Ms. Gao Shulan from Hebei Province Died As a Result of Persecution

Ms. Gao Shulan, 36, was a resident of Anzigou Village, Mutoudeng Town, Qinglong County, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. Ms. Gao died on February 2nd, 2002 as a result of brutal mistreatment.

In November 2000, Ms. Gao Shulan went to Beijing to appeal for justice on behalf of all Falun Gong practitioners. She was arrested. Officers from the Qinglong County Police Department took her from Beijing and detained her at the Qinglong County Detention Centre. It was very cold the day Ms. Gao was taken to the detention centre. She and others were confined in a cold room without heat. A long plank was all they had for a bed, without bedding. It was very dirty, and some spots were pretty wet. The space was not big enough for all of them to sit on, and it was much too small for them to lie down. Several practitioners were subjected to brutal treatment. They were handcuffed and placed in leg irons that weighed more than 30 pounds as soon as they were jailed. Their hands were handcuffed behind their backs, and their handcuffs were chained to their ankle shackles. They were not able to use the toilet by themselves. Other practitioners took care of them the whole night without sleeping.

Ms. Gao and others were kept in handcuffs connected to ankle shackles the second day in the detention centre. They could not stand or lie down. This caused them tremendous pain. Ms. Gao and other practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest the torture. Guards finally opened their handcuffs and shackles after a day and a half.

The guards tortured the practitioners whenever they found out that the practitioners had done the exercises. Whenever they started the torture, they forced other practitioners to watch.

One day, Ms. Gao was taken to a management and "education" (brainwashing) room. Wang Jin (male), director of the detention centre, ordered several inmates to strip off her trousers except for her pants and lay her over a stool. Wang whipped her buttocks with a V-belt until he was sweating and was too tired to go on. Then guard Xie (first name unknown) continued. Ms. Gao was finally taken back to her cell after she fainted due to the severe pain. Ms. Gao could not sit. Her buttocks were black and purple the next day.

During the winter, the guards poured water onto the cement floor and ice as thick as four inches formed. Wang Jin and his guards then forced practitioners to lie flat on the ice. Ms. Gao and her fellow practitioners were forced to lie on the ice on many occasions. The shortest time was for more than one hour. The longest time was from noon to 6 p.m. It was snowing and the practitioners could not straighten their fingers and arms because of the severe cold. Zhang Xi (male), deputy director of the police department, and other guards wearing boots then trampled the practitioners' hands, claiming they were just straightening their fingers out. The guards whipped the practitioners lying on the ice. Sometimes the guards ordered other inmates to do it.

After Ms. Gao Shulan had been detained for more than two weeks, officers from the Qinglong County Police Department extorted 3,000 yuan¹ from her husband and they then released her.

Han Min and Zhou Ziqiu, female agents from the Mutoudeng Town 610 Office², harassed and threatened Ms. Gao at home on many occasions. Ms. Gao was under tremendous pressure. She also suffered as a result of the torture she was subjected to in the detention centre. Her health deteriorated and she died on February 2nd, 2002.

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://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/4/18/176734.html