A Kind Peasant, Ms. Liu Yanqin, 54, Brutally Tortured

Name: Liu Yanqin
Gender: Female
Age: 54
Address: Huangdi Village, Tukouzi Township, Qingyuan County, Fushun City, Liaoning Province
Occupation: Peasant

Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Masanjia Forced Labour Camp
City: Shenyang City
Province: Liaoning Province
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, Re-education through labour, Torture, Hanging up, Beatings, Electric Shock

Fifty-four-year-old Ms. Liu Yanqin lives in Huangdi Village, Tukouzi Township, Qingyuan County, Fushun City, Liaoning Province. Because of her firm belief in Falun Gong, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials frequently harassed her. They arrested her and sentenced her to forced labour several times. Ms. Liu Yanqin was brutally tortured while imprisoned. She is now detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

I. Police from Special Management Group in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp Brutally Beat Ms. Liu Yanqin with Electric Batons

In July 2008, police officers from the Qingyuan County Police Bureau arrested Ms. Liu Yanqin under the pretext of security for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. They tortured her brutally by means of forcing her to sit on a "tiger bench¹," force-feeding her with wine, inserting lit cigarettes into her nostril, and hanging her up to beat her. After they tortured her for two days and one night, Ms. Liu Yanqin's hands were disabled. Later they took her to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

In the labour camp, Ms. Liu was not allowed to sit because she refused to recite the "30 Clauses." Her legs became swollen from standing for such a long time. One time, as punishment for refusing to stand and greet a policewoman who persecuted practitioners, two policewomen forcefully pulled her up and yelled at her. Ms. Liu Yanqin shouted loudly, "Falun Gong is good." Later Wang Yanping, the former director of the Education Section and current commander of Group 1, hung up Ms. Liu Yanqin, sealed her mouth with tape, entangled wire through her fingers, and then started to shock her with electric batons while beating her violently. This beating lasted for several hours. They also demanded that she betray Falun Gong and write the three statements to renounce Falun Gong. When Ms. Liu Yanqin refused, Dong Bin gave her another brutal beating. Ms. Liu Yanqin has now been transferred to the Special Management Group, where a commander called Pan and Peng Tao violently beat her and shock her with electric batons.

On July 7th, 2009, officials in the women's labour camp also established a special management group, which was located behind the main building. Pan, the commander of Group 1, is the head of this "Special Management Group." Wang and He were appointed as two commanders of the group. Additionally, there are two policemen who work as thugs and ten policewomen who alternate being on duty 24 hours a day.

This two-story building was specially constructed. Each cell is equipped with two large windows, but each large window has only one small section that can be opened. There is wire netting outside the window. The door is automatic and equipped with bars. Inside the building, there is a room specifically used for torturing Falun Gong practitioners. In summer, there is no window screen to keep mosquitoes and flies out. Every night there are at least seventy mosquitoes in the cell. When practitioners told Pan about this, she responded and said, "If you want to open the window, you should not be afraid of being bitten. If you want to close the window, you should not be afraid of feeling suffocated. This is the Special Management Group."

The food in the Special Management Group was inferior. Practitioners were given only coarse grain and soup with a few pieces of vegetables for meals. No warm water was provided. Practitioners detained in the Special Management Group were not allowed family visits, phone calls or mail. They were also not allowed to buy food.

II. Violent Beating and Tiger Bench in Fushun City No. 2 Detention Centre

The CCP officials arrested Ms. Liu Yanqin in July 2008. When she was detained in Fushun City No. 2 Detention Centre, police officers from Qingyuan County Police Bureau took her back to Qingyuan County and persecuted her for two days and one night. A policewoman by the name of Xu Jinrong beat Ms. Liu Yanqin violently.

Police officers in Qingyuan County cuffed both Ms. Liu's hands and feet, then secured her to an iron chair. They insulted, beat and cursed her. They force-fed her with wine. They stifled her mouth so that she could only breathe through her nose, then forced her to smoke by inserting a burning cigarette into her nostril.

When Ms. Liu Yanqin was taken back to the detention centre, she couldn't take care of herself. Her hands and feet were numb. She couldn't bend her fingers. She tried to eat but would just vomit. She was black and blue all over her face and body and her legs were swollen. The more than thirty inmates in the cell were shocked at the scene. They said, "If we had not seen this with our own eyes, we would not have dared to believe that police officers who were guided by the Chinese Communist Party could have done such evil things to such a kind person."

Ms. Liu Yanqin is still being detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. Due to the circumstances, our knowledge of her specific situation is limited.

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/11/4/211892.html