sister’s husband were also detained because they would not give up Falun Gong. Currently, in both families, two teenagers are at home with nobody to take care of them.

8.1.63 Two women were inhumanely tortured in Dalian

Message received: November 5, 1999

Victims:

1. Zhang Chunqing, female, born in 1941; home address: Nanshan #13, 2-101, Dalian University of Science and Technology
2. Zhu Hang, female, Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dalian University of Science and Technology

Location of incident: Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China

Description:

In Dalian, Zhang Chunqing was “officially” arrested several days ago. She could be sentenced under the accusation of “leaking state secrets”. As a matter of fact, she only told the world of her experience of being inhuman-ley tortured in the detention center. Zhu Hang, who has suffered inhumane torture in the same detention center, is now missing. Her whereabout is unknown.

8.1.64 A Chinese policeman loyal to Falun Gong has been detained and charged

Message received: November 5, 1999 from Associated Press

Victims:

1. Wang Zhiguo, a 37 year old communist Party member and a policeman
2. Yong Fang, female
3. Wang Wei, female
4. Shang Fengzhi, female

Location of incident: Anshan, Liaoning Province

Description:

According to Associated Press (November 5):

A Chinese policeman who put his loyalty to the Falun Gong spiritual movement ahead of orders to crush the group has been detained and was being escorted today back to his hometown for likely punishment, a law enforcement official said.

Wang Zhiguo, a 37 year old Communist Party member and policeman who also practices Falun Gong, defied authorities and came to Beijing to protest the government ban on the group. The policeman, Wang, was one of 30 followers of the meditation group who held a daring, secretively convened news conference last week to air their grievances about the government crackdown.

Three other principal Falun Gong members were also arrested, said the official from an Anshan government office coordinating the city’s crackdown against Falun Gong.

The center said Wang Zhiguo was detained on October 30th and charged today with using a cult to undermine enforcement of laws.

8.1.65 Two female practitioners have been missing

Message received: November 4, 1999

Victims:

1. Zhang Yuwei, female, Ph.D. student of Zhejiang University
2. Guo Chunhuan, female , Ph.D. student of Zhejiang University

Location of incident: Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

Description:

Zhang Yuwei and Guo Chunhuan went to Beijing to appeal on October 27th. The police from Shandong Province intercepted them. Later they were escorted back to Hangzhou by their local police department. Up to now, the whereabouts of Zhang Yuwei is unknown. Her family cannot contact her either. The whereabouts of Guo Chunhuan is also unknown after she was picked up by the University’s security section the evening of November 1st.

(To be Continued)

Index Previous Next