According to the latest news from European Falun Dafa Information Center, one of the two Falun Gong practitioners who met with the Vice President of the European Parliament, Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott, at the end of May in Beijing is missing. Another practitioner, Niu Jinping, is currently being monitored at home. In May 2006, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott went to China, Taiwan and Hong Kong to investigate the current human rights situation. On May 21, he met with Cao Dong, who was once illegally sentenced to four years in prison by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for practicing Falun Gong, and another Falun Gong practitioner Niu Jinping. Cao Dong was missing not long after the meeting with Mr. McMillan-Scott. Niu Jinping is currently being monitored at home.
The Vice President of the European Parliament, Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott is highly concerned about the safety of these two Falun Gong practitioners. He plans to call a meeting with the local CCP ambassador to the European Parliament in Belgium to inquire about the situation.
Cao Dong, male, born in 1970, is a graduate from the Beijing Foreign Language University. He once was a tour guide.
Cao Dong’s wife, Yang Xiaojing, a computer engineer at the Beijing Power Supply and Design Institute was also sent to a labor camp and detained by the CCP because she practices Falun Gong. Although having been married for many years, the couple has been separated from each other because of the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP.
According to the information provided by the Minghui net (www.minghui.net) website:
After the CCP started the persecution on Falun Gong, Cao Dong was first detained at the Drug Treatment Center in Inner Mongolia for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong. Later on, on the night of November 20, 2000, the police arrested Cao Dong at home. He was interrogated, then transferred and detained in several detention centers in Beijing.
In March 2001, a court in Beijing illegally sentenced a group of Falun Gong practitioners. Among them was Cao Dong. He was sentenced for four and a half years in prison. He was sent to a prison in Gansu Province, where he was born.
In prison, Cao Dong didn’t give up his belief in Falun Gong. Under persecution, he peacefully appealed to the prison guards, telling them about his personal experience and the benefits he found while practicing Falun Gong.
In 2005, Cao Dong was released and sent home. But at that time, his wife, Yang Xiaojing was detained at a labor camp.
Not long after Cao Dong was sentenced, Yang Xiaojing was sent to labor camp in 2001. She was detained at the Fifth Section of the Beijing Xinan Labor camp. Because she refused to give up her beliefs in Falun Gong, she was brutally tortured with different torture techniques.
After Yang Xiaojing returned home, the National Security Bureau detained her again in April 2004. She was sentenced to two and a half years in a labor camp. Because she firmly holds up to her belief, she was sent to the Second Section (a Section that deals with the most firm believers) of the Beijing Female Labor Camp where she was tortured even more ruthlessly. This time, Cao Dong, as a Falun Gong practitioner who suffered from the persecution, spoke out to the Vice President of the European Parliament about the mistreatment he received. Afterwards, he was missing.
The translator present at the meeting, U.S. citizen Steve Gigliotti was kidnapped and had his head covered by plain-clothed policemen right after the meeting. The CCP police illegally interrogated the U.S. citizen for over 24 hours. During the process, Steve was not allowed to sleep. He was forced to send a false cell-phone message, stating that he was “safe.”
Steve was eventually released and sent back to the U.S.. He is very concerned with Cao Dong’s and Niu Jinping’s safety.
The European Falun Gong Information Center calls for attention from the international society to their situation and asks for help to ensure their safety.
