Approximately 31 Practitioners Arrested in Gansu Province—Nine Still Detained

(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners were the targets of a rash of arrests in Tianshui City, Gansu Province on October 28, 2013. Officers from the Beidao and Qinzhou District vice squads and police stations arrested approximately 31 practitioners. Nine practitioners are still being held at detention centers. Many of the practitioners were interrogated and tortured to obtain forced confessions. Some were handcuffed and shackled. Two of the practitioners were not home during the arrests, and the police are still searching for them.

Ms. Guo Jirong, 70, was handcuffed when she was arrested, and her home was ransacked.

Ms. Li Cuifang, 72, had her home ransacked as well as her business storage unit. More than 20,000 yuan in cash, along with her savings book, were confiscated. She is being held at the Lu'ergou Detention Center in the Qinzhou District.

Ms. Ma Xiaojuan and Xiao Yuan are being held at the Gangu County Detention Center in Tianshui City because they had printed truth-clarification materials about Falun Dafa. Ms. Ma's husband has been interrogated many times in the past.

Ms. Zhang Cuiping, from the Maiji District in Tianshui City, was arrested while talking to a patient at the hospital where she works. Officers from the vice squad of the Maiji Police Department burst into her office and pulled her out. Ms. Zhang asked what they wanted. The police told her that they needed to ask her a few questions and then pushed her into a car.

Ms. Zhang was taken to her home, where the police ransacked her house. She was then taken to the local vice squad to be interrogated. Ms. Zhang and her family were forced to sign an interrogation report, and she was then transferred to the Tianshui Police Department. There she was forcibly fingerprinted, photographed, and given a blood test.

She was taken back to the Maiji Police Department at 9:00 p.m. and forced to write a guarantee statement, stating that she would no longer practice Falun Dafa, after which she was released.

Ms. Zhang Cuiping's younger brother, Mr. Zhang Zhiming, was taken away in a car by plainclothes police just as he was leaving for work.

Mr. Qiao Wencheng was arrested and detained at the Lu'ergou Detention Center because he made truth-clarifying phone calls. Mr. Li Yikui, Xiao Zhang and three other practitioners were arrested along with him.

Ms. Wang Lixia avoided arrest because she was working elsewhere that day. Police Officer Yang went to her mother's home and ransacked it. They confiscated a photo of the founder of Falun Dafa and Dafa books, along with Ms. Wang's identification, a household booklet, and her benefit card. Her nephew's computer, her brother's music speaker, and other personal items were also taken. The benefit card was quickly canceled. Ms. Wang was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution.

The arresting officers were called in from different police stations in Tianshui City. To prevent any news about the arrests from being leaked, the officers' cell phones were taken away the day before.

Those responsible for the persecution: Yang Yuancang (杨元仓), deputy head of 610 Branch in Tianshui Police Department: [phone] (Cell) Liu Runtai (柳润泰), chief of Taizhou Police Department: [phone] (Cell) Qin Xingwen (秦兴文): [phone] (Cell) Dong Quanzi (董全子): [phone] (Cell) Lin Tao(林涛): [phone] (Cell) Liu Caiping (刘彩萍): [phone] (Cell) Yang Yongzhou (杨永洲): [phone] (Cell)