Practitioner Ms. Jiang Pingtian Tortured and on the Verge of Death at Changsha Women's Prison

Name: Jiang Pingtian
Gender: Female
Age: 59
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown

Date of Most Recent Arrest: Unknown
Most Recent Place of Detention: Changsha Women's Prison
City: Changsha
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Extortion, detention, interrogation, being hung up, beatings

In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong. In order to peacefully appeal for Falun Gong, practitioner Ms. Jiang Pingtian from Qidong County, Hunan Province, went to Beijing to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong. As a result, she was repeatedly arrested and detained by Chinese communist officers. In order to tell people about the persecution of Falun Gong, with the support of her family members, Ms. Jiang set up a material production site in 2001 to produce Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution to fellow practitioners in her local area and neighbouring counties. Not long after that, the production site was found by officers of the Qidong County Public Security Bureau. The police searched Ms. Jiang's house and confiscated her personal computers, printers, mobile phones and other property, including cash, totalling 10,000 yuan¹.

Ms. Jiang was forced to leave her home and go to her son's home in Dongguan County, Guangdong Province. However, after learning of her whereabouts, Liu Chaoqun, a police officer from Qidong County Public Security Bureau, together with other officers, rushed to Dongguan County and arrested Ms. Jiang. Her son and daughter-in-law were also implicated and arrested by the police. They were put into custody and the police extorted 10,000 yuan from them.

Ms. Jiang was brutally persecuted by the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and justice personnel from Qidong County. She was tortured to extract confessions and the guards handcuffed her to an iron gate for nine consecutive days. Several guards took turns to beat and kick her. There were bruises on her face, hands and all over her body. It was the middle of November and the weather was cold, windy and rainy and Ms. Jiang had only thin clothes to wear. Sometimes when the guards removed the handcuffs, she could only sit or lay on the cold concrete floor, and with her body full of bruises she would shiver with cold. Within a short time, the guards would again try to extort a confession from her. She was beaten unconscious by the guards several times. She became emaciated and the handcuffs could no longer restrain her thin hands. The guards had to find a pair of handcuffs for juveniles to shackle her thin wrists.

Ms. Jiang's suffering from the torture was tremendous. The Qidong County Court then sentenced her to eight years of imprisonment in Changsha Women's Prison. When she did not co-operate with the guards, the term of her imprisonment was extended by six months.

Ms. Jiang has been persecuted and tortured for seven years and she suffers from a number of diseases. She could not eat anything and her body became very weak and thin. She was on the brink of death. She was taken to the hospital by the prison management and was diagnosed with gastric ulcers, hepatitis and many other serious illnesses. The prison authorities were afraid to take responsibility for her poor health and informed her family to come and take her home.

When Ms. Jiang's husband went to the prison to pick her up, the prison authorities suddenly denied his request, saying that she hadn't signed any statements against Falun Gong and thus they wouldn't release her.

Before practising Falun Gong, Ms. Jiang suffered from various illnesses and had sought medical treatment everywhere but there was no help for her. When she began practising Falun Gong in 1998, all of her diseases disappeared and her body became increasingly healthy. She was deeply grateful to Falun Gong for saving her life. She was very diligent in studying the Falun Gong teachings and practising the exercises.

Changsha Women's Prison: 86-731-82323153 (Office)

Guard: 86-13755011999 (Mobile)

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/12/9/214123.html