(Minghui.org) After the CCP started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, some government officials have very quickly risen in their careers. They found a “shortcut” to promotion and became rich from the persecution.
Two typical examples are Zhou Yongkang, recently demoted former had of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee and the head of the CCP's Political and Legal Affairs Committee, and Xu Wenyou, Zhou's underling in Liaoning Province, the deputy head of Liaoning Police Department and the head of Shenyang City Police Department.
Under Zhou's guidance, Xu Wenyou was promoted from head of a criminal police detachment team to head of a city police department, and later vice mayor of Shenyang City. During his seven years as the head of Shenyang Police Department, many Falun Gong practitioners were brutally persecuted. They were put in jail, tortured, and even lost their lives. Many families were destroyed.
Xu Wenyou, 59, has worked in law enforcement for years. He is power hungry. With no strong academic credentials, he needs to earn credits and win awards through his work to be promoted.
Among his colleagues, Xu is notorious for his ruthlessness. There was a hostage situation in Anshan City in 1998. Everything was under control at first and the crisis was on the way to being resolved peacefully until, without any explanation, Xu simply shot and killed the suspect. He was given credit for the case.
When the CCP started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, Xu was the head of the criminal police detachment team in Anshan City Police Department. Six months later, he was promoted to deputy of Anshan City Police Department. In October 2002, he was promoted to deputy director of Anshan City Political and Legal Affairs Committee, which was the key organization in charge of the persecution of Falun Gong. He devoted himself to persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.
Liaoning Province is one of the provinces where practitioners have suffered most and where the CCP's organ harvesting from living practitioners was first exposed. At the end of 2002, because of his attitude and activities in persecuting Falun Gong, he was recognized by the provincial authorities and transferred to Shenyang City as head of the provincial criminal investigation division. He was responsible for “major Falun Gong cases.”
Xu Wenyou and his wife with Zhou Yongkang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing
On September 9, 2005, Zhou Yongkang, who was then head of the National Political and Legal Affairs Committee and head of the Ministry of Public Security, held a special award ceremony for Xu Wenyou in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Xu was publicly recognized as a “Model of the National Public Security System,” someone whom other officers should learn from. Afterward, Xu became a vice mayor of Shenyang City and was promoted to deputy of Liaoning Provincial Police Department in 2006.
Why did Zhou Yongkang hold a special award ceremony for Xu Wenyou? Because Xu had arrested Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gao Rongrong.
Ms. Gao Rongrong after she was shocked for hours with electric batons
Ms. Gao Rongrong, a staff member at the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang City, was subjected to forced labor several times for her belief in Falun Gong. On May 7, 2004, she was shocked with electric batons by the guards in Longshan Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang for six to seven hours. Her face was ruined. While she was hospitalized, several practitioners came in and photographed her face. What was done to her hit the international media.
The CCP gang, including Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, and Zhou Yongkang, were afraid that Ms. Gao would be sent abroad. A special task force was formed to track her down. At that time, Xu Wenyou as the head of the Criminal Investigation Division in Liaoning Province Police Department, was directly responsible.
After nearly six months, Ms. Gao was arrested again in the early morning hours of March 6, 2005. Several practitioners who helped rescue her were arrested as well. Xu was credited for his “great” service. Luo Gan, then head of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, and Zhou Rongkang, Public Security Department minister, personally commended him as a national police model.
On June 16, 2005, Ms. Gao Rongrong, whose face was covered with scars from the electric batons, was killed in detention. She was only 37 years old.
Xu Wenyou faithfully followed Zhou Yongkan and spared no effort in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. He kept getting promotions.
He was promoted as the head of Shenyang Police Department in February 2008, just before the Olympic Games. He also had several other titles, such as director of Shenyan City Work Group on Social Stability, deputy of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, etc. Everything he did was involved in the persecution of Falun Gong.
With 20 years of experience as a police officer handling criminal cases, Xu was notorious for his ruthlessness. Many people who did not deserve to die were killed. Led by such a notorious figure, many officers followed his example in the persecution of Falun Gong.
Some of the Falun Gong cases that Xu was involved in:
Before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, many Falun Gong practitioners were arrested by the CCP to "maintain social stability." Xu held a conference at the Shenyang City Police Department to make arrangements to arrest the practitioners. There were quotas for arrests in each district.
From May 24 to 26, 2008, police in more than 10 districts and counties in Shenyang City arrested practitioners. In the Dongling District alone, more than 24 practitioners were arrested in one night.
More than 100 practitioners were arrested and tortured during that time in Shenyang City. Several were sentenced to 6 to 11 years. Two were tortured to death. Ms. Chen Yumei was tortured to death just one day after she was arrested. Her family noticed that bruises covered her arms and the legs. Against her family's wishes, her body was cremated three days after she died.
Ms. Chen YumeiMs. Chen Yumei in a coma in the hospital
Xu Wenyou was appointed vice mayor of Shenyang City because of his contribution to “social stability maintenance.” His career jumped up another level.
Thirteen practitioners were arrested on March 21, 2013, because they did the Falun Gong exercises along the river bank in the Dadong District that morning. As the head of Shenyang Police Department, Xu labeled it the “F321 Case” for special attention. A special task force was set up to handle it in Shenyang Detention Center.
Many of the practitioners were brutally tortured. When their family members rushed to the detention center after the arrests, they couldn't recognize their loved ones from the photos the police showed them because the practitioners had been beaten so badly.
Their case has been dropped twice by the Dadong District Procuratorate. However, under the guidance of Xu Wenyou, officers in the Dadong Domestic Security Division are still working on the case to charge the 13 practitioners.
Related report: Several Practitioners Severely Injured, Including Mental Collapse—Shenyang Show Trial Postponed
In the name of “social stability maintenance,” Xu organized another large scale arrest of Falun Gong practitioners before the 12th National Games of China.
On the afternoon of August 23, 2013, twelve practitioners were arrested by the Wulihe Police Station in the Shenhe District. Four of the practitioners were between 70 and 80 years old.
Many teachers in the traditional culture classes in the Lion School were Falun Gong practitioners. The school and its teachers had high moral standards and won the parents' trust. It grew from several students to more than 200 in less than two years.
The Party has been closely watching for any signs of "traditional" activities. They learned there was a Falun Gong school in Shenyan City. The National Public Security Department and the Education Department set up a "working group," with a two-level task force from Liaoning Province Police Department and Shenyang Police Department and led by Xu Wenyou.
On the evening of October 23, 2013, officers from Shenyang Police Department arrested more than 30 teachers and students in the traditional culture classes of the Lion School and dissolved the classes of more than 200 students. Several students' parents were arrested as well because they were Falun Gong practitioners.
Related report: Art School Students and Teachers Interrogated and Traumatized
Xu's wife, Zhao Guiqin, was originally a hospital matron in Anshan City. As a nurse, she should have seen through the CCTV's video of the staged Tiananmen Square Self-immolation. Why was a severely burned patient wrapped in gauze? It is against basic medical practice. She should have advised her husband to not participate in the persecution of Falun Gong. However, after her husband won big credits for arresting Ms. Gao Rongrong, she participated in the propaganda team and traveled around boasting of her husband's “heroic deeds.”
The couple's photo, which was taken with Zhou Yongkang, had hung in a prominent place in Xu's office for a long time. Xu was proud of it. After Zhou Yongkang fell from favor, Xu quietly removed it.
Xu Wenyou has been dealing with gangs for years and has many enemies. He carries his gun with him all the time. It's said he has been reported to the CCP's Discipline Inspection Commission as a big wheel when it comes to corruption. As the head of the Shenyang Police Department, he often promoted officials based on the bribes he was given. The police officials that work with him have observed that nowadays he often sits in his office in a daze.