Ms. Zhao Zhaoquan from Sichuan Province Tells of Her Own Persecution Experience

Ms. Zhao Zhaoquan, 65, is a retired teacher living in Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. She started practising Falun Gong in May 1996. After July 20, 1999, when the persecution began, Zhao was detained four times, imprisoned three times, sent to a drug rehabilitation centre twice, sent to brainwashing sessions once, placed under house arrest once, and sent to a forced labour camp for two years. Zhao was fined 15,800 yuan (1) and had 295 yuan stolen from her. The authorities withheld 15,000 yuan from the sale of Zhao's second daughter's house as a "guarantee deposit." Since November 2000, Zhao has only received 200 yuan a month from her retirement pension, allowing her only minimum daily expenses. The rest of her retirement pension was taken to pay off her "fines." The following is an account of the persecution that Zhao has been through in her own words.

In early January 2000, the police from the Nancheng Police Station arrested me and other practitioners while we were studying the Falun Dafa books. They took us to the Huangjingshan Prison, where we were held for thirteen days. In the prison, we ate spoiled vegetables every day, with very little rice. Even so, we still had to pay 20 yuan per day for food, and I didn't have any money. I went through those 13 days feeling extremely hungry. The day we left the prison, the police took 260 yuan for "daily expenses" from me. However, the daily supplies they gave us such as slippers and gargle cups were used and old, and had to be returned to them before we left. The police would then resell the returned items at inflated prices.

In November 2000, I went to Beijing with an appeal letter and was almost killed by armed police in Tiananmen Square. I was injured, bruised and swollen all over. Later Luo Wei, Captain of the Matan District Drug Rehabilitation Centre, and Chen Xineng, Director of Texing Town, came to Beijing to take me back to Luzhou, and detained me in the Huangjingshan Prison for 15 days and tried to extort 9,000 yuan from me. I didn't have that much money at the time. Police officers force me to sign a receipt for a 9,000 yuan loan.

In December 2000, Luo Linfeng and I went to Beijing to appeal, and the police at Tiananmen arrested us and took us to a prison far away from Beijing. Luo and I sat on a cold concrete floor back to back. The door of the small prison cell was open and cold wind was blowing in. We were freezing and hungry. An armed police officer stood outside to monitor us. Later Officer Li Shijun and others from Huayang and Luzhou came to Beijing to take me back. They extorted 6,800 yuan from me. After I went back to Luzhou, I was imprisoned in the 57th Prison, the Dengganshan Prison, and the Shibaowan Drug Rehabilitation Centre. I refused to turn against Falun Dafa, so the police transferred me to the Texing Police Station. They later put me under house arrest for over a month and limited the food I was allowed to eat to a very small amount.

On May 18, 2001, the police sent me to the Zizhong Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp for two years. I was forced to watch TV programmes that slandered Falun Dafa, then write a report afterwards. Two days after, I was confused by their lies and renounced Dafa. Later, I thoroughly awakened to my mistake, so I started to tell people the truth about Falun Dafa and expose the persecution about Falun Gong in the camp and told people not to persecute practitioners any longer. I had symptoms of high blood pressure, but the camp authorities still forced me to stand facing a wall for two and half hours each day for three months. There were many means used in the camp to persecute practitioners such as the tiger bench, the "water dungeon," pouring water from the sewer on practitioners and drying them under the sun, electric shock, beatings, prolonged standing, running, squatting, kneeling down, cuffing, tying up practitioners, sleep deprivation, and not allowing practitioners to use the toilet.

I saw a few drug abusers dragging practitioner Ms. Wu Houyu on the rough ground while running. The skin on Wu's feet was gone, she was bleeding badly, and her pants were in tatters. After they got tired, they made her stand on one leg and hold the other leg up high. When she trembled in pain and exhaustion, the prisoners would kick her and make her fall, and then they would beat her. Once Wu fainted from the beatings.

One hot summer day, a policeman poured sewage water with human excrement in it on practitioner Ms. Jiang Li because she refused to renounce Falun Dafa. The police then put her in the burning sun. The next day Jiang had a fever and breathing problems and couldn't get out of bed. Jiang refused to take the medicine offered by the prison doctor. Captain Qin ordered seven drug abusers to hold her down, pinch her nose, and force the medicine down. Jiang coughed incessantly for half a day after that.

A practitioner from Xichang was imprisoned in a small cell for several days. Officials from the People's Administration Committee, the educators and drug abusers took turns brainwashing her. She refused and was punished by being forced to stand for a prolonged period of time. I saw her go into the office, where she asked for permission to use the toilet, which was refused. She looked sick and kneeled down soon after that. Li Jinwen from the People's Administration Committee and a few drug abusers pulled her up and dragged her to a toilet. I worried that she would be tortured and yelled, "Help her up and let her walk." Li Jinwen immediately slapped me. Two days later I received the same punishment. Li wouldn't allow me to use the toilet, and an officer beat me and forced me to stand for a prolonged period of time. This went on for three months.

On January 3, 2003, I was released. Officer Li Shijun ordered a policewomen to search me, and confiscated the 295 yuan I had. They then sent out propaganda framing me for taking practitioners' money in Beijing, which gave people a very bad impression of me. After I got home, I learned that when I was in the camp, the 610 Office (2) took 15,000 yuan from my daughter, claiming it to be a "deposit" guaranteeing that I would never again go to Beijing to appeal.

On the day of the Mid-autumn Festival in 2004, the police from the Yutang Police Station arrested me and took me to the Longmatan District Police Station when I was on my way to a practitioner's house. The Longmatan police imprisoned me for three weeks because I had seven bookmarks that read, "Falun Dafa is good." They also confiscated valuables from my home and took away my Falun Dafa books. They told me that they were determined to kill me in prison this time if I refused to renounce Dafa. The Culture Education Bureau sent two people every day to brainwash me. They bought me a new comforter, blanket, pillow and pillowcase. A person with the last name Wang told me, "The CCP cares about you and bought these for you." After they released me, I went to my workplace to claim my living expenses, Principal Zhang told me that people from the town government already claimed my two months' salary to buy the comforter for me and pay their expenses.

I was sentenced to prison, and my household property was confiscated. I was fined, beaten, monitored, lived in terror, abused and injured physically and mentally because I practise "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" and strive to be a good person. They have withheld my retirement pension from November 2000 until now. The head of the education committee told me that it would take me more than 10 years to pay off what I owed.

The above units and people who persecuted me have violated articles 35, 36, 37, and 39 of the Constitution, and articles 238, 248, and 251 of the Criminal Law.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/5/20/102238.html