(Minghui.org)Yang Xingfu, a deputy division-level military officer in the Nanjing Military Region, was persecuted repeatedly for remaining steadfast in his belief in Falun Dafa. Recently he was sentenced to three years of forced labor by the Nanjing Military Court and incarcerated at Nanjing Region Forced Labor Camp. His story was reported on June 6, 2012, on the Minghui website. Below, in his own words, are details of the persecution Yang Xingfu has endured.
My name is Yang Xingfu and I am a senior military officer who reports to the cultural affairs division of Nanjing Military Region. In late July 1996, I was fortunate to start practicing Falun Dafa and my physical and mental health improved tremendously. After the Communist regime began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, I was arrested twice by the military division's 610 Office and sent to forced labor camps twice. I was imprisoned for a total of four years.
On July 9, 2000, I was followed by secret agents and illegally arrested while handing out brochures explaining the facts of the persecution together with a fellow practitioner. Consequently, I was demoted from Senior Colonel to Colonel, a lower rank, and expelled from the Communist Party. When I was sent to a forced labor camp, my workplace suspended my wages and all my employment benefits. In October 2002, I was forced to retire early at the age of 52 years old.
Suddenly Arrested
On July 9, 2000, at 3 p.m., I made several hundred copies of brochures which clarified the facts of the persecution and asked a relative to drop them off at a practitioner's house. Nanjing State Security agents had tapped into this practitioner's phone, and they made plans for an ambush beforehand.
At 4 p.m., they found the brochures at the practitioner's home and brought me, the practitioner, as well as the relative who dropped off the brochures to an unknown place. The agents closed the curtains in the car and we were not allowed to see outside.
Interrogated by State Security Agents
Around 5 p.m., the State Security agents drove into a courtyard, locked the iron gates and shoved me up a flight of stairs. After we entered a room, they closed the curtains and set up video cameras, then two chief interrogators and two people taking records came and sat in the room. I had never seen anything like this before and it was truly terrifying.
I only told them my name, workplace and position. They immediately reported this to Li Jisong, the deputy political commissar. Around 6 p.m., Political Commissar Yang Dehao from my previous workplace and several senior officials arrived. However the agents refused to let them see me and continued to interrogate me.
No matter how they threatened and verbally abused me, I refused to divulge anything. This went on till 2 a.m. the next morning and only then did they permit me to see the senior officials from my old workplace. The agents said to them: “He is the most stubborn person we have encountered. Take him back and teach him a lesson!”
Military Region Agents Attempt to Intimidate Me
I asked to go home but was refused. The senior officials from my workplace locked me in a room with iron windows and I was watched by two officials and two soldiers. At 8 a.m., I was transferred into another, even more secure room. The iron gates were firmly padlocked and two soldiers with guns guarded me.
Acting under orders from above, the Military Region Cultural Affairs Office blocked any information about my situation from leaking out and would not allow my family members to see me. I was cut off from the outside world.
On July 11, at 8 a.m., two soldiers took me to a meeting room. A dozen senior officials and soldiers were there and I sat in the middle of the room. Cao Boru, deputy head of the Defense Division, Song Hongxi, Security Division officer and Wang Weizhong from the military region 610 Office sat across from me. Cao asked me where I got the brochures. I emphasized that these materials contained beneficial information and they should very carefully read them for themselves. No matter what they said I refused to cooperate.
On July 12, at 9 a.m., Political Commissar Yang Dehao from my previous workplace and another senior officer brought me to another meeting room. Wang Changgui from the Political Affairs Department and Song Hongxi sat down and I started to explain the facts of the persecution to Wang. I asked him to read the brochures I had photocopied.
Initially Wang listened, but as I kept refusing to tell him what he wanted to know, he became more and more agitated. He began to rampantly swear at me. At the end, he banged his fist on the table, smashed the cups on it and stormed out of the room in anger.
On July 12, at noon, a group of 610 Office agents including Song Hongxi, led by Zhao Yongsheng, the deputy head of the Cultural Affairs Division, ransacked my house and looted Dafa books, brochures and other personal belongings. They did not produce a search warrant nor did they leave a list of the items they took.
At 2 p.m., two soldiers took me to a conference room. Liu Yongzhi from the Political Affairs Department, secretary Zhu Fuxi, Cao Boru and other officials were already seated in the room. Liu was angered by my silence and I was taken back to the room with the iron windows.
At 6 p.m., a police vehicle arrived. Cao read out the decision to detain me and slapped handcuffs on me, causing my wrists to bleed. Escorted by two soldiers, I was imprisoned at the Nanjing Military Region Detention Center in Xishanqiao Town. Later, the military region 610 Office circulated notices vilifying Dafa and Master throughout all the levels above regiments in the military region. They also fabricated charges against me and told the military region to conduct investigations into Falun Gong practitioners in the organization.
After I was detained, many friends, army officers, government officials, professors, scholars and reporters worriedly phoned my workplace, asking about me. They also testified to my innocence.
Detained in the Military Region Detention Center for 28 Days
At that time, I was the only practitioner in the military region being held in detention. On July 13, at 8 a.m., under orders from Pan Bing, military prison law enforcement captain, the soldier on duty ordered me to memorize the prison rules. I said I would not. Pan Bing then ordered the convicts in my cell to recite the rules to me. I replied: “I have not committed any crimes, therefore I shouldn't be governed by prison rules.”
Pan ordered the soldier to make me stand with my head on the ground. I strongly resisted. I was then made to stand facing the wall and again I strongly resisted. Later, the soldier ordered me not to sleep, but I ignored him. I explained the truth about Falun Gong to the soldier. Sometimes when Pan came for an inspection, the soldier helped me.
After I spent several days with them, the inmates in my cell understood the truth about the persecution of Dafa. Whenever I ran into a difficult situation, they helped me.
On the morning of July 8, Political Commissar Yang Dehao and an official came to see me at the detention center. They said that if I admitted I was wrong, I would be spared having to do forced labor. I answered: “I have not violated any laws by practicing Falun Gong nor is it wrong for me to tell people the truth about the persecution. History will bear witness to everything. Good is rewarded and evil will be met with retribution.” A week later, another high ranking official came to see me and he basically repeated what his predecessors said.
On August 2, Cao Boru brought agent Wang Weizhong from the 610 Office to interrogate me. Again they wanted me to tell them where I had photocopied the brochures. I kept silent and they reprimanded me. I did not answer any of their questions. After rebuking me, they left.
On August 6, Qu Wen, the head of the Defense Department came to interrogate me. He pretended to be amicable and after saying many kind words, he broached the subject of where the brochures were photocopied. He said, “As long as you tell me where you made copies of the brochures and show an improved attitude, you will be sent home in two days.” I told him the facts about Falun Gong, the benefits I experienced through the practice as well as the experiences of practitioners whom he knew. He had nothing to say in the face of the truth. Disappointed, he finally left.
On the afternoon of August 12, Cao Boru and a dozen officials from the Political Affairs Department came to the detention center. They read the decision to sentence me to three years of forced labor and criticized me for embarrassing the Nanjing Military Region. That night, they sent the verdict to my home.
At the Forced Labor Camp
At that time, I was the only Falun Gong practitioner subjected to a forced labor term in Nanjing Military Region Forced Labor Camp. Qie Lianfang was director of the labor camp, had the rank of major and was around 35 years old. As soon as I arrived at the forced labor camp, he said to me sternly: “You must obey the rules, listen to me and your life will be very blissful, otherwise it will be very tough for you.”
I was placed in the strict management division for eight months. Because I refused to write my understandings, memorize prison rules etc, I was closely monitored by seven to eight people. I had to report everything I did to them and I had to ask their permission first for anything I did including taking a drink, spitting and so on.
Every time I went to the toilet, I was accompanied by a group of people. I was not allowed to go more than 5 meters from the head of the division, and I could not be more than 8 meters away from anyone. I was subjected to all kinds of physical punishment.
Several days later, the labor camp director made a special announcement: “The head of the strict management division has carried out his duties responsibly and made excellent achievements. Therefore his sentenced is reduced by a month.” At the end of the year, Qie Lanfang was rewarded by his superiors.
On July 12, 2002, I was released a year before my term was due. However the regime did not ease up in persecuting me. Qie Lanfang was transferred from director of the forced labor camp to the Political Affairs Department. His role was to monitor me.
Illegally Arrested a Second Time
On December 19, 2004, at night, 610 Office agent Yang Zhouchao brought several soldiers and conducted a house search of my place. They took away my computer and I was taken back to the Cultural Affairs Office for interrogation. No matter how they interrogated me, I refused to cooperate with them. In the early hours of December 20, Yang Zhouchao sent an officer and a soldier to monitor me. That night, it was snowing heavily outside and I sat in the conference room the whole night.
On December 20, at 5 p.m., I was allowed to go home after I strongly demanded to be released. However, I was ordered not to leave Nanjing City. 610 Office agents began to follow me and monitor my movements. I finally got my computer back on New Year's Eve, 2005.
The Persecution I Was Subjected to at the Zhenjiang Brainwashing Center
On January 4, 2005, Zong Guiming, head of Cultural Affairs Office and several soldiers arrested me and took me to a brainwashing center in Zhenjiang.
On January 20, at 2 p.m., Wang Weizhong from the military region 610 Office, a deputy chief judge of the military court and a deputy head of the military procuratorate came to Zhenjiang. They tried to pressure me to give up practicing Falun Gong but I remained silent despite how severely Wang shouted at and abused me.
On the afternoon of January 22, Wang Xibing brought people to my room and installed iron windows and doors. He also sent two more soldiers to guard the place.
On the 23rd, at 2 p.m., deputy head of military region defense department Zhang Bing led director Wang from the military 610 Office and a procuratorate officer from the General Political Department's Procuratorate to interrogate me. Wang Weizhong made notes while Zhang Bing and Yang Zhouchao waited in the corner of the room. The others were not allowed to be present.
I kept silent as usual. Wang Weizhong attacked me and used foul language. Next, Zhang Bing began to humiliate, abuse and curse at me. This abuse went on until past 4 p.m. and then they returned to Nanjing. The entire time I was mistreated, I never said a word.
On January 28, at 1 p.m., Wang Xibing said he would take me back to Nanjing. He drove to Nanjing, but did not enter the city. Instead he took me to the military region forced labor camp where I had been imprisoned two and a half years earlier.
(To be continued)