The Persecution of Married Couple Mr. Wu Kaili and Ms. Zhao Fenglian

1. A Peaceful and Happy Family Practising Falun Gong Together

Ms. Zhao Fenglian, over 50 years old, used to suffer from many illnesses including severe arthritis, gallbladder inflammation and headaches. These ailments caused her to have a bad temper, and she often berated people. Ms. Zhao would be bedridden several days in a row and had lost her will to live. After practising Falun Gong she was free of illness and became even-tempered.

Seeing the wonderful changes in his wife, her husband, Wu Kaili, also started to practise Falun Gong. Prior to the onset of the persecution their family life was very happy.

2. Repeatedly Detained and Sentenced to Forced Labour.

Ever since July 20th, 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began the persecution of Falun Gong, the couple could not practise Falun Gong in public and could only practise at home. In February 2000, Ms. Zhao Fenglian decided to go to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. Police officers from the Tianshui Train Station intercepted her and took her to the Jinchang City Drug Rehabilitation Centre, where she was held for 15 days.

The Suffering of Ms. Zhao Fenglian

Ms. Zhao Fenglian was arrested in October 2000. Participating in the arrest were officers from the Jinchang Police Department. She was held in a detention centre where she began a hunger strike to protest the persecution. She was released after her family paid the Binhelu Police Station officials 2,000 yuan¹. A month later, on January 2nd, 2001, the local police arrested Ms. Zhao from home. They first held her in a detention centre and then took her to Pingantai Forced Labour Camp two days later. Responsible for the forced labour sentence were Li Xinghua, Meng Jiaxian, and Li Jianqing from the Jinchang Police Department.

While in the labour camp, her captors refused to let Ms. Zhao talk to others. They harassed her frequently by having her stand for long hours and/or deprived her of sleep, justifying these abuses because she either refused or was unable to recite the prison rules. They also often assigned her the most demanding manual labour for refusing to write the Three Statements². In addition, they compelled her to stand long hours, untli late at night. Once, Ms. Zhao and other practitioners called out, "Falun Gong is good" and practiced the exercises in the cafeteria. That led to a "reward and punishment" meeting at 1:00 a.m. in the No. 7 Division of the labour camp. Many practitioners called out "Falun Gong is good" during the meeting. These practitioners were handcuffed and put into solitary confinement, where the torture started. They were handcuffed with their arms behind their backs. A rope was tied to the handcuffs and then to a metal pipe on the ceiling, lifting the victims off the ground. Nine practitioners were tortured like this. Prison guards Dai Wenqin, Jin Guofang, and Li Xiaojing were involved in torturing Zhao Fenglian and the other practitioners.

Two weeks after Ms. Zhao's release from the labour camp, the authorities once again took her from home. Officers Ma Changgui, Ma Yongguo, and others from the Binhelu Police Station took her to a drug rehabilitation centre. Centre head Liu Guo incited inmates to force-feed Ms. Zhao. She was pushed onto a bed, unable to move. They cut a bottle in half and crammed it into her mouth, making her bleed and breaking three of her front teeth. She was finally released in June 2002.

The Suffering of Mr. Wu Kaili

Mr. Wu Kaili was intercepted as he tried to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was sent to a drug rehabilitation centre in Jinchang City. He was detained for 15 days.

On September 20th, 2001, Mr. Wu was reported to the police and was arrested at his home. Li Chao, Xu Wangcai and Chen Gongguo from the Wuweilu Police Station were involved in his arrest. Mr. Wu was made to lie down on a cot with his hands stretched over his head. They handcuffed and shackled him. One end of a rope was tied to the shackles and the other end to a mental pipe on a wall. His four limbs were stretched out like this for one day and night. Then he was taken to Jichang Detention Centre. After 57 days' incarceration there, they took Mr. Wu to Pingantai Forced Labour Camp.

He continued to suffer from gross abuse in the camp. His mouth developed cracks from lack of drinking water. He was forbidden to speak and was forced to work like a slave. The captors made him watch videos and materials that slandered Falun Gong and ordered him to write the "three statements." Three inmates were assigned to watch every move he made, even while in the toilet. He was often deprived of sleep and was brutally beaten.

When he returned to the cell after a long day's hard work, those in charge tortured Mr. Wu further with a method they called "pushing against the bed." He was made to stand three long steps away from a bed, then had to stoop at a 90-degree angle, with both hands behind his back. Then he had to stretch his neck forward until his head touched the triangle of the metal bed. The weight of his whole body would be put against the metal. In a short time his legs would tremble and a deep, red gouge would appear on his forehead. His back would hurt and he would eventually lose feeling. The abusers would barrage him, demanding to know if he would give up Falun Gong. Such torture could last from half an hour to one hour, until he was exhausted and fell to the ground or lost consciousness. Practitioners were often subjected to such torture.

Once during a tree-pruning job, Mr. Wu was subjected to a brutal beating because he "disobeyed." The abusers boxed and kicked him, twisted his arms, and stretched them behind his back. The group head scolded him and beat him with a tree branch, breaking Mr. Kali's left index finger. The finger hurt and was swollen, but they still made him work.

Wu Kaili was finally released on June 30th, 2002.

3. The Couple Was Arrested Again

On December 1st, 2002, when the couple was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong in Wuweimiao Township, village head Li Haiyuan reported them to local police. The couple was arrested and taken to the local police station. Ms. Zhao Fenglian later escaped.

Her husband, Mr. Wu, was sent to a detention centre where he began a protest hunger strike. His captors began force-feeding him on the 15th day. Eight people held him on the ground, stretching his four limbs in different directions, and then jamming their knees into his arms, legs, and stomach. One person held his head, and one pinched his nose. He was unable to move and had difficulty breathing. They opened his mouth with a device customarily used on animals. Force-feeding eventually broke one of his front teeth. The person who led the force-feeding was Wang Jinshen.

Nine practitioners in that detention centre, including Wu Kaili, were trussed up with rope. Placards were hung around their necks, bearing their names and words that slandered Falun Gong. They were taken to Jinta Township where a public "trial" gathering was held. They were forced to stand on tall stools. Fabricated charges were announced. Seven months later they were taken to the Lanzhou Prison.

In Lanzhou Prison, prison guards incited inmates Cao Feng and Gong Jian to savagely beat Wu Kaili for refusing to participate in an "exam." Mr. Wu lost another front tooth when Cao Feng hit him in the face with his fist.

4. Wu Kaili Subjected to Abuse in Wuwei Prison

On October 15th, 2003 Mr. Wu was transferred to Wuwei Prison's No.2 Division.

Wuwei Prison is also called Wuwei Rug Factory. Wu Kaili was subjected to forced labour. He firmly refused to write the Three Statements, so he was beaten and verbally abuses at the hands of inmates Cai Aiwu and Wang Shouqin, whom the guards had incited.

5. Wu Kaili Subjected to Abuse in Jiuquan Prison

On December 1st, 2005, Wu Kaili was transferred to that prison's No. 5 Ward. Practitioners there were isolated into two rooms where they slept and ate, and had to undergo forced brainwashing. They had to read materials and watch videos day and night that slandered Falun Gong. A "public criticizing meeting" would be held every three days. Practitioners had to stand in front of the group. The inmates would frenziedly cry out slogans to slander Falun Gong and made speeches to verbally abuse Falun Gong and its founder. Two inmates would hold Wu Kaili by the arms while he stood in the front. Such a meeting would last half a day, and the practitioners were forbidden to sleep until very late. While in that dungeon, Mr. Wu heard that his wife, Zhao Fenglai, was close to death in Gansu Province Women's Prison. He almost had a mental breakdown.

6. Ms. Zhao Fenglian Subjected to Abuse in Jinchang Detention Centre

Li Xu and Dai Baoji from the Domestic Security Division arrested Ms. Zhao on October 26th, 2003, and held her in Jinchang Detention Centre. There was to be a public trial for her and other practitioners in Jinchuan District Court. Once they were dropped in the courtyard, they immediately called out "Falun Gong is good." Many practitioners went there to support them, which frightened the evildoers, and the trial proceedings for that day were cancelled.

7. Ms. Zhao Fenglian Died as a Result of the Persecution

In 2004 Ms. Zhao was taken to Gansu Province Women's Prison. She firmly refused to write the "Three Statements" and insisted on her innocence. She was forced to work like a slave, even though she became thinner and thinner under the long-term abuse.

The captors allowed her to leave the prison on December 4th, 2005, for medical treatment, because her pancreatic cancer was spreading. Ms. Zhao Fenglian died, 18 days after being taken home.

8. Another Family Destroyed by the CCP

Wu Kaili heard about his wife's death while he was still in Jiuquan Prison. The anguish made him heartbroken. He was not released until September 2006.

He returned home, to the same area where his wife had died. His employers fired him. The Jiang Zemin, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime's notorious policy-- "break them mentally and physically and cut off their economic resources"--had destroyed a once happy family.

Note

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

2. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/3/21/174805.html