Ms. Ma Lingxian, a Retired Teacher in Huili County, Sichuan Province, Frequently Persecuted

Name: Ma Lingxian
Gender: Female
Age: 57
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Teacher

Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 19th, 2008
Most recent place of detention: Longquanyi Women's Prison in Sichuan Province
City: Chengdu
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Detention, interrogation, forced labour, home ransacked, extortion, torture

Ms. Ma Lingxian from Huili County, Sichuan Province, was brutally persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because of her firm belief in Falun Gong. She was interrogated twice, was fined three times, had her salary suspended, and was denied a salary increase. She was also detained three times and sentenced to forced labour twice. CCP officials ransacked her home seven times and frequently harassed her. In 2008, she was arrested again and sentenced to three years in prison.

Sentenced to Forced Labour the First Time

In October 2001, CCP officials at different levels, including Ms. Ma's supervisors from the school where she worked, frequently harassed her. They threatened her, citing her children's future and her job as possible targets, but she did not co-operate. Later, officials from the local Domestic Division arrested her and took her to a detention centre. They interrogated her many times and tried to force her to reveal the names of other practitioners. When they realised that they could not get any information from her, they detained her for one month and sentenced her to one and a half years of forced labour on February 5th, 2002. With the help of her relatives, she was eventually released from custody for a later trial.

When she was released, her supervisors at school didn't allow her to continue her teaching career and assigned her odd jobs instead. They also deducted one month of her salary and twice denied her salary increases.

In April 2006, officials from the local Domestic Security Division broke into her apartment and ransacked it. They confiscated her Falun Gong materials. This time they arrested her and detained her in the detention centre for 15 days. They also extorted 500 yuan¹ from her.

Sentenced to Forced Labour the Second Time

In November 2006, when officials from the local Domestic Security Division learned that Ms. Ma was dispelling communist party propaganda about Falun Gong to her pupils, they paid each pupil ten yuan for following Ms. Ma. This time the officials arrested her and two other practitioners. They took them to a detention centre, where police officers put cuffs on their hands and ankles and tortured them.

On November 28th, 2006, Ms. Ma was sentenced to one year and nine months of forced labour and taken to the Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zizhong County. When she was given a physical, she had symptoms of heart problems and low blood pressure, so the officials in the labour camp refused to accept her. But Wen Xiaohong and Liu Jianping, the police officers who took her to the labour camp, used tricks in order to leave her in the labour camp.

While she was in the labour camp, two detainees who abused drugs watched her and did not allow her to sleep more than two or three hours each night. In the daytime, they forced her to sit motionless on a small stool--she was not allowed to move even the slightest bit. Within several days she developed a hard knot on her hips. She was in pain as soon as she touched the stool. Later, police officers forced her to do hard labour. She was not allowed to take a break even when she was fatigued. The most miserable part was the spiritual persecution. The jail guards, criminals, and collaborators² insulted her dignity, defamed Falun Gong, and read books defaming Falun Gong and forced her to listen. They used all kinds of tactics on her in order to try to force her to betray Falun Gong.

On January 31st, 2007, when Ms. Ma had been detained in the forced labour camp for about 40 days, she had symptoms of serious illness. The officials in the labour camp were afraid of having to take responsibility, so they called officials from the county Domestic Security Division to take her home. Instead of taking her home, those officials stopped the police car in front of the county detention centre. The officer in charge, Yang Shaoliang, deceived her, saying, "Follow me inside to get the procedures over with." When they kept her again in the detention centre, Ms. Ma went on a hunger strike. Police officers Yang Shaoliang and Liu Weiping threatened that they would force feed her if she continued her hunger strike. They also told her that they would have her son watch the force feeding process. They claimed, "We will wait for approval from our superiors." Ten days later, Ms. Ma was in critical condition, and the officials from the detention centre took her to a hospital. The jail guards that had to take turns watching her thought it was very troublesome. Later, police officers from the local Domestic Security Division informed Ms. Ma's family and told them to take her home.

On June 6th, 2008, nine officials, including police officers from the local State Security Bureau and several others, ransacked Ms. Ma's home. They confiscated her satellite receiver, and Falun Gong books.

Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

On July 19th, 2008, Ms. Ma went to a 30-year reunion party with her classmates. The following morning, she talked about the facts of Falun Gong to her classmates on their way to Lingshan Temple in Mianning County. She also distributed Falun Gong DVDs to them. But her classmates Chen Li, Chen Jianhua and Liu Wenhua (a teacher from the Huili Vocational School and chairman of the Student Union) reported her to the police. That same afternoon, officials from the Huili County Domestic Security Division immediately informed her school and drove to Xichang. They arrested her while she was still with her classmates and held her in a detention centre.

On March 16th, 2009, she was tried in Huili County Court. In the courtroom, the appointed prosecutors, Ye Donghua and Li Youqiong, said that Ms. Ma Lingxian had publicised Falun Gong and distributed DVDs, which they claimed violated the law. Ms. Ma talked about her cultivation experience and said that after she started to practise Falun Gong, her moral standard improved and her diseases disappeared. She told them that she was only spreading the wonder of Falun Gong, which didn't hurt the nation or anyone at all. She also told them that she had not violated any laws. Referring to the evidence, Ms. Ma questioned the verdict in the trial of practitioner Ms. Cui Deli. Ms. Ma asked, "You ransacked her home and didn't find any Falun Gong materials, so why did you sentence her to more than one year of forced labour?" Having heard Ms. Ma's convincing statement, Qiu Yun, the chief judge, had to make a motion to adjourn the hearing.

The court finally sentenced Ms. Ma Lingxian to a three-year prison term, but they didn't notify her or her family. Finally, on the afternoon of May 14th, 2009, officials from the Huili County Court called her niece and told her that Ms. Ma had been sentenced to three years in prison. The niece then notified Ms. Ma's children, who lived in Chengdu City. On May 15th, Ms. Ma's son went to Huili County to see his mother, but the officials didn't allow him to see her because it was the weekend. In the afternoon on May 18th, a Monday, Ms. Ma's son met with his mother. Not until then did he find out that his mother was never told about her prison sentence.

On the morning of May 19th, Ms. Ma's son went to the Huili County Court and asked for the sentencing document from Chief Judge Qiu Yun, but Qiu refused to give it to him. Ms. Ma's son said, "We demand the right to appeal." Qiu Yun said, "This sentence was passed down on May 6th. Ten days have passed, so the time limit to appeal has expired." Ms. Ma's son asked him, "Why didn't you notify us earlier?" Qiu Yun said, "This is a special case." Then he immediately pushed Ms. Ma's son away.

Ms. Ma Lingxian is a retired teacher, who had been working in the Shaba Middle School in Huili County. Before she practised Falun Gong, she suffered from low blood pressure, female diseases, a skin disease, and insomnia, and she had a nervous breakdown. She tried many doctors and hospitals, but her health never did improve.

In 1998, she started practising Falun Gong. Soon after that, all her illnesses disappeared and her spirituality also improved. She felt grateful because Falun Gong had made her life wonderful and valuable. She worked diligently and was praised by all the faculty members and school employees. Ms. Ma was also greatly loved by her students, especially those living on campus.

Note

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

2. "Collaborators": former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/12/9/214041.html