Since December 2, 2000 (in the lunar calendar), county officials from Houji Town in Zhenping County, Henan Province, have, under the pretense of wanting to have heart-to-heart talks, arrested 12 Falun Dafa practitioners. These practitioners were arrested regardless of whether or not they declared their positions on governmental actions against Falun Gong. Among them, one practitioner was sent to a labor camp. The others were illegally detained in a "reforming class" where they suffered inhumane torture. It has been over 4 months, and they are still in illegal custody.
During their detention in the "reforming class," Dafa practitioners have been verbally abused, beaten and kicked almost everyday. In particular, every night from about 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., the county officials and thugs, whom they hired, turned off the lights and then wantonly abused and beat up Dafa practitioners either in the small yard, where all the practitioners were forcibly gathered, or in the rooms. Some Dafa practitioners were dragged to the yard before they had a chance to put on their clothes. Even on the coldest winter days, thugs forced the Dafa practitioners to kneel down with both hands and heads firmly planted on the ground, and then beat, kicked and slapped them. The practitioners' hands and faces melted the surrounding ice and snow on the ground. The thugs tormented female and elder practitioners in the same way. Several young men beat up a Dafa practitioner--over 50 years old--for 3~4 hours. The next morning, he was covered with dirt. Under these circumstances, Dafa practitioners do not dare to take off their clothes at night.
Yao Jinbo (the current Secretary of the county government) took the lead to curse Dafa practitioners. He once beat up a male practitioner who was over 60 years old. Wang Kui (the former Vice Secretary of the county, was transferred subsequently to another county and promoted to chief) was even more vicious. He abused and beat up practitioners many times. Yan Zhongbao (the current Dean of the General Administration Department of the county) disengaged the built-in locks on the doors so that he could burst into the practitioners' rooms at any time and beat up them at his convenience. One afternoon, he led a government official of dubious background (who claimed to be an official in Nanyang area) to beat practitioners upstairs, then pulled them downstairs and continued to beat them. That night, Yan Zhongbao brought some more people to beat practitioners. They used willow twigs to whip the practitioners, especially on their ears and faces.
Among these practitioners was a female practitioner of 25 or 26 years old, a university graduate, working as an English teacher at a county middle school. She suffered all kinds of humiliation and torture after she and her husband, who graduated from the same college she attended and also a Falun Gong practitioner, were detained in the "reforming class." At about 1:00 a.m., after all the lights had been turned off, she was forcibly pulled outside. A thug humiliated and raped her while other Dafa practitioners were being beaten. Afterwards, this female practitioner and her husband resisted eating for several days running. The county officials ignored their fasting and continued to persecute them. Later, a guard, after he got drunk, unexpectedly pulled out a thick wooden rod. The male Dafa practitioners asked the female practitioners to fortify the door with the stick. When the thugs kicked the door, the female practitioners held tight on the wooden rod with their bodies to prevent them from entering the room.
After this event, Dafa practitioners' relatives reported the situation to the county. On December 22 (the lunar calendar), the county official Zhong Mingjun (the current Secretary of the county), Quan Changxi (the Secretary of the County Political and Law Committee) and others came in six cars to the "reforming class" to look into the situation. That day, there were over 100 people attending the class. These people included 50~60 relatives of Dafa practitioners who were very angry. Dafa practitioners fearlessly disclosed their true situation. Under great pressure, the county officials had to declare that it was not allowed for officials to beat people. However, those responsible were not investigated or blamed, and they are still at large. To find additional information, please refer to http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/4/17/6892.html.
Yet the county has not remedied the situation. The county officials didn't meet with Dafa practitioners for over ten days, and the guard on duty refused to transmit Dafa practitioners' request. One female practitioner was tortured to the point of death and currently is forced to take injections and medicine. They robbed Falun Gong practitioners of their money and bought food and alcohol for themselves. Yan Zhongbao even took the light bulbs and brooms provided for Dafa practitioners for his own use. Afterwards, Yan Zhongbao thought of another scheme to enhance for achieving the purpose of "transformation." He asked the female practitioner who was raped to live in the kitchen with her husband so as to isolate them from other practitioners. He put all other male and female practitioners into one room. This scheme was opposed and thus did not take effect. As a transformation means, the county officials played the recorded video of the TV propaganda programs twice.
These accounts describe the "reforming class" in Houji County.
A Falun Dafa practitioner from Mainland China
April 17, 2001