The following describes the persecution some practitioners suffered when they were imprisoned at the Tangshan City No. 1 Detention Centre.
1. Ms. Zhao Yabin's account
My name is Zhao Yabin, and I am 48 years old. I am from Tangshan City. A car accident in 1994 paralysed my legs, but they were healed after I started practising Falun Gong. Since 1999, unfortunately, I have suffered from severe persecution. My residence was searched, and personnel from the neighbourhood committee, the local government offices and police station frequently came to my home to harass and threaten me. As a result, my family was unable to live normally and eventually broke apart. I also suffered a great deal financially.
On July 21st, 1999, I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and to tell the regime officials about how I had benefited from the practice. On the morning of July 23rd, 1999, I was arrested and detained in the Wenbei Administration Office, and my residence was searched. Office head Ma tried to extort 4,000 yuan1 from me. Because I did not have any money, he released me after a week. From then on I lost my personal freedom. I was forced to report to them or call them daily, and they had someone monitor me. My elderly mother's personal freedom was also restricted. My mother lived in Dizhilou in Tangshan City. The neighbourhood committee threatened to stop her from coming to my house and tried to prevent me from going to visit her. They said that if we wanted to see each other, we had to report to them first, or else they would arrest me. My elderly mother was physically weak. She was very worried about me and scared by those thugs. She passed away on January 11th, 2001.
On September 2rd, 2003, I was arrested. Participating in the arrest were officers from the Xinlizhuang Police Station. They held me at the Tangshan City No. 1 Detention Centre. The guards attempted to force me to kneel. When I refused, they directed criminals to kick me and pour cold water on me. This time I was detained for 25 days.
On July 8th, 2008, Wenbei Police Station officers and Party Secretary Guo from the Nanbei Street Neighbourhood Committee and the Wenbei Administration Office came to my home, ransacked it and arrested me. Facing such constant pressure, my husband divorced me that same year. Starting the next afternoon, I was locked up at the No. 1 Detention Centre for over eight months.
On October 16th, 2008, Lunan Court officials in Tangshan City put me on trial. Three court bailiffs felt that I was walking too slowly and pushed me down the stairs. One passerby asked, "What did she do?" The bailiff replied, "She is Falun Gong." That woman then said, "Drag her out, then." Due to the fall I was unable to move by myself. They carried me into a police vehicle and took me back to the detention centre. The doctor there refused to check me and told them to take me to a hospital. On our way to the hospital, they said that I was faking the injury. One policewoman said, "We'll say you committed suicide if you died from falling."
The doctor said that one of the discs in my spine was displaced, but the police officers reported it as an old spinal disease that had flared up.
Back in the detention centre, the doctor refused to admit me, but told the guards to have me checked at the No. 2 Bone Injury Hospital. The doctors there did an MRI on my knees, not my back. The doctor at the detention centre once again refused to admit me. Afterwards a court judge named Lu called a detention centre head, and they finally carried me into the centre. Throughout the process, three court bailiffs threatened me, "Go ahead and do what you want! Wait and see how we deal with you!" In the end, I was sentenced to seven years in prison.
2. Ms. Liu Xiaoling's account
I am 57 years old and began practising Falun Gong in 1997 because I was suffering from many illnesses. Since then I have been completely healthy. People from the neighbourhood committee, my workplace, the local police station, the Public Security Bureau and 610 Office2 have repeatedly persecuted me since July 20th, 1999. They frequently came to my residence to harass and threaten me. Because of them we have been unable to live a normal life, nor could we continue operating our business.
Starting on January 1st, 2004, I was held at the Luannan County Detention Centre for 30 days, and my residence was ransacked. A male police officer from Luannan Police Department hit me in the head. On January 31st, I was transferred to Kaiping Forced Labour Camp in Tangshan City and subjected to two years of forced labour. For the entire time I was locked in a single small cell. The guards tied me up, and then had drug addicts and prostitutes put filthy rags into my mouth. They also hit me on my face, head, and chest. In the winter they opened the window and turned on the ceiling fan to freeze me. They would not let me fall asleep. I held a 13-day hunger strike to protest, but was eventually forced-fed nine times before it ended. On February 12th, 2004, a criminal squeezed my neck so tightly that I nearly suffocated. The guards watched it as it happened. Thirteen days later when I was released, my face was covered with cuts and bruises.
On the morning of October 10th, 2004, the head of the Tanghai County "Legal Education School" (actually a brainwashing centre) and the head of the 610 Office forcibly took me to the Tangshan City "Legal Education School," another brainwashing centre, and detained me there for 80 days. They burned my hands with fire and injected me with an unknown drug. They locked me in a room and stripped off my winter jacket and shoes. Then they opened the window to expose me to the freezing cold. For 20 days they forbade me from sleeping or using the toilet. They threatened that they would torture me to death and then tell the public that I killed myself. I was emaciated at this point from all the abuse.
On June 11th, 2008, Luannan County downtown police station agents arrested me and ransacked my residence. On June 13th, 2008, a male guard hit my chest, and a male inmate hit my face. I was held for nine months at the Tangshan City No. 1 Detention Centre, and eventually they sentenced me to five years of imprisonment.
3. Ms. Jiao Xuemei's account
I am a Falun Gong practitioner and work at the Tangshan City Thermal Power Company. I have practised Falun Gong for nine years and benefited mentally and physically. However, I have been persecuted for practising Falun Gong.
In September 2004, I was subjected to one year of forced labour. My family and workplace were pressured. Fearing that I would be further persecuted, my family spent a huge amount of money to bail me out for medical treatment. The workplace dared not to let me return to work. In addition, my salary and benefits were withheld.
On April 30th, 2007 my residence was ransacked again. On May 2nd, 2007, I was taken to the Tangshan No. 1 Detention Centre and bailed out on May 9th, 2007. Between May 2007 and June 2008, my family, workplace and I were frequently harassed. My family could not live a normal life. For a long period of time, they were frightened, but had to give our money to those who were dealing with my case. Even so, the officials never stopped persecuting me and harassing my family.
On June 16th, 2008, people from my workplace took me to the Tangshan #1 Detention Centre, where I have been detained. Beilu Court officials sentenced me to three years of imprisonment.
From 2001 to 2008, my workplace refused to give me a pay raise. During June 2007 and June 2008, they only paid me a minimal living expense.
4. Ms. Yue Chun's account
I was 65 years old when I went to Beijing to appeal on July 20, 1999. I was detained in Fengtai Stadium and then escorted to Baoding City and locked in a factory for a day. Several hundred practitioners were detained there with me. Anti-riot policemen surrounded the entire stadium. After that, I was escorted to the Wenbei Administration Office in Tangshan to be brainwashed.
One year later, on July 20th, 2000, I went to Beijing again to appeal. I was arrested and escorted to the Fengnan No. 2 Detention Centre and held for two months. In January 2001, after I wrote a solemn statement to void all of my former words and deeds that were against Falun Gong's teachings, officials held me at the Tangshan City Textile University Brainwashing Centre for two months. I was extorted out of 1,500 Yuan for "expenses."
On July 9th, 2008, I was arrested and locked up at the Tangshan City No. 1 Detention Centre. For eight months, they forced me to do hard labour. I refused to do forced labour, so they forced me to be on night duty for four and a half hours from 1:30 am till 6:00 am.
5. Other accounts:
In 2007, Mr. Zhang Zongsu suffered from severe torture in the Tangshan No. 1 Detention Centre. When she held a 23-day hunger strike to protest the persecution, the guards force-fed her every day. In the process, she lost two of her front teeth.
Ms. Zhang had heart problems and a stroke. The guards frequently beat her and instigated criminals to beat her. She was handcuffed and shackles, and the shackles cut into her flesh. The scars are still visible today. Ms. Zhang was unable to empty her bowels for 27 days, and no remedial efforts were effective. She was sentenced to seven years at the Shijiazhuang City Prison.
Ms. Zhang Jin suffered from severe torture in the Tangshan City No. 1 Detention Centre in 2007. When she refused to wear the prison uniform, the guards urged criminals to kick and beat her. They slapped her face more than 20 times. She was eventually transferred to a forced labour camp.
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.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/7/198400.html
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