Ms. Kong Qian Sentenced to Nine Years of Imprisonment by the Weifang Court in Shandong Province

Name: Kong Qian
Gender: Female
Age: 31
Address: Residential area affiliated with the Lisan Company at Bei Street in Weifang City
Occupation: Unknown

Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 9th, 2008
Most recent place of detention: Weifang City Detention Centre
City: Weifang City
Province: Shandong Province
Persecution Suffered: Detention, home ransacked, extortion, interrogation, sleep deprivation, beatings, physical constraint, forced-feedings, torture

At 8:30 a.m. on October 18th, 2009, Judge Mou Aiping, and court officers Lu Baoqing and Li Hong brought Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Kong Qian from Weibei District to trial. Ms. Kong received a prison sentence of nine years.

Ms. Kong was arrested on July 9th, 2009, and has been detained for more than a year. During her incarceration, this attractive young lady of good character was tortured to the point of emaciation.

Ms. Kong's parents are both police officers at Weibei Prison. They live at the residential area, which is affiliated with the Weibei Prison, located at the Weibei Farm in Hanting District of Weifang City. Ms. Kong graduated from the Weifang Nursing School. No matter where she worked, people whom she worked with had a favourable impression of her. Because they spoke up for Falun Gong, her mother and she were both detained at the brainwashing centre. After they managed to escape from there, they had been wandering about and didn't have a day of peace.

Ms. Kong's father was forced to divorce her mother due to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Ms. Kong's fiancé, Mr. Li Jiangang was also arrested and detained at the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp. Even though they have their marriage certificate, they have not yet been able to hold their wedding ceremony.

At 6:00 a.m. on July 9th, 2008, Ms. Kong was arrested at her residence in the residential area affiliated with the No. 3 Power Company at Beigong Street in Weifang City, by people from the Domestic Security Brigade of Weifang City. She was then taken to the city's detention centre and incarcerated. People from the Weifang Domestic Security Brigade confiscated three computers and other items that belonged to her, valued at 20,000 yuan¹ in total. During the first four months, Ms. Kong was interrogated almost every day. Sun Wuxing, along with a person whose first name is Guowen from the Weifang City's Domestic Security Brigade, and another four people divided into two groups and took turns interrogating Ms. Kong. They deprived her of sleep and limited her use of the toilet. If she fell asleep, they woke her up by pouring cold water over her. They deprived her of sleep for four to five nights straight. When she was about to fall asleep, they used bamboo sticks or a broom to beat her.

In August 2008, when Sun Wuxing and another guard, whose last name is Zhang, were torturing her non-stop, Ms. Kong broke the bamboo stick they used to torture her in half and threw it away. Because of that, the guard Zhang pulled her hair and slapped her in the face more than twenty times. As a result, her face became swollen, she had difficulty breathing, and experienced cramps. The authorities were afraid of the consequences, so they had to take her to the Weifang City's People's Hospital for emergency treatment, give her injections, and do CT scans until she recovered.

Not long after she was detained, she was tortured until her feet and legs were swollen. She couldn't sleep because of that, and was still interrogated every day. In order to protest the inhuman torture, she went on hunger strikes four times. She was then tied to a cross and subjected to inhuman tortures. The fourth time she was on a hunger strike, she was tied to a cross which was made of reinforced iron pipes, for eight days. Her hands were stretched out and tied tightly with leather belts, her feet were handcuffed together very tightly, and her body was bound to two reinforced iron pipes, measuring 1.5 centimetres (0.6 inches) in diameter. The space between the two reinforced iron pipes was about 10 centimetres (4 inches), and she could only move her head. Her arms, legs, waist and back were in extreme pain. When she was released from the cross, she couldn't move, and she had to be taken down by others. She was tortured to the brink of death. Eight days later, she was taken to the hospital to receive forced feeding.

On October 30th, 2008, people from the Weifang City's Domestic Security Brigade transferred Ms. Kong to the Changle Forced Labour Camp. There, they forced her to sit on an iron chair² for four days and nights while depriving her of sleep. They also forced her into handcuffs and foot shackles, so that she could not move, and needed help when she had to use the toilet. In the winter, her hands and feet were frozen, and thus injured and swollen. When her relatives tried to bring her winter gloves and socks, they were rejected by people at the detention centre reception desk.

The six months of persecution left Ms. Kong with a high fever for more than ten days, a swollen body, extreme pain, unable to eat or drink. She was at the brink of death. After her relatives found out about her situation, they went to the detention centre and Domestic Security Brigade to demand to see her in person as well as having her released. The guards refused them by saying that Ms. Kong was on a hunger strike and refused to receive any medical treatment. Ms. Kong's legs were subsequently swollen for a long period of time, which caused her a great deal of pain. Thus, it was very difficult for her to sleep. She was taken to a hospital for examination, and the doctor said that she needed to be hospitalised.

On March 14th, 2009, Ms. Kong was transferred to the Weifang City's Detention Centre for further maltreatment. For the past year, Ms. Kong held hunger strikes about a dozen times. In August 2009, five days after she went on a hunger strike, she was force-fed.

Ms. Kong was brought to trial at the Hanting District Court in Weifang City on August 31st, 2009. Her family members hired two lawyers to defend her. The attorneys went to the Hanting Procuratorate to request her file, but were refused. Three days before the trial, they were provided with only the last trial records, and they were not allowed to make photocopies, so they had to copy the information by hand, and none of the other documents on file were opened to any of the lawyers.

During the trial, the principal judge kept interrupting the lawyer's defence statement. Ms. Kong's lawyer was interrupted three times. After the first interruption, the court paused, the second time, Ms. Kong protested to the principal judge, "Why do you interrupt my lawyers defending me? It's unfair!" During the course of the trial, Ms. Kong exposed the persecution by the police officers, and provided proof of the police officers beating her.

On October 18th, 2009, the Hanting District Court in Weifang City opened the trial again, and Ms. Kong received a heavy sentence of nine years imprisonment. People who participated in her persecution included people from the Weifang City Hanting District Court, the Weifang Procuratorate, the Kuiwen Procuratorate, the Hanting Procuratorate, and the Kuiwen District Police Sub-Bureau.

During the past year that Ms. Kong was detained, her mother became emaciated due to worry. She recently learned that her daughter was wrongly sentenced and received a heavy sentence. She became extremely distraught, and she is hoping that kind people will help her obtain justice, and help her daughter to reunite with her parents.

People responsible for persecuting Ms. Kong:
Mou Aiping (Female), vice-president of the court & judge of the Criminal Court of the Hanting District Court in Weifang City: 86-536-7254040 (Office)
Lu Baoqing, Li Hong (Female), court officers
Huang Weilian, Weifang City Police Bureau: 86-536-8783707 (Office), 86-536-8783121 (Office), 86-536-8789366 (Home), 86-13573689006 (Mobile)
Luo Xiangxian, Weifang City Domestic Security Brigade: 86-536-8783238 (Home), 86-536-8783251 (Office), 86-536-8783153 (Office), 86-13963650099 (Mobile)
Sui Ruwen, person in charge of the Weifang City 610 Office: 86-536-8783031 (Home), 86-13806495398 (Mobile)
Qi Yanwei, associate director of the Weifang City 610 Office: 86-15863683066 (Mobile)

Note

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

2. Iron Chair: The "Iron chair" is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time, see illustration at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/10/21/210806.html