Husband Tortured to Death, Wife Disabled after Eight Years of Imprisonment

Ms. Gai Xiuqin and her husband Mr. Lu Guanglin are Falun Gong practitioners from Qingyuan County, Fushun City, Liaoning Province. In March 2005, they were arrested and sentenced to prison.

Mr. Lu was sentenced to 13 years, and in February of 2009, he died as a result of severe torture. His wife, Ms. Gai, was sentenced to eight years and suffered inhumane torture in Liaoning Women’s Prison. When she was finally released, she was disabled, with back and shoulder pain, and unable to straighten or bend her fingers.

Ms. Gai, 62, and her husband benefited physically and mentally from practising Falun Gong. However, since July 20th of 1999, they were harassed, monitored and threatened by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On March 21st, 2005, along with practitioners Lu Yan and Chen Guifeng, they were arrested by police from the First Division of the Fushun Police Department. After eleven months at the Fushun Detention Center, they were sentenced to long-term imprisonment.

Mr. Lu Guanglin Tortured to Death in Panjin Prison

Mr. Lu was transferred from Yingkou Prison to Panjin Prison in December 2007, after being sentenced to 13 years. He was forced to do intense labour. On April 1st and April 3rd, 2008, Zhang Guolin, the instructor of the First Ward in Panjin Prison, led several guards and inmates to torture 13 practitioners, including Mr. Lu, who refused to do intense labour. The practitioners were handcuffed from behind, and the guards stomped on them and shocked them simultaneously with seven or eight electric batons on sensitive areas, including on the head, neck, chest, back, palms, soles, and inner thighs.

In late February of 2009, Mr. Lu went on a hunger strike to protest the torture. He was later sent to the prison clinic, where he was force-fed with a strong salt solution. The inmates led by Liu Bing burned him with a soft drink bottle containing boiling water, causing severe burns on three areas of his body. When the weather was very cold, they poured cold water on him and opened all doors and windows to freeze him. They dragged and pushed him to the floor. Mr. Lu lost his teeth as a result of the severe beating. He was in critical condition three times and eventually died in the Panjin Second Hospital.

In order to avoid been held accountable, the doctor of the prison, Gao, and officer Zhang ordered three inmates to be responsible for the burns by making up the excuse of “accidental burns while attempting to increase his body temperature”.

Forced Transformation in Shenyang Women’s Prison

After Ms. Gai was sentenced, she was detained at the Seventh Ward in Shenyang Women’s Prison. The first thing practitioners faced was forced “transformation” via torture. Each practitioner was watched by two assigned inmates, forming a so-called “Three-person Team.” The two inmates monitored everything the practitioner did and reported to the prison guards. Practitioners were not allowed to talk to each other. The guards encouraged inmates to torture practitioners by shortening their prison terms.

The two inmates who watched Ms. Gai were Qi Yue and Zhang Guorong. One winter, in order to force Ms. Gai to give up her belief in Falun Gong, the guards locked her in a small room designated for torture. No one except the inmates who monitored her knew about this place. In winter, the two inmates forced her to squat barefooted with only two hours a day to sleep. They also struck her feet with wood sticks. Ms. Gai made it through the first day. Later more inmates came to beat her. They opened the windows and poured cold water on her head. She was soaked and her clothes were frozen. She shivered from the cold. At night the inmates pierced her fingers with needles. With such cruel torture for several days, Ms. Gai was forced to write the repentance statement against her will. She was truly miserable.

Ms. Gai Xiuqin Disabled As a Result of Intense Labour in Shenyang Women’s Prison

After being “transformed,” Falun Gong practitioners would be forced to do intense labour. They had to get up at 4:00 a.m. and start work at 6:00 a.m. before breakfast.

Each ward in Shenyang Women’s Prison had a factory. The prison makes a huge profit from the labor of the detainees. At the Seventh Ward, the factory has four floors with each floor housing one certain procedure. The product is exported uniforms. Once the prison receives an order, they have to finish the work before the deadline. If one can’t complete the quota, he needs to take the work to his cell and work overnight, or he has to write the reason why he failed to finish. Some are even tortured for not finishing on time.

With the intense labour the detainees are forced to do, their food supplies are poor. Their meals consist of radish soup or cabbage soup. They are only allowed several minutes for each meal and only given two designated times to use the toilet. During her detainment, Ms. Gai had to work continuously to meet her quota. Her hands worked repetitively like a machine, causing the inability to straighten or bend her fingers. She is disabled now as a result of the intense labour