(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Wang Yudong and his wife Ms. Zhu Xiumin, from Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, were arrested on March 21, 2017, when they were visiting a friend in Qiqihar City.

Officers from Qiqihar Domestic Security Division waited outside their friend’s home and arrested the couple. They were held in a police station for 60 hours, then transferred on March 23 to the Qiqihar Detention Center, where they were tortured.

Officers in the police station handcuffed Mr. Wang's arms behind his back and put a helmet on his head. They also wrapped a plastic bag around his head, lit cigarettes, and blew the smoke into the plastic bag. The officers then pulled the handcuffs up and down repeatedly and slapped Mr. Wang’s face with a shoe.

Mr. Wang did not cooperate and refused to sign a “confession.” In an attempt to coerce him, the officers beat his wife in the adjacent room. When that did not work, they threatened to beat her in front of him.

Lack of Evidence

Mr. Wang and Ms. Zhu hired an attorney to sue the police for interrogation torture.

The Daqing Domestic Security Division and the Political and Legal Affairs Committee were attempting to indict the couple for filing criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin, the former leader of the communist regime.

The Procuratorate did not approve the arrest due to lack of evidence. In addition, the act of suing Jiang for the persecution of Falun Gong is within the legal rights of Chinese citizens. Nonetheless the police refused to release the couple.

Hunger Strike

The couple went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The guards handcuffed Ms. Zhu’s hands behind her back and force-fed her. She refused to cooperate, so they put her in shackles and tied them to the handcuffs. She continued with the hunger strike for eight days and was kept in this position during that time. She could not move and had to depend on care from other detainees.

During the attorney's recent visit to Mr. Wang, he found out that Mr. Wang had been on a hunger strike for about five days, and that the guards planned to take him to the hospital for force-feeding.

Police Break the Law

Mr. Wang's two older sisters heard the news and waited in front of the hospital for two days before they saw a vehicle from the detention center. They found their brother in a ward and discovered that he had become emaciated and deformed due to the torture.

They demanded that the three guards on site release Mr. Wang, as well as have the detention center take full responsibility if the force-feeding endangered his life. The guards refused to release Mr. Wang and said that only those who had arrested their brother could release him.

The sisters then went to the Anshunlu Police Station and demanded their brother's release. An officer claimed that they could not release him since he broke the law.

“No Chinese law defines Falun Gong as a cult,” said one of the sisters. “The law does say that the Procuratorate must issue an arrest approval within 37 days. It has now been way over 37 days, with no approval letter. You have not released my brother, and you have broken the law.”

The police called the chief of the police station. The chief claimed that the guards in the detention center force-fed Mr. Wang because he did not eat.

“He does not eat because he is innocent,” said one of the sisters, “and should not be detained. You tortured him and put his life in great danger. If something happens to my brother, you will have to face prosecution. You must take full responsibility and sign your name to that effect now.”

The chief refused to sign and claimed that it was up to the detention center to decide whether or not to release Mr. Wang.

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