The Torture and Harassment I Suffered at the Hands of the Communist Party of Huangyang, Henan Province

My name is Li Cuiying and I am 56 years old. I'm a practitioner from Xiaoyangzhai Village in Zhuji County, Huaiyang City, Henan Province. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its head Jiang Zemin launched the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, I have been arrested four times without any legal process. I was arrested because I wouldn't renounce my belief and I appealed for justice for Falun Dafa and our Teacher [Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa]. I was tortured inhumanely. I will recount briefly all that I and other practitioners suffered.

When the CCP began its persecution of Falun Dafa on July 20th,1999, several fellow practitioners and I went to the local government to speak out for justice. But these people were unapproachable and vicious. They refused to listen, arrested us and took us to the Huaiyang Detention Centre. We continued to practise the Falun Gong exercises. The head of the detention centre tortured us physically. We nine practitioners had to stand against the wall for an entire night.

Once, when the police discovered that we continued with the practice of Falun Gong, they put heavy ankle shackles on five of us and shackled us together. The shackles were so heavy that even a slight move would cause tremendous pain. We were forced to wear those shackles all day and night, even when we slept or relieved ourselves, for six weeks. The skin of our ankles was torn and the flesh was raw. It hurt so much that we couldn't fall asleep.

Another time, the deputy chief on duty discovered that three of us were reading a Falun Dafa book. He reported to Zheng Xianjun, who later put the shackles on us again. We had to keep them on until noon, and were not allowed to eat or drink. Then we were searched, and our Falun Dafa books were confiscated. When fellow practitioner Wei Suying asked Zheng Xianjun for the books back, Zheng not only refused, but also tied Wei Suying up tightly. It was so painful that her entire body was shaking. To increase the torture, Zheng Xianjun made Ms. Wei wear the torture instrument known as the "Waistcoat." Police officers Zhang Baoan and Wang Peidong threw Ms. Wei Suying to the ground and pulled on her shackles, with her head and body dragging along the ground. As they brutally dragged her for almost one hundred metres to the cell, every prisoner in the cell trembled with fear.

I was imprisoned for five months. I also spent the New Year's holiday at the detention centre. Before I was released, staff from the State Security Section fined me 3,000 yuan¹.

On the evening of August, 2000, at about 8:00 p.m., the head of the Zhuji County Police Station Wang Wenzhong and five or six policemen broke into my house and confiscated the Falun Dafa book that I held in my hand and arrested me. They also ransacked my home and confiscated anything they thought useful. They locked me up at the police station for a night. On the second day, Zhang Min, Deputy Chief of the Huaiyang State Security Section took me to the County Detention Centre.

At the detention centre, I was subjected to brainwashing attempts. Cheng Congguo, the administrator, continuously bombarded me with the so-called "law information" from the CCP. I asked him, "I haven't broken any of the regulations and rules you read. How come I was detained?" He could not answer me. Instead, he asked me, "Do you still want to practise Falun Gong?" I replied, "Yes." He continued, "As long as you practise, you will be detained." He charged me with "disturbing social order." I asked him, "Who disturbs the social order? I was sitting at home reading, yet I was arrested for no reason. Who carries out the disturbance and harassment?" He answered, "No matter what, you were arrested, so you must be in the wrong."

I, an innocent person, was detained for 2 weeks at the detention centre. Finally, Cheng Congguo and the entry guard asked me if I would continue to practise Falun Gong at home. I told them, "Absolutely." The guard said, "You have not changed despite of fifteen days of detention." I responded, "No one and nothing could shake my belief." They were at the end of their wits and had to set me free. However, they fined me 300 yuan before I was released.

On June 28th, 2001, the police in Huaiyang launched a search-and-arrest action against practitioners throughout our county. At noon, police officer Shao Haifeng and seven or eight policemen from the Zhuji Police Station came to my house in two cars to arrest me. I was taken under escort to the Zhuji Police Station and then transferred to the County Public Security Bureau. Then, I was taken to the detention centre again.

Altogether 25 practitioners were arrested this time. Police officers Zhang Baoan and Wang Peidong tried to force us to recite the prison regulations, but we refused. Then they put shackles on our feet and forced us to walk in the yard. But the shackles were far from enough to have everyone shackled, so they made two practitioners share one set (yet, there still were not enough skackles, for there were six more practitioners). After the police had shackled all the practitioners together, we were forced to form a circle and made to walk the distance of 19 circles. Afterward, Wang Peidong, Zhang Baoan and some criminals tried to force me to wear the "Waistcoat." However, I was too big, so the waistcoat couldn't be put on me properly. But they still tried to put in all the screws and nuts by pressing and pushing my flesh. I shuddered in pain, and it was hard to breathe, I almost suffocated. They did not take the Waistcoat off until eight hours later.

I saw that Zhang Baoan and Wang Peidong beat sixteen-year-old practitioner Liu Xia. They slapped Liu Xia's face with their big meaty palms. Afterwards, they threw Liu Xia onto the cement. When Liu Xia struggled to stand up, she was cruelly thrown again to the ground. The policemen beat the innocent young girl and shouted abuse at the same time, using disgusting and filthy words. They got tired after about twenty minutes of beating and yelling insults. Then they also put the "Waistcoat" on Liu Xia and shackled her. Only after little Liu Xia was pulled and dragged around more than ten times, she was taken back to her cell. But since she had been beaten so inhumanly, wore the "Waistcoat" and had the heavy shackles on her feet, it was extremely difficult for her to make the slightest move. It took her quite a while to walk to the cell.

This time I was again arrested without any legal cause. I was told that I would be imprisoned indefinitely. Later, I held a hunger strike to resist the torture and imprisonment. I was not released until I was extremely weak.

At about 8:00 p.m. on March 24th, 2003, two practitioners and I ran into police Shao Haifeng, who was in the company of three or four policemen, as we walked on a path on the outskirts of our village. Shao Haifeng asked us what we were doing. We told him we had been doing farm work in the fields. But he did not believe us. So he brought us to the police station and detained us for an entire day without allowing us to relieve ourselves. Finally he extorted 500 yuan from me and 600 yuan from the other two practitioners. Only then were we released (we've witnesses but no receipts).

On August 2nd, 2003, someone demanded that I sign my name on a document and write the guarantee statement. I refused. The person became angry and yelled that I would be arrested the next day. As expected, over the next three days the authorities came to my house to arrest me. I had to become homeless for 20 or so days before I returned. Since I lived alone, my house was burglarised while I was gone.

On the night of February 23rd, 2006, the authorities again initiated a county-wide search-and arrest action. At about 2:00 a.m., Li Changfeng, the police of the County State Security Section, Shao Haifeng of the Zhuji Police Station and about ten more people arrived in three police cars, broke into my house and carried me to their car. They stopped at the Zhuji Police Station to have their night snacks. Then they took six of us,Yang Shizhi, his wife Yu Fenglan, Huang Yaodong, me and two other practitioners to the detention centre.

During the first interrogation, the depraved Sun Wei, head of the State Security Section questioned, "What is your understanding of 'Heaven is destroying the CCP'?" I told him, "If heaven wants the CCP to perish, no one could stop it." Then, he asked me why I chose to practise Falun Gong, and also asked my opinion of Teacher. I answered, "My firmness in cultivating Falun Gong is because after I started practising it, all my illnesses were gone. It was Teacher Li who saved me, so I speak highly of him." Then he asked what I thought of the CCP. I answered, "The persecution of Falun Gong launched by the CCP is totally wrong."

The second time I was interrogated, Sun Wei asked, "Whom did you contact? Where did you get the leaflets exposing the persecution?" I said, "I've got no clue. I found them at my entrance." He couldn't get any information out of me, so he gave up. He said, "I won't ask any more questions, as I can't get anything out of you."

After I was detained for about four months, we were taken for a physical examination on a Friday morning. At that moment, I thought that they were going to persecute us more severely and that they might take us to a labour camp.

On Monday morning, Zhao Jishan, Shang Shengjun, Sun Wei and a policewoman from the State Security Section took six of us practitioners to forced labour camps. Practitioner Cai Youfeng, male, was to be taken to the Xuchang Forced Labour Camp. Wang Haomei, Li Aiqin, Lu Guiying, an unknown practitioner and I, all women, were to be taken to the Shibalihe Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zhengzhou. On the way to the labour camp, I couldn't stop vomiting violently. After we arrived there, I had a medical exam. They found that I was suffering from Myocardial Ischemia. As my life was in danger, the labour camp refused to accept me. The wicked Sun Wei argued with the doctor and urged him to take me in. But the doctor said, "As I've told you, she definitely won't be accepted." Those evil people from the State Security Section saw that they wouldn't take me, so they had to take me back. On the way back I kept vomiting, so they took me to the Medical Examination Centre. It showed that my blood pressure was as high as 160. Doctor Shi Wei told them that I was "seriously ill" and I had to have a transfusion immediately. As I was being given the transfusion, the State Security Police called Zhuji Police Station to come and get me. But, the police from the police station resisted. They claimed that they did not have the personnel and vehicles at the moment. They called the CCP secretary at our production team, and the secretary also refused to come. At last, the county secretary and the county chief of the Zhuji County came and picked me up.

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/2/21/149436.html