Investigative Report on the Persecution of Falun Gong by Shi Zhigang

Deputy Director of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau

December 31, 2020

Full Name of Perpetrator: Shi (last name) Zhigang (first name) (施志刚)

Gender: Male

Country: China

Date/Year of Birth: September 1958[1]

Place of Birth: Changde City, Hunan Province

Title or Position:

1999 – 2001: Member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Standing Committee of Nanshan District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province; Director of Nanshan Public Security Bureau of Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province[2]

2001 – 2009: Member of the CCP Committee of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau; Deputy Director of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau[3]

2009 – 2018: Deputy Secretary of the CCP Committee of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau; Deputy Director of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau[4]

2018 – present: Retired[5]

Main crimes

Since the CCP launched the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, Shi Zhigang has been in charge of Shenzhen’s National Security Brigade, the local “610 Office,” and the Stability Maintenance Division of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau. He is one of the chief culprits in the persecution of Falun Gong in Shenzhen. Shi Zhigang instructed the Nanshan Public Security Bureau and the “610 Office” in Nanshan District to establish the Nanshan Care Association, a peripheral organization that persecutes Falun Gong.

The Falun Gong practitioners who insisted on practicing were directly abducted and taken to the “Shenzhen Legal Education School” without any legal procedures. There, the practitioners were subject to brainwashing to give up their faith as well as other forms of persecution. The education school, also known as Xili Brainwashing Class, is the black prison that forces Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their faith.[6] During Shi Zhigang's tenure, at least five Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted to death. Many practitioners were injured and incapacitated. Families were destroyed as a result of the persecution, which led to divorce and neglected children. Shi Zhigang is primarily responsible for these tragedies.

According to incomplete statistics, in the more than a decade of Shi Zhigang’s tenure, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were abducted in Shenzhen. Nearly one thousand Falun Gong practitioners were abducted and taken to the Xili Brainwashing Class and other brainwashing classes.[7] From 2001 to 2010, more than 800 practitioners were illegally detained and persecuted.[8] Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners were illegally sent to labor camps; more than one hundred practitioners were illegally sentenced.[9] Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners in the Nanshan District suffered severe persecution. Nanshan District was the hardest-hit area for Shenzhen Falun Gong practitioners.

Persecution causing deaths

1. Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Shen Deming was abducted and taken to the Nanshan Detention Center in 2001 for distributing materials the expose the persecution of Falun Gong. The half-a-year of torture he endured made him insane. Shortly after, Mr. Shen passed away on September 8, 2001.[10]

2. Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Xiaodong went to Beijing to call for an end to the persecution in 2000. After being illegally arrested, she was sent to a labor camp for two years and was successively tortured in the Nanshan Detention Center and Sanshui Labor Camp. Ms. Wang was persecuted so severely that she lost her sanity.

In the detention center, Ms. Wang was forced to wear a 35-kilogram anklet. She became physically weak; it was difficult for her to stand and she became unable to walk. Every day, two prisoners dragged her on the ground. The two rings on her ankles pierced the muscles, leading to severe soreness. Because Ms. Wang was unable to walk, when she needed to use the toilet, she would be dragged there by two prisoners. Sometimes she was thrown into the toilet and left to fend for herself; Ms. Wang had to sleep in the toilet for a whole night because she couldn’t get up.

The prison guards also instigated inmates to use fine needles to stab Ms. Wang's feet and calves. If Ms. Wang shouted in pain, she would be slapped in the face with slippers. One night, the prison guards had two prisoners tie ropes very tightly with Ms. Wang’s hands behind her back for six-and-a-half hours. In 2002, Ms. Wang was abducted again and died in July 2003 after four months of going on hunger strike at Nanshan Detention Center.[11]

3. Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Shen Ju was abducted by police and taken to a detention center in July 2005 for talking to people about the persecution of Falun Gong. She was illegally detained for three-and-a-half months. As a result of persecution, she developed the skin disorder scabies. After returning home, her scabies became increasingly serious. On January 10, 2006, Ms. Shen Jun died at the age of 34.[12]

4. On May 21, 2006, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Jiang Xianyi and her son, Kuohai, were abducted by the police and taken to the Nanshan Detention Center. Ms. Jiang suffered from brutal force feeding. As a result, it became difficult for her to eat and she had a continuous cough. Ms. Jiang was illegally sent to a labor camp for three years and died on January 2, 2009.[13]

5. Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Fuying was illegally detained three times and taken to a brainwashing class. In November 2012, she was arrested for distributing Falun Gong informational materials and detained again at the Xili Brainwashing Class. During this period, she was persecuted to such an extent that her body became swollen. Ms. Zhang died shortly after she returned home.[14]

Torture cases

1. Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Liu Xifeng was abducted by police in January 2002. In March 2002, Mr. Liu was forcefully taken to a hospital where police instructed the hospital to force feed him with strong liquor. The police put Mr. Liu on the bed with his hands and feet tied down, then injected the liquor into the feeding tube through his nose. Mr. Liu vomited when he was brought out of the room. But the police ordered the doctors to put more alcohol into the tube. In less than an hour, Mr. Liu had two feeding tubes put into his stomach with liquor. Mr. Liu was devastated. On September 22, 2002, Mr. Liu and his wife, Wang Xiaodong, were abducted again. At the detention center, Mr. Liu was forced to wear an anklet for a long time, leading to his disability. Later Mr. Liu was sentenced to 10 years in jail. In 2010, Mr. Liu Xifeng’s imprisonment expired, but he was transferred to the Xili Brainwashing Class for further persecution.[15]

2. Practitioner Bai Yun was abducted to the Nanshan Detention Center in early May 2001. She was force fed by the police on multiple occasions, causing great damage to her health. Ms. Bai was then sent to the Sanshui Women’ Labor Camp in Guangdong Province. But Sanshui Labor Camp refused to accept her due to her extremely poor health, so she was shipped back to Nanshan Detention Center. Nonetheless, the police at the detention center incited other inmates to treat her poorly. She received multiple injuries to her head.[16]

3. Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Li Weijun and his wife, Ms. Wang Shaona, were arrested on the way to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in February 2000. The husband was taken to a detention center. Ms. Wang was not jailed because she was six months pregnant. But she was sent to the hospital for a forced abortion. On June 30, 2000, they were once again abducted by the police at home. Mr. Li Weijun was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Ms. Wang Shaona had another forced abortion at the detention center and was then sent to the Sanshui Labor Camp for persecution. [17]

Additional methods of persecution

Shi Zhigang’s means of conniving and instigating the police and detainees of the Nanshan Detention Center include:

“Splashing Water Method”: In winter, Falun Gong practitioners are dragged into a toilet and basins of cold water are poured on the practitioners. They can’t change out of their wet clothes and can only sleep on the toilet or the floor.
“Sitting on Name Method”: The police wrote the name of the founder of Falun Gong on a piece of paper and placed it on the ground, forcing the practitioner to sit on it. If he/she refused to sit on it, then the practitioner would be lifted by five or six people and pressed hard on the name, otherwise he/she would be punched and kicked.
“Guilty by Association Method”: As long as one Falun Gong practitioner does not eat, all prisoners will go unfed. As a result, the hungry prisoners vent all their anger on Falun Gong practitioners, beating and abusing them.

Other methods include the “whipping method,” “toilet smelling method,” “slapping on the face with slippers,” “anklet punishment method,” and the “acupuncture method” – needles are used by prisoners to pierce the bodies of Falun Gong practitioners. [18]

Part of kidnapping cases

According to incomplete statistics, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were abducted during Shi Zhigang’s tenure. In particular, during the World University Games from 2009 to 2011, the Shenzhen Politics and Legal Affairs Committee, the “610 Office,” and the Public Security Bureau made use of the World University Games to aggravate the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners in Shenzhen were abducted; 100 of their identities are known. In the middle of 2009, the Baoan District Detention Center alone abducted more than 30 Falun Gong practitioners. [19]

On March 26 and April 22, 2011, the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau conducted two mass abductions. The exact number of victims is unknown. But the following practitioners are known to be among them: Chen Guihua, Shen Hongmei, Li Hongzhou, Tang Qinghua, Nie Yong, Li Dan, Wan Lanqing, Huang Wanxian, Sun Jiefeng, Liu Ziyun, a practitioner with surname Zheng, and Tong Ling. The abductions by the “610 Office” of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau were arranged far in advance. They used phone tapping and other means to track Falun Gong practitioners. [20]

On June 21, 2011, Liu Xiaoguang, Liu Jingze, Sui Zhaohong, Lu Chunrong, Xie Yanchun, and Ms. Mo Lan were abducted. Ms. Mo Lan’s husband was knocked down to the ground by five or six police officers and punched and kicked. Falun Gong practitioners’ family members also suffered greatly. Liu Jingze’s daughter was not allowed to go to school, and his landlord was forced to evict Liu’s wife and daughter. Liu Xiaoguang’s close relatives rushed to Shenzhen from distant Heilongjiang province to visit him. But the police not only denied them visitation rights, but also threatened to illegally sentence Liu Xiaoguang.[21]

At about 9:30 a.m. on April 22, 2015, more than 20 Falun Gong practitioners in the Nanshan District of Shenzhen City were practicing the Falun Gong exercises together in the park. Suddenly, they were surrounded by a large number of armed police, public security officers and security guards, about 60 in all. All the practitioners were illegally arrested.[22]

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Reference

[1] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2019/8/30/-392076.html

[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20191118212342/http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/media/2019/11/13.pdf

[3] https://web.archive.org/web/20191118212523/http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/media/2019/11/14.pdf

[4] https://web.archive.org/web/20191118212643/http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/media/2019/11/12.pdf

[5] ibid

[6] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2018/6/22/-369875.html

[7] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2017/4/7/-345229.html

[8] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2019/8/30/-392076.html

[9] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/8/15/-245365.html

[10] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/12/7/40571.html