(Minghui.org) July 20, 2023 marks the 24th year since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress Falun Gong. Falun Gong practitioners in 44 countries submitted another list of perpetrators to their respective governments, urging them to hold these individuals accountable for the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The practitioners asked their governments to bar the perpetrators and their family members from entry, and to freeze their overseas assets.
Among the perpetrators listed was Li Yilong, deputy secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee and secretary of Wuhan Political and Legal Affairs Committee.
Perpetrator Information
Full Name of Perpetrator: Li (last name) Yilong (first name) (李义龙)Gender: MaleCountry: Qianjing, Hubei Province, ChinaDate/year of Birth: September 1964
Li Yilong
Title or Position
December 2005 – December 2013: member of the Standing Committee of the Ezhou Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), secretary of Ezhou Political and Legal Affairs Committee, and director of the Ezhou Municipal Public Security Bureau
December 2013 – May 2017: deputy director and political director of the Hubei Provincial Public Security Bureau
May 2017 – December 2021: member of the Standing Committee of the Wuhan Municipal CCP Committee, deputy secretary of Wuhan Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Party secretary and director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau
January 2022 – present: deputy secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee and secretary of Wuhan Political and Legal Affairs Committee
Major Crimes
Li Yilong has long served in the Public Security Bureau and Political and Legal Affairs Committee. He actively implemented the CCP’s policy of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners and personally directed the two agencies to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.
Li became director of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau in May 2017. In March 2018, the CCP combined the 610 Office to be a functional department of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, and part of its function (in directing the persecution) was transferred to the public security departments. In January 2022, Li was appointed secretary of the Wuhan Political and Legal Affairs Committee. Within a year, four Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Zong Ming, Ms. Hu Yongxiu, Ms. Tang Changjun, and Ms. Li Juhua, were persecuted to death.
Crimes Committed as Secretary of the Wuhan Political and Legal Affairs Committee (January 2022 to present)
Since Li took office as deputy secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee and secretary of the Wuhan Political and Legal Affairs Committee in January 2022, at least 260 Falun Gong practitioners from Wuhan were targeted for their faith that year. Among them, three were persecuted to death, nine were sentenced, 101 were arrested, seven were tried in court, 18 were held in detention centers and detention lockups, and three were detained in psychiatric hospitals.
Select Death Cases
Ms. Tang Changjun, a resident in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was arrested on April 12, 2019, for talking to people on the subway about Falun Gong. The Hanyang District Court held a virtual hearing of her case on September 10, 2020, and sentenced her to 3.5 years and fined her 2,000 yuan on November 9, 2020. Her loved ones and lawyers tried several times, but the prison never approved their requests to visit her during her term. When she was released from Hankou Prison on October 12, 2022, she was unable to walk, had slurred speech, and was emaciated. Even so, the local street committee twice harassed her at home, trying to force her to renounce her faith. She died on December 17. She was 74.
Ms. Zong Ming was arrested on April 18, 2022 during the “Zero-out” campaign, which targets all practitioners on the government’s blacklist in order to force them to renounce Falun Gong. She was emaciated and had difficulty talking when she was released after eight months of brainwashing center detention. She passed away on January 1, 2023, six days after she was taken back home by her family.
Select Persecution Case
Ms. Zhou Xiuhua, a 73-year-old woman in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was arrested at home on July 15, 2020 and released on a one-year bail on the same day. She was tried in a virtual hearing by the Hanyang District Court on December 22, 2021. The judge sentenced her to six years with a 7,000-yuan fine the next day. She appealed with the Wuhan City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original verdict on March 14, 2022.
Crimes Committed as Director of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau (2017 to 2021)
From May to December 2017, the Wuhan police arrested at least 138 practitioners and harassed 53. Among them, 27 were put in brainwashing centers, 57 were held in detention facilities, and 8 were sentenced to prison.
In 2018, the Wuhan police arrested at least 108 practitioners and harassed 52. At least 16 were held in brainwashing centers and 48 in detention centers, while 30 were tried, sentenced, and incarcerated.
In 2019, the Wuhan police ramped up their efforts during the Military World Games. At least 144 practitioners were arrested and 92 harassed. At least 30 were held in brainwashing centers and 59 in detention centers. Four practitioners died as a result of the persecution.
A mass arrest of at least 40 practitioners took place on September 23, 2019, shortly before the CCP’s 70th National Day on October 1, and the 7th Military World Games held between October 18-27 in Wuhan.
Several months before the mass arrest, officers from the Duoluokou Market Police Station in Dongxihu District had compiled footage of Falun Gong practitioners recorded on surveillance cameras talking to people or passing out information about Falun Gong in or near Duoluokou Market. The police printed out the practitioners’ photos and taped each of the photos onto a large bag, which was then used to store items confiscated from each of the arrested practitioners.
Entering 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in Wuhan. While the city was locked down for 76 days, the authorities in Wuhan didn’t stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. In 2020, at least 50 practitioners were arrested and 56 harassed. At least six were held in brainwashing centers and 26 in detention centers. Two practitioners died as a result of the persecution. When they ransacked Mr. Zhao Xiqing’s home in July 2020, the police confiscated 250,000 yuan in cash.
In 2021, the Wuhan police carried out the “Zero out” campaign in an attempt to force all practitioners on the government’s blacklist to give up their belief. At least 160 practitioners were arrested and 136 harassed. At least 92 were held in brainwashing centers and 47 in detention centers. Sixteen were sentenced to prison. One practitioner died due to the persecution.
Select Death Cases
Ms. Wan Dajiu in the Hanyang District in Wuhan was released on April 12, 2019, after serving four years for practicing Falun Gong. She was arrested again less than a month later, on May 6, 2019, and taken to the Yusun Mountain Brainwashing Center in the Hanyang District. She became unconscious and couldn’t take care of herself when she was released months later. She passed away in October 2019. Her family suspects that the authorities had drugged her.
Ms. Wei Youxiu in the Qiaokou District in Wuhan was arrested in Zhongshan Park after she ran into a plainclothes officer on June 2, 2018. The police held her in Wuhan No 1. Detention Center for over a year. Someone saw her in the detention center and said she was emaciated and couldn’t walk on her own.
The authorities informed Ms. Wei’s family on August 15, 2020, that she had died of leukemia. Her family challenged the authorities, wondering how, since she was perfectly healthy when she was arrested, could she develop leukemia and die in such a short time?
Select Persecution Cases
Mr. Zhou Guoqiang, a former employee of Industrial and Commercial Bank from Chibi City, Hubei Province, was arrested at around 5 p.m. on December 26, 2018, while working in Wuhan in the same province. The police confiscated 80,000 yuan from him while ransacking his home.
Mr. Zhou, in his 50s, was first taken to the Yujiatou Police Station. The police restrained him in a metal chair, interrogated him, and beat him. Then they took him to the hospital for a comprehensive physical. His eyes, heart, kidneys, liver, and lungs were examined. The nurse also took several hundred milliliters of his blood, much more than for a regular physical. She also collected a sample of his bone marrow.
Seven Wuhan residents, including Ms. Zhou Yuying, 83, Ms. Liang, 76, Ms. Liu Yunli, 71, Mr. Xu Nanshan, 70, Ms. Tang Lihua, 66, Ms. Yu Shifang, 57, and Ms. Tong Li, around 43, were studying Falun Gong teachings at Ms. Zhou’s home on March 11, 2021, when a police officer suddenly broke in after cutting through Ms. Zhou’s window security bars.
The officer opened the door and let in other officers. The police arrested all of the practitioners present and took them to the police station. The practitioners were interrogated and had their photos, blood samples, fingerprints, and footprints taken. Ms. Zhou and Ms. Liu were taken to the Wuchang District Brainwashing Center.
Ms. Wang Qihua, 66, was arrested and taken to Yusunshan brainwashing center on July 13, 2017. She was transferred to Wuhan No. 1 Detention Center a few days later. She was sentenced to eight years in prison by Xinzhou District Court on May 2, 2018.
Mr. Xu Jianxin was arrested on the afternoon of May 13, 2018, and his home was ransacked. When his family members went to visit him the next morning, they found that Mr. Xu had been severely beaten; his body was covered in injuries and many of his teeth had been knocked out.
Mr. Wu Yuanchou, 82, was tried by Wuchang District Court on November 19, 2019, and sentenced to three years in prison on November 26 the same year, with a fine of 3,000 yuan.
Ms. Li Yuzhen, 72, was arrested at home on June 6, 2021, and taken to the Wangjiahe Brainwashing Center. The guards forced her to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and ordered her to write statements to renounce Falun Gong. She refused to comply and held a hunger strike to protest. The guards took turns watching her and didn’t let her sleep for four days. She was also forced to stand at times. On the fifth day, the guards force-fed her. She was in great pain and appeared to be near death.
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