Former Naval Officer Tortured; Family Suffers Hardship

August 04, 2015 | By a Minghui correspondent from Shandong Province, China

(Minghui.org) “A police officer pulled one of my arms from above to my back and another from below and cuffed my hands behind my back. This torture, known as diagonal handcuffing behind the back, was meant to break my belief in Falun Gong.” Mr. Yang Yujun, a former Chinese naval officer recounted about the torture he experienced after his arrest in October 2001.

He continued to describe the torture he suffered and how hard he tried not to pass out because of the pain. Because of swelling, the handcuffs cut into his wrist.

Whenever the officers felt that he was about to pass out, they opened the handcuffs, which were difficult to unlock because of the swelling. But, the minute they felt that he had recovered, they locked the handcuffs again. This was done over and over again for 24 hours.

When they stopped the torture, the upper half of his body was numb. His legs were terribly bruised because police also beat him with rubber batons. Even after one year, he had only limited use of his arms.

Forced to Retire from the Navy and Deprived of Retirement Benefits

Mr. Yang was a deputy battalion commander of the Chinese Navy before he was forced to retire from his post in 2000 because he practiced Falun Gong.

He was hired by the Electric Power Cooperation of Laizhou City, Shandong Province, but was arrested before he began work. He was deprived of his apartment and the benefits he should have received as a retired naval officer.

Imprisonment, Forced Labor and Brainwashing Over 14 Years

Police officers from the Laizhou 610 Office and Political Security Division ransacked Mr. Yang’s home in the north district of Laizhou City in November 2000. They arrested him and confiscated his computer.

He was detained in the local police station for more than 72 hours. His family was forced to pay 10,000 yuan for his release. However, the police returned 8,300 yuan to him one year later.

He was taken to a brainwashing center by police officers in Laizhou city in April 2001, where he was held for 20 days.

Police officers from the Laizhou Domestic Security Division and 610 Office arrested him in October 2001. Eight officers, including Gu Liping (former deputy chief of the Laizhou Police Department) and Liu Jingbing (an officer of the Laizhou 610 Office) interrogated and tortured him for 24 hours in the police department. Then, he was transferred to the Laizhou Detention Center, where he was held for eight months.

He was sentenced to three years in prison on March 19, 2002 and taken to the Weibei Prison in Shandong Province in May 2002. He was forced to work long hours and mistreated, which included exposure to the scorching sun.

He was reported and arrested when he was doing the Falun Gong exercises in late 2011. He was forced to attend brainwashing classes during the 14 days of detention.

For talking about the persecution of Falun Gong during a business trip in Quanzhou, Fujian Province in March 2012 he was reported to police. He was detained for 14 days in the Nan’an City Detention Center of Fujian Province.

He was then sentenced to 18 months of forced labor in the Fuzhou Forced Labor Camp. They tortured him with different torture methods, such as standing for a long time and sleep deprivation.

Throughout his detentions, his family experienced great hardship.

“I tell my story not out of revenge but with the hope that the persecution of Falun Gong will come to an end,” he said. “I bear no grudge against those who persecuted me. It is my wish that they hear the facts about Falun Gong and bear them well.

Chinese version available

Category: Accounts of Persecution

Taiwan: Picture Exhibition Exposes Organ Harvesting Atrocities in Mainland China

August 03, 2015 | By Sun Bai and Su Rong in Taiwan

(Minghui.org) A series of picture exhibitions in Kaohsiung, Taiwan is raising awareness about the state-sanctioned organ harvesting atrocities in China. Beginning in April 2015, the exhibitions have shown at various locations throughout Kaohsiung, including the historic sugar factory at Qiaotou (Taiwan Sugar Museum), The Xinzuoying Train Station, Pier-2 Art Center, and National Sun Yat-sen University

The recent 2-day exhibition at the Xinzuoying Train Station in Kaohsiung City was co-hosted by the Falun Dafa Association and the Taiwanese International Organ Transplant Care Association on July 25 and 26.

Thomas Chung, organizer of a music festival at Pier-2 Art Center

Thomas Chung is one of the organizers of a music festival at the Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung. He visited the exhibition at the Xinzuoying Train Station and immediately signed the petition after he learned about the organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience in China. He also provided a free booth for the picture exhibition at the popular Pier-2 Art Center.

“I heard of the organ harvesting in China some time ago,” he said. “I thought it outrageous. How can the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) do this?”

Mr. Chung said that providing a free booth for the exhibition at Pier-2 Art Center was his way to show support, as he wants more people to learn about this atrocity.

Upon learning about the crime of removing organs from living Falun Gong practitioners and selling them to transplant patients, passersby condemned the CCP’s violation of human rights and signed the petition calling for an immediate end to the atrocity.

At the Xinzuoying Railway Station in Kaohsiung City, people sign a petition calling for an end to the mainland’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting.

Visitor response regarding the organ harvesting tends to be uniform – from shock, upset, to condemning the Communist Party.

Signing a petition to stop forced organ harvesting in China, at Pier-2 Art Center.

The Pier-2 Art Center attracts visitors from all over Taiwan. Many people who stopped at the Falun Gong informational booth said that that they were aware of the persecution of Falun Gong but few had heard about the crime of forced organ harvesting in mainland China. People were eager to sign a petition to stop the atrocity.

People sign a petition to stop forced organ harvesting in China at the Taiwan Sugar Museum.

Carefully reading display boards detailing the Chinese regime’s crimes of forced organ harvesting

The Taiwan Sugar Museum, a historical sugar factory in Qiaotou, Kaohsiung, draws many visitors, especially on holidays and weekends.

A family of four said that they were Chinese government officials on an unguided tour of Taiwan. The mother read each display board closely and said that she had not heard about the organ harvesting issue before coming to Taiwan. She asked if she could do something to help those being persecuted. She signed the petition and asked her family to sign too.

A Taiwanese woman and her daughter viewed the exhibition at the sugar museum. The woman said that her mother-in-law was planning a trip to China for an organ transplant. After seeing the exhibition, she said that she would discourage her mother-in-law from going to China because it would result in the murder of an innocent person.

Passersby Eager to Sign Petition

Several college students visited the information booth. One commented, “Only Nazis and the Communist Party would do such terrible things.”

After they signed the petition, one young man said that he wanted to learn more about the organ harvesting issue so he could give the information to his parents who are doing business in China.

Dr. Huang from Hong Kong said that the world should pay attention to the organ harvesting issue, and should try to stop it.

Chinese version available

Category: Other Community Events

220 Falun Gong Practitioners from Guangzhou Sue Jiang Zemin for Torture, Extortion

August 04, 2015 | By a Minghui correspondent in China

(Minghui.org) A total of 220 Falun Gong practitioners from Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province have filed criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin as of July 16, 2015, according to reports compiled by the Minghui website.

The practitioners charge the former Chinese dictator with initiating the brutal suppression of Falun Gong and hold him responsible for the tremendous suffering inflicted upon them by his campaign. The criminal complaints were mailed to the Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

Between late May and July 30, 2015, over 120,000 Falun Gong practitioners across China have joined the wave of taking legal action to bring Jiang to justice.

Many of these practitioners recounted how Falun Gong returned them to health and gave them a new outlook on life. Their dreams to live a healthier and happier life, however, were shattered when Jiang Zemin launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate the practice in 1999.

Under Jiang’s directives to “ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically,” these practitioners were arrested, detained, imprisoned, and tortured. Some almost died as a result of torture. Some lost their jobs or were forced to pay huge fines.

Many families were torn apart. Some practitioners saw their loved ones sentenced to heavy terms or even tortured to death, simply because they refused to give up their beliefs.

Family Members Tortured to Death

Mr. Wu Zhijun was a medical school professor. Many of his family members practice Falun Gong. Both his mother and aunt died as a result of the persecution. His brother was sentenced to three years of forced labor, and his sister-in-law was sentenced to ten years in prison. Mr. Wu was sentenced to 8 years himself in 2002.

His mother, Ms. Wu Yuxian, was sentenced to seven years in 2002. She was tortured to death at Nanning Women’s Prison in Guangxi Province on February 9, 2006.

His aunt, Ms. Wu Yuyun, a schoolteacher, was repeatedly detained in brainwashing centers. She died in September 2004.

Another practitioner who lost his parents was Mr. Zhong Jiawen, a railroad engineer.

Mr. Zhong’s father was arrested in January 2001 for distributing flyers about the persecution. While he was detained at Hengyang County Detention Center, he was tortured to critical condition. He was taken to the hospital for emergency care. When he was near death, the authorities released him, but not before extorting 2,000 yuan from his family when they picked him up at the hospital.

After he returned home, he was in a coma most of the time. He died on May 2, 2002.

Under tremendous stress from the persecution, Mr. Zhong’s mother passed away in December 2004.

Torture, Beatings by Police

When 33-year-old Ms. Li Minwei was released from Guangzhou Chatou Women’s Forced Labor Camp in November 2001 after being tortured for 20 months. Her hair turned completely gray.

“They hung me up, with my feet barely touching the ground. They didn’t let me down until midnight. At 7 a.m. the next morning, they hung me up again. They did this for several weeks. They also tied me on a “death bed” in a spread eagle position for two weeks, without releasing me,” Ms. Li recalled.

“The detention center head threatened me, saying that if I didn’t write statements to renounce Falun Gong, they would send me to a labor camp, and that if I died, they would report that I had committed suicide.”

Another practitioner, Ms. Lian Xinqun, recalled a torture widely used at Guangzhou’s Tianhe District Detention Center–”shackled through a needle.”

In this form of torture, shackled practitioners are chained to a fixed metal ring on the floor. Their hands are placed on the sides of their legs, with handcuffed under their legs. Everyone is bent over at a sharp angle.

Torture illustration: Shackled through a needle

“This torture really injured me. My body swelled. My ear bled, and I lost my hearing. My right kidney hurt terribly. I also developed high blood pressure. The detention center released me on medical parole,” Ms. Lian wrote in her complaint.

Mr. Zhong Jiawen, 61, recounted how the police interrogated him using violence.

“Four officers beat me and kicked me to the ground. The head of the Domestic Security Division grabbed a metal rod and hit me on my legs, back, and buttocks. I had bruises all over. A few days later, seeing that I still refused to give them the information they wanted, an officer kicked me in the ribs with his boots. I passed out.”

Mr. Wu Zhijun described the intense mental suffering he endured while he was detained at Guilin Prison in Guangxi Province: “In that extremely tiny cell, I was watched by inmates 24 hours a day. I wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone or do anything by myself. They even watched me when I used the restroom. Everything I did was reported to the guards. It was suffocating. I was on the verge of a mental breakdown.”

Financial Persecution and Extortion

Ms. Zhou Xuexia was an awarding-winning history teacher at Baiyun Normal University in Guangzhou. Because she refused to give up practicing Falun Gong, she was fired from her job and lost her income. She was held in detention centers, brainwashing centers, and forced labor camps. She was once forced to leave home to avoid being arrested.

Mr. Wu Zhijun mentioned that when he and his mother were arrested in 2002, staff from the Domestic Security Division extorted more than 40,000 yuan from them.

In addition to extortion, some practitioners also charged Jiang with the ransacking of their homes.

“Agents from the 610 Office broke into my home on September 23, 2007 and seized two computers, three printers, and other personal belongings. They never returned the items to me,” said Ms. Wei Peiling.

Background

In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the Chinese Communist Party, overrode other Politburo standing committee members and launched the violent suppression of Falun Gong.

The persecution has led to the deaths of many Falun Gong practitioners during the past 16 years. More have been tortured for their belief and even killed for their organs. Jiang Zemin is directly responsible for the inception and continuation of the brutal persecution.

Under his personal direction, the Chinese Communist Party established an extralegal security organ, the 610 Office, on June 10, 1999. The organization overrides police forces and the judicial system in carrying out Jiang’s directive regarding Falun Gong: to ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically.

Chinese law allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are now exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.

Chinese version available

Category: Prosecuting Jiang Zemin