Teacher Arrested after Registering Her Marriage Plans- Court Cancels Marriage License

Ms. Ji Hongrui is a teacher in Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province. After registering her marriage plans in July 2000, she went to Harbin to visit her fiancé, Yu Wensheng, who worked in Harbin Normal University. Before their wedding, the police found out their plan and arrested them. A court later cancelled their marriage license, forcing Ji Hongrui and her fiancé to remain unmarried.

The following is the story in Ms. Ji Hongrui's own words:

My name is Ji Hongrui. I am a school teacher from Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province. Because of my Falun Gong practice, I have been arrested four times. The police assaulted me both physically and verbally. They forced me to do hard labour. They taped my mouth and deprived me of sleep. They used all kinds of torture methods on me. Compared to the physical abuse, their mental torture did far more harm.
Since the government started to persecute Falun Gong, news of practitioners dying from torture came one after another. Neighbours even lost count of how many times. Last year, every single practitioner in Qitaihe who clarified the truth of Falun Gong was persecuted in one way or the other. Some were sent to forced labour camps, some received jail terms, some were tortured to near death and sent home. Some died of torture. Practitioners and their families live in constant terror.

The police force families and employers to monitor practitioners in their homes and workplaces. Family members and employers are held accountable if anything happens. The principal of my school was removed from his position because I refused to give up Falun Gong. I was locked up at home most of the time. The phone was disconnected to cut off my outside contact. Each time I was imprisoned at home, the detention would last at least several months. The longest was one year. When I got the chance to leave home, I had to have my family members to follow me and watch me. This cruel mental torture lasted a long time.

The most painful experience was losing my right to marry, even after losing all other freedoms. In 1998, I met Yu Wensheng, an archive manager from Harbin Normal University. We were very much in love. In 1999 we travelled to Beijing together to appeal for Falun Gong. In Tiananmen Square, police took him away from me. In June 2000, when I was heavily monitored by the police, he came to Qitaihe City to marry me. We got an official marriage license. In July, I went to Harbin in order to marry him. Harbin police learned about our plan and detained me. Twenty-eight days later, the police let my family members take me home for continued house arrest. They disconnected the phone and locked the door for several months. Both my parents were heartbroken and cried every day.

Against our wishes, Harbin City court cancelled our marriage license. During the entire process, my fiancé and I didn't even have a chance to see each other. I later managed to go to Harbin to visit him. To avoid police harassment, I first stayed with a fellow practitioner for a few days so I could avoid police attention. The security section of Qitaihe City Education Commission (my school's superior agency) thought I went to Yu Wensheng's house. They informed police from Qitaihe and Harbin, who intended to arrest us in his house. Fortunately, Yu Wensheng escaped. But his elderly parents (in their 70's and 80's) were left home alone. When I plan to visit them, my watchers told me that I have to have their company.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/4/21/72843.html