Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Wang Lili is Abducted and Sexually Assaulted by Changchun Police

One day in March 2002, Changchun City police in Jilin Province abducted Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Lili without any legal reason, evidence of any criminal intent or court arrest warrant. Once in the police station, the police started to interrogate her using various types of brutal torture. Some of the methods of torture included forcing Ms. Wang to sit on the "Tiger Bench" for an extended period of time. [Practitioners 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. They are not allowed to turn their heads, close their eyes, talk to anyone or move at all. Several inmates are assigned to watch over and force the practitioners to remain motionless while sitting on the bench. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioners' lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse] They also forced her to sit on the "Iron Chair" for an extended period of time, [The iron chair is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time] shocking her with electric batons and beating her savagely with many different types of objects.

In addition to these tortures, Ms. Wang, a young woman in her 30's, was also sexually assaulted by the police, compounding the suffering she had already endured. They tormented her with lewd remarks while groping and touching her private areas. At one point they even abused her by sliding a bullet across her chest. More than 20 policemen took turns in torturing and molesting Ms. Wang in this manner for five full days and nights before they threw her into the detention centre. Before they arrived at the detention centre, the police escort, realising how shocking the torture had been, even attempted to make Ms. Wang take the blame for her injuries by saying, "You'd better tell them that you injured yourself by jumping out of a building!"

Unfortunately, Ms. Wang couldn't reveal the police's physical and sexual assaults even if she wanted to, because after five continuous days and nights of the combined torture and molestations, she had nearly lost all of her cognitive functions. She had become highly distressed, confused and disoriented. She couldn't understand any of the questions that the staff of the detention centre asked her and it appeared that she might have been driven to the point of a mental collapse, as she constantly stared blankly into the air. Her whole frame quivered with anguish. She had even lost her ability to stand, and the staff had no choice but to carry her by the arms to her cell.

As soon as she entered the cell, Ms. Wang's physical condition deteriorated quickly and it appeared she was going to die. The police thus sent her to the China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University for resuscitation. This hospital has the most advanced medical equipment in the city of Changchun. Their medical professionals are highly trained in their respective branches of medicine. Thus when the physicians at the hospital performed the initial diagnosis, they immediately discovered that Ms. Wang's body was covered with blue and purple bruises, revealing shocking evidence of torture. The amount of blood circulating in her body was drastically less than that of the amount in a healthy person. They also found that one of her kidneys was haemorrhaging, which put her life in immediate danger. After the initial diagnosis, the hospital decided that they were unable to treat her, so she was transferred to Changchun City Central Hospital, where she received medical treatment for the brief period of 10 days.

Because the police did not want to pay for the large medical bills resulting from their own criminal offenses, as soon as Ms. Wang came out of the Intensive Care Unit, they transferred her to a cheaper hospital, which was for the province's public security officers. After spending just 10 days in this hospital, when she was just starting to get off the bed on her own, Ms. Wang was sent back to the detention centre again.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/20/62947.html