Due to her beliefs in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" and because she explained the facts about Falun Gong to people, Ms. Zhao Wenlan, a 68 year-old practitioner from Zhangbei County, Hebei Province, has been arrested and detained on multiple occasions over the past seven years. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2004 and is currently detained at Shijiazhuang Women's Prison.
On July 20th, 1999, Zhao Wenlan went to Beijing to appeal when Jiang Zemin and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong. However, she was stopped mid-way to her destination and deported to the detention centre in her hometown by local police. The detention centre extorted 260 yuan1 from her.
On October 31st of the same year, the local police arrested her again without giving any reason. Her home was searched and her belongings, as well as Dafa books, were taken away. Zhao Wenlan was allowed to go home on February 3rd, 2000 while waiting for the court trial. Two days later, Li Shanghong from the Politics and Security Department and his staff went to her home to harass her. In order to avoid further harassment, she left her home and went to her daughter's residence. On February 18th, she went to Beijing to speak for justice for Falun Gong again and was arrested by Beijing police. She was brought back by local police the next day and detained at the detention centre. On the same night, the local police extorted 2,000 yuan from her family, claiming that it was to cover the expenses of bringing Zhao Wenlan back to her hometown.
As there were four other practitioners from Zhangbei County who followed Zhao Wenlan to Beijing, Li Shanghong, Head of the Politics and Security Department of the Police Station, accused Ms. Zhao of instigating the group to appeal. He swore at Zhao and beat her, knocking out one of her teeth with his fist. It was winter time. Li Shanghong forced Zhao Wenlan to get down on her knees on the cold cement floor and shocked her with an electric baton for over one hour. Her face and mouth were burned from the shocks. Pus dripped from the wounds, and her mouth was swollen, preventing her from eating. Zhao Wenlan was also tortured with the handcuffed-behind-the back method for nine days.
In the handcuffed-behind-the-back torture method, the victim's shoulders are pulled down heavily by handcuffs at the back. After a while, the handcuffs cut into the flesh and the hands turn purple. It is very painful, and the victim cannot perform daily functions, nor are they able to sleep. While Zhao Wenlan was back-cuffed, she was still forced to attend military training, and her daily meal consisted of rough corn flour buns. To protest the prolonged detention, Zhao Wenlan went on a hunger strike and she was sent to the county hospital by former deputy director of the local police station, Guo Shili and his staff to be force-fed. The rubber tube for force feeding was not taken out afterwards. Instead, it was left in her nose to be used the next day while she was still handcuffed. The pain was inconceivable.
On April 29th, 2000, the Forced Labour "Re-education" Management Committee of Zhangjiakou City illegally sentenced Zhao Wenlan to two years in a forced labour camp. In October of the same year, she was allowed to go home on bail, awaiting the court trial. In exchange for allowing Ms. Zhao to go home, Li Dianxian, former Party Secretary of Politics and Law, the county 610 Office2, and the local police together extorted 7000 yuan from Zhao Wenlan, but her family could only afford 1,000 yuan. Her family paid the money but received no receipts. After Zhao Wenlan went home, Li Shanghong from the Department of Politics and Security, his staff and people from the street committee monitored her and harassed her from time to time.
In order to avoid further persecution, Zhao Wenlan left her home for her daughter's place. Li Shanghong and his staff went to search for her at her daughter's residence and all her relatives' homes. They tried to arrest her. The last time they went to her daughter's home, they destroyed the door, broke in and arrested her son-in-law because Zhao Wenlan was not home. Her son-in-law was detained for several days and released after the family paid some money. Afterwards, her daughter and her son-in-law were harassed from time to time so that they could not go home and continue their jobs as taxi drivers. They had to leave their home, and Zhao Wenlan was forced into a homeless situation once again.
Zhao Wenlan later worked as a street vendor, selling everyday goods to support herself. In July 2002, she was reported to the police by Geng Rui while she was explaining the facts about Falun Gong to her customers. Li Shanghong and his staff arrested her and sent her to the police station. Zhao Wenlan went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution but was force-fed for 11 to 12 days by Guo Shilin, former deputy director of the police station, Fan Yanbing, the director of the detention centre, and several armed policemen. Zhao Wenlan suffered from high blood pressure and symptoms of heart disease. She was on the brink of death. The police were afraid of being responsible for her death, so they told Zhao Wenlan's family to take her home. This time, she had been detained for over 40 days.
After returning home, Zhao Wenlan and her family were harassed very often. On August 12th of the same year, Jiang Chuan and Yuan Ping from the Zhangbei County Court went to her home to deliver a copy of a legal document informing her of an illegal court trial and possible sentence.
On August 13th, Li Shanghong, Sun Baolin, Liu Yanhui and others from the Department of Politics and Security went to Zhao Wenlan's home to harass her again. She had to leave her home once more during the Moon Festival of 2002. Since then, she lived in Dongyaozi, a suburban area of Zhangjiakou City. On May 19th, 2003, the policemen arrested Zhao Wenlan and detained her at the Qiaodong District Police Station of Zhangjiakou City, claiming that they were checking people's I.D. in that area. Wang Chunli, the director of the police station took 500 yuan from Zhao Wenlan, a bank book worth 1,170 yuan, and her clothes and bedding. He never returned them to her.
Later, Zhao Wenlan was transferred to Zhangjiakou Detention Centre. Afraid of being responsible for her death, the police allowed her to go home on bail to wait for the court trial which was to take place on June 19th, 2003. They told her family to take her home.
Staff from the People's Court of Zhangjiakou City, Zhangbei County Police Station and the local court went to Zhao Wenlan's home to harass her many times after she had returned home. Later, they hired a taxi to arrest Zhao Wenlan again. On August 12th, they refused her bail and once again, detained her at Zhangjiakou City Detention Centre.
As her health was very poor, Zhao Wenlan appeared in court with the help of others. She was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment by the People's Court of Zhangjiakou City on March 15th, 2004. Later she was sent to Mancheng Prison in Baoding City, Hebei Province. The prison refused to accept her because she was too old and her health was poor. However, the police from Zhangjiakou forced the prison to accept her. Then they framed additional so-called "evidence" to worsen the persecution towards Zhao Wenlan in the Mancheng Prison in Baoding City.
In early 2006, Zhao Wenlan was transferred to Shijiazhuang Women's Prison. There is no personal freedom at all and the prisoners are forced to work hard every day, packing chopsticks or sewing buttons on shirts. Zhao Wenlan's body has been tortured to the point that she is now very weak and is suffering from high blood pressure. Lately, at the strong request of her family, the prison stopped forcing Zhao Wenlan to work. However, they continue to force-feed her with unknown medicines. Family visits have been kept under police watch.
Note
1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
2. "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.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/12/26/145480.html
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