Excellent Teacher Tells of Being Tortured During Nine Years of Imprisonment

Name: Lu Jinyu
Gender: Female

Age: 49

Address: Unknown

Occupation: Teacher at Liaoning Science and Technology College

Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 4th, 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shenyang First Prison
City: Benxi

Province: Liaoning

Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, extortion, physical restraint, home ransacked, interrogation, detention, denial of toilet use, denied visits

Ms. Lu Jinyu, 49, was an excellent teacher at Liaoning Science and Technology College in Benxi City, Liaoning Province. She was arrested for distributing Falun Gong materials. She was interrogated with torture, violently beaten, and later sentenced to nine years in prison.

During her nine years of imprisonment, she was detained in Dabei Prison in Shenyang City, Wafangdian Prison, and Shenyang First Prison. She was tortured physically and mentally, including being kicked, punched, stepped on, slapped, having her mouth stuffed, being hung up, beaten with spiked batons, confined in steel cages, handcuffed, shackled, tied up, forced to sit on a "tiger bench" ¹, deprived of sleep, force-fed, injected with unknown drugs, solitary confinement, and being shocked with electric batons.

Below, Ms. Lu describes her nine years of imprisonment.

In October, 1999, I went to Beijing to appeal but was arrested. Later I was detained in the Benxi Detention Centre for 15 days.

1. Arrested While Delivering Materials Exposing the Persecution of Falun Gong and Brutally Beaten

August 4th, 2002, while I was on my way to deliver materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong to other practitioners, officers from the Dongxing Police Station in Benxi City and the Mingshan District Criminal Police Squad chased me and arrested me after beating me up. They brought me to the Zhangjia Police Station in the Mingshan District. I was put in a room with all the curtains closed. Several officers beat me in turn, punching me; covering my head then hitting my head; striking me with spiked batons; and kicking my head, chest, thighs, and bottom.

2. Brutally Tortured in the Mingshan Criminal Police Squad and the Benxi Detention Centre

I was later sent to the Mingshan District Criminal Police Squad and detained in a steel cage without windows. My head was covered,and several police officers beat me, punched me, slapped me, and hung me up. They handcuffed me to the edge of the cage and hung me up with handcuffs. The handcuffs cut into my flesh. My whole body was covered with bruises. I was tortured like this for six days and five nights. On August 9th, 2002, I was transferred to the Benxi City Detention Centre.

In the detention centre, since I refused to cooperate, I was shackled to the ring against the wall. I was kicked and punched. The torture lasted many days.

3. Shocked with Electric Batons in Dabei Prison

After more than four months of torture in the detention centre, on December 19th, 2002, I was sent to Dabei Prison in Shenyang. Since I refused to get out of the car when I arrived, the guards pulled me out and tore my coat. When I cried “Falun Gong is good,” they stuffed my mouth with dirty rags. Several officers shocked me with electric batons on my chest, stomach, and face. My forehead was burnt. Later I began a hunger strike to protest the persecution.

4. Solitary Confinement, Force-Fed, and Beaten in Wafangdian Prison

After detained in Dabei Prison for eight days, on December 27th, 2002, I was transferred to Wafangdian Prison.

In Wafangdian Prison, I was put in solitary cells twice. In October 2003, because I did the Falun Gong exercises, I was put in solitary and cuffed behind my back. I held a hunger strike to protest. Three days later I was sent to the prison hospital to be force-fed, then tied to a bed for torture. I was beaten and deprived of sleep. My teeth were bleeding and several of them were loose. Inmates Wang Zhen and Dong Zhengmao participated in the torture. To keep me in the hospital and keep torturing me, the prison official claimed that I had tuberculosis and forced me to stay in the hospital for nearly two months. Later, I was transferred to the 2nd Prison District, where practitioners were gathered to be persecuted severely. I was beaten by inmates several times. Wang Zheng once hit me with wooden boards until the boards broke. I was tortured at this district for almost two years. On August 17th, 2005, the 2nd District was dismantled and I was sent to the 3rd District.

In the 3rd District, I was able to study the Falun Gong teachings and do the exercises, but I was also tortured several times. On October 19th, 2007, I was put in solitary again. I protested and kept shouting “Falun Gong is good!” The inmates stuffed my mouth with dirty socks. The inmates also slapped me with their shoes, until my teeth loosened and my face swelled up. The beating did not stop until I lost consciousness. When I came to, I found myself handcuffed and shackled to the ring. I was not released even at bedtime. This torture lasted for about two weeks. The perpetrators were guards Lu Chuangui, Yang (given name unknown) and officer Cao (given name unknown).

5. Tiger-Bench and Solitary in Shenyang First Prison

After being persecuted for five years in Wafangdian Prison, I was sent to Shenyang First Prison on December 19th, 2007, where I was kept in solitary.

The first time was on May 19th, 2008. Since I refused to do labour work or cooperate with the prison inspection, several inmates stuffed my mouth and handcuffed me behind my back. They sent me to the “strictly-controlled” team and brutally punched and kicked me. I was detained there for more than a month and was only given a small amount of corn soup every day.

On July 22nd, 2008, I was confined in solitary for the second time. I refused to eat the corn soup until they provided me with regular meals a few days later. Later, I held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and it lasted for more than 30 days. Then the guards and inmates force-fed me and forcibly injected me with IV infusions. The solitary confinement lasted for more than three months.

The third time occurred on February 22nd, 2011. After I was put into the solitary cell, several inmates beat me up together. Inmate Yang Bin led them. They stripped off my clothes, then punched and kicked me. Later, I was forced to sit on a tiger-bench with the window open. They poured cold water on me so that I would freeze. I held a hunger strike again to protest.

In June 2011, I was placed in solitary for the fourth time. I began a hunger strike. Four days later, they began to force-feed me. They tried to insert the feeding tube into my mouth several times but failed. Later, they injected me with unknown drugs.

The prison officers that participated in the persecution were Dong Lunshan, Shi Ying, Shi Zhan, Yao (given name unknown), Hao (given name unknown), Dong (given name unknown) from the “strictly-controlled” team and Wang Xiaobo and Liu Yang. The inmates were Yang Bin and Xiao Qingfa.

During my nine-years in prison, I witnessed the evil and brutality of the Chinese regime. Many families in China have experienced these tragedies. I hope all the perpetrators can recognise the evilness of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), choose to treat practitioners well, and allow themselves a bright future.

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.