57-Year-Old Ms. Zhang Shufen's Account of the Mistreatment She Endured in Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison

Name: Zhang Shufen
Gender: Female
Age: 57
Address: Yisheng Village, Qinglin Township, Shuangcheng City, Heilongkiang Province
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 20th, 2002
Most recent place of detention: Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison
City: Harbin
Province: Heilingjiang
Persecution Suffered: Detention, Interrogation, Home Ransacked, Imprisonment, Forced Labour, Solitary Confinement, Beatings,Sleep Deprivation, Electric Shock, Physical Restraint, Hung Up, Extortion

Key Persecutors: Dong Fushan, Bai Shenggang, Wang Yali, Wang Botao, Wu Liqun, Cui Hongmei, Xia Fengying

Ms. Zhang Shufen, from Shuangcheng City, Helongjiang Province was sentenced to imprisonment in 2002 for refusing to renounce her belief in Falun Gong. She was taken to Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison and suffered five years and eight months of torture. In prison, police incited the criminals to brutally torture Ms. Zhang and other Falun Gong practitioners. The following is her narrative.

Sentenced to Six Years in Prison

My name is Zhang Shufen. I was born in 1952. I live at Yisheng village, Qingling Township, Shuangcheng City, Helongjiang Province. I am a farmer.

On April 20th, 2002, village policeman Dong Fushang, Ren Shuangku, Wu Wenzhi, Bai Shenggang, director of the Township Police Station, and police from Shuangcheng City Domestic Security Section ransacked my home. They took away my books and other belongings, which filled up half of the police vehicle. Dong Fushang said "You will be sent to jail this time." In the detention centre, Bai Shenggang, director of the Township Police Station interrogated me twice. While the Procuratorate verified information with me, I was not allowed to talk. Every time I talked, I was interrupted. I paid no attention to their false accusations. They said I would be sent to jail no matter whether I acknowledged their position or not.

At the end of August, a court hearing was held secretly. Several days later, the court ruling came. I was sentenced to six years imprisonment. I lodged an appeal. But forty five days later, on October 20th, 2002, I was sent to Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison. Policewoman Xu Jize extorted 100 yuan¹ from my daughter as a "transportation fee."

Beating and Physical Punishment in Prison

When I arrived in the prison, the 30 yuan in my pocket was taken away. In the "Training Team", a policewoman whose family name was Ma and a policewoman who lived in Shuangcheng City kicked me very badly with their heavy leather shoes. They kicked me in the face, struck my face, cursed me and forced me to squat for a long period of time to torture me. They took away my clothes when I first got there. I did not have any money to buy toilet paper. One month later I left the training team.

I was sent to the first division. There we were forced to work with other criminals in a sewing workshop. The police did not allow us to study Falun Gong teachings or to sit in meditation. Criminals were monitoring us. Their points would be deducted if they did not watch us closely enough. So they hated us. There was no place for us in the workshop. We had no place to dry our hand-washed clothes. The criminals cursed us all the time.

In 2003, over thirty of us were squeezed into an area less than ten square metres. We were not allowed to move or stand. We could not use a cushion to sit on the bench. When we ate, we could only put the food on our lap. The food was often spoiled. We were not allow to talk to each other. The criminals beat us all the time. They whipped us with ropes, even on the face. On March 4th, four of us were forced to squat in an office. We refused. They brought in the criminals to tie us up. Some passed out, and later we were sent to solitary confinement for further torture. All the persecution was instigated by Cui Hongmei, Team Leader. In the solitary confinement, only two meals were provided each day. Every meal was a thin corn congee. We were so hungry that we felt dizzy when we stood up. We were forced to sit with our legs stretched out and could not move. We only had thin clothes to wear. The winter clothes were taken away from us. We did not have blankets at night. It was so cold that we could not fall asleep. In thirteen days, I did not sleep.

Handcuffs and Electric Shock Torture

On July 30th I sat in meditation for less than five minutes. Criminals Wang Botao and Hou Yingli punched and kicked me. In the workshop criminals brought me to the mechanical room and said the Team Leader wanted to talk to me. I had just entered the door when five people handcuffed me. One of my hands was pulled over my shoulder to the back, the other hand was twisted behind the back near the waist. My hands were handcuffed together in this painful position called "carrying a sword on the back." The five people stood in a circle. They blindfolded me, and pushed me among them. My mouth was taped shut and head was covered with an apron; the strings of the apron were tied to my neck. They kicked and punched me, and pushed me to the floor to beat me. Then they turned me over and kicked me on my head and face. Criminal Wang Botao wrote the word "criminal" in large characters on my back. The tight handcuffs cut deeply into my flesh. Criminal Wu Liqun lifted me up by just holding on to the handcuffs, and then dropped me to the floor, and on to table legs. They also used an electric baton to hit me. They also yanked on the strings tied around my neck to inflict pain. When they were tired, they rested a while and then continued to beat me. They beat me from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. These five people were Wang Botao, Wu Liqun, Hou Yingli, Liu Daxia and Hou. All this was instigated by Xia Fengying, Deputy Team Leader. Xia said, "This sets an example for others."

Hung Up

In July 2004, over thirty of us sat together in an area less than ten square metres. We said, "We are not criminals, why do you persecute us?" A policewoman said, "If you are not criminals, then take off the prison uniform." We took our uniforms off. She then ordered us to put our uniforms back on. We refused. To retaliate, the police did not allow us to go to the toilet, and did not let us eat. Thirty of us were hung up. Three hours passed, but we were still hung up. I passed out due to the pain. When I became conscious, I was still hanging. In September we were hung up again. This was instigated by Cui Hongmen, the Team Leader and Xia Fengying, the Deputy Team Leader. They searched us every few months and tried to find Falun Gong material.

By the end of 2007 I was transferred to the eleventh division. They tried to "reform²" me with constant brainwashing. From 6 a.m. until 9 p.m., two or three people stayed close to me while reading aloud books that slandered Falun Gong. Also, videos with propaganda against Falun Gong were played. I was forced to sit on the bench less than a meter away from the TV. We were not allowed to move our legs, otherwise, we would be beaten. There was not a single moment to rest. Team Leader Wang Xaoli and Deputy Team Leader whose family name is Jia often came to slander Falun Gong, and tried to force us to "reform." When our relatives visited, we were not allowed to talk about anything related to Falun Gong. After 100 days, I did not "reform" as they expected. They were very angry. I was persecuted in prison for five years and eight months, and then I finally was set free.

Persecution I Suffered Before the Imprisonment

At the end of July 1999, I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. On August 8th, Zhao Yi, local Politics and Law Committee Secretary and Ren Shuangku, village policeman took me forcibly to the Shuangcheng Detention Centre. In the detention centre I was not treated as a human. The buns they gave us to eat were burnt and hard to bite, and they were often mouldy. The broth was just water and vegetables, with no oil or flavour. Flies and mosquitoes were floating in the broth. Zhao Yi extorted 300 yuan from me. He tried to deny it although later he returned 200 yuan to me. County Police Station and Domestic Security Section interrogated me multiple times. After two weeks, I was let go, but the police extorted 1,000 yuan from me.

In June 2000, Zhong Linyi, chief of County Police Station, sent police to forcibly take me from my home. He also slandered Falun Gong, and said "I am the law. It does not matter whether you sue me." I was detained for sixteen days in the Shuangcheng Detention Centre.

In August 2000, village policeman Ren Shuangku and Wu Wenzhi led police from the city police station, took me again and sent me to the Shuangcheng Detention Centre. I did not co-operate while they were interrogating me. Three or four people kicked and beat me. They ordered me to kneel down. I refused, so they kicked the back of my knees to force me down. I was interrogated for three days. I was on a hunger strike for six days. After over fifty days I was sent home, and fined 2,000 yuan.

On January 24th, 2001 according to the Chinese calendar, twelve days after my eldest son was married, my husband, son and I were abducted by the police. Dong Fushan, Ren Shuangku with police from the county police station sent us to the Shuangcheng Detention Centre. One hundred and five days later we were let go. Dong Fushan tried to take our land away. I refused. Our mail was opened before we could get it. Ren Guidong, son of Ren Shuangku, often monitored us. Police from the Shuangcheng Domestic Security Section led by Ren Shuangku ransacked our home. Our things were scattered everywhere. Village authorities assigned people to stand watch at our beds to at night to monitor us.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

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/2009/9/2/207614.html