In July 2000 the Public Security Bureau of Bayan County, Heilongjiang Province delivered false evidence against 20 to 30 jailed practitioners, thus consigning them to long sentences at forced labor.
The Bureau handed down the decision that sentenced nine practitioners to one year of forced labor in early August. In its decision, the Bureau recommended that the practitioners should receive three-year forced labor terms. The 9 practitioners are: Sun Maojian (Teacher at the Bayan Teachers Training School of Bayan County), Gao Fuzhi (Driver), Jiang Zhi (Farmer), Zhang Qingwu (Small Business Owner), Zhang Jinbao (Farmer), Zhang Xiuru (unemployed), Gao Shuxia (Teacher at the Bayan County Workers Training Center), Fei Menglin (Teacher at the Bayan No.3 Middle School), Liu Shuhua (Farmer). Eight of them were sent away, excepting only Fei Menglin, who was paroled waiting for trial due to her feeble health.
The first practitioners who were sent to the labor camp were all female. Zhang Xiuru, Gao Shuxia and Liu Shuhua were sent to the camp at Wanjia Village, a suburb of Harbin three days after they received the notification. The Bureau planned to send all of them away the second day after the notification was handed down, but the plan was not accomplished because there were other practitioners they were going to be delivered to the camp, and the Bureau did not have enough vehicles. A few days later, the rest of the five male practitioners were transported to the labor camp at Yimian Po, city of Shangzhi.
What is particular about the case is that it was implemented in secrecy and neither family members or work units were notified. After the practitioners' families found out what had been done, they went to the Bureau for an explanation. The police, however, did not respond.
Sun Maojian's case presents a good example of the fabricated evidence used against the practitioners in order to justify sentencing them to forced labor. A person within the Bureau disclosed that the report recommending Sun's forced labor was based primarily on two incidents. First, the report stated that Sun went to Beijing to protect the Fa right before the Spring Festival, where he led 200 practitioners into the Tiananmen Square on the lunar new year's eve. Second, that he led another 200 practitioners on May 8, 2000 to the Bayan People's Square to do the exercise, thus blocking traffic and disturbing public order. The fact is that Sun did go to Beijing, but he was arrested alone outside of the Tiananmen Square that same night. He did go to go the People's Square to do the exercise on the 8th of May, but he was arrested when he was practicing alone at the Square on the 9th of May. The report substantially distorted the facts to justify sending him away for forced labor for one year.
By a Person with Information
November 30, 2000
Attachment:
Facts Regarding the Arrest and Torture of Practitioners in Bayan County, Heilongjiang Province due to Practice at County Square, and Appeal at the County Government.
At four or five o'clock on the morning of May 8, 2000, more than 20 practitioners from Bayan County decided to practice the exercises in Bayan County People's Square. Later that day, the Bayan Communist Party Committee and County government held an emergency meeting, claiming that there were 200 practitioners on the street near the Square blocking traffic and disturbing public order. The county officials ordered the county police bureau to deploy the entire police force to arrest practitioners early on the morning of May 9th. The police arrested only 10 people. Sun Maojian, Sun Aihua and Li Qiuhua were among them, but they practiced in the Square and never blocked traffic or disturbed public order. Police arrested another six people who were standing on the sidewalks near the Square. The nine people were taken to the police bureau immediately. Practitioner Zhang Tao was also detained when he went to the Bureau to find his mother. (His mother, whose last name is Sun, is also a practitioner.) Additionally, practitioner Sun Xue did not go to the Square on May 8th, and the police from the Third Branch Office went to his home on 9th, and tricked him into going to the prison. Once he was in the prison, he was detained. The above 11 people were detained for disturbing public order. 15 days later, prison officials released 8 of them except Sun Maojian, Su Xue and Sun Aihua, whom the police believed to be the organizers.
On June 19, 2000, 40 to 50 practitioners from Bayan County voluntarily went to the county government to inquire about the condition of the three imprisoned practitioners. The practitioners stood in good order on the steps of the entrance to the county government building. Four practitioners, Cheng Guilan, Liu Zhipeng, and Bai Jinchang were received by the Office for Citizen Complaint, but the officer said that the matter was to be dealt with by County 610 Office, not by their office. There was no one in the 610 Office. At this point, the four practitioners addressed Ma Danri, Deputy Secretary-General of the County Communist Party Committee, who is in charge of all Falun Gong issues. Ma indicated that the three practitioners would be released, but not at that time. Ma also rejected the request by the four practitioners to be allowed to practice Falun Gong in the morning at the Square. At this time, the county government officials ordered the police to take all the practitioners, including the four in Ma's office, to the conference room on the third floor. In the conference room, police physically and verbally abused He Miao, Pan Dajun, Li Chunmei, Sun Guofeng, and others. They asked who had organized this complaint to the county government, and the practitioners told them that there was no organizer. The police then claimed that the four practitioners in Ma's office were the organizers and took them to prison.
Person with information
November 30, 2000
