Account of Persecution Suffered by Ms. Lu Xueqin from Qingdao, Shandong Province

Falun Gong practitioner Lu Xueqin from Qingdao City, Shandong Province has repeatedly been persecuted by officers from the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), police stations, and brainwashing centres.

Her most recent ordeal began in January 2008, when the Qingdao City 610 Office and Public Security Bureau initiated an operation called "Case of 13 People" to target local Falun Gong practitioners. The police arrested and interrogated her, using torture to force her to confess that she was a "key player," which Ms. Lu resolutely denied. She was once not allowed to sleep for nine straight days, which resulted in her fainting several times. Her rheumatic heart disease, kidney inflammation, and post-surgical intestinal adhesion all acted up, but the police kept her from receiving medical treatment. As a result, she became paralysed from the waist down. She also suffered from uncontrolled bowel and bladder movements, thus requiring the use of a catheter. She also suffered extensive bleeding of the uterus because police officer Min Xing violently kicked her in the abdomen. She suffered from inoperable endometriosis and an extensive thrombus because the police denied her proper medical attention. The police and the Procuratorate brutally tortured her from January 26th, 2008 to September 26th at which time, her family was finally allowed to take her home. At that point, she had lost a lot of weight and was very frail. She was paralysed from the waist down and unable to speak, and she frequently fainted.

Below is a first-hand account as told by Ms. Lu Xueqin.

My name is Lu Xueqin, and I'm 47 years old. I live in the Sifang District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province. I used to suffer from numerous illnesses, including rheumatic heart disease, rheumatic arthritis, kidney inflammation, cholecystitis, and post-surgical intestinal adhesions. Oftentimes I was unable to take care of myself. I was treated in several major hospitals in other cities and also practised other qigong practices, only to see very limited results. I had even made detailed arrangements for my death.

I started practising Falun Gong in 1996 and became very healthy, free of any illness.

On November 23rd, 2000, I went to Beijing with three fellow practitioners, Jiang Fang, Qiao Yun, Wu Lirong, to appeal for Falun Gong.

Arrested for Appealing in Beijing

The police took us to the Fuyou Street Police Station, where they had already detained several dozen practitioners who were subjected to beatings and kicking. They were thrown to the floor and subjected to electric shocking of the face, ears, neck, back, and hands. They also used an extremely cruel torture method on practitioners. They removed the protective coating of an electric wire on one end, tied a practitioner's finger with the exposed copper threads, plugged the electric wire in from the other end, and shocked the practitioner that way. The shock would make a practitioner convulse so violently that he/she fell to the ground. The finger would be burnt so badly that one could smell the flesh burning. Three female practitioners Jiang Fang, Li Cailing, and Zhang Li who are from Qingdao City were all tortured by this method. The many practitioners who were tortured in this manner developed big blisters. A police officer beat Ms. Li Cailing with his police baton and also kicked her, causing severe bruising from her chest down and as a result, she was unable to walk. The police punched Ms. Jiang Fang in the jaw repeatedly, causing bleeding and rendering her unable to speak or eat.. Eight policemen shocked a young female practitioner from Jiaozhou with a electric baton and showed no mercy. They only stopped shocking her after the electric baton lost its charge.

Violence Committed by a Police Chief

We were taken to the Qingdao City Liaison Office in Beijing on November 24th, to the Qingdao City Chengyang Police Station on November 25th, and then to the Sifang District Shuiqinggou Police Station, where we were hung up for two days and tortured brutally. Police chief Dong Quanlu handcuffed me, Qiao Yun, and Jiang Fang to a set of metal window bars so that our toes could touch the ground but not our heels. We were kicked, slapped in the face, twisted by the ear, and dragged by the hair. After they got tired, they switched to using police batons to beat us. One of them also used foul language to threaten us, "I can send you to a crematory after I beat you to death and I won't be held responsible; you will be considered having committed suicide if I beat you to death. According our superiors' orders, we don't attack murderers or robbers, but we specialise in attacking Falun Gong practitioners." He beat us on the head, face, temples, and chest, and used a stick to beat us on the arms, hands, and feet. He also poked Ms. Qiao Yun's private parts with a stick.

On the night of November 27th, after being tortured for two days, we were transferred to the Qingdao Dashan Detention Centre, where several practitioners were also detained. I had heart problems and could not breathe. Several times a day I would have serious problems breathing. About two weeks later my family picked me up and took me home. After that, police from the Shuiqinggou Police Station and officers from the the Neighbourhood Committee Office came to my home to harass me.

Qiao Yun, Jiang Fang, and Wu Lirong were sentenced to three years of forced labour and were transferred to the the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp in Zibo, Shandong Province.

Held in a Brainwashing Centre Twice

In January 2001, officers from the Shuiqinggou Police Station, Neighbourhood Committee Office, and the 610 Office asked me to go to the police station to attend a meeting, which I refused to do. They lied to my husband and guaranteed that I would be released after the meeting. Nevertheless, they held me in a brainwashing centre in Dahua Hotel in Sifang District. They forced me to renounce my belief and write a guarantee statement, claiming that they would let me go if I wrote it. I held a hunger strike to protest. On the fourth day, an officer from the Neighbourhood Committee Office took me home.

On March 12th, 2001, officers from the 610 Office and the Shuiqinggou Police Station again took me to Dahua Hotel, where they held brainwashing sessions. By then they had trained a group of people and formed a "transformation team" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] specifically to persecute practitioners. Because of the mental torture I suffered and the lies they told me, I was forced to write a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong against my conscience in order to return home.

Wang Xiaoli Dies Because of the Persecution

In February 2002, practitioner Ms. Wang Xiaoli went to Jiaonan to spend the Chinese New Year holidays with her parents. Someone reported her to police when she was distributing CD's exposing the persecution of Falun Gong on the street. She was taken to the Langya Township Police Station in Jiaonan, and then to the Qingdao Dashan Detention Centre, where she was detained for a month. Afterwards, she was sentenced to eighteen months of forced labour. She escaped when police from the Qingdao Sifang District Police Station escorted her to the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp. She returned to Qingdao and lived in hiding in my mother's home. However, the police had already wiretapped Ms. Wang's home phone.

On March 19th, 2002, Ms. Wang used my mother's home phone to call her family. Several hours later, at 10 p.m,. officers from the Luoyang Road Police Station in Sifang District and Fushan Road Police Station in Licang District went to my mother's home and kicked in the front door. Ms. Wang climbed out of a window and fell down from the 5th floor while trying to escape the police. She died at the scene. The police took my mother away and detained her in the Fushan Road Police Detention for one day and night before they released her.

Held in a Brainwashing Centre the Third Time

At 7 a.m. on March 20, officers from the Shuiqinggou Police Station, the 610 Office, and the Neighbourhood Committee Office came to my home, saying that I was an eyewitness to Wang Xiaoli's death and placed me under around the clock surveillance. They said that I was not to contact anyone, nor should I expose this on the Minghui website [Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net]e. My husband said that I was not home and was not able to find me. They held my husband at the Neighbourhood Committee Office and did not release him until after 5 p.m.

They put me under 24 hour surveillance starting from March 21st. Ten days later when Wang's death was published on the Minghui website, they said that I was the one who had released the information. In April, they again sent me to a brainwashing centre at #34 Mingxia Road, Qingdao City.

Every day in the brainwashing centre they forced practitioners to watch videos that defamed Falun Dafa, and to write statements to renounce Falun Dafa. They physically and verbally abused practitioners who refused to co-operate. Practitioner Zhu Lixin from Laixi City refused to co-operate, so officers from the 610 Office brutally force-fed him with a feeding tube, subjected him to sleep deprivation, and dragged him to the big hall to force him to watch the slanderous videos. Practitioner Yin Xinyun from Qingdao City was brutally beaten by guards for refusing to write statements against Falun Gong.

I developed shortness of breath after suffering for a prolonged period of time. After I passed out one day, the instructor called a taxi to take me home.

Paralysed Due to Brutal Torture

At 5 p.m. on January 26th, 2008, while I was on my way to a market, I was arrested by police from the Qingdao City North Vice Squad. I was taken to the Liaoyuan Road Police Station. The police took my purse and keys, and left to ransack my home. They held me in solitary confinement in the backyard and made me sit on a metal chair. At 4 p.m. the following day, Min Xing from the Liaoyuan Road Police Station, Wei Zhichen from the North Vice Squad, and Liu Jie from the Anti-cult Section of the city's North Precinct took me to the Haici Hospital (a hospital designated by the Provincial Prison Bureau to conduct medical examinations on Falun Gong practitioners) for a medical examination.

At approximately 8 p.m., two officers came in and took me to another room. After a short time, eight officers brought in a man wearing a black mask. They kicked and dragged him into the room. I heard practitioner Yin Xinxiao's voice, saying, "Why are you kidnapping me? You are violating the law."

After 10 p.m., Min Xing took me to an office on the first floor, where he, Wei Zhichen and Liu Jie interrogated me, trying to force me to admit that I had asked others to print materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong and that I had purchased equipment and materials, which I denied. Min told me that whoever wanted to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or is against the CCP is asking for death. He punched and kicked me, shouting that he would not be held responsible if he beat me to death because I would be "dying from heart disease or high blood pressure", since he had my medical records to prove it. He also said that his supervisor had given him the authority to do so. He used foul language while he beat me and dragged me by the hair. He tortured me for hours

One morning, assistant instructor Sun and Xue demanded practitioner Yin Xinxiao to wear a plate on his neck to have his picture taken and to have his finger prints taken. But Yin refused to co-operate. Sun then sent for Min Xing to beat Yin.

One night several officers interrogated Yin and me. I was taken to Li Gang's office on the second floor, and Yin was taken to another room across from Li's office. Min started punching and kicking me, and then about a dozen other officers followed suit. Min hit me on the forehead with an unknown object, and it left a bruise that did not fade away for several months.

Another officer hit me and dragged me by the hair, trying to force me to confess, but I refused. He pressed on my temples so hard that I felt very dizzy. I asked him what unit he was from and he said that he was from the 3rd Unit of the North Vice Squad. I told him that I would like to file a complaint against him, and he said that they would not let me go unless I confessed. He also said that they treated Falun Gong practitioners like death row inmates.

I could hear other officers beat Yin Xinxiao in another room.

One night, officer Min forced me to admit that I ordered Yin Xinxiao to distribute the Nine Commentaries in nearby cities. I told him that Yin only shipped house repair tools and drove workers to the construction site. Min again punched and kicked me. When I asked for his name, he told me that he was responsible for my case and that Chief Chen of the Liaoyuan Road Police Station had given him the authority to beat me. He continued to beat me and I soon lost consciousness.

Afterwards someone woke me up. I opened my eyes and saw two officers dragging me up from the floor to the backyard.

In the morning, Wei Zhichen and another officer interrogated me. I told them that I wanted to report that Min and others had interrogated me using torture.

In the afternoon, two officers from the Qingdao Public Security Bureau came to see me. One of them was Wang Mingzhe. I told them how Min had tortured me and showed them the injuries on my body. My feet were so swollen that I could not take off my socks. I asked them to do something about Min. They said they would and wrote down the information that I gave them. They asked me to sign a statement to prove that they did not interrogate me with torture. I told them that they did not use torture, but Min from the Liaoyuan Police Station did, so I signed my name. The next day when Wang Mingzhe came over, I asked him if he had reported my request to his supervisor. Wang replied viciously that no one could prove that Min had tortured me. He tried to force me to confess. No one admitted that they had tortured me. I once reported the torture I endured to the city's North Precinct chief, Chen, when he came to have a talk with me. He promised that he would look into this matter, but nothing ever came of it.

On February 4th, my whole body was swollen. I had a headache, shortness of breath and for several days I lost the ability of my toilet functions. The police took me to the Haici Hospital. The doctor gave me some medicine and inserted a catheter into my urinary tract. The police took me back to the police station. My body was very week. I had problems breathing and did not have the strength to speak. I was unable to sit up. Yet, the police forced me to sit up and would not allow me to sleep. They constantly called my name and asked me if I would confess. I did not sleep for nine consecutive days .

By Chinese New Year's Day on February 7th, I was no longer able to stand up, and I was dizzy. They took me to the Haici Hospital. Four doctors with different specialities examined me and told the police that I had a very serious case of thrombus, heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney disease. The doctors said that the police must contact my family to notify them that I must undergo surgery to remove blood clots. One police officer called his supervisor, and then told the doctors that he was not allowed to let me to stay in the hospital.

In the afternoon, officer Yin Zhijun and Zhang Hong took me to the Municipal Hospital. The doctor there said I had thrombus and needed to be hospitalised, and that if the blood clots travel to my lungs, it would be too late I demanded to see my family. The police asked a doctor to document that I had refused to co-operate and refused to be treated.

The doctor prescribed ten IV treatments. However, the police stopped the IV treatment after I completed only five sessions, claiming that they would torture me to the point of disability.

During that period of time, a kind-hearted person informed my family about my situation. So everyday my family went to the Liaoyuan Police Station, the city's Public Security Bureau, the city's North Precinct, the 610 Office, and the city's Letter and Petition Office to file complaints regarding my being tortured by the police and my health condition caused by it. The police in the Liaoyuan Road Police Station did not want to let my family see that I was so badly tortured and did not allow my family to go upstairs to see the supervisors. Min knocked my husband to the floor in the big hall several times. My daughter tried to stop him, so he turned around and tried to hit her as well.

My husband did not get any response from authorities in Qingdao City. So on February 18th, he sent letters to different procuratorial offices in the city, province, and Beijing. He also hired a lawyer for me. The 610 Office dismissed the lawyer, however, saying that my case was too big for any lawyer to handle.

Officers from the North Vice Squad went in search of my daughter at her company and took her to the Jiaozhou Road Police Station, asking her to confess that her mother had sent someone to her company to load some items, which my daughter denied. They did not release my daughter until my family went looking for her.

On February 24th, my whole body was swollen and ached. I had chest pain, cough, and shortness of breath. The police took me to the Shanda Hospital. Officer Ren and another officer Jianggong from the Liaoyuan Road Police Station stuffed me into the trunk of a car. The drive was so bumpy that I became dizzy and vomited. I was unable to walk at that point. A doctor told the police that they should not drag me along and that they should put me in a wheelchair, which they did. However, after the doctor examined me, the police refused to let the doctor treat me, claiming that their supervisor did not authorise any medical treatment.

On February 18th, I heard Li Gang telling two assistant instructors to drive practitioner Yin Xinxiao to the Yan'an Road Police Station. I heard someone saying that this young man had been sitting on a metal chair and had been deprived of sleep for eight days.

On February 21st, I had difficulty breathing and suffered from excruciating pain in my abdomen and back, along with profuse bleeding. My whole body was numb. My stomach was very distended and I looked like I was pregnant. The police took me to the Shanda Hospital for some tests. The doctor again demanded that I stay in the hospital for surgery because of a severe case of endometriosis. The police again declined the doctor's recommendation and took me back to the police station.

On February 22nd, the Qingdao City Public Security Bureau transferred me to a brainwashing centre operated by the 610 Office, which was located at #34 Mingxia Road, Qingdao City. The illnesses I used to suffer, including post-surgical intestinal adhesions, intestinal obstruction, and kidney inflammation all came back. I had to rely on drugs to perform bodily functions, but officers from the 610 Office stopped all my medication. Officer Lin Zhikun, Ma Yanli, and Sun Guimei said that I was not entitled to any basic rights because I was a political criminal and I was to be tortured to death. In the 610 Office, I had to report to them whenever I ate, drank, or used the toilet. Sun Guimei also instructed the assistant instructors to not turn or bath my body, claiming that I was supposed to be tortured and to confess.

In March, officers from the city's North Precinct began another round of interrogation. A dozen officers interrogated me everyday. They included Chen, chief of the North Precinct; Xiao Hong and Liu Jie, chief and deputy chief of the Anti-cult Section; Li Zhijian, main officer in charge of the "Case of 13 People"; Liu Dejun; Yu Honggang, chief of the Yan'an Road Police Station; Hao Yongqiang; Yu Yongjie from the Hefei Road Police Station; Wang Bo from the Ningxia Road Police Station, and Li from the Jiaozhou Road Police Station. Everyday they interrogated me, trying to force me to confess. They told me that they could still give me a criminal sentence even if they did not get a confession from me. They claimed that my case was the number one case in the province's Public Security Bureau, that the Bureau chief was personally overseeing this case.

Consequently my health continued to deteriorate. I suffered from severe headaches, my vision was affected, I had chest pain and shortness of breath, and I passed out several times. They took me to the Qingdao Dashan Hospital, where the doctor gave me medication. However, the police did not allow me to take the medicine. I complained to Chen again about being deprived of medical treatment after suffering torture. Chen again claimed that he would process my complaint for me.

One day in late March, at 6 p.m., officers Wang Bo, Hao Yongqiang, Yu Yongjie, Li Zhijian, and others came to the brainwashing centre and asked an instructor to give me heart medicine. They brought in practitioner Yi Xinxiao, who was handcuffed and shackled, to try to get me to confess. Shortly after that, they asked an instructor to bring him some food . Yi was so hungry that he devoured the food. It was so devastating to hear Yi say things that are against his conscience. I cried loudly, unable to contain myself. I passed out several times that night, so the police gave me medication for my heart.

Two days later, Yu Honggang, chief of the Yan'an Road Police Station; Hao Yongqiang, Wang Bo from the Ningxia Road Police Station, Yu Yongjie, Li, Li Zhijian, and others resumed daily interrogations, threatening me with a fifteen-year sentence.

Li from the Jiaozhou Road Police Station showed me a video on a mobile phone which showed practitioner Liu Lianjun being beaten by police while lying on the ground shouting "Falun Gong is good." Yu Yongjie also showed me another video showing a daughter expressing how she missed her mother. Yu also told me that the bureau chief was about to arrest my daughter.

My family came to see me and bring clothes to me. However, they were verbally abused and driven away by officers from the 610 Office, including Lin Zhikun, Jiang Chunbin, Ma Yanli, and Cui Long. Lin Zhikun grabbed my husband by his collar and pushed him down the stairs.

The clothes that my family had delivered to me were held in the brainwashing centre. When the police took me to the Qingdao Shanda Hospital on May 14th, I was still wearing the jacket that I had on when I was arrested. It was not until July 16th that someone in the brainwashing centre gave those clothes to me.

On April 25th, officers Xiao Hong, Li Zhijian, Liu Dejun, Lan Xiaodong, and Yin Zhijun from the Liaoyuan Road Police Station took me to the Qingdao Shanda Hospital, and I was spotted by my family. I was so thin and weak that my family insisted that they accompany me to go see the doctor to receive medical treatment. However, Xiao Hong sent for a police car and police officers to stop my family from getting close to me. During the medical examination, a doctor said that I suffered from complications of thrombus and that there was no good treatment for it. He suggested that I wear elastic socks to aide in the recovery . I requested this, but officer Lan xiaodong said that they had received an order to withhold any medical treatment. Nearly every day my family went to various departments to request medical treatment for me, but the police simply refused.

On May 14th, I had bleeding of the uterus because officer Min Xing violently kicked me in the abdomen, which led to severe anaemia. My face and lips were pale, my body was cold and numb, and I fell unconscious. They again took me to the Qingdao Dashan Hospital and the doctor recommended that I take something to replenish the lost blood. The city's North Precinct notified my family to deliver Chinese medicine to me, but I never received them because Jian Chunbin and Ma Yanli withheld them.

On June 2nd and 3rd, officers Yin Zhijun, Zhang Hong, and Li Yan from the Liaoyuan Road Police Station took me to the Haici Hospital. The doctor said that the first priority was to stop the bleeding, or I would die. Yin and Zhang said that they could not make the decision to let me stay in the hospital and needed to report to the supervisor. They took me back to the brainwashing centre instead of staying for medical treatment.

On July 16th, with the Beijing Olympics approaching, the brainwashing centre was moved from Mingxia Road to the second floor on the Civilian Reserve Training Centre at #67 Shaoxin Road. Because I was unable to walk, I laid on the cement floor for over an hour, waiting to be transferred to the new centre. When officer Li Yan from the Liaoyuan Road Police Station came, she forbade people to carry me up and ordered me to stand up to walk on my own. She dragged me by the hands and kicked me. Since I was not able to stand up, she had me rolled in a bed sheet and forced into a car, causing me to feel suffocated and to vomit violently.

The new brainwashing centre also detained practitioners from Pingdu and Laixi. Everyday the police forced practitioners to watch video programmes that defamed Falun Gong, and forced us to listen to Jian Chunbin and Sun Guimei give talks that defamed Falun Gong. The police tried to stop practitioners from seeing that I had been tortured to the point of being disabled. They also insisted that I keep my door closed, so that others could not see my injuries, despite my strong protests.

I held a hunger strike protesting against Lin Zhikun's abuse and demanded to see the head of the brainwashing centre. It was not until the chief of the city's Procuratorate Hong Junjiang came over that they left the door open a little bit.

On August 22nd, Lu Qiang from the city's North Procuratorate and officer Li Zhijian from the city's North Precinct, who was in charge of the "case of 13 people", went to the brainwashing centre and told me that the Procuratorate had put me under surveillance starting that day. I filed a complaint to Lu Qiang about my being interrogated using brutal torture. I requested that he compile a complaint for me. Lu wrote a simple complaint report for me and read it to me. He also promised that he would submit my complaint to his supervisor. I asked Lu if he had read my medical records, and he said that the Procuratorate had never seen my medical records.

On September 22nd, judge Wang Ge and court clerk Zhang Qian from the city's North Court ma Li Zhijian went to the brainwashing centre to deliver the so-called indictment papers to me. I had suffered from the inability to speak, shortness of breath, and a fever lasting over 10 days. The police did not take me to a hospital, instead they contacted a doctor who practises Chinese medicine to give me some herbs to lower my blood pressure and my fever.

On September 26th, officer Lin Zhikun from the brainwashing centre sent for my husband and asked him to take me home to undergo medical treatment, claiming that since the Beijing Olympics and the Special Olympics were over, I can practise Falun Gong at home if I wanted. But at the time I was unable to move from the waist down, unable to speak, was constantly in an unconscious state, and very thin, weighing only about 36 kilograms when I returned home, as opposed to 55 kilograms when I was arrested in January.

On September 27th, judge Wang Ge and court clerk Zhang Qian came to my home, telling me that the court was going to place me under surveillance.

On October 22nd, the 610 Office notified me that I needed to appear in court two days later, despite my precarious health. Shortly after that, the court cancelled the hearing.

On December 29th, my husband submitted to the court a written request for permission to allow me to travel to other cities to receive medical treatment, since major hospitals in Qingdao said that I had missed the proper medical treatment when the time was critical, and that it was best that I go to Beijing or Shanghai to seek better medical treatment. However, the court never responded to the request.

On December 30th, judge Wang Ge and court clerk Zhang Qian delivered the second indictment papers to me and made my case separate from the "case of 13 people." I told them in detail about how I was interrogated with brutal torture and that what the indictment papers were wrong because I did not purchase equipment and materials, nor did I ask others to distribute materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. Zhang took note of what I said and also read it back to me.

On February 11th, 2009, four people from the court, including the chief judge and Wang Ge, came to my home. My family again told them how I was interrogated with cruel torture, and requested that I be allowed to travel to other cities to seek medical treatment. My family also told them that because of the deliberate stalling by the police, I did not receive medical treatment in time. As result, I suffered many complications, including extensive thrombus in my hips, legs, and chest; deformity of the bones; injuries in the back, legs; subcutaneous fat calcification, elevated blood pressure, narrowing of the main pulmonary artery, coronary artery and tricuspid regurgitation, and deterioration of the left ventricle, and severe endometriosis. I had missed the critical time to receive surgery and it was too late. The doctor told my family that surgery would be dangerous under my extremely weak condition and thrombus, and that I might die during surgery. The doctor also said that I had to be very careful not to get any infection, for risk of amputation.

On May 18th, Wang Ge called my husband to pick up some court papers, and my husband returned home with a notice stating that the court had decided to stop processing the indictment against me.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/10/16/210463.html