Ms. Zhao Yingjie Brutally Tortured at Jilin Province Women's Prison and Has Become Severely Ill

Ms. Zhao Yingjie, a practitioner from Jilin City, Jilin Province, was tortured so severely that both her hands, which are raw from the friction of the handcuffs, are horribly disfigured. She is being held in Jilin Province Women's Prison and is suffering from an extremely serious lung infection that is life threatening.

Ms. Zhao Yingjie is 34 years old. After the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution on July 20th, 1999, Ms. Zhao went to Beijing to appeal and was sentenced to forced labour for one year. She was admitted to the Second Ward at Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Changchun City, Jilin Province. The severe mental torture left her in an almost catatonic state. With the help of fellow practitioners and family members, she was able to recover.

On February 12th, 2007, Ms. Zhao was arrested by officers from Xiangyang Police Station in Jilin City and the State Security Division of Jilin City near Xiangyang Market in the Chuanying District, Jilin City. She was detained at the Police Dog Training Base on Yueshan Road in Jilin City and tortured in an effort to extort a confession from her. Other practitioners arrested and tortured included Ms. Mu Chunhong, Ms. Wang Liqiu, Mr. Zhao Guoxing, and Mr. Liu Yuhe. The police used different methods of torture on these five practitioners, seriously injuring them mentally and physically. Ms. Zhao was unable to move one side of her body as a result of the cruel torture she endured.

July 10th, 2007, five months after Ms. Zhao was arrested and tortured, the Chinese Communist Party Court of the Chuanying District in Jilin City put her on trial. In court, five practitioners--including Ms. Zhao Yingjie, Ms. Mu Chunhong, and Mr. Zhao Guoxing--revealed the identities of their interrogators and how they had been tortured and scarred. Mr. Zhao Guoxing was going to present his bloodstained clothing from when he was tortured for a confession and held for nearly five months in the detention centre, but the court police forcefully seized them. When Ms. Zhao Yingjie attempted to reveal that during her interrogation, those in charge sexually assaulted her with a wooden club and force-fed her five bottles of spicy black mustard oil, seriously injuring her mouth and face, and showed her leg wound, Judge Hu Chunwei refused to let her continue speaking.

Despite all the testimony and evidence, Gao Ming (male) from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Procuratorate categorically denied that the police in Jilin City had tried to extort a confession from Ms. Zhao Yingjie by torturing her. Ignoring the evidence, the Chuanying District Court concluded that Ms. Zhao Yingjie and the other four practitioners were guilty. Ms. Zhao was sentenced to six years of imprisonment. On November 13th, 2007, she was taken to the Jilin Provincial Women's Prison (Heizuizi Women's Prison in Changchun City). Because of the extent of injuries as a result of torture, she was in very poor health and the prison authorities refused to accept her. CCP personnel from Jilin City took her to the Changchun Police Hospital, and Heizuizi Women's Prison eventually accepted her.

Jilin Province Women's Prison:
Xu Guangsheng (warden): 86-431-5375001, 86-431-2725199 (Home), 86-13704362518 (Mobile)
Deputy warden Gao Mingya 86-431-5375003, 86-13604425882 (Mobile)
Deputy warden Wang Jie 86-431-5375002, 86-431-2842148 (Home), 86-13504482003 (Mobile)
Deputy warden Wu Zeyun 86-431-5375003, 86-431-8694030 (Home), 86-13604449573 (Mobile)

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/3/29/175384.html