Ms. Chen Zhuoyi was Persecuted in a Detention Centre, Mental Hospital and Forced Labour Camp

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Chen Zhuoyi is 32 years old. She is from Chikan District, Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province. She started to practise Falun Gong in June 1997. Since then, she has tried to become a better person by following "Truthfulness -Compassion -Forbearance." She worked very hard and was given the "Excellent Employee" Award. However, after Jiang Zemin, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, she informed people about the persecution of Falun Gong and dispelled the state propaganda attacking the practice. The following are some of Ms. Chen Zhuoyi's experiences.

1. Handcuffed and burned with cigarettes at Fangshan Detention Centre in Beijing

In the winter of 2000, Ms. Chen Zhuoyi went to Tiananmen Square in Beijing and opened a banner that said "Falun Dafa is good." She was immediately surrounded by police and was beaten very badly and was sent to the Fangshan Detention Centre near Beijing.

In efforts to force her to reveal her name and address, police cuffed and tortured her. They put both of her hands behind her back and twisted them up, locking them together in one cuff while locking the other cuff to a metal chair. The cuff was so tight it took several people quite some time to open it up later. When the cuff was clamped on, Ms. Chen's hands and arms immediately felt intense pain. In addition, they kicked the cuffs with their boots and hammered away at them with their hands. In this way, the policemen tortured her for 8 hours causing great pain. In the end, the capillary vessels of two hands broke and the blood couldn't circulate. Both her hands turned black with a very deep mark where the cuff was locked on. Her right hand had no feeling. It took a very long time for her hands to recover.

They also poured cold water on her body and burnt her with lit cigarettes. They beat her, but she still wouldn't tell her name and address. After four days on a hunger strike, they finally released her. During her release, the policeman who interrogated her cursed her, saying that because of her he couldn't get the 200 yuan¹ bonus!

2. Electric shock Torture at Shahe Detention Centre in Guangzhou City

In March 2001, Ms. Chen Zhouyi once again went to Beijing to appeal and was arrested by Guangzhou East Railway Station 610 Office². After that she was transferred to Shahe Penitentiary. Fourteen Falun Gong practitioners were already being detained there.

After two days of detention, because she did not cooperate, she was cuffed by the policewomen. They stepped on her and then shocked her with two electric batons for a long time. Her face turned red and was swollen. After shocking her, they sprayed her face with red pepper spray, making it hard for her to breathe. However, they still could not get her name and address from her.

During the detention, she was not allowed to take a shower (not even later when her whole body get very dirty because of force feeding). They only gave her a little bit of water to drink. Her bowel movement was so dry that a stick had to be used to remove it. Under these circumstances, she was detained about two months. Because she was on a hunger strike, they brutally force fed her, and made her mouth bleed.

3. The cruel persecution experience at Baiyun District Mental Hospital in Guangzhou City

After 14 days of hunger strike, the agents of "610 Office," the penitentiary and doctor Chen Dezhi who is the mental hospital director took her and 14 practitioners and sent them to Baiyuan District Mental Hospital for "treatment." They locked them in the last section of bungalows in the Hospital with more than 50 mental patients (that nobody wanted to take care of). The hospital ordered the drug users to give injections to them. Doctor Chen Dezhi started to order three drug users in the hospital to beat Ms. Chen Zhuoyi. While they were beating her, they said, "There is no responsibility for beating people to death in a mental hospital. If you continue to practise, we will beat you to death." By then many parts of her body were a dark purple, her ribs were fractured and painful. She had a hard time turning her body in bed. She needed help to get out of bed. After that she got scabies all over her body. Some parts of her body festered and swelled. The other 14 practitioners also were beaten very badly, they had wounds all over their bodies. One of them even passed out.

4. Detained at Sanshui Forced Labour Camp in Guangdong Province

In October 2001, because she distributed leaflets exposing the persecution on the street, Ms. Chen Zhuoyi was arrested and sent to Sanshui Forced Labour Camp. They tried to brainwash her and she was kept in isolation. She was not allowed to use the toilet. She had to relieve herself in the room. However, she couldn't be forced to give up her belief. Camp officials extended her term. Instead of releasing her, they later sent her to Zhanjiang City and kept her in a brainwashing centre for a month. They still couldn't make her give up Falun Gong. They finally released her.

5. Detained again

In February 2004, because she distributed the leaflets near her company, someone ignorant of the truth reported her to police. She was arrested and once again sentenced to 2 years at Sanshui Forced Labour Camp. She was isolated in a storage room on the fifth floor. There was a desk and three chairs. Nine policemen took turns watching her 24 hours a day. They tried to brainwash her every day by playing propaganda videos. However, she refused to cooperate with them, and tried to tell them the truth about Falun Gong. She told them there are consequences to doing good and evil. However, they did not listen to her and continued to torment her. In addition, they ordered two drug inmates to monitor and torture her (later there were three).

These drug inmates always beat and pinched her, or they would hang her upside down. They wouldn't let her sleep even after every four days. On the fifth day she was only allowed to sleep for one hour. Whenever she closed her eyes the inmates would pull her hair, poke her ears, pull up her eyelids, or pour cold water on her head. Then she was held in front of the air-conditioner, freezing her. She was not allowed to sit. She had to stand for 24 hours. She wasn't allowed to change her wet clothes, take a shower or even use the bathroom. Once she relieved herself on the ground, so the inmates were ordered to clean up the urine with a piece of dirty cloth and put it into her mouth. One time when they saw her sitting on the ground, they ordered the inmates to pour boiling water on the ground causing her skin to blister. This was how she was mistreated in the forced labour camp for four months. She fainted several times.

After going through all this persecution, she still didn't give up her belief. To prevent her from influencing other practitioners, they sent her to the drug group. In order to resist persecution as well as expose the secret of the forced labour camp, one time in the cafeteria she stepped out and spoke in front of the thousands of inmates. She shouted loudly, "Stop the persecution of Falun Gong in Division 3..." She also shouted out her persecution experience. Authorities told her they would investigate, although she received no response. They again forced her to work. She refused to cooperate and started a hunger strike, so they brutally force fed her. They ordered two drug inmates to tie up her hands and left the feeding tube in her nose. After eight days, they finally agreed not to force her to work.

Because she refused to give up her belief, her term was extended by one month. Zhanjiang City "610 Office" took her out of Sanshui Forced Labour Camp and detained her again in the brainwashing centre in Zhanjiang City for another four months. She was locked in a small room and was not allowed to go out. Because she did not cooperate, she was locked into a dark room several times. They threatened that if she talked about the persecution in Sanshui Forced Labour Camp, they would arrest her again. Ms. Chen Zhuoyi refused to give up her belief under any circumstances, and she was finally released.

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/2007/12/29/169229.html