(Minghui.org) We have gained some experience in exposing the persecution in our local area over the past few years. We believe that fellow Falun Gong practitioners may benefit from hearing about our experience.
Exposing Perpetrators in the Persecution
The suppression was very severe in my area in 2003, and many practitioners were arrested.
Master said,
“Exposing the wicked policemen and bad persons and publicizing their evil deeds is extremely effective at shocking and restraining those irrational, wicked people. At the same time, by clarifying the facts to the people on a local level it most directly exposes, and generates public awareness of, the wicked persecution. It is also a great way to save the people who have been poisoned and deceived by the lies. I hope all Dafa disciples and new students in mainland China will do this well.” (“Comment on a Student's Article” from The Essentials of Diligent Progress VOL. III)
Master's comment was an eye opener. We learned that it was important to publicize all persecution facts. Therefore, we brought together many practitioners, who collected and wrote articles about such cases.
Our first brochure took about two months to produce. It publicized torture that practitioners experienced during interrogation, as well as the critical role the 610 Office and law enforcement agencies played in the persecution.
We sent forth righteous thoughts and distributed thousands of copies throughout the town and the feedback was very positive. According to a practitioner whose relative works in the Procuratorate, that office checked the publicized facts and found them to be true.
One of the most vicious police officers whose identity was publicized was later assigned to an inconsequential position. Torture during interrogation stopped.
This success not only allowed us to follow up with truth-clarification fliers, but also made it possible to expand such efforts to other areas. We worked with practitioners in nearby counties and cities to compile a comprehensive report that covered major persecution cases between 2012 and 2013. The in-depth data, statistical tables, and graphs provided a true account of the severity of the persecution in the local community
Investigating the Most Prominent Perpetrators in the Persecution
Master said,“For those who still persecute,The investigation shall be relentless.” (“The Red Tide Vanishes” from Hong Yin III)
Based on Master's poem, we followed up on cases where the perpetrators insisted on committing bad deeds despite our continuous truth-clarification efforts.
A useful resource is the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), which maintains a searchable database of persecution facts, individuals and organizations.
For example, police officer A, known for persecuting practitioners for a number of years, refused to listen to practitioners. They told him the facts about Falun Gong and the consequences of continued wrongdoing.
We investigated and collected everything that identified him as a persecutor of practitioners and then wrote a report. The report included reasons why his actions were illegal, and what legal as well as moral consequences he could face. The report was published by Minghui and fliers were distributed widely in our local area.
Police officer A was shocked, because he had not realized the many wrongdoings he had committed. He stopped persecuting practitioners and often found ways to protect them.
Powerful Tools Showing Harmful Consequences
Our successes gave us the momentum to investigate brainwashing centers.
Master said,
“[The factors] are now contracting around the prisons and brainwashing centers, and they don’t have much strength left. Even Beijing is now hard for them to hold on to.” (“2012 International Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital ”)
Master's words showed us the importance of targeting brainwashing centers and personnel active in the persecution of practitioners, namely the 610 Office head and Political and Legal Affairs director.
We collected basic information on brainwashing centers and expanded our search to detailed persecution facts, from the duration of brainwashing sessions to names of detained practitioners. These facts were powerful tools to show the harmful consequences of the brainwashing.
When delivering this package to the local 610 Office, one practitioner explained to him, “Because you are in this special position, all of the local persecution cases involve you.” The 610 Office head thanked him and vacated the post the following year.
We mailed reports about the persecution in prior years to the new 610 Office head and told him not to carry on the persecution. The brainwashing center was eventually closed down.
We expanded our efforts and took on law enforcement agencies in a larger geographic area. When rescuing one practitioner who was facing a court trial, we realized that many more agencies were involved in the persecution, such as the court, procurator, political and legal affairs offices, and higher level agencies.
We selected information related to these agencies from our database and highlighted how they had participated in the persecution. Grouped by county or city, we listed how many practitioners were detained, their names, the case file numbers and the names of responsible judicial officers.
During this process we took some information from the WOIPFG website, and the data we collected were also submitted to the website for inclusion into its database.
The situation in our area improved. Although some practitioners were reported to police for telling people the facts about Falun Gong, they were released soon after their arrest. None of them were detained or sentenced to prison.
Dealing with Difficulties in Collecting Information
One critical and difficult step is to collect contact information of personnel involved, including names, phone numbers, and addresses. We cooperated well with each other. For example, every five years most local government agencies brought in new officials and their names were announced on the agencies' websites. Despite some difficulties, we found most of the names that we needed.
Not all the information is available on the Internet, so we looked at local phone books and bulletin boards in the township offices. We were able to find most of the names of police stations and township offices.
To avoid suspicion we worked together and each of us wrote down just a few names. Sometimes we just asked villagers for information about police in their area.
By chance, we also obtained a phone book with all of the government agencies' information in a local area. We also received a file that contained contact information for all of the prisons in this province. This was only possible with Master's help.
Looking Inward
For collecting so much information, much manpower was needed, which provided many opportunities for us to improve.
We faced conflicts between practitioners to varying degrees. When that happened, we calmed down, studied the Fa and looked inward, and thus were able to resolve the issues. Fortunately, some of us remained clear-headed and reminded the rest of us of interference by the old forces. Soon we again cooperated well.
Working on such a project involves much physical effort and mental stress, including challenges posed by interference from other dimensions. Through consistent Fa-study and sending righteous thoughts, we were able to overcome such interference.
Teacher helped us many times. For example when a practitioner was arrested, we planned to visit his family to get detailed information. On the way there, the anti-theft alarm of the motorcycle went off for no reason. Suspecting something was wrong, we decided to go to another place. Later, we were told that police officers were in that practitioner's home, lying in wait for other practitioners.
There is still a long way to go, but we will continue to cooperate with each other and expose the persecution.
