(Minghui.org) Displaying commendable courage in the face of oppression, four human rights lawyers, together with family members of several detained Falun Gong practitioners, came to the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Center in Heilongjiang Province on December 5, 2013, to call for the immediate release of Falun Gong practitioners.

The brainwashing center would not meet with the lawyers and instead attempted to arrest them.

Attorneys and families gather in front of the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Center to rescue detained Falun Gong practitioners.

The Qinglongshan Brainwashing Center. The sign was taken off before the attorneys arrived.

The public name for the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Center is “Legal Education Center for the Agricultural Department of Heilongjiang Province.” The center is run by the Jiansanjiang Management Department and is notorious for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

From April 2010 to September 2013, more than 50 practitioners and their family members have been illegally detained in the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Center, according to the information gathered by Minghui.org. Practitioner Shi Mengchang and his wife, Han Shujuan, were arrested on September 23, 2013, and are still detained there.

Rampant Torture

The brainwashing center has tortured Falun Gong practitioners mentally and physically in order to force them to give up their belief.

When 44-year-old Chen Dongmei was taken there on September 3, 2012, a staff member told her: “Do you know where you are? This is a hell!”

Practitioner Yu Songjiang was tortured to the point of a mental breakdown after he was taken to the center in April 2010. When he recovered after his release, Mr. Yu hired an attorney to sue the brainwashing center. However, he was arrested once again on November 19, 2013, and taken back to the center.

Attorneys and Families Stand Up for Justice

On December 5, 2013, four human rights lawyers, together with family members of several detained Falun Gong practitioners, walked through knee-high snow to arrive at the brainwashing center. At the gate, they shouted to the center's supervisor Fang Yuechun again and again: “Fang Yuechun, you are committing a crime! Release Falun Gong practitioners immediately!” Family members also pleaded, “Yu Songjiang, come back home!”

The gate was securely locked, and the staff would not even turn on the lights.

The authorities would not meet with the attorneys and instead attempted to arrest them. According to an internal informant, policemen inside the brainwashing center planned to arrest the attorneys and the families when there were only six or seven of them left; they did not expect that the whole group would leave together.

As the group turned to leave, all street lights in the vicinity suddenly went out. This was likely done by the police in preparation for the arrest. The police checked all cars that passed by for the identities of the passengers.

In the evening of the same day, a witness saw three plainclothes policemen come into a snack bar near the brainwashing center and tell the owner: “Report strangers or any party with more than seven people. Recently, Falun Gong has been making trouble.”

At 6 a.m. on December 7, 2013, four Falun Gong practitioners from Qitaihe City, including Wang Pingzhong, Wang Liqing, Hu Yuzhong and Wang Xiaoyun, were arrested by plainclothes police while purchasing tickets at the Qinglongshan bus station to go back to their hometown. The police claimed that they were missing two persons, since they had planned to arrest six.

Personnel involved in the persecution: Liu Bo (刘博), male, deputy Party secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Jiansanjiang Management Department: +86-454-5791187 86-454-5710817, +86-13512600001 (Cell) Tian Yingmin (田英民), male, deputy Party secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Jiansanjiang Management Department: +86-454-5807799, +86-454-5710537, +86-13796366665 (Cell) Li Chunyao (李春耀), male, deputy director of the 610 office of the Jiansanjiang Management Department: +86-454-5790507, +86-13803674529 (Cell) Yang Chenzhi (杨臣志), director of the Qinglongshan Police Department: +86-454-5830700, +86-13836630006 (Cell) Bi Jianli (毕建利), deputy director of the Qinglongshan Police Department: +86-454-5830702, +86-454-5747059, +86-13091629033 (Cell) Fang Yuechun(房跃春), deputy director of the Qinglongshan Police Department, head of the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Center: +86-454-5830705, +86-454-5716771, +86-13846125557 (Cell)