Investigative Report on the Persecution of Falun Gong by Wang Zhihua

Former Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Weifang City, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal CCP Committee

December 30, 2020

Full Name of Perpetrator: Wang (last name) Zhihua (first name) (王治华)

Gender: Male

Country: China

Date of Birth: January 1947

Place of Birth: Zhucheng, Shandong Province

Title or Position:

July 1994 – February 2003: Standing committee member of the Municipal Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Weifang City, Shandong Province

February 2003 – 2006: Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Chinese Communist Party Committee (in charge of political and legal affairs) and Secretary of the Discipline and Inspection Commission of Weifang City, Shandong Province[1]

February 2006 – Secretary of Chinese Communist Party Committee and 1st Deputy Director for the Weifang People’s Congress. Now retired.

Wang Zhihua Committed Particularly Severe Violations of Religious Freedom against Falun Gong

Since Jiang Zemin launched his persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, Weifang City has been one of the areas where the most severe persecution of have Falun Gong occurred. According to incomplete statistics, more than 100 Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted to death during Wang Zhihua’s tenure. In Weifang City alone, 47 people died as a result of persecution,[2] 579 were sent to forced labor camps and 69 were sentenced to prison. Many Falun Gong practitioners were arrested, detained, fired, suspended without pay, expelled, de-listed, blackmailed, and displaced.[3] The Political and Legal Affairs Commission is the commanding body of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. As Secretary of the Weifang Municipal CCP Political and Legal Affairs Committee and Deputy Secretary of the Municipal CCP Committee (in charge of political and legal affairs), Wang Zhihua should be held accountable for the serious crimes of persecution such as torture, death, disability, and other crimes committed against Falun Gong practitioners during his tenure. The following collections are some of the key persecution cases that occurred under his command.

Deaths as a Result of Persecution

Case 1 – Ms. Chen Zixiu

Chen Zixiu, a 59 years old female, was from Xujiaxiaozhuang, Beiguan, Weifang City. On February 16, 2000, she was kidnapped while on the street by officials from the Chengguan Street Committee. The next day, she was sent to a brainwashing center where she was across her calves, feet, and lower back beaten with plastic clubs. A cattle prod was used on her head and neck. The officers shouted at her repeatedly to give up Falun Gong, but each time, Ms. Chen refused. On the morning of February 20, she was ordered to run barefoot in the snow. Two days of torture had left her legs bruised and her hair matted with pus and blood. She crawled outside, vomited and collapsed. She never regained consciousness and died at 9AM on the morning of February 21, 2000.[4]

Case 2 – Ms. Yang Guizhen

Yang Guizhen was a female in her forties who lived in Taojialing Village, Chengguan Town, Zhucheng City. In September 2000, she was detained in the Zhucheng City Detention Center after being arrested for distributing Falun Gong truth-clarifying literature. Because she refused to sign her name while being interrogated, the detention center police incited the criminal inmates to beat her up before handcuffing her to a metal chair and torturing her for four days. On October 17, she died from the torture she endured.[5]

Case 3 – Mr. Xuan Chenxi

Xuan Chengxi, a 61 years old man was a resident of Xia Zhuang, North Guandong in Weicheng District. On the afternoon of October 11, 2000, he was kidnapped and sent to the Yuhe Town government in Weicheng District. Because he refused to answer questions about where he obtained Falun Gong materials, he was detained and tortured to death by Yong Yongsheng (Secretary of the CCP Political and Legal Affairs Committee of Yuhe Town), Chen Yonghua (Director of the Town General Office), Chen Longshan, and the chief of the local militia.[6]

Case 4 – Ms. Wang Aijuan

Wang Aijuan, female, 43 years old, was an employee of Weifang Cotton Mill. On the evening of April 3, 2001, Wang Aijuan was kidnapped by the police will she was handing out Falun Gong materials in Qingchi Town. She was beaten and two days later, sent to Fangzi Detention Center. She went on a hunger strike to protest the inhuman treatment. On April 7, 2001, police tied her to an iron chair, a torture tool, and force-fed her a kilogram of salt. After that, the police denied her water and use of a bathroom. She died on April 8, 2001.[7],[8]

Case 5 – Ms. Wu Jingxia

Wu Jingxia, female, 29 years old, was a resident in Weifang City. On the morning of January 17, 2002, she was kidnapped by the police and sent to the police station for handing out Falun Gong materials. The next day, police took her to a brainwashing class in Kuiwen District, Weifang City. At 5 pm on January 19, 2002, she died in police custody. On January 21, her family was taken to the cremation plant and saw four or five deep pits on her chest. Her back was covered in bruises, and her waist and legs were black and blue. Blood was matted all over her head and one could not see her face.[9]

Persecution by Injection of Drugs and Psychiatric Torture in Mental Hospitals

Case 1 – Mr. Yang Weidong

Yang Weidong, male, 54 years old, a discharged military officer, was arrested by police in the early morning of November 23, 1999 when he was in Beijing to appeal the persecution of Falun Gong. Police brought him back to Weifang and detained for 15 days. He was taken to the psychiatric department of the Weifang rehabilitation hospital. At that time, he suffered from liver ascites and edema of lower limbs, but he was denied treatment. It was not until he was on the verge of death that his family was allowed to take him home. He died five or six days later on the evening of December 25, 1999.[10]

Case 2 – Ms. Ma Yanfang

Ma Yanfang, female, 33 years old, was an employee of Zhucheng Ceramics Factory. On June 9, 2000, she went to work in the factory and was was detained by the factory in a small room. She asked for the return of her Falun Gong books confiscated earlier and was refused. She started a hunger strike to protest. The factory sent her to the Zhucheng Psychiatric Hospital to punish her. In the hospital, the medical staff gave injections against her will and forced her to take unknown medication. In August 2000, she passed away in Zhucheng Psychiatric Hospital.[11]

Case 3 – Mr. Gao Hongjie

Gao Hongjie, male, born in 1966, was a teacher at the Weifang College. On June 16, 2000, he was kidnapped and sent to a rehabilitation hospital (psychiatric hospital) for more than 80 days. In the second half of 2002, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Shandong No. 1 Prison.[12]

Shouguang Massacre: Li Yinping died of sexual assault and Wang Lanxiang died due to electric shocks, and several were seriously injured

Shouguang City is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Weifang City. On June 4, 2001, a large-scale arrest of Falun Gong practitioners in Shandong Province occurred. The police kidnapped 13 Falun Gong practitioners in Sunjiaji Town and took them to the Shouguang City Detention Center. Under the command of the chief of the Politics and Protection Section of the Shouguang Municipal Public Security Bureau and the director of the detention center, police beat six Falun Gong practitioners who were tied to the iron chair (a torture device) with rubber sticks and electric batons. Police broke several rubber sticks while the electric shock was applied with high voltage batons. When the victims passed out, police poured cold water over them to revive them and continued the torture. The inhumane madness lasted for four hours. Within three days, two Falun Gong practitioners died of torture and the others were severely injured.[13]

Among them, a female Falun Gong practitioner, Li Yinping, died due to sexual assault. A mob of men stripped her and applied electric shocks to her entire body including her private parts. She was beaten black and blue. When she passed out, police would pour cold water on her to revive her and then continue the torture. A Falun Gong practitioner who had been physically punished for more than ten hours in an iron chair saw with her own eyes, “It’s just too evil. The police totally stripped her and gang raped her. They jolted her private parts and breasts with electric batons. She screamed all night.”[14]

Wang Lanxiang, an elderly lady in her 60s, was also stripped by the police. According to the witnesses, “On the afternoon of June 7, police continuously shocked her using electric batons, but she still would not denounce Falun Gong. The Detention Center police lost their minds. With a large high-voltage electric baton, they sent a shock of electricity directly to her heart. After she died, Shouguang police quickly cremated her to cover up their crime.[15]

Liu Aiqin was beaten on June 4, 2001 until she was on the verge of death. The next day, police took her to the hospital for emergency treatment where she was forced to undergo skin grafting.[16]

Torture of Mr. Jiang Guobo

Jiang Guobo, male, born in 1963, was a former Weifang Municipal Legal Affairs Committee official. Because he continued to practice Falun Gong, he was arrested and detained thirteen times and was sent for forced labor three times. Wang Zhihua, then secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, personally made the decision to send Mr. Guobo to forced labor on two occasions. [17]

At the end of November 2000, Jiang Guobo was detained in the Weifang Changle Forced Labor Camp. In the harsh winter when water dripped into ice, seven or eight inmates stripped him and threw him into a water tank with his hands and feet tied up. They pressed his head into the water and used a water hose to force water into his mouth and nostrils for a long time. He could hardly breathe. Each time, the torture lasted for over half an hour. [18]

On the afternoon of October 3, 2005, police kidnapped the displaced Jiang Guobo again. On November 2, he was taken to a forced labor camp for the third time. Police put him in a solitary confinement cell that was only 4 square meters in size. He went on hunger strikes for more than 180 days to protest the cruel persecution. The police force-fed him and added unknown drugs, which made him suffer from severe headaches, blockage of urine, and abnormal blood pressure. He hovered on the verge of death. His wife was also arrested and detained because she would not give up Falun Gong practice.[19]

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Reference

[1] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/5/20/128346.html

[2] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/7/29/-134276.html

[3] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2015/1/28/-303733.html

[4] https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB956186343489597132

[5] http://en.minghui.org/emh/articles/2001/12/9/16646.html

[6] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2000/11/11/231.html

[7] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2001/8/20/15076.html

[8] http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2001/4/18/10053.html

[9] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/1/30/24047.html; http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/1/30/24047.html

[10] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/7/20/-204884.html