Investigative Report on the Persecution of Falun Gong by Cao Chengxu

Director of the Longkou City “610 Office,” Shandong Province

January 1, 2021

Full Name of Perpetrator: Cao (last name) Chengxu (first name) (曹承绪)

Gender: Male

Country: China

Date/year of Birth: 1964

Place of Birth: Longkou City, Shandong Province

Address:

Dongcheng District Longzuxiaoqu Community building 13 East, Longkou City, Shandong Province (山东省龙口市东城区龙族小区13号楼东单元3楼)

Family members:

Liu Guiqin (柳桂芹), wife

Cao Yang (曹洋), son

Title or Position:

Before 2013 – Secretary of the Party Committee in Fengxi Town, Xiadingjia Town, and Longgang Street Sub-District of Longkou City; Deputy Secretary of the Working Committee in Longkou Development District.[1]

2013 – Director of the Longkou City “610 Office,” Shandong Province.

Present – Retired.[2]

The “610 Office” is a mechanism for the Chinese Communist Party to direct the persecution of Falun Gong. At the township level or below, the Secretary of the Party Committee is in charge of the persecution. As a former director of Longkou City “610 Office” and leader of several townships, Cao Chengxu was responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Longkou City and its sub-districts from the time he took office.

Main Crimes

Cao Chengxu, former director of Longkou City “610 Office” in Shandong Province, oversaw, ordered, and directly participated in the suppression of Falun Gong practitioners in the region, in particular, torturing the practitioners. The methods used on the practitioners included beatings, deprivation of sleep and/or food, forcing practitioners to squat for extended periods of time, shocking practitioners with electric batons, caging practitioners, as well as humiliating Falun Gong practitioners in public.

In July 2000, Cao was actively involved in the death of Ms. Tian Xiangcui. Hers was the first reported death of a Falun Gong practitioner in Longkou as a result of the persecution.2

Below are some cases of persecution that Cao Chengxu either participated in or personally conducted:

1. Death of Ms. Tian Xiangcui

In July 2000, Ms. Tian Xiangcui, age 61, was arrested in Beijing and sent back to Fengyi Town where Cao Chengxu was then township party secretary. Ms. Tian was left outside in the direct sun, where she was forced to stand for a long period of time, and was deprived of both food and water. She was also beaten savagely and shocked with electric batons. As a result, she could not eat, and often suffered with bouts of coughing. Three days after being placed in a detention center, Ms. Tian fell into a coma. Her family was then notified that they were to pick her up. Her family proceeded to take her to a hospital on July 22, and Tian Xiangcui died the following day.[3],[4]

2. Torture, Brainwashing, and Extortion

In 2001, Cao Chengxu was transferred to Xiadingjia Town. He bragged, “It is nothing to beat one or two to death.” “I will take the responsibility if one or two of them are beaten to death.” When Cao was drunk or had lost at gambling, he and another policeman vented their anger by beating Falun Gong practitioners. Day or night, no matter the time, they would drag practitioners out and beat them severely. They used electric batons to shock the hands of practitioners to the point of their hands being burned.[5]

In February 2001, Cao instructed Xiadingjia Town government to establish a brainwashing center in order to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their faith. They tortured practitioners Sun Cuifang, Wang Wenqiang, and Yu Xiliu, among others, and filmed the incident. On one occasion, Cao slapped 72-year-old practitioner Ms. Guo Fuxiang in the face in front of many witnesses.[6]

Practitioner Mr. Wang Wenqiang, a disabled veteran, once stopped Cao from beating other practitioners. Cao then sought revenge one night in March 2001. After getting drunk, he and other officers called Mr. Wang out, forcing him squat, and then taking turns beating him to the ground.[7]

Ms. Zhang Fenglian was illegally arrested in February 2002. Cao shut her in a metal cage with no food for seven days. The next day, he took Ms. Zhang to a brainwashing center. One week later, Ms. Zhang was transferred to a detention center, where she was held for a month before being sent to a brainwashing center for yet another month. Ms. Zhang was not released until her family paid Cao 18,000 Yuan, money the family had to borrow out of desperation.[8]

3. Persecution Included the Elderly and Infants

Cao Chengxu even expanded the persecution on Falun Gong practitioners to the elderly and infants.

After Mr. Diao Xihui, a former teacher in Fengyi Town, was arrested, Cao, then Party secretary of the town, along with several policemen, beat him. They even dragged Mr. Diao's mother, Ms. Fu Guaihua, who was in her 50’s, to the township government office and beat her as well. Cao then took to Mr. Diao to a detention center. After Mr. Diao's detention period ended, Cao took Mr. Diao back to the township government and put him into detention once again.

After the death of Ms. Tian Cuixiang was reported by Minghui.org, Cao and his people tried to find out who had submitted the information to Minghui. Mr. Diao and his wife Ms. Lu Yanna, who were both teachers, became the main suspects. Local police put up 60,000 Yuan as a reward for their capture. When Ms. Lu was arrested in late 2000, police tortured her so badly that she passed out three different times. Later, the newlywed couple moved from place to place, for a period of more than three years, in order to avoid more arrests.

In April 2004, Mr. Diao and Ms. Lu were arrested in Anhui Province, where the couple lived at the time. They were taken back to their hometown in Longkou City with their 10-day-old infant daughter. Mr. Diao was later sentenced to six years in prison, and Ms. Lu was sentenced to three years in prison. Their then 4-month-old daughter became the youngest prisoner. Due to pressure from the international community after this incident was widely reported, Ms. Lu was released on bail to take care of her infant child.[9],[10]

4. Illegal Jail Terms, Abduction, and Harassment

After Cao Chengxu became the “610 Office” head of Longkou City in 2013, he closely followed Jiang Zemin's persecution instruction. The number of Falun Gong practitioners who were illegally sentenced in Longkou City then reached its peak. Some of the practitioner sentenced included Ms. Han Wenmei, Mr. Yin Xiangyang, and Ms. Li Yujun.[11]

Ms. Han Wenmei was arrested in September 2014. In January 2015, she was sentenced to a 3-and-a-half-year prison term.[12]

Mr. Yin Xiangyang, age 65, was arrested in August 2014. He was then sentenced to 5 years in prison in October 2015. [13] To protest the prison sentence, Mr. Yin's wife, Ms. Wu Manping, held a banner in front of Longkou City Hall, and she was then arrested and put in jail as well.[14]

In August 2015, the Longkou “610 Office” sent instructions to local township officers to gather detailed information on Falun Gong practitioners. The “610 Office” provided a list of names and instructed employers, village heads, and local police stations to arrest those on the list. Some of the practitioners were tortured using a torture method called “Roasting Whole Lamb” (see picture below). During this incident, 40 practitioners were arrested in Longkou City, and countless families were harassed.[15]

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Reference

[1] http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/media/2019/12/01.pdf

[2] English: http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2019/11/5/180607.html

[3] English: http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2019/11/5/180607.html

[4] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2000/9/18/-1968.html

[5] English: http://en.minghui.org/emh/articles/2001/4/15/6945.html

[6] English: http://en.minghui.org/emh/articles/2001/4/20/6837.html

[7] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2016/12/14/91-338870.html

[8] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2013/4/10/-271899.html

[9] English: http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2019/11/5/180607.html

[10] http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2016/12/14/91-338870.html