Ms. Li Yuqin Tortured for Five Years at Dabei Prison, Liaoning Province

Ms. Li Yuqin recounted in this article the torture she suffered at Dabei Prison, Liaoning Province, beginning with describing the injuries she suffered:

"My buttocks were covered with wounds. Some were still bleeding while others festered. All I had was toilet paper to cover the wounds, which then stuck to them. Despite being barely able to sit, I was forced to sit on a small stool, one of the many tortures used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, for fourteen to fifteen hours daily. After twenty days, my wounds changed from festering to bleeding again. When I went to the toilet, blood dripped all over the floor.

"I said I would not to sit on the stool any more and asked that my wounds be seen and taken care off at a hospital. However, the prison guards tried to avoid me and ordered the inmates to torture me. They said that after I renounced Falun Gong their 'task' would be accomplished and only then would I be no longer tortured. They told me that I was in a prison, which was a place for punishing people."

Ms. Li was born on June 24th, 1957, and lived in the Chengguan area, Zhuanghe City. She was a laboratory technician in the Zhuanghe Construction Company. She was sentenced to a five-year prison term to be served at Dabei Prison in Liaoning Province simply because she believed in the principles Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.

1. Arrested and Tortured into Confessing

"On July 16th, 2001, officer Liang Qishun from the Xinhua Police Station and a group of police officers came to my office. I was arrested and not given any reason for the arrest. They stole my keys and broke into my home. They ransacked my home and confiscated my personal belongings, including the portrait of our Teacher, a dozen or so cassette recorders, and some other items, which still have not been returned to me.

"Then, I was locked in a cell in the police station. I was photographed and fingerprinted. I told them, 'I'm innocent and have not broken any law. You can't take photos of me!' They interrogated me by turns and did not let me to sleep.

"At about 2 a .m., Liang Qishun and another tall officer tortured me in the hope of forcing a confession. They slapped my face. I lost count as to how many times they hit me and I could not longer hear any sound. They handcuffed me to the iron railing to prevent me from falling asleep. I was menstruating at the time. They were bullying and beating me. As a result, I lost weight and had dark circles under my eyes. When they ordered me to tell them my contacts, I just told them that I worked on my own. Then, I told them, 'Falun Gong is good! Falun Gong is a righteous practice.' Liang Qishun interrogated me for two days and nights before taking me to Zhuanghe Detention Centre in the evening on July 19th, 2001."

2. Guards at Zhuanghe Detention Centre Beat, Electro-shock and Force Feed Practitioners

"They tried to make me wear the prison uniform, but I refused because I was innocent. The next morning, a group of guards including Li Guocheng, Chen Yuhai, and Jiang Qi dragged me out of the cell and beat me all over with electric batons and rubber straps. My buttocks were black and blue.

"The prison authorities followed Jiang Zemin's , [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] dictates to 'defame their [practitioners'] reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically.' Another dictate gave a free hand to the authorities: 'There is no law regulating the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners. The death of a Falun Gong practitioner from beating is nothing and shall be counted as suicide.'

"Mr. Shao Shisheng was beaten to death. In the biting cold winter weather, practitioners were forced to do push ups on the ice. Whoever refused was beaten or shocked with electric batons. There were times when the guards urinated on the ground and forced the practitioners to put their hands on it when it was frozen for a long time. The practitioners did not wear gloves, so their hands were swollen from being forced to touch the ice for a long time. They no longer could use their hands and could not even hold chopsticks so they could eat. After some time, everyone of their fingernails fell off.

"After two or three days in the detention centre I thought I should not stay there, so I went on a hunger strike to protest the detention. I demanded that the detention centre release all innocent practitioners. On the fifth day of my hunger strike, prison doctor Lin Jiquan barbarically force-fed me. Four or five guards and inmates dragged me out of the cell, handcuffed me, and pushed me down on the ground. Lin Jiequan used pliers and screwdrivers to pry open my mouth and then inserted a rubber tube through my mouth to my stomach. My larynx was injured. Lin Jiquan force-fed me daily! The suffering was beyond description. Several days later I could no longer bear it anymore and stopped my hunger strike.

"The food was very bad and there were insects or worms and sand in it. We were fed steamed bread made of corn and sorghum and preserved vegetables daily. We ate, lived, slept, and relieved ourselves in the same cell. In addition we were forced into hard labour. Whenever some higher level people came to inspect the detention centre we were forced to hide all the tools, as detainees are not allowed to work, according to Chinese law. If we didn't finish our quota, we had to work late into the night. There were no breaks.

3. Detained at a Forced Labour Camp and Sentenced to Prison

"After being detained at the detention centre for over forty days, the Zhuanghe Political and Judiciary Committee and the 610 Office¹ sentenced me to three years of forced labour at the Dalian Forced Labour Camp.

"Fifty-five days later Liang Qishun and a group of officers came to the camp presenting an arrest warrant. They took me back to the Zhuanghe Detention Centre. Several months later, Zhuanghe City Court sentenced me to a five-year prison term. Ms. Liu Lihua was sentenced to seven years. Her family took her home, because she was dying due to the inhuman torture. She died shortly after returning home. Ms. Wang Chunying was sentenced to seven years and Mr. Hua Shuangyu to ten years. We appealed our sentences without success.

"We were then taken to Liaoning Woman's Prison by the head of the Zhuanghe Detention Centre and the Warden of the woman's ward, Tao Xiaoli. After my health checkup, the prison doctor said that my blood pressure was too high and I should be sent home. Ms. Wang Chunying's health was similar to mine, so the prison refused to take us. The head of the Zhuanghe Detention Centre and Tao Xiaoli argued with the guards for a long time and insisted that the prison authorities accept us. They finally did.

4. Practitioners in Liaoning Provincial Woman's Prison Inhumanly Tortured

"After arriving at the prison we were thoroughly searched. They tore open my quilt. A copy of my Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun, and some handwritten new articles were confiscated.

"After the search we were separated. I was taken to the notorious No. 7 Team in the No. 2 Ward. Team Leader Qi assigned two criminal inmates to monitor me, with one being Li Yongjie, a thief and murderer. Under orders from the team leader, these criminals beat me and used all kinds of torture to try to force me to write the so-called guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong.

"At the beginning, Qi called me to her office for a lecture daily, so I would renounce my belief in Truth- Compassion-Forbearance. I used the opportunity to explain the facts about Falun Gong to her and some guards. Since they were deeply poisoned by the CCP, they refused to listen.

"After Qi went back home Li Yonjie and some others monitored me. At the time, the toilet paper I had brought with me was confiscated and I did not have any credit in my account. If I wrote a letter home to ask for money it would take some time. The evildoers used this to persecute me and force me to renounce Falun Gong. My period was abnormal due to the inhuman persecution. At the beginning I tried to borrow a roll of toilet paper, but whoever lent it to me would be punished and merit points would be deducted from their account. If merit points were deducted, the length of an inmate's prison term was adversely affected. Therefore, no one dared to lend me toilet paper.

"Some kind hearted people wanted to help, but they simply dared not. One criminal gave me twenty to thirty pieces of wrapping paper and I put them under the lower layer of my closet. When Qi discovered it, it was confiscated. She also tried to find out who gave me the paper. That criminal who gave me the paper was summoned to her office and severely reprimanded. From that day onwards the officials strictly controlled all the paper. One day I found a piece of paper on the ground. Someone had already stepped on it, but I still picked it up and put it in my pocket. Sometime when I was forced to write confessions I would also keep the waste paper. However, when Qi found out, she numbered the writing paper. At the No. 7 Team, No. 2 Ward I was closely monitored, even when I went to the toilet. They checked if I used toilet paper and took it away if I had any on me. Whenever I had my period I had to use old pieces of clothing.

"The toilet was very small and I simply did not have enough time to wash myself. Li Yongjie would drag me out of the toilet whenever the mood hit her. If I was a bit slow, she would pinch me, and my back was covered with bruises. Sometimes they would take me to an empty warehouse and punch and kick me, because I still refused to renounce Falun Gong.

"During the early days at the prison, my younger brother came to visit me, since he had not received any letter. The guards lied to him and told him to persuade me to give up my belief. They told him that if I would give up my belief, they would release me right away. My brother thought that helping them to slander Falun Gong could reduce my suffering and I would be allowed to return home earlier, so he said things he should not have said. After my brother left, the guards intensified my torture. They ordered inmates to hold meetings to criticize me. I was forced to do the most difficult jobs. I was forced to carry extremely heavy bundles of cloth. They monitored me closely. When my family visited we were monitored by two guards. I was unable to tell them about what I as suffering.

"When my younger brother came to visit me for the second time I had been severely tortured. I was thin and swollen, so the guards did not allow him to see me. He only left clothing for me.

"I arrived at the prison at the age of 45 and was very near sighted. My near sightedness got increasingly worse, so they guards assigned work that I couldn't do. They claimed I didn't meet my quota and I was tortured.

"Work began at 6:30 a.m. and finished at 9:00 p.m. I had to stand for 14 to 15 hours a day and sometimes I had to work overtime. My feet and legs were swollen. Then I was taken to the prison hospital for a check up. After I refused, they forced me to write that it was my responsibility if my life would be endangered.

"To fulfil the transformation² quota set by the higher prison authorities, Qi resorted to extreme mean and cruel methods in the hope that I would renounce my belief in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. We were allowed to watch television only on public holidays or Chinese New Year. The guards used television privilege to incite inmates' hatred against practitioners. For refusing to renounce Falun Gong, the criminals who monitored them would lose TV privileges. Therefore, those criminals punched and kicked me for refusing to be "transformed." They grabbed my hair and pulled it.

"After they found out that making me stand for a long time did not work, they forced me to squat. By the end of the day I was unable to stand up. This still did not work, so they began to shock me with electric batons, which lasted for the entire morning. I still refused to cooperate. The guards then forced me to sit on a very narrow stool (about 2 inch wide, 5 inch long and 3 inch tall). After sitting on the stool for three days my buttocks were bleeding. It was November, and my panties, cotton knitwear, and trousers were all soaked with blood.

"Sitting on the stool is meant to destroy a practitioners' will. Sitting on the stool was extremely painful. Every minute seemed very long. The pain was beyond people's imagination. I felt that the days dragged on like years.

"I said I would not to sit on the stool any more and asked that my wounds be taken care of at the hospital. The guards tried to avoid me and used the inmates to torture me. They said that when I renounced Falun Gong their 'task' would be fulfilled and I would no longer be tortured. They said that I was in a prison, where I was supposed to be punished. My buttocks were covered with wounds. I was bleeding and festering and I could only use toilet paper to cover the wounds. Alas, I was still forced to sit on a small stool fourteen to fifteen hours daily. When I went to the toilet, blood dripped all over the floor.

"Li Yongjie, ordered by the head of the guards, stabbed my body and head with needles. If she stabbed a blood vessel it would bleed. I did not wipe it off, because I wanted others to see how I was being persecuted. She would stab me dozens of time a day. One day I warned her in a loud voice that I would report her for this. Later, she restrained herself a lot.

"Not long after she left me, I was told that she had contracted severe tuberculosis and was hospitalized. She was not released on bail for medical treatment. This reflects the Heavenly Law: 'Doing good deeds is met with good rewards, and evil deeds bring retribution.'

"At the No. 7 Team, No. 2 Ward I became skin and bones within three to four months, but those in charge failed to achieve their goal. I did not renounce Falun Gong and remained firm in my belief in Falun Gong and Teacher. After being forced to sit on the small stool for 27 days, I was transferred to the No. 8 team. The head of the team was Zhu Tiehuan.

"The guards and inmates tortured me more inhumanly. They tried to 'transform' me. I still firmly believed in Falun Gong. They used murderer Yang Yujin, thief and killer Wang Dongying, and some other criminals to pressure me. The guards ordered the criminals to persecute practitioners. If they did not agree to join in, merit points would be deducted from them. If they forced one practitioner to renounce Falun Gong, they would have their terms reduced. The guards used this to pressure criminals into persecuting practitioners. Generally criminals would be awarded eleven to twelve points a month. Since I didn't renounce Falun Gong, they were given only nine points. Points are very important, as they are used to reduce one's prison term. Therefore, the criminals would adopt all kinds of inhuman methods to torture practitioners.

"In December, Yang Yujin, and Wang Dongying dragged me into the restroom and poured cold water all over me. They said, 'We will make you catch a cold and take you to the hospital tomorrow.' In the evening they did not let me use the toilet. There were guards on duty and patrolling criminals. They refused to get up so I could use the toilet. They told me to write a guarantee statement, promising to renounce Falun Gong and then I would be allowed to use the toilet. I just tried not to drink any water.

"Going downstairs, they pushed me from behind so I would fall down the stairs and get hurt. If I went to the hospital they would claim that I fell down the stairs. They also threatened me that if I refused to renounce Falun Gong, the head of the team would take me to a mental hospital for injections that would damage my central nervous system.

"The criminals would work more than fourteen hours each day. After they finished work, the guards would not let the criminals rest, but ordered them to force me to renounce Falun Gong. Each criminal was assigned two hours. They all begged me to give up. Day in and day out they had one goal--to defeat me. Since I had reached the limit of my physical endurance, I sadly gave into the officials' demands. Although I never admitted to being 'transformed,' the guards boasted that I was 'transformed.'

"One day I suddenly realized that I could not continue to think one way and act another, because that is not how a practitioner should act. I must be a noble practitioner and declare invalid what I had written under the intense pressure. I prepared myself mentally to face the new round of persecution.

I witnessed that newly arrived practitioners had to sleep on cold bed boards with their cotton-padded coats on on cold winter nights for refusing to write guarantee statements or "articles exposing and criticizing Falun Gong." The guards did not let anyone help them. Some practitioners had their necks or arms burned by glue guns, which become very hot after they are plugged in.

5. The Persecution of Practitioners and Their Families Due to the Practice of Guilt by Association

My parents suffered mentally beyond imagination, and mentally and physically collapsed.

Forty days after I was detained, my father, who had always enjoyed good health, was hospitalized for the very first time because it was too much for him to bear. He was later diagnosed with lung cancer. He said he was able to bear the physical pain but not the pain in his heart.

My mother was over 70 years old, and her health was deteriorating because she longed for the return of her daughter. Finally she was hospitalized and diagnosed with colon cancer. She was hospitalized four times in one year. The doctor did not think she would see me again. However, she was stubborn and saw me come home after five years in prison. Only when I returned home did I learn how much my parents had suffered all these years because of me.

Over the last ten years of the persecution, tens of thousands of families had been broken, countless practitioners were forced to leave home to avoid being arrested, and many more practitioners died as a result of the persecution. Ms. Liu Lihua, who was sent to the prison with me, died as a result of torture at Dabei Prison. I learned this after I was released.

6. Wishing for an End to the Inhuman Treatment of Practitioners in China

There are still many practitioners imprisoned and suffering inhuman torture, undergoing brainwashing, being injected drugs that damage their central nervous systems, or forced to take unknown drugs.

This is genocide, especially when practitioners' organs are harvested while they are still alive. I call on all kind hearted people worldwide to help stop the inhuman persecution of practitioners and gain the freedom of all practitioners today rather than tomorrow.

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.

2. "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/2009/8/10/206229.html