Mr. Lin Zehua Lost the Ability to Walk in Jiamusi City Prison

Name: Lin Zehua
Gender: Male
Age: 48
Address: Youyi County, Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: Unknown
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jiamusi City Prison
City: Jiamusi
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Physical Restraint, Forced Labour.
Key Persecutors: Lai Baohua, Li Yansong

Mr. Lin Zehua is imprisoned for his faith in Falun Gong. He has suffered abuse and lost the ability to walk.

Mr. Lin was transferred from the Qitaihe Prison to the Second Subsection of the Fifth Prison Section of the Jiamusi City Prison on July 10th, 2008. As soon as he arrived, the guards began to try to coerce Mr. Lin to write the Three Statements¹. Mr. Lin refused. Lai Baohua, commander of the subsection, and Wang Lianyu, political instructor, placed Mr. Lin under strict monitoring - no phone calls to family members nor family visits. Then after September 7th, 2008, they no longer allowed him to buy daily consumables.

On October 16th, 2008, commander Lai Baohua assigned inmate Li Yansong as Mr. Lin's personal monitor, and restricted others from contacting or helping Mr. Lin. Mr. Lin had difficulty walking but was forced to walk to the prison's workshop to work. Inmate Li Yansong told Mr. Lin, "The guards said no beating or verbal abuse, just have you do labour in the workshop. We will keep you suffering physically as long as you do not write the Three Statements. We will see how long you can adhere to your beliefs."

From October 17th to November 7th, Mr. Lin worked in the workshop daily. It took him half an hour to walk the 0.3 miles to the workshop. On the morning of November 7th, inmate Li Yansong dragged Mr. Lin because he was moving slowly. Mr. Lin fell on the stairs. Commander Lai Baohua came and asked, "Are you ready to write the Three Statements?" Mr. Lin said no. Lai replied, "Keep moving if you won't write the Three Statements." It took Mr. Lin 35 minutes to walk another 0.1 miles, where he stopped. He could not walk any further.

Since then, Mr. Lin has no longer been able to move his legs. Once he lay down, he could not sit up nor roll over. Lai Baohua ordered Li Yansong to threaten Mr. Lin, saying that if he did not write the Three Statements, they wouldn't send anyone to help him.

Mr. Lin's family paid for a medical examination but the prison administration did not allow any of them to be present during the exam. The administration did not disclose the doctor's diagnosis to Mr. Lin's family, but claimed that the doctor did not find anything wrong. Despite there being no "diagnosis," Mr. Lin was paralysed. The administration accused Mr. Lin of pretending and denied him any medical treatment or special care.

In the meantime, using medical treatment outside the prison as incentive, the guards continued to pressure Mr. Lin to write the Three Statements. They said that otherwise, he would stay in his prison cell without any help.

Note

1. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/9/12/208174.html