Ms. Guo Zhaoqing is a Falun Gong practitioner from Yiyang City, Hunan Province. She was arrested in April 2009. After being viciously beaten she became paralyzed. She was subsequently sentenced to a 10-year prison term by the Wuling District Court. Despite being paralyzed, she was forced to do hard labour in Hunan Women’s Prison, and held in solitary confinement.
Ms. Guo was born into a well-educated family in 1972. She lived at No. 4 Kangfubei Road, Yiyang City. After she graduated from a university, she worked at the Yiyang People's Art Gallery. She was recognized as an excellent worker many times and was viewed as an outstanding individual. She started practising Falun Gong in 1996.
Persecution of an Honorable Practitioner
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated its persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999. Because Ms. Guo firmly believed in Falun Gong, she was forced to resign from her position as the head secretary of the City Calligraphers Association. She was arrested nine times and tortured during the years 1999-2009. The following is an account of her experience.
Ms. Guo set off for Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong. She was arrested and detained in Tianjin. She was finally released after carrying on a hunger strike for 49 days. After that, she was constantly harassed and tortured.
The local police arrested her on January 16th, 2001, and sentenced her to a two-year term at the Baimalong Forced Labour Camp in Zhuzhou, where she was hung up by handcuffs, shocked with electric batons, and beaten.
Soon after she arrived at the Second Division of Baimalong Forced Labour Camp in January 2001, she was handcuffed for 21 days. Her hands were numb for more than six months.
Ms. Guo's term was extended for an additional year. In 2002, she went on a hunger strike for 74 days until her throat and stomach became very swollen. By October 2002 she was in critical condition. The guard told the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) to come and pick her up.
She was taken to the Taojiang County Detention Centre in 2003 and 2004. This detention centre is notorious for torturing Falun Gong practitioners.
Guard Tan Guihua went to the Yiyang People's Art Gallery multiple times in 2003 and shouted, “Our goal is to destroy you and your family!”
Entire Family Persecuted
Ms. Guo and her family moved first to Changde and then ten more times to avoid further persecution.
She and her parents were arrested by police officers Wang Yongkang, Wu Xiyong, Huang Junhuai, and others from the Wuling District of Changde, on December 20th, 2005. They stole the family's entire savings of 23,000 yuan1.
Ms. Guo's father, Guo Daokang, is well-known among Chinese intellectuals. He is a member of the Chinese Musician Association, the Chinese Calligrapher's Association, and the Institute of Chinese Poetry.
Although he is over 70, he was detained at the Changde First Detention Centre. He was given only boiled cabbage for each meal, and his family was not allowed to visit him.
Ms. Guo’s mother suffered from heart disease and hypertension. She fainted when she was arrested. The next day, her blood pressure was 230 mmHg and heart rate was 180 beats per minute. She fainted three times during the 20 days of detention. When she fainted for the third time, the guards just ignored her. They said, “The authorities told us that Falun Gong is now considered a 'rebellious political organization.' We can’t release her. If she dies in the prison, just put her body aside.”
Ms. Guo's parents were released after three months.
Escape and Arrested Again Numerous Times
Ms. Guo was held at the Linli County Detention Centre in Changde. To protest the torture, she went on a hunger strike for seven days. She was able to escape when she was taken to the hospital on April 21st, 2006.
She was arrested by officers from the local Domestic Security Division in the Beihu District, Chenzhou, on April 21st, 2009. Over ten police officers broke into her apartment and beat her. She bled profusely and fainted. They cleaned the area before taking photos.
She was detained in Chenzhou for nine days. Because she didn’t cooperate, she was beaten. Staff from the Changde 610 Office took her to Linli Detention Centre in Changde in April 2009. The guards jumped on her legs although she already had been disabled due to previous torture, making her a full paralytic.
Ms. Guo was transferred to the Changde First Prison in June 2009, where she was also tortured. It is rumored that officials at the provincial level agreed to release her, but the Changde local officials insisted on sentencing her to prison.
When her parents visited her on December 2nd, 2009, they were told that she had been sentenced to a ten-year prison term by judge Xia Youchu and others, although no legal procedures were followed.
Ms. Guo was transferred to the Hunan Women’s Prison in early 2010. She was detained in the Second Team of the Sixth District, which was established to torture Falun Gong practitioners. In order to “transform” her, the guards ordered inmates to drag her around although she was paralyzed. They called this “rehabilitation.”
Family Visits Expose Torture
Family visits were often not allowed because Ms. Guo refused to cooperate with the persecutors, and because she refused to renounce Falun Gong. She was put in solitary confinement and forced to do hard labour for 12 hours per day.
Ms. Guo is an only child. Because of her detainment, her mother suffered chronic insomnia and other diseases. Her father often travelled between Changsha and Yiyang to see his daughter.
Her parents visited in 2012. The guard told her to walk to the visiting room. However, being paralyzed, this was impossible. It took her over two hours to move from her cell to the visiting room using two canes.
Every time the persecution of Ms. Guo was exposed on the Internet, CCP officials threatened her parents.
Call for Help
We call on people worldwide to help rescue Ms. Guo Zhaoqing. We ask that her case be investigated and that those responsible be held accountable for their criminal deeds.
Meanwhile we hope that all CCP members who were and are involved in the torture of practitioners learn the truth about Falun Gong.
We ask that Ms. Guo Zhaoqing be released unconditionally.
Practitioners Outside the United States
Ms. Guo's parents are now very afraid of retaliation by the CCP, so they are reluctant to expose the persecution of their daughter.
We ask for further investigation into her case
Address of Ms. Guo Zhaoqing’s family:
Yiyang City Qunzhong Art Gallery
Guo Daokang, father: +86-0737-2670509
Xiong Biyun, mother: +86-1589-8449909
Yiyang Qunzhong Art Gallery: +86-737-4235200
Contact Information for Those Persecuting Ms. Guo and Her Family
Changsha Women’s Prison:
Address - #528 Xiangzhang Road, Changsha City
Liu Yun, assistant head
Xue Fang, instructor of the Education Office
Zhou Chan and Dong Zhaolan, assistant instructors
Deng Jin and Wang Rong, squadron instructors
Zhou Wu, chief of the prison
Liu Yun, assistant chief
Xiao Ping, chief of the Sixth District
Changde City (Area code: 0736)
Liu Yun, member of Municipal Political Association: +86-15274250457
Zhu Xiaoyun, director of Legislative Office: +86-13973619533
Wu Xiyong, director of the Wuling District National Domestic Office
Dai Xi, secretary of Political and Law Committee in Wuling District
Zhong Qing, deputy secretary
Note
1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
* * *
You are welcome to print and circulate all articles published on Clearharmony and their content, but please quote the source.
more ...