(Clearwisdom.net) Seven Falun Gong practitioners in the Nancha District, Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province have been in custody for nearly eight months. Nancha District Court officials had initially planned to try them on June 8, but decided at the last minute to postpone it. Two of the practitioners' families hired lawyers to defend them.
On October 26, 2009, agents from the 610 Office, the police department and various police stations in the Nancha District launched a mass arrest of local practitioners. Within a few days they apprehended 12 practitioners: Man Xiaomin, Zhao Shuge, Zhang Yaxian, He Miao, Zhang Haiyan, Zhang Yulan, Zhang Xiujuan, Li Fenglan, An Yongchen, Wang Xiang, Wang Baotai and Hou Zhijun. Of these practitioners, Zhang Haiyan and Zhang Yulan are currently held in the Harbin City Drug Rehabilitation Center, each serving a two-year term of forced labor. He Miao, Zhang Xiujuan and Wang Baotai have been released. The other seven face an illegal trial.
Ms. Zhang Yulan, 52, is a well-regarded English teacher at the Nancha Railroad Middle School. After her arrest her students went to see the principal and strongly requested her return to the classroom.
Ms. Zhang had previously been arrested and sent to forced labor in 2001 when she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Police officers still came to harass her following her release every time there was a so-called sensitive date. They even set up a surveillance post at the entrance to the school where she taught to monitor her.
Six to seven agents from the Nancha District Police Department Security Section, from the 610 Office and from the Jianguo Police Station arrived at Zhang Yulan's home at 5 a.m. on October 27, 2009. Ms. Zhang refused to be taken away and shouted "Falun Dafa is good" in the hallway of her apartment building. In response, the police beat her badly and grabbed her hair to force her into a police car. They also ransacked her home and seized some Falun Gong books and DVDs. Ms. Zhang is now serving a two-year forced labor term at the Harbin City Drug Rehabilitation Center.
Ms. Man Xiaomin, 54, is a retired employee from the Wutong Brick Factory. She was once arrested on a train for reading a Dafa book. The police held her in the Jiamusi Railroad Detention Center for 17 days and didn't release her until her family and friends paid more than 3,000 yuan to "straighten things out." Several agents from the Nancha District Police Department Security Section, 610 Office and Lianhe Police Station arrested her on October 27, 2009. They confiscated her Dafa books and truth-clarification DVDs. The 700 yuan in cash she hid in a sock was also found and taken away.
Ms. Li Fenglan, 58, is also a retired worker. Agents from Minzhu Police Station ransacked her home at 6 a.m. on October 27, 2009. They confiscated her Falun Gong books and Falun Gong informational materials. Li Fenglan is now held in the Nancha Detention Center, awaiting trial.
Mr. Hou Zhijun is a handicapped person who had polio when he was a young child and now walks on crutches. Nancha District Police Department agents, those from the 610 Office and from the Dongsheng Police Station arrested him in April 2002 and later sentenced him to prison. Due to his disability, however, Xianglan Prison officials twice refused to accept him. The police had no choice but to take him back to the Nancha Detention Center where they imprisoned him for one year and nine months. Nancha District Police Department Security Section agents and those from the 610 Office and from the Dongsheng Police Station arrested him again at 5 a.m. on October 27, 2009. They ransacked his home, all the while taping the whole process. Mr. Hou is now held in the Nancha Detention Center, awaiting trial.
Ms. Zhao Shuge and Ms. Zhang Haiyan are mother and daughter. When mother Zhao Shuge was arrested in 2002 a policeman hit her toes with a chair. Agents from the Nancha Railroad Police Station arrested daughter Zhang Haiyan in 2007 as she was distributing Falun Gong information on a train station platform. They first held her in the Jiamusi Railroad Police Office and later sent her to Jiamusi Labor Camp, to serve a one-year term. The night of November 2, 2009, two agents from the Nancha District 610 Office (one of them named Lian Sheng) and two officers from the Dongsheng Police Station (one of them surnamed Wu) arrived at Zhao Shuge's home. They kicked her door and shouted non-stop for more than 20 minutes. Zhao's family had no choice but to open the door. The four men turned the home upside down before taking mother and daughter away. Zhao Shuge is now being held in the Nancha Detention Center, and Zhang Haiyan was given a two-year forced labor term in the Harbin City Drug Rehabilitation Center.
Dongshan Police Station agents arrested Ms. Zhang Yaxian and her husband Mr. An Yongchen and ransacked their home at 5 a.m. on October 27, 2009. Zhang Yaxian is currently in the Nancha Detention Center, awaiting trial.
Agents from the Jianguo Police Station arrested He Miao, a 28-year-old employee of the Nancha Tax Bureau on October 27, 2009 and ransacked his home.
Agents from the Dongsheng Police Station arrested Mr. Wang Baotai on November 4, 2009, after deceiving him into opening the door by forcing one of his neighbors to accompany them. They took him away after ransacking his home. His wife was so frightened that her mental illness relapsed.
Ms. Zhang Xiujuan is a farmer in Shashan Village, Nancha District. Also arrested last October, she has now been released.
Those taking part in the persecution:
Nancha District Court
Head Chi Yulong: 86-458-3476258
Deputy Head Du Hongshun
Deputy Head Guan Ying: 86-458-3476256
Deputy Head Liang Yanjie: 86-458-3476248
Nancha District Police Department
Chief Zhang Xijun: 86-13704855677
Deputy Chief Sun Zhaosheng: 86-13804850206
Li Xuemin: 86-13704855566
Lianhe Police Station: 0458-3476214
Jianguo Police Station: 86-458-3476204
Dongsheng Police Station: 86-458-3476261
Nancha Police Station Chief Jiang Yulin: 86-13845854417
