Ms. Liang Wende Tortured and Sentenced to Four and a Half Years of Imprisonment

Ms. Liang Wende was twice imprisoned and tortured in the Sichuan Women's Forced Labour Camp. On May 8th, 2008, the Longmatan District Court in Luzhou City, Sichuan Province sentenced Ms. Liang to four and a half years in prison.

Ms. Liang, 53, used to work in the Industrial and Business Bureau in Luzhou City. She started practising Falun Gong in May 1997. After the persecution started on July 20th, 1999, she was detained three times and imprisoned twice because she appealed for Falun Gong.

On the afternoon of August 22nd, 2000, Zhou Dehua from Domestic Security deceived Ms. Liang into going to his office and then tortured her to get a confession. Zhou handcuffed her to a bar until midnight and then transferred her to Huangjingshan Detention Centre. The next morning, Zhou Dehua, Lin Min, and Li Zhenghui took Ms. Liang to her home, searched it, and then confiscated some of her belongings. The next afternoon, they transferred her to Dengganshan Detention centre in Luzhou City. She was then transferred to the Lu County Detention Centre in Guankou and was detained there until September 23rd, 2000.

On November 27th, 2000, Zhou (first name unknown), Yang Xu, and another person from Nancheng Police Station went to Ms. Liang's house. They forced her to sign an agreement to be sentenced and detained her in Huangjingshan Detention Centre. On December 1st, 2000, she was transferred to Nanmusi Forced Labour Camp. In Nanmusi, she was forced to watch videos, read newspapers, and listen to recordings that slandered Falun Gong. From July to October 2001, she had to do forced labour outdoors in the heat. As a result, Ms. Liang became severely underweight. At the end of October 2001, the guards put her in a strict-management room on the top floor. She slept, ate, bathed, and went to the toilet all in the same room all day. She wasn't allowed to leave the room or shower when she wanted. She had to to sit still from morning until 8 p.m. without talking to anyone. Everyone in the room shared the same bucket of water and, as a result, diseases such as scabies spread to everyone. The room was always filled with a terrible odour and the smell of excrement and urine. Ms. Liang had scabies all over body, and she constantly felt unbearably itchy. Her buttocks festered with sores due to her sitting still in the same position at all times. This lasted for three months.

She was supposed to be released on November 29th, 2001, but Sun (first name unknown) from the Jiangyang District Public Safety Bureau and the 610 Office forced her into the Huashan Detention Centre and detained her for 56 more days. When she went home, her ID was confiscated, and she had to report to the community office everyday and to apply for leave if she wanted to leave home.

On June 11ht, 2002, officers again arrested Ms. Liang and admitted her to Dengganshan Detention Centre in Luzhou City. The guards forced her to wear heavy shackles and handcuffs that weighed more than 20 pounds. They chained her handcuffs to her shackles so that she had to stay bent over 24 hours a day. She couldn't use the toilet, get on or off her bed, shower, dress or undress herself, or eat without having others helping her. When she slept, she had to curl up like a cat, so her body ached all night. It was summertime and Ms. Liang's cell smelled like excrement and sweat because she couldn't shower or use the toilet. The guards detached her handcuffs from her shackles four days later, removed her shackles a week later, and removed her handcuffs a month later.

On September 10th, 2002, Ms. Liang was sentenced to two and a half years of imprisonment and was taken to Nanmusi Forced Labour Camp again. She was tortured, forced to stand facing a wall for a long period of time, and subjected to sleep deprivation. Guard Zhang Xiaofang restricted her food intake as well. From January 14th, 2003 on, practitioners who refused to cooperate would receive only one-third of each meal, which was two bites of rice and a bowl of soup. Practitioners couldn't go to the toilet without permission and were physically abused all the time. On February 9th, 2003, Zhang force-fed water to practitioners who refused to eat. This consisted of about 45 ounces of water every other hour. After the force feedings, practitioners were not allowed to use the toilet and had to stand still. Many soiled their trousers.

After Ms. Liang was released, she appealed to different levels of government and justice departments, accusing the Luzhou City Domestic Security Department and the 610 Office¹ for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. She also exposed the cruel torture used in Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp. Her actions resulted in further persecution by the Luzhou City Domestic Security Department and the 610 Office. She had to live away from home to avoid further persecution.

In the evening during the 2007 Lantern Festival, Ms. Liang went home after two years of living on the run. Officer Yang Wenwu immediately came to harass her and called in others. They included Li Zhenghui and Yao Lumin from the 610 Office and the chief of the district and the chief of Nan street, Chen Xingde. Yang told Ms. Liang that she was not supposed to leave home five years after she was released from prison and that she needed to report to the police wherever she went. Li and Yao interrogated her and asked her why she had been living away from home for the last two years, and had her sign the deposition.

On October 3rd, 2007, Ms. Liang was again arrested and taken to Naxi Detention Centre in Luzhou City because she explained the facts about Falun Gong to people. Lin Min from the 610 Office and other police officers went to Ms. Liang's house and confiscated her laptop, Falun Gong books, MP3 and MP4 players, and her phone book.

On February 26th, 2008, the Chinese Communist Party's Longmatan District Court in Luzhou City tried Ms. Liang. She was not allowed to defend herself. She was sentenced to four and a half years of imprisonment on May 8th, 2008.

People who participated in the persecution of Ms. Liang include:

Liu Yang, Head of the Longmatan District Court
Zhang Minggui, Head of the Longmatan District Procuratorate
Li Zhigang, chief judge of the Longmatan District Procuratorate
Chen Hongli, judge of the Longmatan District Procuratorate

Du Gang, judge of the Longmatan District Procuratorate

Note

1. "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.cc/mh/articles/2008/6/21/180666.html