Older Practitioner Ms. Lai Zuhua Recounts the Persecution She Experienced in Chengdu City

Ms. Lai Zuhua is over 60 years old and lives in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. Ms. Lai was arrested by the police in May 2004, when she was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. The following is Ms. Lai's story.

Arrested for Distributing Leaflets Exposing the Persecution of Falun Gong

My name is Lai Zuhua and I am 64 years old. I live in Chengdu City. On May 14th, 2004, I took 110 copies of leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong (each included two sheets of paper) and went to Yulong Street to distribute them. When I had just handed out two flyers, I was captured by policeman Chen Shizhong, who was in plain clothes, and taken to the nearby Xiyuhe Police Station.

From 10:00 p.m. on May 14th to 6:00 a.m. on May 16th, the police did not allow me to go to sleep. They shone three 200-watt electric light bulbs on me and put me in handcuffs. These policemen kept interrogating me about the source of my materials. I simply told them the facts of Falun Gong and at around 6:00 a.m. I escaped from the police station. I took a taxi to my elder brother's home in Puyang Town, Dujiangyan City.

My brother arranged for me to stay at the home of one of his friends. Unexpectedly, police came the next day (May 17th) and arrested me. I was taken to the Xiyuhe Police Station again. At 9:00 p.m. that the same day, I was taken to the detention centre in Chengdu City.

Interrogation

At 8:00 am on May 19th, policemen from the Xiyuhe Police Station took me from the detention centre to a site close to the Sports Centre of Chengdu City. I was sandwiched between two policemen, handcuffed and blindfolded, and I was not told where they were taking me.

After reaching the destination, two policemen stayed with me in a room, removed the blindfold, made me sit on a stool and handcuffed both of my hands to the feet of that stool. I was interrogated continuously while they shone strong electric bulbs in my face. They still wanted to know where I had received the leaflets from. Sometimes my hands were handcuffed so low that I could not sit up straight. Because they realized that I was not going to tell them anything, they took me back to the detention centre at 9:00 p.m. on May 21st. They abused me, an over-60-year-old woman, for more than 60 hours and did not allow me to sleep.

During the interrogation, the policemen deliberately mis-wrote the number of copies of flyers I had, claiming that I had "440" flyers. The lawyer later said it is the Chinese Communist Party's "rule" that 300 or more copies meets the condition to be sentenced.

Sentenced

On February 4th, 2005, I was taken to court for the first time. The judge asked me if I had anything to say. I started to clarify the truth to him, telling him that we practise Falun Gong according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassionate-Forbearance and try to be good people, which is definitely righteous. The judge told me to change my mind completely, then ended the session with a violent strike of his gavel. The second session was held at the end of March. They did not allow me to say even one word, and sentenced me to three years of imprisonment. I refused to sign the document, so the judge had someone else sign it instead.

On April 23rd, 2005, I was put in a prison for women in Sichuan Province. May 16th, 2007 was the date I was supposed to have been released. Two days prior, my family came to ask about my release and were told to go back home and wait.

Forced into a Brainwashing Centre

On May 17th, I was met by people from three units: the Police Station, the Street Administrative Committee of Jianshe Road, and my workplace. I asked why none of my family members were present, and requested to call my home. The police told me that it had been arranged that I go to another place. Thus, I was locked up in the Legal Education Centre of Chenghua District (a brainwashing centre). The reason for this detention was because officials from the prison had written two reports stating that my performance was "not good." I was not released until July 3rd and only then was I able to go back home to my family.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/7/17/204662.html