Firsthand Account: Details of Persecution Endured by Li Jiqiu from Qiqihar Before His Death

Name: Li Jiqiu
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: December 9th, 2012
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 2nd, 2004
Most Recent Place of Detention: Tailai Prison
City: Qiqihar
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Detention, beatings, iron chair torture, snow placed over his feet and body, hanging by handcuffed wrists, freezing cold water poured over him, imprisonment, brainwashing, sleep deprivation.

Mr. Li Jiqiu from Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province was brutally persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for a long time. He was arrested and sentenced in 2004. As a result of persecution at the Yaohulu Police Farm in Fulaerji and the Tailai Prison, he became severely ill. He was often harassed by police after being released. He was forced to become homeless and his health steadily deteriorated. He passed away on December 9th, 2012.

The following is a narration by Mr. Li Jiqiu describing the persecution before his death.

Learning Falun Gong and Cultivating Character, but Being Persecuted by the CCP

My wife and I listened to the recording of Teacher Li Hongzhi's, the founder of Falun Gong, lectures and watched the video of Teacher Li's lectures in 1998. We were so happy because we had finally found a true Way. Every morning, we hung a banner in the street, introducing Falun Gong, and practised the exercises. We went to the assistant's home to study the Falun Gong teachings at night and followed the teachings of Falun Gong to be good people.

In July 1999, when we were practising the exercises, personnel from the Zhonghuajie Office, along with local police, took away the tape player and banner. Director Tian and Wang Qi from the Zhonghuajie Office came to my home and told us we could not practise Falun Gong. Soon after, my wife went to Beijing to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong and was detained for two months. We were constantly harassed and were forced to become homeless.

My wife and I moved around and finally arrived in Beijing on January 1st, 2001. We went directly to Jinshui Bridge at Tiananmen Square. We planned to unveil a banner at Tiananmen Rostrum to appeal for Falun Gong. At the check-in entrance, the flyers in my bag were found, and we were dragged into a small room. The police cursed and kicked us. They stripped off my insulated coat, covered my head with the coat, and beat me. We were then taken to the Qianmen Police Station. Falun Gong practitioners from across the nation were sent there. We were released in the afternoon.

Secret Black Den at Yaohulu Police Farm

After my wife was taken away on December 8th, 2003, someone began monitoring our home. Wearing only a thin undergarment, I hid in a cold hallway for more than ten hours. I managed to escape late at night. After being homeless and wandering for more than two months, I came back to Qiqihar.

On December 2nd, 2004, at about 10:00 p.m., officers from the so-called Falun Gong Special Case Group in Fulaerji District, Qiqihar surrounded the building where another practitioner and I were staying. They destroyed the door lock and seven or eight officers came in and pushed me down to the ground. They trampled my face with their shoes. I was then forced into a van and taken to the Yaohulu Police Farm in Fulaerji.

Yaohulu Police Farm is an abandoned bath house with heating. It is used as a secret hideout to torture Falun Gong practitioners.

I was forced to sit on an iron chair while my hands and feet were handcuffed on the afternoon of December 3nd, 2004. Li Ruixin, deputy chief of Fulaerji Criminal Police Division, searched my pockets and took 1,100 yuan in cash from my pocket. He took off my socks and beat the sole of my foot about 250 times with a pink wood stick that was 3 cm (0.6 in.) wide and 1.5 cm.(1.2 in.) thick. He asked me where I hid my money. My hands and feet were swollen and had turned black. Officer Jiang Chen brought in a basin of snow and put my feet into the snow. Officer Li Ruixin brought another basin of snow from outside and poured the snow into my collar and pants. I was handcuffed to the iron chair and could not move. I trembled with cold.

During the early morning hours of December 4th, 2004, Jiang Chen and five other police officers tortured me again. They covered my head with a cloth bag and took turns beating me with the soles of their shoes. Jiang Chen trampled my hands and feet and hung me by my hands before he left. At 4:00 p.m., I was taken to the Fulaerji Detention Centre. Right after I arrived, the guards poured cold water on me.

The Fulaerji Detention Centre was renovated in May 2005. I was transferred to the Qiqihar No. 1 Detention Centre.

Two other Falun Gong practitioners and I were sentenced on July 20th, 2006 and sent to the Tailai Prison in Qiqihar.

Persecution in Tailai Prison

After being detained at the Concentrated Training Division of Tailai Prison for two months, I was sent to the First Division of Ward No. 5. Criminal prisoners Xu Hongxin and Ding Yongxiang from Taikang and Longjiang were assigned to closely watch me.

The Tailai Prison intended to have 100% "transformation" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] of Falun Gong practitioners in 2007. They forced us to write the so-called “four statements” renouncing the practice of Falun Gong. Instructor Liu Jun did not allow me to sleep for three days in attempts to forcibly “transform” me.

As a result of long-term persecution, I developed high blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat, and cerebral thrombus. I was released on April 6th, 2008.