(Minghui.org) A police sweep netted more than a dozen Qiqihar residents over the course of three days in late March 2017. These locals were targeted because they refuse to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
According to insiders, the mass arrest was a coordinated action by Jianshenlu Police Station, Longhualu Police Station, Zhengyang Police Station, Wenhualuu Police Station, and Jianhua Police Department.
At the time of writing, 14 of the arrested Falun Gong practitioners remain in detention. They include Mr. Wang Yudong and his wife, Ms. Zhu Xiumin; Mr. Tian Yong and his wife, Ms. Wang Aihua; Mr. Zhang Shimin and his wife, Ms. Song Yumin; Ms. Wang Yan; Ms. Liu Mingying; a male with a nickname Zhuzi; Ms. Zhang Yanhua; a male surnamed Zhao; Ms. Gao Fuping; Ms. Liu Huijie; and Mr. Li Shunjiang.
Many of the practitioners still in detention have been subjected to various forms of torture. Ms. Wang Aihua, Ms. Zhang Yanhua, and Ms. Liu Huijie are on a hunger strike to protest their unlawful detention. Mr. Wang Yudong has instructed his lawyer to file a complaint against the police for false imprisonment and interrogation with torture.
Husbands Admit to “Alleged Crimes” When Police Threaten to Beat Their Wives
Mr. Li Shunjiang and his wife were arrested on March 20, 2017 and taken to the same police station. Mr. Li gave a confession after being tortured to the point of being unable to bear any more pain. He initially refused to sign the interrogation record but relented when the police threatened to beat his wife the same way. The police, though, proceeded to give his wife a savage beating anyway.
Another couple, Mr. Wang Yudong and his wife, Ms. Zhu Xiumin, was subjected to a similar experience. They were seized by police while walking on a street on March 21, 2017.
The police searched Mr. Wang’s bag and found a thumb drive containing Falun Gong information. They alleged that he got it from some other local Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Wang said he found it on the ground and simply picked it up.
Mr. Wang was moved to a different interrogation chamber the next night, where the police sat him down in a chair with his hands cuffed behind his back. They next put a plastic bag over his head and tightened it up. To make him suffer more, they blew a few puffs of cigarette smoke into the bag. They also poked his spine, all the while yanking his handcuffs upward.
Mr. Wang maintained that no one had passed the thumb drive to him. One officer slapped him on the face with a shoe.
When nothing seemed to work, the police resorted to another trick, “We’ll open the door to let you hear your wife’s screams!” His wife was being interrogated next door, and he heard the sound of her being beaten.
Officers then threatened to move his wife to the same room and beat her right in front of him.
Mr. Wang didn’t want his wife to suffer, so he said that he owned the thumb drive.
When the police later interrogated Mr. Wang again, he recanted his confession and made it clear he picked up the thumb drive from the ground.
He also instructed his lawyer to file a complaint against the police for dereliction of duty, as they violated legal procedures in their arrest and interrogation of him and his wife.
Other Practitioners Also Abused
Other arrested practitioners have also been subjected to various forms of torture since their arrest.
The police once covered Mr. Tian Feng’s face with a towel and struck his face savagely.
Ms. Wang Yan had her hands cuffed behind her back for long periods of time. Unable to bear the pain, she signed a statement prepared by the police, admitting to her alleged “crime.”
Ms. Wang Aihua’s face was hit so hard that it has become extremely swollen and she has trouble opening her eyes.
Related Article in Chinese:被酷刑折磨-齐齐哈尔王宇东委托律师控告恶人
