Ms. Guo Baoru from Tanggu District in Tianjin City Imprisoned in Forced Labour Camps for a Total of Nearly Four Years

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Guo Baoru lives in Zhongbache Village, Tianjin City. In January 2001, Ms. Guo was sentenced to one-and-a-half years of forced labour because she didn't give up her belief in Falun Gong. In 2004, Ms. Guo Baoru was sentenced to another year-and-a-half of forced labour. Her term was extended by ten months before she was released.

Ms. Guo Baoru started practising Falun Gong in 1997. She benefited greatly both physically and mentally from the practice. She used to suffer from various kinds of ailments, including pleurisy and inflammation of the chest cavity, chronic arthritis, and insomnia. Her pleurisy and chest cavity inflammation remained even though she spent more than 10,000 yuan¹ in medical treatment. However, these problems were cured after she had been practising Falun Gong for ten days, and afterwards, she was able to work again.

After the persecution started, Guo Baoru went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and to tell the central government that Falun Gong is good. As a result, she was brought back by local police officers and detained for 15 days. As soon as she was released, Ms. Guo went to Beijing again. She was brought back by local officers once again and detained for 30 days.

In January 2001, Ms. Guo was deceived into going to a brainwashing session at the Tanggu Drug Rehabilitation Centre by officials from the local township's government and the local police officers. She was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in a forced labour camp because she didn't give up her belief in Falun Gong. She was forced to gather beans in the labour camp and had to stay awake for long periods of time. In order to force her to give up her belief, the guards assigned her a heavier workload than the whole 20-person team. If she could not finish it in time or if she got help from other people, the guards would verbally abuse her. Ms. Guo was monitored by an inmate specially assigned to her and was not allowed to talk to people. However, none of this could shake her steadfast faith in Falun Gong.

The guards didn't force her to do hard labour after they saw that physical abuse would not change her mind. Instead they arranged a group of collaborators² to "transform³" Ms. Guo. She was "transformed" against her will because she could not withstand the terrible mental and spiritual torture at that time, and was released after one-and-a-half years of imprisonment.

Ms. Guo Baoru held a job in charge of selling electricity services in the village. After she was imprisoned in the forced labour camp, she was deprived of her right to find work.

In 2004, Ms. Guo Baoru was reported to the police by a malicious person while she was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong in Dongli District, Tianjin City. She was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in a forced labour camp once again. During her imprisonment in the Banqiao Women's Labour Camp in Tianjin City, she suffered various kinds of persecution because she protested the detention by not following the regulations in the labour camp. Because Ms. Guo refused to attend the flag-raising ceremony, do back-breaking labour, or wear the prison uniform, the guards incited the inmates to force Ms. Guo to stand outside with very few clothes in the freezing winter for several hours.

In order to torture her mentally, the guards pressed her onto a bed-board with a picture of Falun Gong's founder, while cursing her with the most foul words. They forbade her from moving, and would beat her and curse her if she moved.

Ms. Guo Baoru started a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The guards force-fed her for two months. She was not allowed to talk, contact other people, wash her face, or brush her teeth. Because the various persecution methods could not force Ms. Guo to give up her belief, the labour camp authorities extended her term twice. The first time, they extended her term by six months. The second time they extended it by four months. They released her after she served an additional ten months.

Note

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

2. "Collaborators": [former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.]

3. "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")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/4/16/176577.html