Practitioner Ms. Zhang Yunlan from Hunan Province Persecuted to Mental Collapse at the Baimalong Forced Labour Camp

Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Zhang Yunlan, from Liuyang City, Hunan Province, was sentenced to two years of re-education through forced labour for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution in February 2004. She was detained and tortured at the notorious Baimalong Forced Labour Camp, where she suffered a mental collapse before the end of the year. Ms. Zhang was later bailed out and hospitalised, but the authorities from the 610 Office (1) continued to threaten Ms. Zhang's son, saying that they would monitor and abuse her.

Ms. Zhang Yunlan, 52, is from Jinpan Village, Yonghe Town, Liuyang City of Hunan Province. Before she practised Falun Gong, she had various illnesses, which were cured after she started practising.

In February 2004, Ms. Zhang was reported and arrested for distributing truth clarification material in her hometown of Liuyang City. She was detained at Baxianqiao Detention Centre in Liuyang City. On February 20th she was sent to Zhuzhou City's Baimalong Forced Labour Camp for two years of forced labour.

At Baimalong Forced Labour Camp, Ms. Zhang was detained in the "Transformation Division" and then in the "Strict Monitoring Division," where she suffered inhuman torture both physically and mentally. She was forced to watch the hoax "Tiananmen Square self-immolation" video produced by the CCTV and other propaganda that slandered Falun Gong. She was forced to write the Three Statements (2). She was forced to stand for long periods of time, deprived of sleep while standing for twenty-four hours, handcuffed and hung backward with her only toe tips touching the ground, doused with cold water, whipped on the face with long wet towels, and forced to do labour making shoes. When Ms. Zhang went on a hunger strike to protest, the police force-fed her.

At one point, several prison inmates, who were incited by the police, pushed Ms. Zhang into the bathroom. They poured four or five buckets of water over her head. They then threw her to the ground and stomped on her ribs over her heart, causing Ms. Zhang great pain.

Another time, Ms. Zhang's legs were so swollen after more than ten days of forced standing that she couldn't even put on shoes. She had to stand on the floor in her bare feet. She was then forced to stand on a four-inch wide stool. By that time, her legs and feet had lost all feeling, and she had no more strength to hold her body upright. The police ordered Li Xiaomei, the person assigned to monitor Ms. Zhang, to hit Ms. Zhang's feet and arms with a small stool and kick her legs. Li kicked Ms. Zhang so hard that her shoes came apart and then she asked Ms. Zhang for compensation.

Ms. Zhang Yunlan was then detained in the "Strict Monitoring Division." Half a month before she left the forced labour camp, she was dragged to have a check-up at a hospital on Shanglouzhou Street. The doctor claimed that Ms. Zhang had psychological problems. Ms. Zhang was then "bailed out for hospitalisation" on April 30th 2005.

After she returned home, the neighbours saw that Ms. Zhang had changed from someone healthy to an old woman who had difficulty even walking and who was sometimes not clear-minded. She was being influenced by the lies and deceptions spread by the CCP-controlled TV and newspapers. Some people thought it strange and wondered why she had changed so much. In fact, Ms. Zhang's condition was the result of persecution in the Baimalong Forced Labour Camp. The Chinese authorities' claim that a forced labour camp is "as warm as a family" is a complete lie.

After Ms. Zhang went home, the local 610 officers forced her son to sign a statement of responsibility and ordered him to control his mother. Her son compromised with the 610 officer. In order to prevent his mother from leaving home, he only gave her two meals of one small bowl of rice each day. In addition, Ms. Zhang was given no breakfast and was only allowed to eat after 2 p.m. Her son also took away all of the money and possessions given to Ms. Zhang by other practitioners. Her son once kicked her so hard that her knee was swollen and she could not kneel down for a week.

Note:

(1) "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

(2) "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/8/3/107638.html