The Persecution Suffered by Practitioner Ms. Zhang Junying in Jilin Province

Fifty-seven-year-old Ms. Zhang Junying is a retired employee of Jiangbei Motor Parts Factory. She began the practice of Falun Gong in 1998 and ever since then, she has conducted herself according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. Since practising Falun Gong, her illnesses disappeared and her relationship with her husband became harmonious.

After the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20th, 1999, Ms. Zhang grasped every opportunity to expose the truth of the persecution and tell people the facts of Falun Dafa.

On December 12th, 2000, Ms. Zhang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on Tiananmen Square. She unfurled a banner that read, "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" and handed out several flyers before the police arrested her. The Jilin Province police stationed in Beijing escorted Ms. Zhang back to Jilin Province, where she was detained in the city's Third Detention Centre.

Communist Party reporter Li Qiang, who interviewed Liu Siying in the falsified self-immolation incident ¹ on Tiananmen Square, followed Ms. Zhang from Beijing to Jilin Province. He planned on doing an untrue news piece on her and her practice of Falun Gong. One day Ms. Zhang was washing her hair when the police summoned her to the office where Li Qiang asked to interview her. She told him, "Only if you report the true situation of Falun Gong will I talk to you. Otherwise, I have nothing to say." When Ms. Zhang asked the police for a comb, Li Qiang asked, "Do you actually care about your appearance?" Ms. Zhang replied, "We practitioners are good people who act according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. Why shouldn't we pay attention to our appearance?" Li Qiang did not have anything further to say.

Prior to the 2001 Chinese Lunar New Year, Ms. Zhang was transferred to the Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp in Changchun City, Jilin Province. However, the labour camp refused to accept her because she had a rapid heart beat and high blood pressure. Still, the Longtan Police Station did not completely release her and told her to report to the police station and cook for them daily. Ms. Zhang refused to cook for them and when she later told them that she would also not report to the police station, the police extorted 500 yuan² from her.

On June 28th, 2001, Ms. Zhang went back her hometown of Chaoyang Township, Shulan City. While she was explaining the facts about Falun Dafa to people, she was reported to the local police. As a result, she was arrested by the Chaoyang Township Police Station and detained in the Nanshan Detention Centre of Shulan City. Her home was ransacked by the police who confiscated her Falun Gong books and tapes and over 4000 yuan in her purse.

When her family went to visit her at the Nanshan Detention Centre, they were charged 100 yuan for some lunch boxes that were worth less than 10 yuan. Ms. Zhang never received the full amount of the 100 yuan that her family left for her. By the time it reached her hands, the detention centre authorities had stolen 60 yuan and only gave her 40 yuan. She was also forced to do manual labour. After four months, Ms. Zhang was sentenced to two years of forced labour at the Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp of Changchun City.

The Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp inhumanly persecutes Falun Gong practitioners by using all kinds of cruel methods. They force practitioners to watch videos that slander Falun Gong and try to force practitioners to write the so-called "Four Statements"³. Practitioners who refuse to write the statements are deprived of sleep and forced to stand near the wall and do manual labour. For practitioners who renounce their belief in Falun Gong, they are told to defame the practice and its founder. Ms. Zhang was tortured both mentally and physically until her vision became blurry.

After she returned home in 2003, the Shanqian Police Station and the Shanqian Neighbourhood Committee continuously harassed her. They went to her home many times, called her on the phone, and sent agents to harass her at home.

On the afternoon of August 23rd, 2006, Police Chief Yan Jiafu, policeman Liu Yang, and others from Shanqian Police Station arrested Ms. Zhang while she was alone at home and sent her to the city's detention centre. They also ransacked her home and confiscated a picture of the founder of Falun Gong, Falun Gong books and tapes, leaflets, and a VCD and radio set.

At around 8:00 a.m. the next day, her relatives went to the Shanqian Police Station and demanded her immediate release. When her family asked the police why they had arrested her, policeman Liu Yang was arrogant and questioned their relationship with Ms. Zhang. He refused to answer the family's enquiries. The arrest warrant listed no name for the policeman in charge of her case.

After being detained at the detention centre for a month, Ms. Zhang Junying was sentenced to one year of forced labour. She is currently in Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp in Changchun City. Ms. Zhang has been resisting the persecution and refusing to write the "Four Statements."

Note

1. The "Tiananmen Self-Immolation" [an incident on Tiananmen Square in January 2001 whereby four people set themselves alight and the Chinese Communist claimed they were Falun Gong practitioners, yet there was video evidence to strongly disprove this claim]

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

3. "Four Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write the "four statements" as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the 610 Office, they consist of "a letter of repentance," "a guarantee" to never again practise Falun Gong, a "Dissociation Statement" to declare a dissociation with Falun Gong and promise not go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/12/5/143872.html