Her Family Separated Due to Repeated Persecution, Ms. Lu Xia from Shandong Province Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison

Ms. Lu Xia was a staff member at the Yarn Factory of Mengyin County, Shandong Province. She obtained both physical and mental benefits after learning Falun Dafa, and her family lived peacefully. After July 20th, 1999, when the suppression of Falun Gong by Jiang Zemin's group began, her family's quiet life was disrupted. Lu Xia was repeatedly imprisoned. She had to leave home to avoid persecution. The situation even led to her divorce. Eventually she was sentenced to eight years in prison and is still in Jinan Women's Prison.

In November 2000 Lu Xia went to Beijing to make a peaceful appeal for Falun Dafa. She was arrested and sent to the 610 Office¹ brainwashing centre in Mengyin County for over 20 days. During this time, she was kept alone in a small room, monitored 24 hours a day, and completely deprived of her personal freedom. Lei Yancheng, head of the Mengyin County 610 Office, and other officials made Lu Xia and other Falun Gong practitioners watch propaganda videos defaming Falun Gong during the day in an attempt to brainwash them. They also cursed and brutally beat them at their whim. In the evening, Lu Xia and other practitioners were only allowed to sleep after midnight on a small wooden board about 1.6 metres long. Outside the village workers checked every five minutes, often kicked the door, and cursed and shouted for no reason, arbitrarily hitting and kicking practitioners. At 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning the roughnecks would call on the practitioners to get up. Eventually Ms. Lu had 3000 yuan² extorted from her by the people from the brainwashing centre.

On March 4th, 2001, the 610 Office, the No. 4 Police District police led by Li Jian, and more than ten other people suddenly broke into Lu Xia's parents' home. They threatened to take away Lu Xia's father, Lu Dianyi. Lu Xia was there. She said to the police, "My father is already over 60. If you have something to say you, say it nicely. Why do you need to make such a big noise?" Her words angered the police, who surrounded Lu Xia and dragged her away while cursing at her. She was only wearing a skirt and slippers because they did not allow her time to change. One of her slippers fell off. She was taken away wearing just one slipper and hearing the cries of her elderly parents and five-year-old daughter. They charged her with "obstruction of justice." That same day she was tortured in the Mengyin County 610 Office brainwashing centre. Former Mengyin County 610 Office head Lei Yancheng and agent Fang Simin directed their accomplices to handcuff Lu Xia to a power pole. A group of guards took turns beating her. Mengyin County 610 Office agent Jiao Yuxiang also joined the brutal beating. Lu Xia was bruised all over. She had traces of blood all over her face and her hair was a mess. She could barely breathe after the beating. On the morning of March 5th, she was sent to Mengyin County Detention Centre for one month. The Mengyin County 610 Office asked for 5000 yuan for so-called "bail." Her family could not afford that much, and was eventually extorted 2000 yuan.

In March 2002, Lu Xia was again arrested by the Mengyin County 610 Office. She held a hunger strike for 16 days to protest the persecution. The 610 Office was afraid of being held responsible if she died, so they extorted 2000 yuan from her and released her home. But they still did not leave her in peace. The 610 Office agents often went to her home to harass her, pounding on the door and cursing while drunk. They made noise like crazy. Not only were Lu Xia's parents and child scared, the neighbours were also bothered. One night they knocked down the door and broke into the room, waking up Lu Xia's five-year-old daughter and asking her, "Where is your mother?" The child was scared and shaken. The irresponsible behaviour of the 610 Office police psychologically affected Lu Xia's little daughter, making her often feel frightened. Lu Xia had no choice but to leave home and live elsewhere. The 610 Office sentenced Lu Xia to three years of forced labour while she was absent, but they did not find her.

In June 2004, Lu Xia and other practitioners were brutally arrested by about 20 police officers from Taian. After being arrested they were interrogated, brutally tortured, and injected with nerve damaging drugs. Their bodies and minds were devastated.

On September 15th, 2004, practitioners Ms. Lu Xia, Mr. Zhao Weidong (from Taian), Ms. Song Furong, Ms. Qu Beibei, Ms. Qu Xiaotong (from Lu Nan), Ms. Song Qiai, and Ms. Hou Qingyuan were secretly sentenced at Taishan District Court in Taian City. Before the Taishan District Court's pre-trial hearing (the so-called opening investigation), all seven practitioners were injected with unknown drugs. As a result none of them were able to speak during the court session.

The seven practitioners were severely tortured, and their bodies were made extremely weak. Except for Mr. Zhao Weidong and Ms. Hou Qingyuan, who could still walk independently, three others needed help to walk. The remaining two had become very skinny, and they looked as if they were on the verge of death. People passing by the outer yard who saw them were all shocked and touched, some visibly showing sympathy.

On September 24th, Taishan District Court sentenced the seven practitioners to from eight to 12 years in prison. Lu Xia was sentenced to eight years. The practitioners appealed to the higher court, but Taian City Intermediate Court upheld the sentences. Before sending six female practitioners to Jinan Women's Prison, the police again injected them with drugs that damage the nervous system. The practitioners tongues were stiff. They drooled and could not speak.

Lu Xia's husband was afraid of being implicated, so he divorced her and was granted custody of their daughter. A happy family was thus destroyed because of Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong. Lu Xia is still imprisoned at Jinan Women's Prison.

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. "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/2007/6/10/156640.html