CHINA— In mid August, Ms. Zhang Sukun, 76 years, old rushed back to Shenyang City from Beijing to do maintenance on her house, at the request of her former neighbor. But after she finished, she couldn’t pass through the security check points for the Beijing Olympics on the any trains or buses.
She was trapped in Shenyang and couldn’t return home. This occurred because she is the mother of Gao Rongrong, the Falun Gong practitioner whose face was disfigured in 2005 because she practiced Falun Gong, and was later tortured to death by police.
Seventy-Six Year Old Mother Stranded
During the Beijing Olympics, all the ID numbers of Falun Gong practitioners and “Ant Farmers”(1) from Liaoning Province have been stored in computer systems, so a strange scene always occurs in each transportation station in Shenyang, as everyone showing their ID card to buy a ticket to Beijing, the ticketing personnel shout out: “Ant Farm and Falun Gong relatives will not get tickets.” Even if one has a ticket in hand, when taking the train or bus, one has to show their ID card to pass the “security check.” The ID is checked again on the computer systems, just like people scanning a credit (or debit) card before boarding.
If one was found to be a Falun Gong practitioner, “ant farmer,” or relative, the computer will display this information. Security personnel will immediately stop them from boarding the public transportation. The reason that Ms. Zhang Sukun was not able to return to Beijing is simply because her daughter, Gao Rongrong, who died three years prior while in custody, practiced Falun Gong.
Daughter Died in Custody
Since Gao Rongrong’s death, caused by torture by CCP personnel on June 16, 2005, Gao Rongrong’s parents and older sister have appealed to many public departments regarding the wrongful death, but have received no response. Those departments play games with them. Rongrong’s father, in his late 70s, couldn’t stand the cruel facts, and became ill. Rongrong’s mother couldn’t afford to take care of him, so they moved to their other daughter’s home in Beijing, and seldom return to Shenyang. The local police and “610” officials at Shenyang know all of them. They still store all the names and related information of Rongrong’s family in the police computer system for surveillance.
Authorities Pass the Blame
All of the authorities at the Zhangshi Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang, Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, to those from the legislative department of Liaoning Province, including the provincial Administration Bureau on Forced Labor Camps all told Gao Rongrong’s family: “Don’t worry, the law will punish the murder, you don’t have to appeal anymore, go home and wait, it’s because the high level administration didn’t conclude the case this time, it has nothing to do with Gao Rongrong this time.”
It is reported that not only was Gao Rongrong’s family under surveillance, the daughter of Rongrong’s older sister obtained a student visa from Canada, but she couldn’t even leave because she’s on the blacklist of the State Security Bureau of China.
(1) Ant farmers in Liaoning Province have been petitioning for redress of government and corporate collusion in a failed business opportunity sanctioned by local government officials.
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