Name: Cao Dong (曹东)
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Formerly employed at a travel company in
Beijing
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 21, 2006
Most Recent Place of Detention: Tianshui Prison (天水监狱)
City: Tianshui
Province: Gansu
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, torture, detention,
sleep deprivation, beatings, solitary confinement, denial of family
visits
(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Cao Dong of Beijing has been illegally imprisoned for five years and is still in Tianshui Prison in Gansu Province.
Mr. Cao graduated from the Beijing Foreign Languages University where he majored in French. After his wife, Ms. Yang Xiaojin, was detained and persecuted for practicing Falun Gong, Mr. Cao met with Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott, a European parliamentarian, who was visiting China on May 21, 2006. Mr. Cao informed McMillan-Scott about the severe persecution inflicted on his wife and other practitioners in China. Two hours after the meeting, Mr. Cao was arrested by officers from the Public Security Bureau. He was taken to Gansu Province three months later, where he was illegally sentenced to five years in prison. More information on his case can be found at:
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2009/2/7/104607.html
The judgement stated “On May 21, 2006, Cao Dong was taken into custody by Beijing City National security Bureau. On September 29, 2006, Qingyang City People's Procuratorate authorized the arrest.” The judgement also stated, “The prison term is calculated from the date of pronouncing the verdict, and the total term should be reduced by the time spent in detention prior to the judgement, namely May 21, 2006, to September 29, 2006.”
Mr. Cao was arrested on May 21, 2006, however, his prison term didn't officially begin until September 29. After his family read the verdict, they rushed to Qingyang City Xifeng District Court to see if Cao Dong would be released earlier because of the time he was held in custody before a sentence was pronounced. Zheng Yani, the case officer for Mr. Cao, gave his family a copy of the so-called criminal verdict, in which “taken into custody” had been changed to “residential surveillance” from May 22, 2006. His family asked, “Is residential surveillance counted as serving prison time?” Zheng Yani called the officer in charge of Cao Dong's case at Qingyang Security Bureau. Mr. Zheng said, “The time that he (was detained) in the hotel will not be taken off the prison term.” His family wanted to ask for the name of the hotel, but the the phone call was suddenly terminated.
On May 23 Mr. Cao's family went to see Pan Xinsheng, a department head at Gansu Province Prison Administrative Bureau. After Pan read the verdict handed down by the Xifeng District Court in Qingyang City, he said, “Xifeng District Court has no authority to write this verdict, only the second trial Intermediate Court has such authority. In regard to the section on residential surveillance in Beijing, it should be carried out by the Xifeng Court. Xifeng Court has not followed the correct procedure. You may consult the Gansu Province High Court of Justice and Gansu Province High Procuratorate.” His family then went to the appeals office of Gansu Province High Court, but no one there would talk to them.
His family went to Tianshui Prison on May 24, met with Cao Dong, and asked him where he had been detained during that period of time. He told them that he was arrested by officers from section 2 of Beijing City Security Bureau and detained in a two-story building in front of the Beijing Security Bureau Detention Center, which has living quarters on the first floor and an interrogation room on the second.
During the first month Mr. Cao Dong was in detention (May 21 to June 28, 2006), Chen Shoushui, Hu Songtao, and others from section 2 of the Beijing Security Bureau ransacked his home twice without informing him or his family. Also, they handcuffed him to a chair for over 10 hours every day. He was handcuffed to the chair for over 130 hours, out of 144, in one stretch of six days and five nights. Also, he was deprived of sleep. Seven people took turns threatening, intimidating, and insulting him non-stop. His left eye was injured, he experienced hallucinations, and he vomited blood and had a massive amount of blood in his stool. His condition was deemed critical, and he was hospitalized three times.
The procedure “taken into custody” mentioned in the written verdict means that the detainee should be released within 24 hours. However, Cao Dong was held in the Beijing City Security Bureau and Gansu Province Security Bureau Detention Center for four months in 2006. His personal freedom was completely curtailed. The police cited “residential surveillance” to cover their illegal extended detention of Mr. Cao. Even so, this time was not counted as time served when his prison term was calculated.
As an added cruelty, after they secretly transferred him to the Beijing Chaoyang District Legal System Training Center in July 2006, police officers from section 2 flew to Qingyang to see his parents. They took advantage of their love for their son, deceived them, and intimidated them into pressuring him. They videotaped the parents, knowing that his father had alreadly had a cerebral hemorrhage and should not be agitated. They repeatedly upset him and even asked him to recall Cao Dong's childhood while they filmed him.
All of the turmoil and pressure caused the couple to cry their hearts out. One crying scene was made into a still photo and enlarged. The events were included in a VCD called, “Journey of Qingyang.” It showed Cao Dong in Beijing and how his parents were trapped and forced to write a letter that said if he did not cooperate with section 2 officers, they would go to Beijing and die in front of him.
Contact information:
Pan Xinsheng, Gansu Province Prison Administrative Bureau:
13893345113
Guo Guangwu, Presiding judge of Xifeng District Court, Qingyang
City
Zheng Yani, case officer
Phone number of officer in Qingyang City Security Bureau, Gansu
Province who arrested Cao Dong: 13260340197
Qingyang City Xifeng District Police Station: 0934-8213352,
8213354
Qingyang City Xifeng District Court: 0934-8612184
Tianshui Prison area code: 0938
Wei Xinggang, warden
