Falun Dafa Practitioners Mr. Niu Wanjiang and His Wife from Lanzhou City, Gansu Province Persecuted for Over Eight Years

Practitioners Mr. Niu Wanjiang, 45, and his wife, Ms. Zhang Zhenmin, 44, from Lanzhou City in Gansu Province, have been persecuted for over eight years, ever since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999. Mr. Niu Wanjiang was put in a forced labour camp for a year and later served a three year sentence in prison. He is now in the Longjiawan Brainwashing Centre in Lanzhou City. Ms. Zhang Zhenmin was sentenced to eight years and is doing forced labour at the Gansu Province Jiuzhou Women's Prison, Lanzhou City. Their young son lives with his grandparents. All three subsist from the grandfather's small income.

Mr. Niu Wanjiang worked at the Lanxi Railway Locomotive Depot of the Railways Bureau. Ms. Zhang Zhenmin worked at the Lanzhou City Meat Processing United Factory. They lived at the railway's subdivision in the Kangleyuan Neighbourhood of Chengguan District, Lanzhou City. Before practising Falun Gong, Mr. Niu had severe myocarditis, and his chest was frequently in pain. He could not climb stairs. His heavy dependency on medication presented a large burden to his family and his employer. When he was desperate, he was introduced to Falun Gong. Shortly after he started practising, his illness disappeared. He was even able to carry a heavy bag of flour weighing several dozen pounds up the stairs to his residence on the seventh floor.

Once Mr. Niu went with his colleagues to climb a mountain. Knowing his past problem, his colleagues all asked him not to climb. But Mr. Niu said confidently, "Don't worry. I can go because I practise Falun Gong now. Please trust me!" As a result, he went to the top of the mountain without even being short of breath. His colleagues following him said, "Mr. Niu Wanjiang, we can't believe it! You previously became short of breath even when you climbed a couple of stairs, how come now you are fine climbing up such a tall mountain? Falun Gong is really miraculous!"

Mr. Niu Wanjiang introduced this good practice to his wife. However, she did not begin practising. When the CCP controlled media spread rumours and lies about Falun Gong, she was totally confused. What the news media reported was exactly the opposite of what her husband had experienced. To find the truth, she read through the Falun Dafa book, Zhuan Falun, for the first time. She understood that Mr. Niu was following the principles in Zhuan Falun. What was shown on television was the opposite of the requirements for cultivators. Ms. Zhang Zhenmin realised that lies were being broadcast on television and her husband was just trying to be a good person. Under these difficult circumstances, Ms. Zhang Zhenmin started her cultivation.

Mr. Niu and Ms. Zhang lived together on the seventh floor. Ms. Zhang had tracheitis, migraine headaches, a fractured hip, and several other diseases. It was also quite challenging for her to climb to the seventh floor, as her fractured hip kept giving her grief. But shortly after she started practising Falun Gong, her symptoms all disappeared. Though she became a practitioner after the CCP's persecution started, her belief in Dafa has never wavered. She went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa twice. She is now imprisoned and being tortured at the Gansu Province Women's Prison.

Mr. Niu Wanjiang is Tortured at the Longjiawan Brainwashing Centre

On July 20th, 1999, Mr. Niu went to the Gansu Province Appeals Office to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. He was detained by his company for five days. Four people took turns watching him around the clock, even when he used the toilet. Later he was laid off and had no income. He was told to write "reports," a guarantee statement¹, and a "united guarantee statement" that required a family member's signature, too. In November 1999, Mr. Niu went to Beijing to appeal for the justice for Falun Gong. He was detained for fifteen days and his company reprimanded him by recording a serious demerit and revoked his assistant statistician title. He was forced to stay at the Party secretary's office when he got to work and was not allowed to do any work. Ms. Zhang Zhenmin was laid off too. She received no salary nor the basic living subsidy. The managers of her company said, "According to the rules set by Lanzhou City and Gansu Province, 'Whoever practises Falun Gong will not get paid,' and 'Whoever does not agree with the rule should go to Beijing.'"

On September 26th, 2000, the Lanzhou Railways Police Department deceived Mr. Niu Wanjiang into leaving his home and took him to the Fifth Division of the Pingantai Forced Labour Camp in Lanzhou City. He was forced to stay there for a year. Their family had no income and their son faced not being able to continue his schooling.

In January 2001, Mr. Niu held a hunger strike. Lead guard Dong Faqiang of the Third Squadron, Fifth Division of Pingantai Forced Labour Camp, handcuffed him. Dong also slandered Dafa's Teacher during a gathering of the drug addict inmates and stirred up hatred between them and practitioners. In July 2001, practitioner Mr. Song Yanzhao was beaten to death at the labour camp. To mourn Mr. Song's death, Mr. Niu and other practitioners in the Fourth and Fifth Divisions held group exercises in the courtyard at around 5 o'clock in the morning. The guards were shocked and the group exercise lasted for several days. The guards suppressed any news about this and discussed how to react. One day, Chief Dai and Deputy Chief Li Guoyuan of the Management Section led a group of guards to rush into the courtyard and lock all the practitioners in solitary confinement. The practitioners were handcuffed in a position where they could neither stand nor squat. They were restrained in this torturous position for days--even while eating and relieving themselves. The evildoers were afraid of and angry at Mr. Niu because he dared to expose them.

A few months after Mr. Liu was released from Pingantai Forced Labour Camp, his wife was arrested. The police tried to arrest him, too, but he was able to escape and went from place to place to hide. Mr. Liu was forced to flee from his home by the CCP's policy of persecution. The CCP's deceitful propaganda machine, however, claimed that practitioners did not care about their families and that they never went home.

On September 15th, 2002, Niu Wanjiang was arrested again and taken to the Dashaping Detention Centre in Lanzhou City. Later he was sentenced to a three year prison sentence and was imprisoned in the Seventh District of the Lanzhou City Dashaping Prison. Because Mr. Niu refused to be "transformed²," he was locked in solitary confinement and not allowed visits from family members. His eleven-year-old son was alone by himself. His parents-in-law had no choice but to leave their own home to live with their grandson. The three of them live only on the grandfather's meagre income.

Because Mr. Niu Wanjiang refused to comply with the authorities, he was put into solitary confinement twice for "special management." During that time, he held a hunger strike, but he was beaten until he went into shock. The violent beating greatly damaged his mind and body. The evildoers also stopped his family's visits for six months.

On September 15th, 2005, Mr. Niu's prison term ended. When his family went to the prison to meet him, they were told that he had been taken to the Longjiawan Brainwashing Centre in the middle of the night. This is how the CCP openly violates human rights.

In the winter of 2005, Mr. Niu held a hunger strike to protest the torture at the brainwashing centre. He was then put into solitary confinement again. There was no heat in the confinement room. Only the corridor had some heating pipes, but the majority were broken. For warmth, the guards in the on-duty office used two powerful electric heaters and wore insulated coats. It can only be imagined how cold the place was. But Mr. Niu was left without heat or warm clothes. Because Mr. Niu has refused to comply with the official demands and instructions and refuses to go on drill, he has frequently been put in solitary confinement as torture.

Ms. Zhang Zhenmin Forced to Do Slave Labour at Gansu Province Jiuzhou Women's Prison

On the morning of May 3rd, 2002, a group of policemen from the Chengguan Police Department in Lanzhou City used the excuse of checking the gas in her residence to deceive Ms. Zhang Zhenmin into opening her door. Without showing any identification, they handcuffed her and ransacked her home. They stole her son's computer, clocks, and watches. They also stole her parent's deposit card (with approximately four thousand yuan³), her salary card (more than two hundred yuan), and Mr. Niu Wanjiang's salary card (about two thousand yuan). They did not leave any receipt. Nor did they return anything later.

Ms. Zhang Zhenmin was first imprisoned at the Xiguoyuan Detention Centre and later taken to Hualin Mountain Number Two Detention Centre. She was forced to do slave labour, and she held a hunger strike to protest. Guards put shackles on her feet and handcuffed her hands behind her back. Then they used a wire approximately 16 inches long to connect the handcuffs and shackles. This torture instrument renders a person unable to stand or squad. She could only kneel down, and was locked in this position for days. Other inmates needed to help her eat and drink and use the toilet.

Inmates in the same room with Ms. Zhang were in tears when they saw her tortured like this. They knelt down to ask her to drink and eat, saying that they would not eat if she did not eat. She understood their sympathy, but her determination to protest the guards' torture of practitioners was firm. So she continued her hunger strike and water fasting.

Ms. Zhang Zhenmin was tortured for 39 days. Her hands, feet, and whole body were swollen. The handcuffs dug into her flesh so deeply that when the handcuffs were unlocked, they could not be removed. After she was released, she could not straighten her back for several days. She could not move her legs or arms, either. The inmates sympathetic to her put hot towels on her to help her recover. Even the criminals facing execution are treated better than practitioners. Those criminals are only tortured like that for a week and the wire is longer so that they can bend down and sleep against the wall. On the wall are the prison's "rules." The third rule is not to abuse inmates during interrogation. But in reality, the guards savagely torture practitioners at will.

When Ms. Zhang's handcuffs were removed, she shouted in her room, "Falun Dafa is good!" The guards were afraid and locked her in the monitoring room on the top floor. She kept shouting, "Falun Dafa is good!" Her voice could be heard by everyone in the courtyard. Her voice encouraged other practitioners in the prison.

Guards at the Hualin Mountain Detention Centre did not allow Ms. Zhang's parents to visit her, even during the Chinese New Year. The money and materials that her parents mailed to her were also returned. That's because the guards did not want her family to see that she was begin tortured. Her mother went to the detention centre many times. Walking from the front door to the rear door, she asked the deputy director of the detention centre, "Why do you not allow me to see my daughter? Why have you handcuffed her for so long? What happens if there is a problem? If your children were tortured like this, what would you think?"

At the Hualin Mountain Detention Centre, Ms. Zhang Zhenmin never cooperated with the guards. On July 3rd, 2003, the Chengguan District Court held a secret trial of her and several other practitioners. Ms. Zhang questioned them, "Why didn't you inform our families about the trial and let them attend?" The judge was speechless and had to end the trial. On December 10th, 2003, World Human Rights Day, the Chengguan District Court secretly sentenced her to eight years in prison. Ms. Zhang appealed to the Lanzhou City Intermediate Court, but the Intermediate Court rejected her appeal on January 16th, 2004.

Ms. Zhang Zhenmin is now in the Fourth District of the Gansu Province Jiuzhou Economic Development Zone Women's Prison. She is forced to perform slave labour every day. Once the guards put up a board with materials slandering Dafa, and Ms. Zhang removed them. For this the guards hung her up in the air by her handcuffs and beat her. It was very difficult for her to raise her arms after that beating.

The Party secretary of the Lanzhou City Longjiawan Brainwashing Centre is Qi Ruijun.

Gansu Province Women's Prison: 86-931-8333526
Duan Shengcheng, lead warden: 86-931-652358 (ext. 8001)
Gan Yumei, Deputy lead warden: 86-931-699196 (ext. 8002)
Dai Wenqin, Deputy lead warden: 86-931-696198 (ext. 8003)

Other officials who participated in torturing Mr. Niu Wanjiang:
Sun Binzhou, Party secretary of the Lanxi Railway Locomotive Depots: 86-931-2942293 (Home), 86-931-2942003 (Office)
Gao Yanbin, director of the Lanxi Railway Locomotive Depots: 86-931-2942213 (Home), 86-931-2943603 (Office)
Qu Deyao, deputy Party secretary of the Lanxi Railway Locomotive Depots: 86-931-2942423 (Home), 86-931-2942093 (Office)
Liu Jicun, section chief of the Security Section: 86-931-2943634 (Home), 86-931-2947368 (Office)

Note

1. "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

2. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

3. "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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/8/5/160227.html