Elementary School Teacher, Ms. Liu Yumin, Relentlessly Persecuted for Refusing to Renounce Falun Dafa; Her Husband Tortured to Death

Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Liu Yumin was a conscientious and hardworking elementary school teacher, but she had to give up working because of severe headaches, insomnia, stomach disease, arthritis, heart disease and other ailments.

Liu Yumin began practising Falun Dafa in 1996, and completely regained her health. She returned to work and her family was happy again.

The persecution, however, changed everything. On April 1, 2000, Liu Yumin was arrested when doing Falun Gong exercises with a group. On April 7, she and other Dafa practitioners were sent to Laishui County's Party School. Sun Guijie, the deputy secretary of Laishui County's Party Committee, Liu Yaohua, secretary of County Political and Judiciary Committee, Li Zenglin and Dai Chunjie from the Politics and Security Division and others from the court and the public prosecutor's office persecuted Dafa practitioners. They arrested Dafa practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal, who were on their way to appeal, who were at their home, and who were already in detention centres and custody centres. The guards beat the practitioners with metal wires, electric wires, clubs, ropes, rubber clubs and electric batons. The sound of beating and cries of pain could be heard from the Party School's white building.

On the third day they divided the practitioners into three groups and sent them to the Police Department, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Judicial Department for "transformation" through coercion and torture.

Liu Yumin was in Group No. 1 and was sent to court. Cui Jikun, the deputy court head yelled, "Kneel! Will you still practise [Falun Gong]? Tighten the rope on her! Tighten it!" She answered, "Yes, I will practise!" The perpetrators violently slapped her. Afterwards Cui Jikun asked, "Will you still practise ?" She answered, "Yes!" They slapped her again, and her face was so swollen that it became red.

Cui Jikun then called a group of people who dragged Liu Yumin and several other practitioners downstairs. It was around 7 or 8 o'clock in the evening. When they were dragged back up around 1:00 a.m., Liu Yumin's body was covered with dirt, her face was deathly pale and severely swollen; her eyes were shut, her lips were chapped and grey and her hair was dishevelled. The area from her calves to her waist was completely black and blue, and the flesh was swollen as hard as rock. She lay facedown on a chair and could not move. She could not even bend her arms.

Later we learned that she was tortured seven or eight times with the use of the method "tying the rope." This is an extremely painful torture. The police tie up the practitioner with a rope. They tie the rope from the practitioner's shoulders to the back. They tightly circle the rope around the practitioner's arms, and tie his/her hands behind the back. Then the police use all the force they can muster to tighten the rope until the practitioner's arms are pulled upwards and their hands could reach the back of his head. The degree of damage to the practitioner's body ranges from unbearable pain to severe disability. The higher the two arms are lifted, the more the body bows forward and down. Some practitioners' upper-body bent down so low that they could only stay with their buttocks up. Before long, the practitioners' muscles and ligaments start to tear and their arms may break when the rope is tightened enough. The pain is so intense that the practitioner would often pass out.

Ms. Liu Yumin lay there and could not move for three days. Her colleagues went to visit her and when they saw her, they turned away and cried. So did her family. The perpetrators allowed her family to take her home when she was on the brink of death, and even extorted 2,000 Yuan (1) from her before she was allowed to go home.

Liu Yumin's husband Wu Yanshui was also a Dafa practitioner. Because he refused to give up Falun Dafa, on September 28, 2000, village head Wu Shangrong, Wang Jinlong, the deputy township head, and Meng Xiaochun, the deputy Party secretary, tricked him into going to the township office and detained him. They extorted 2,000 Yuan from him, and instead of releasing him, they transferred him to a custody centre for long-term detention. Physical and mental torture on top of slave labour almost destroyed him.

His family went to the police numerous times asking for his release, and when he was on the brink of death the perpetrators told his family to take him home. Before his family could take him home, the police extorted 5,000 Yuan from his family. Mr. Wu Yanshui could no longer walk or eat by then; his whole body was swollen; he lost sight in both eyes and he had heart failure. He also needed help relieving himself. Ms. Liu Yumin went to the police almost every day during his detention, asking for the release of her husband. Sun Guijie said, "We simply won't release a person like him. We don't have to give you a reason!" Liu Yaohua, secretary for the Political and Judiciary Committee, boldly demanded 20,000 Yuan, and Dai Chunjie claimed they would send him to a forced labour camp.

The persecution continued. The towhship police and village committee officials broke into Liu Yumin's home and harassed her. Her husband passed away one month later, leaving behind their young children. At this time, the Laishui Highway was being expanded and Liu Yumin's house was bulldozed to the ground. They were driven into homelessness.

One day, officers from Laishui Police Department, Laishui County Education Bureau and from Laishui Township Education Committee arrested Liu Yumin at her new home without a warrant. They jumped through her window and arrested Liu Yumin, in her underwear and barefoot, leaving home two young children. They tortured her until she was near death and became only skin and bones. Even her friends could not recognize her.

This kind of persecution happened several times after her husband passed away. Her young daughter cried and chased after her when the police took her away. The police grabbed the little girl and threatened to take her away.

In July 2003, Liu Yumin was released and could hardly walk. The perpetrators sent people to monitor her. She was thus forced to leave home. After she left, the police still went to her home and ransacked it. They threw everything everywhere and pinned her son to the ground, yelling at him to be quiet.

In order to live, Liu Yumin's two young children were forced to find a job to make money. When the police learned about it, they went to the children's boss looking for the children. The boss subsequently fired the children. The police threatened Liu Yumin's family after she left home. Officials from the Education Committee and from the Political and Security Division even forced her niece to look for her at the homes of Liu Yumin's family and friends, threatening to fire her if she didn't cooperate. All of her relatives' phones were tapped, and the police went to all of her family members to harass them and look for Liu Yumin. The police often went to the homes of her two sisters at midnight to search for her.

(1) Yuan is the unit of currency in China, where the average monthly salary of an urban worker is 500 Yuan.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/6/13/77002.html