Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Yu Zhenjie from Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province has suffered severely during the past eight years of the persecution. She has been arrested several times, sentenced to forced labour, and tortured. Her daughter Ms. Dai Rui was sentenced to two years of forced labour; her younger brother Yu Zonghai, her sister-in-law and her sister were sentenced to prison. Her husband divorced her while she was in the labour camp.
I. Yu Zhenjie Is Steadfast Despite the Persecution
Ms. Yu Zhenjie is 56 years old. She used to work in the Mudanjiang City Commodities Bureau, which is now defunct. She lives in the residential building for standing members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Mudanjian Municipal Committee. She started practising Falun Gong in 1996. When the persecution started in 1999, her husband, who worked in the office of the Communist Mudanjiang City Committee, was transferred to the 610 Office1, which was specifically set up to persecute Falun Gong. He beat her many times, trying to force her to give up her cultivation.
Ms. Yu tried explaining the facts about Falun Dafa to the local government in August 1999, but did not see any results. She decided to appeal in Beijing and went there at the end of October. The police arrested her, and they sent her back to Mudanjiang City and kept her at the Mudanjiang City Second Detention Centre. The persecutors sentenced her in December to three years of forced labour and incarcerated her in the Qiqihar City Shuanghe Forced Labour Camp. She carried on hunger strikes and practised the Falun Gong exercises several times in the labour camp, but the authorities retaliated with torture and by placing her into a small cell. Later on they forced her to work in a pesticide factory. She was forced to work more than ten hours a day and did not get enough rest, and was exposed to highly toxic substances without any protection. Her nose was full of pesticide powder from the air, which is an extreme health hazard.
Before January 1st, 2000, Ms. Yu Zhenjie was again placed into a small cell for doing the Falun Gong exercises. The small cell used to be a chicken coop, and was cold and filthy. Division heads Zhao Li Juan and Liu Shurong urged inmates, one of whom was Li Xiaoyang, to torture and humiliate her. They forbade her to sit or fall asleep, but kept her squatting all the time. As soon as she dozed off or sat down, they would beat and verbally abuse her. Ms. Yu's legs went numb from the continuous, long-term squatting and from lacking winter shoes in the cold. She later became incontinent.
Guards and inmates in that camp tortured Falun Gong practitioners many times. One of the torture methods was called "Tying the Ropes." They first would tie a practitioner's hands up tightly until the rope would cut into the flesh, and then shock the practitioner with electric batons. Because Ms. Yu never gave in to the evildoers, she was tortured with this method many times and shocked with electric batons for various lengths of time, the longest being an entire day and night. The skin on her face was torn and the flesh was lacerated. The captors sarcastically called it "popcorn."
In October 2000, the officials transferred Ms. Yu Zhenjie to the Heilongjiang Drug Rehabilitation Labour Camp in Harbin City, a newly established facility. The CCP's strategy at that time was a "soft attack." In other words, they would pretend to be kind to the steadfast practitioners while having others continue the non-stop brainwashing to "reform2" them. They were seemingly kind to the practitioners, but would take turns to subject them to overwhelming brainwashing sessions and use their family members to exert pressure on them. Ms. Yu was still steadfast in her belief.
Shocked by Ms. Yu's steadfastness, the guards and officials respected her. She was kind to everybody and had no resentment; even torture could not move her will. They let her do Falun Gong exercises in the labour camp, and even found her a private room and a mat for her to practise the meditation.
Her husband was eventually unable to withstand the pressure the authorities put on him and demanded a divorce. Her husband took a lawyer to the labour camp and had the divorce procedure processed. Thus, her family was torn apart.
The torture at the Shuanghe Labour Camp was not able to change her belief, but in the Drug Rehabilitation Labour Camp, due to her worries about her daughter who was also kept in the same labour camp, she was swayed by her emotions. She let herself be deceived and became brainwashed by those who had given up Falun Gong. Fortunately, she soon realised the wrong decision she had made. The police officers called it a "rebound" and intensified their abuse, resulting in her whole body being unable to move. Afraid to bear the responsibility, the labour camp authorities released her before her term expired and had her sent back to Mudanjiang City.
Upon returning home, Ms. Yu Zhenjie persevered in studying the Falun Gong teachings and practising the exercises and quickly recovered. She decided to go into hiding to avoid further persecution.
One day the police discovered her temporary place of residence. They monitored the place and she could not get out. The police confiscated all of her personal belongings, including her bank card. When she went to the bank to report the loss, she was told that the account was already closed and not a penny was returned to her. During some Falun Gong practitioners' detention in Mudanjiang City, sometimes thousands of yuan3 would disappear without a trace from their direct deposit bank accounts.
On December 12th, 2006, Falun Gong practitioners were arrested and their homes ransacked. Participating were people from the Mudanjiang City Police Department, the National Security Division and the local police station, who had colluded with each other. The persecutors confiscated their computers, tape recorders, Falun Gong books and materials. Ms. Yu Zhenjie was one of those affected. She became ill during the arrest, but several police officers wrapped her up and carried her into a van heading to a detention centre. The police ransacked her home and took away the computer, TV and DVD player. When she was later sent to the Mudanjiang Police Department Hospital, she was partially paralysed and unable to care for herself.
Still, she carried on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. When the police officer reported this to National Security Division head Li Fu by telephone, Li ordered the police officer to force- feed Ms. Yu, who had to endure torture from force-feeding on top of her illness.
The persecution severely damaged Ms. Yu's health. Several medical facilities refused to accept her after looking at her physical condition. Her family members were allowed to take her home on December 31st, 2006. Through practising Falun Gong she recovered in less than a month. She again went into hiding to avoid being persecuted.
II. The Persecution of Ms. Yu Zhenjie's Daughter
The persecution did not stop with Ms. Yu Zhenjie herself. Her family members were persecuted one after another. For instance, her daughter, college student Ms. Dai Rui was twice sentenced to a labour camp; her younger brother Mr. Yu Zonghai was forced to do slave labour and suffered an eye injury while imprisoned at the Mudanjiang Prison, where he remains today. Her younger sister Ms. Yu Zhenping and her sister-in-law were both unlawfully incarcerated at the Harbin Women's Prison.
Ms. Yu Zhenjie's daughter Ms. Dai Rui was a student at the Department of Philosophy at Heilongjiang University, but was expelled at the end of 1999 for her steadfast belief in Falun Gong and her appeal for Falun Gong in Beijing. After returning to Mudanjiang City, the authorities detained her for more than a month. She carried on a hunger strike for seven days and was released.
Ms. Dai went to Beijing in October 2000 again to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested twice and kept at the Chaoyang District Detention Centre and in the Xicheng District Detention Centre in Beijing. On December 9th, 2000, the authorities sent her back to Mudanjiang City, but kept her detained in the City Second Labour Camp. On January 8th, 2001 she went on a hunger strike, demanding her release. On January 17th, the Mudanjiang 610 Office incited the detention centre authorities to force-feed her. Early in the morning on January 18th, they secretly sent her to the Heilongjiang Drug Rehabilitation Labour Camp in Harbin City.
While in the labour camp, Dai Rui became confused from the non-stop brainwashing attempts and deception, and she renounced Falun Gong. People at the Heilongjiang Provincial CCP Committee and the provincial Forced Labour Bureau used her. They had her make public statements to attack and defame Falun Gong. Later on, she submitted a petition to the Deputy Party Secretary of the Heilongjiang Provincial CCP Committee, Yang Guanghong, petitioning to resume her studies at her former university. This incident had a terrible impact nationwide. After she resumed her studies, the university authorities had her watched all the time.
Later having come to certain realisations, Ms. Dai felt deep regret for her mistakes. However, she was afraid that those monitoring her would find out and subject her to more severe persecution. Later on, she was able to escape from the authorities' monitoring on May 16th, 2001, and went into hiding. She declared everything she had said and done against Falun Gong to be void, and wrote down her experiences of being persecuted.
The police once more arrested Ms. Dai while she was in hiding, in May 2002, and sent her back to Harbin. They kept her in a secret place - 34 Hongzhuan Street - due to her public influence from the propaganda she participated in earlier. Over a period of three months of interrogations, Ms. Dai would not give in and was once again sentenced to three years of forced labour. She was kept in the notorious Wanjia Labour Camp in Harbin City.
Because she wouldn't give in, Ms. Dai was beaten many times, resulting in a nasal injury. Although she recovered from it, the injury left scars on her face. When her father visited her in the labour camp and saw her scar, he was talked to camp head, He complained that he worked in the "610 Office," and yet his daughter was beaten. The guards assured him that they would not beat his daughter in the future, but when he was gone they continued to torture Ms. Dai.
III. Ms. Yu Zhenjie's Younger Brother Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison and Severely Injured
Ms. Yu Zhenjie's younger brother Yu Zonghai used to be an employee specialised in art and design in the Mudanjiang Library. After practising Falun Gong, he gained good health and also a greatly improved artistic ability. In the areas of calligraphy and painting, he has displayed outstanding comprehension and techniques.
On November 12th, 2001, officers from the Xian Police Department's Gonghe Station in Mudanjiang City arrested Mr. Yu Zonghai and ten other practitioners. They severely tortured them during interrogation, trying to discover what they wanted. Failing to achieve their goals, the police tortured the practitioners using the most ruthless methods. Mr. Yu Zonghai was severely beaten at the hands of the police and was force-fed spicy mustard oil through his mouth and nose.
Mr. Yu Zonghai was sentenced to twelve years in prison and kept at the Sixth Ward in the Mudanjiang Prison. At the end of October 2004, Mr. Yu's family members mailed him some cash, but it was taken by a guard. Mr. Yu demanded it back several times in vain. Then he wrote a letter to the prison head. However, the letter ended up in the guard's hands. He was angered and retaliated against Mr. Yu. He instigated inmates to beat Mr. Yu, causing him to bleed from his mouth and nose. The guard also forced him to continue doing hard labour in this condition.
At the end of August 2006, Mr. Yu Zonghai sustained an injury to his left eye's tear gland while working in the workshop. If surgery was not done immediately to repair the damage, his left eye would be shedding tears involuntarily for the rest of his life. If this gland were removed, then he would get "dry eye," a much worse symptom. In addition, surgery could cause damage to the cornea and lead to eventual blindness. The prison hospital officials agreed to let Mr. Yu have surgery outside the prison, but the guards said that the family members must pay for the surgery, otherwise Mr. Yu would not be permitted to leave the prison. Mr. Yu's wife and sister were both detained in the Harbin Women's Prison, so no one was home to provide the money. The guard said, "Without money from his family members, even if he goes blind, it doesn't concern me." It wasn't until Mr. Yu Zonghai's younger brother was finally contacted and the money paid that Mr. Yu was able to receive treatment at the Hongqi Hospital in Mudanjiang, but the 24-hour window of opportunity for successful surgery had already passed. Mr. Yu's eyesight will not be permanently affected, but his left eye will shed tears involuntarily for the rest of his life.
There are many families like Ms. Yu Zhenjie's in China that are suffering all kinds of persecution for adhering to their belief in Falun Gong. We are calling on all people of conscience to pay attention to the ongoing persecution of millions of innocent citizens in China. Your support can stop these tragedies from continuing.
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. "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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/10/7/164002.html
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