(Clearwisdom.Net)
Since July 22, 1999, headed by Cheng Changzhu, Yitong County government and Public Security Bureau have participated in the cruel persecution of Falun Gong. They sent more than 110 practitioners to forced labor camps and illegally detained and interrogated about 1000 practitioners. They used various barbarous means to persecute practitioners, including frequently searching practitioners' homes, limiting their personal freedom, brutally beating and interrogating practitioners with tortures, extorting their money and property, and orally threatening practitioners as well as their relatives.
Practitioner Guo was struck with a large baton over 100 times. His clothes were soaked with his own blood. The police also forced Guo's father, who was standing nearby, to watch them beat his son. All together, 6 people from his family have been sent to labor camps with only Guo's child, who is only about 10 years old, left alone at home. Since then, the child has been moved to a relative's home. Because there is no one at the Guo residence, their home has twice been broken into by thieves with several items being stolen.
In practitioner Liu's family, 9 people, spanning three generations, were illegally detained for practicing Falun Gong. Except for two very young children, all 7 adults were sentenced to forced labor camps while three of them served the sentence outside the labor camp under surveillance.
Practitioner Bao and practitioner Liu have suffered brutal beatings in Yitong County Detention Center. Their buttocks, so badly bruised from flogging, were bonded to the fabric of their undergarments as the lacerated skin mixed with pus acted as an adhesive. A month later, their buttocks were still covered with dark colored bruises.
After the 2001 Chinese Spring Festival (January 24, 2001), practitioners in Yitong County suffered from more relentless persecution. About 20 practitioners were seized and held in detention centers. Other practitioners, including two preschool children, were forcibly sent to brainwashing classes held by the County Communist Party School. Among them, Ms. Liu and her sister were kidnapped from home and forced to attend a brainwashing class at midnight! Practitioner Yu, seized from another county, was also forced to attend the class. Practitioner Li and her husband were taken away from home, one sent to labor camp and another to the brainwashing class. As a result, their child was left at home alone without any adult supervision. In addition to these, there were several other similar persecution cases happening to practitioners in Yitong County. In the brainwashing class, those practitioners who refused to cooperate with them were sent to detention centers. Li and her sister were forced to carry 48-Jing (24 kilogram) weight shackles while walking around in the yard. The continuous abrasion of the shackles left scars around the lower parts of their legs.
On February 5, 2001, the police kidnapped practitioner Yan and interrogated him/her for more than 10 hours that night utilizing various methods of torture: such as slapping the face, dragging by the hair, and forcing Yan to squat on his/her heels. The next day they continued torturing Yan. After Yan was sent back to the cell, it was discovered that the left side of Yan's face had swollen badly and his/her collar and corner of mouth were covered with bloodstains. The skin on Yan's head was also bruised severely.
On September 27, 2001, the police interrogated practitioner Li Zhongye, torturing him the entire night, at the second floor of the Yitong County Public Security Bureau building. Li's body was covered all over with bruises and cuts. One of his ears had become so damaged from the beatings, that he lost hearing in that ear. He also suffered a broken arm and a broken leg.
The atrocities in Yitong County have shocked Heaven. For the last two years, Yitong County suffered the most severe drought in history. The drought situation was extremely serious in 2001. Since the beginning of spring, there was no rain for several months and as a result, lands dried up and began cracking. It became very difficult for people to obtain drinking water. In some places, farmers were unable to retrieve their losses even after they tried seeding twice. Their harvest reduced 60% compared to last year. In addition to natural disasters, Ren Yi, the former Chairman of the Yitong County Grain General Company, was dismissed from the Communist Party and from the post of chairman, because he was caught embezzling public funds. Zhang Yingbo, the chief of Legal System Section of the Yitong County Public Security Bureau, sent about 100 practitioners to labor camps and also extorted lots of money and personal property from the relatives of practitioners. Now he faces retribution: He was ordered to go to a certain office and confess his crimes related to financial issues. Zhao Chen, the Secretary of Dengta Village, reported to the authorities that practitioners distributed truth-clarifying literature. A few days later, he was knocked down to the ground by a wild deer. The deer had attacked him, ramming his chest and breaking several of his ribs, leaving him in excruciating pain.