Ms. Chi Chunxia Disabled as a Result of the Persecution, Her Husband Sentenced to Forced Labour Once Again

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Chi Chunxia, a native of Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested in January 2002. While being detained in the Political and Security Section of the city police department, she fell from a building and became disabled. Half of her body was numb, and six of her toes had to be amputated.

Domestic Security Division (the former "Political and Security Section") officers arrested her husband on July 28th, 2007, for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. He was imprisoned in Suihua City Forced Labour Camp where he had to work more than 10 hours a day. Family visits were prohibited.

Chi Chunxia became disabled after falling from a building while she was detained

At about 8:00 a.m. on January 3rd, 2002, Yang Jinggui and Cheng Weling, agents from the Miyun No. 1 Police Station, went to home of Ms. Chi Chunxia and her husband, Mr. Xue Yanrong. The officers pried the door open, broke in, and demanded that the couple identify themselves. After Ms. Chi and Mr. Xue complied, the authorities searched the home, without showing any search warrant or their ID cards. Their two-year-old child screamed in fear. After searching for half an hour, the police called the station and told them to bring more people and a car. They said they had found some Falun Gong books and materials.

After the police car arrived, they searched again. They turned everything upside down and left the home in chaos. The police put the Falun Gong books in the police car and pushed the three family members in. The couple and their child were taken to the police station, where they went through five hours of interrogation. At 3:00 p.m. they were transferred to the Political and Security Section on the fourth floor, where the police continued to interrogate them.

In the Mishan City Police Department, Political and Security Section heads Meng Qingqi, Zhao Yongshan, and Li Gang beat and verbally abused Ms. Chi. She was frightened and did not know what to do. When she went to the toilet she heard her child crying, so she ran in the direction of her child's voice. Several officers shouted, "Chi is running away," and chased her. Frightened and not knowing where to go, she fell out of a window onto a balcony on the second floor and lost consciousness.

The police thought she was hiding inside the toilet, but when they did not see her they shouted again, "Chi has run away!" Screaming, they rushed out of the police department. When they did not find her, they gave up searching, even though she was on the balcony, unconscious, in the cold of winter. The next day, residents in the building across the street (the City Court residential building) saw her and called the police. Ms. Chi was unconscious when she was taken to the hospital. After emergency treatment, she regained consciousness.

After Ms. Chi "disappeared," Political and Security Section personnel imprisoned her husband, Mr. Xue Yanrong, in a detention centre. The next day, during the more than ten hours when Ms. Chi was found and taken to hospital, the former head of the Mishan City 610 Office², Wang Shaolin, took Mr. Xue out of the detention centre. On the way he said, "Your wife is in intensive care in the hospital right now. She is probably in critical condition. You should be prepared." He continued, "You're still so young, why did she jump off the building?" He unlocked Mr. Xue's handcuffs and said, "Don't do anything stupid in the hospital. It'll be bad for you!" and made other, similar threats. Former police department head Liu Qin (who has since been demoted) brought some officers to interrogate Mr. Xue. They asked, "Who told your wife to jump? Tell us this person's name right now! Does she have any mental problems? Has she said anything abnormal before?" They carried on like this to absolve themselves of any responsibility for Ms. Chi's falling out of the window.

After Mr. Xue refused to answer any of their questions in their attempts to twist the facts, they said, "You have to write down concisely everything you know before we can release you. If not, you'll have to serve forced labour." After two hours of interrogation, Mr. Xue was sent back to the detention centre.

During the morning of January 5th, 2002, after Mr. Xue's family repeatedly asked for his release, police officers decided to transfer him from the detention centre to the hospital so he could take care of his wife in the hospital. They forced the family members to sign a statement with 10 guarantees regarding Mr. Xue's care of his wife, including: (1) Mr. Xue could not leave the hospital, (2) he could not contact other Falun Gong practitioners, (3) he could not talk to any reporters, (4) he could not tell anyone their situation, etc. If he violated any of these provisions, he would be taken back to the detention centre.

After two weeks under the gentle care of her husband, Ms. Chi gradually regained some consciousness. The doctors said that she probably would remain in a vegetative state because her injuries were so severe. Because of the severe frostbite she sustained, her feet were disabled. Six of her toes had to be amputated.

During the time that Ms. Chi was in critical condition, the police officers stationed in the hospital's monitoring room searched her family members and their bags and IDs. In addition, when Mr. Xue was taking care of her, personnel from the Security Division, from the Criminal Technology Division, from the Public Security Division, and all the others connected to the police went to the hospital to threaten and prompt Mr. Xue to tell them everything he knew. Their goal was to find excuses to shirk their responsibility for Ms. Chi's current condition. They all denied being responsible.

In the following days, due to pressure from family members and the public, agents at the Political and Security Section held a meeting to issue and statement and answer questions on the fourth floor of the police building. Their major points were: Ms. Chi jumped off the building and was severely injured, but they were not responsible for her action. Because of that, they refused to pay her medical costs. (A video recording of this meeting is available). Her relatives asked, "She was injured while in police custody in the police department. If the police are not responsible, who is? If you say you don't want to handle this matter, who will? If somebody can prove to us that you are not responsible, then we will not bother you any more."

Someone from the police department responded, "You don't have the right. We don't have to prove anything to you nor will we pay for her medical costs." The meeting ended with the police department announcing that they were not responsible. The family members repeatedly appealed to the authorities, requesting a satisfactory explanation of the matter, but they did not get any response. As a result, Ms. Chi's treatment was stopped several times when her family members were unable to gather enough money to pay her medical expenses. Because of that, she was extremely weak, and it was very hard for her to recover and deal with daily life.

February 11th, 2002, Chinese New Year's Day. Ms. Chi's family could no longer collect any more money to pay for her medical expenses, so she had to be released from the hospital. She was still in a vegetative state. She had become incontinent, paralysed, and could not speak. It took a long time to feed her. Nevertheless, Politic and Security Section personnel still went to her residence to harass, threaten, and frighten her family members, making it very hard for her to recover.

Currently, Ms. Chi is paralysed on one side of her body. With six of her toes amputated, the wound on her foot is extremely painful. Her memory is not clear, and her eyesight is blurry. She can easily fall when she tries to walk. Because of her family's limited finances, she is not taking in enough nutrients. Every month they are still paying 270 yuan² for hospital costs (they owe over 5,000 yuan). The appropriate government offices will not help them, even after numerous contacts. The hospital has been urging them to pay off all their debt immediately. Life for the family is hard.

Her husband, Xue Yanrong, and another practitioner, Mr. Zhang Chuanfu, were arrested on July 28th, 2007, when they distributed leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in Dangbi Township, Mishan City. On August 22nd, 2007, Mishan Police Department Deputy Han Jingxin tried to extort 10,000 yuan from Mr. Zhang's mother to release him. She believed that her son was not guilty of any crime, so she refused to pay Han any money. That afternoon, Han said, "If you bring just 5,000 yuan, we'll release him."

On August 24th, 2007, the families of both practitioners paid the police department 5,000 yuan each. Han told them to hand the money to a female police officer. When they asked for a receipt, she said, "We never give receipts."

Once they had the money, Han Jingxin sent Xue Yanrong and Zhang Chuanfu to the Suihua City Forced Labour Camp. In the afternoon on July 10th, 2007, Mr. Zhang's father asked Han to allow him to see his son. Han replied, "He's been sent away." The father asked, "Why was he sent away? Where did you send him? What crime has he committed?" Han said, "Distributing Falun Gong materials is against the law. I don't know where he was sent. Go ask the detention centre officials." Zhang's father asked detention centre head Cui Hongjian, "Why didn't you inform the families when you sentenced our children?" Cui replied, "We don't have any obligation to inform you." Zhang's father said, "That is against the law." Cui said nothing.

Police Department head Cui Mulin (currently the Regulatory Team head in Jixi City)
Domestic Security Divsion head Wang Yaoguang: 86-467-5210737(Office), 86-467-5178676(Home), 86-13945822917(Mobile)

Related article: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/24/18039.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/7/6/181527.html