Eighty-Year-Old Woman Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

Ms. Jia Changzhi, 80, from Yanji City in Jilin Province was arrested in 2012 and secretly sentenced to three years in the Jilin Women's Prison. She is due to be released in January 2015.

Ms. Jia Changzhi had been arrested and tortured many times by the local police since the persecution started in 1999, for refusing to renounce Falun Gong.

Hung Up and Beaten to Extract a Confession

Ms. Jia was arrested at her friend's home in April 2005 by officers from the An'min Police Station. She was interrogated there for over 10 hours, as she was carrying Falun Gong informational materials, and the police wanted to know who gave her the materials.

She was tortured because she refused to tell them. Three officers brutally kicked her knees and later forced her to kneel on a thin, long wooden stick which hurt her knees, as the wood dug into them. She still refused to respond to their questioning. Five officers then hung her up and used a bottle filled with water to beat her head. They also kicked and punched her.

During the interrogation, officer Zhang Naijiang claimed: “Despite your age, I shall find two beggars to rape you.” After 10 plus hours of torture, her body was covered with bruises. Even her feet turned black and blue.

The following day, Ms. Jia's hands were cuffed to the window frame and her feet were shackled. The top of her feet could barely touch the floor. One officer used a bottle of water to beat her head. She felt things flashing in front of her eyes. The police also extorted 3,000 yuan¹ from her and stole her savings card.

Ms. Jia was secretly sentenced to four years in prison in December 2005. In the end she was released on medical parole because of her health deteriorating from torture.

Recent Arrest and Detention

Ms. Jia was reported to the authorities and was arrested on May 10th, 2008, for telling people the facts about Falun Gong. She was then taken to the Chaoyangchuan Town Police Station and was later transferred to the Beida Detention Centre. Her home was ransacked at the same time.

Ms. Jia was arrested at her home in September 2011, by two plainclothes officers and taken to the Yanji Brainwashing Centre. She was released a month later.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.