(Minghui.org)

Summary of Key Persecution Facts: Name: Yang Yongying (杨永英) Gender: Male Age: 50 Address: Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province Occupation: Worker Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 7, 2005 Most Recent Place of Detention: Hulan Prison(呼兰监狱) City: Harbin Province: Heilongjiang Persecution Suffered: Detention, home ransacked, interrogation by torture, hanging by handcuffs, handcuffed behind the back, sleep deprivation, brutal beatings, illegal trial, illegal sentencing, imprisonment, forced labor, brainwashing

Mr. Yang Yongying was sentenced to a 17-years prison term on June 30, 2006, because he and four other practitioners tapped into cable TV in April 2002 to counteract the lies and propaganda that was deceiving the Chinese people about the Tiananmen Square self-immolations. His wife was sentenced to seven years in prison because of her belief. There was no one at home to care for their son between 2002 and 2009, when he was a teenager.

Tapping into Cable to Expose the CCP Lies

Mr. Yang Yongying, Mr. Zhang Yueming, Mr. Wang Shusen, Mr. Guo Zhongquan, and Mr. Guo Xingguo successfully tapped into the cable TV system in Hegang City on April 20, 2002. They blocked regular Chinese Communist Party (CCP) programming for 20 minutes and broadcast a truth-clarifying video about the staged Tiananmen Square self-immolation.

Many people saw the broadcast. One viewer said, “That video was really good. All the doubts were reasonably analyzed. As I was watching, however, the electricity was cut off.” It was later revealed that the Hegang City CCP Committee feared allowing the public to learn the truth, and ordered the electric utility to shut down the power.

The CCP panicked when the truth about Falun Dafa was exposed, and decided to come down hard on the practitioners who tapped into the cable TV lines. They arrested four of the practitioners involved on April 20, and gave them stiff sentences. Zhang Yueming was given 19 years; Wang Shusen, 18 years; Guo Zhongquan, 13 years; and Guo Xingguo, 15 years. Mr. Guo was brutally tortured in Hulan Prison, and died soon after being released.

Homeless and Destitute for Three Years

After tapping into the television lines, Mr. Yang initially managed to evade arrest. On the evening of April 21, 2002, members of the local CCP committee, along with local police, broke into Mr. Yang's home and ransacked the house.

Mr. Yang was forced to be homeless and destitute for three years. At every holiday, his immediate family and relatives were monitored, and their telephones were tapped. Police chief Ren Ruichen divided his force into two groups to monitor Mr. Yang's relatives every day, around the clock, so that Mr. Yang could not return home. He had to use another name and perform manual labor at a construction site to make a living. His life was extremely difficult.

Arrested and Brutally Tortured for Seven Days

When Mr. Yang was meeting with some practitioners in a residence at 9:00 a.m. on September 7, 2005, officers from the Xiangyang District Police Department broke into the room and arrested them. More than 50 practitioners were arrested, including Mr. Yang. All of their cell phones and personal property were confiscated. The confiscated items were valued at tens of thousands of yuan.

That night, Mr. Yang was taken to the second detention center of Hegang City, and locked in confinement room #3, where he was pressured to “confess.” He was made to sit on a cold cement floor from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. the next morning. He was moved the next day to a conference room on the second floor of the detention center.

Mr. Yang was brutally tortured for the next seven days. The police handcuffed and hung him up, deprived him of sleep, struck him on the head with a water bottle, jabbed his joints with a pool cue, and hit his shoulders with a table-tennis racket. When he fainted, the police poured water on him until he regained consciousness.

Torture Illustration: Handcuffed and hanged

Illegally Tried and Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison

The Xiangyang District Counrt in Hegang City sentenced Mr. Yang on June 30, 2006, to a 17-year prison term. Chen Xuegang was the presiding judge. The assistant judges were Chen Min and Wang Jidong, and the clerk was Wang Xiaojun.

Mr. Yang appealed to the city intermediate court in mid-July 2006. The Hegang City Intermediate Court rejected his appeal and upheld the original sentence on September 22, 2006. The presiding judge was Liu Changfu and the assistant judge was Hao Lizhu. The acting assistant judge was Sun Bo, and the clerk was Li Wei.

Imprisoned in Harbin and Hulan Prisons, Beaten and Forced to Do Hard Labor

Mr. Yang was sent to Harbin Prison on November 8, 2006. During his imprisonment, he was forced to do hard labor. If he did not finish his daily quota, he was not allowed to sleep, and he was ordered to “reflect” in the confinement room from 11:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.

Mr. Yang was transferred again to the 13th Prison District, known as the “strict team” in Hulan Prison on December 1, 2006. He was forced to rise every day at 6:00 a.m., and do forced labor until 8:30 each night knitting car mats. If he did not finish the work, he was not only forced to “reflect” on himself, but also beaten with plastic tubes by other prisoners. The prisoners hit his head and buttocks until he promised to finish the work the next day.

Mr. Yang was forced to stand on a cold cement floor in his bare feet during the “reflection” time, and bend his hips and legs at a 90-degree angle. If he finished his work, he was allowed to sleep on a double bed with others. If he did not finish, he was forced to sleep on a bed 6-1/2 feet long and 5-1/4 feet wide, along with five to nine other prisoners.

The prison environment was a living hell. The place was full of lice, and practitioners were allowed to shower only once a month. When using the bathroom, the practitioners were forced to shout “1-2-3” three times, and were not allowed to talk to each other.

The prison also tried to brainwash and “transform” the practitioners. The practitioners were relentlessly persecuted. When the practitioners became mentally confused from the torture, the prison made them apply their fingerprints to statements prepared by the police, promising to give up their belief in Falun Dafa.

Xu Ruye was the captain of the strict team. The deputy captain was Wang Jian, who clearly stated, “This prison is the main base to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.”

The prison police divided the prisoners into two groups beginning in September 2007, with the intent of monitoring the practitioners and depriving them of sleep. Prison staffer He Yan, who was on night watch, tortured Mr. Yang. He knocked one of Mr. Yang's teeth loose, and it eventually fell out. He was later transferred to Bijiashan Prison in Shuangyashan. Prisoner Shen Gang was ordered to play videos that slandered Falun Dafa during the day beginning in November 2007.

Torture Re-enactment: Brutal beating (Push and break)

Every year during the prison meeting, warden Zhang Shumin claimed that the prison used the management style of “8-5-1-1” for Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners. This meant that practitioners were to work for eight hours, five days a week, with one day for study and one day for relaxing. This was a lie. Practitioners were actually forced to labor for 12 hours per day, every day in the workshop.

Mr. Yang's Family Also Suffered from Persecution and Hardship

Mr. Yang has a virtuous wife and sensible son. His wife, Ms. Liu Chunlan, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2002 for practicing Falun Dafa. By then, Mr. Yang was homeless and destitute. His son was only 13 years old and was still in middle school at the time. The severe persecution of the family traumatized their son to an extreme degree. Later, with a relative's help, the son was admitted to a good university. He was a sensible young man and very frugal.

Ms. Liu was released in 2009, but Mr. Yang was still in prison. To support her husband and son, Ms. Liu made a living doing alterations and taking in laundry. She worked very hard from dawn to dusk to support her family.

Unnamed CCP personnel arrested Ms. Liu on March 11, 2011, claiming that her shop violated fire regulations. She was taken to the Hegang Brainwashing Center, where she was beaten until she lost consciousness. When she was released six days later, she could no longer use her legs, and had to be carried home.

Background

Mr. Yang worked at the Core Sorting Factory of He Mining Group, in Heilongjiang Province. He started cultivating in Falun Dafa in June 1995. He suffered with many illnesses before starting to cultivate. He also indulged in smoking, drinking, and gambling. After he started cultivating, his illnesses disappeared and he saved his employer a lot of money on medical expenses. He also eliminated his bad habits, and strictly followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to become a good person.

Responsible Personnel: Nan Sheng, current warden Jin Shibin (金世彬), warden of 13th Prison District Yang Yuming (杨玉明), deputy warden of 13th Prison District (in charge of forced labor work) Sun Yuanze (孙元泽), first prison section instructor Wang Qingyu (王庆瑜), captain Sun Jihan (孙吉汉), second prison section instructor Wang Zhiyong (王志勇), captain Prison room: +86-451-57307109 Xu Ruye (胥如野), criminal investigation section head Wang Jian (王健), execution section head He Yan (何岩), staff member: +86-13314501008 (Cell)

Related article: Ms. Yang Yongying Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison