Ms. Zhao Ruilan, 58, of Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, Persecuted Multiple Times

Name: Zhao Ruilan
Gender: Female
Age: 58
Address: Qinghuangdao City, Hebei Province
Occupation: Retired

Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 22nd, 2002
Most recent place of detention: Kaiping Forced Labour Camp, Tangshan City, Hebei Province
City: Tangshan City
Province: Hebei Province
Persecution Suffered: Detention, brainwashing, interrogation, beatings, extortion, force-feedings, physical constraint, hung up, sleep deprivation, home ransacked, forced labour, surveillance

I began practising Falun Gong in March 1997. In the past ten years since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started its persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, I have been detained five times, forced to attend brainwashing sessions, sentenced to forced labour, fined, and harassed multiple times. I would like to record the persecution I have suffered at the hands of the CCP.

On February 16th, 2000, my husband, Ma Changyong, and I went to Beijing to appeal for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. At Tiananmen Square, the police arrested us and forced us into a vehicle that took us to Tiananmen Square Police Branch. After 2:00 p.m. that same day, we were sent to the Qinhuangdao City's Liaison Office in Beijing. There, a policeman slapped my husband's face and punched him four times. Then they forced us to stand facing the wall and didn't allow us to use the toilet. Later that night, after 1:00 a.m., my employer sent a vehicle to take us back to Qinhuangdao City to the second division of the police department that no longer exists. After we were interrogated, they transferred us to the First Detention Centre of Qinhuangdao City. At the detention centre, when I did the Falun Gong exercises, guard Fang stomped on my hands, causing blisters to form on the backs of my hands. Many practitioners were beaten and tortured by guard Fang. He kicked practitioners in the head with military style leather boots and broke over 20 brooms that he used to beat practitioners with. Eleven days later, I was transferred to the former second division of the city police department, where officer Zhou Lianguo tried to coerce me to write a guarantee statement to give up practising Falun Gong. He also punched my nose four times, making me feel dizzy and causing drumming in my ears. After we were released, my husband and I were harassed and pressured by Shang Jianmin, secretary of the security division at my workplace.

On the morning of March 20th, I was reported to the authorities only because I did the Falun Gong exercises at the group practice site. Ma Xingwang and Song Sanhu from the Office of Retired Employees and the police chief of Beihuan Street Police Station summoned me to the security division where I worked. Liu Changhui and Ma Xingsheng of the security division then sent me to the second division of the local police department. I was later transferred to the first detention centre and detained there for 15 days.

On April 20th, I was transferred to the Mengying Brainwashing Centre and detained there for a month. During my "stay" there, I was charged a fee of 1,700 yuan¹ that was arbitrarily deducted from my salary and caused us financial difficulties.

On July 4th, security division head Liu tricked me into going to the second division of the local police department. They asked me, "Do you still practise Falun Gong?" When I said that I did, I was taken to the second detention centre and detained there for a month. There, they forced a tube down my throat to force-feed me and left the tube in for over a week. They also stripped my pants off and restrained me by tying me to a filthy wooden board. Since practitioners did the Falun Gong exercises in the morning, they were forced to the outside yard and their wrists handcuffed to a high wire. Some practitioners fainted. We were only released after enduring this torture for more than two hours.

On December 5th, my daughter, who is not a practitioner, and I carried my granddaughter to the local hospital for a vaccination. Liu Changhui and Ma Xingsheng from the security division at my place of work went to the hospital to arrest me. They ordered the driver to take me to the Second Division of the police department. Later that night, I was transferred to the Second Detention Centre. There, I went on a hunger strike for eight days. I then had symptoms of heart disease and was released after being detained for 11 days.

On December 28th, I was on my way to appeal for Falun Gong in Beijing when I was arrested at the Qinhuangdao City Long Distance Bus Station and taken to the local police station. Liu Changhui and Ma Xingsheng then took me to the Second Division of the local police department, where Zhang Qiming, the deputy police chief, whipped my face with a rolled up paper and threatened me by saying, "You must have a death wish!" After 4:00 p.m. that day, someone came to take me back to my place of employment. However, upper management at my workplace told me to go home, because they feared being infected with the scabies I had acquired from being detained multiple times.

On July 21st, 2001, I was in bed with a high fever when Li Fengyi from the local police station and several officers broke into my home and arrested me. In addition to the fever, I couldn't walk because my legs were swollen. Still, Li Fengyi took me to the local military hospital and forced me to pay a fine of 1,000 yuan. I was detained in the hallway of the hospital for over five hours until I was released.

On May 19th, 2002, Liu Changhui, Ma Xingsheng, and Jia Zhenlin from my employer's security division, along with personnel from the local police department, the national security team, and the police station, broke into and ransacked my home.

At around 8:30 a.m. on May 22nd, 2002, Liu Changhui from the security division and Kang Fengjie from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) led four policemen to my home and ransacked it. They confiscated Falun Gong books, and even some children's food. When they were ransacking my home, a policeman held me by the arm. They also slapped my face. Jia Zhenlin and other officers then handcuffed me, carried me down from the fifth floor, and threw me face down onto the ground. I was then taken to the Second Division of the local police station even though no legal procedures were followed. A day later, I was transferred to the first detention centre and held there for 14 days. While I was detained there, the authorities ransacked my home again when my family wasn't home.

On July 4th, I was sentenced to two years of forced labour and sent to Kaiping Forced Labour Camp in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. There, I was sleep-deprived, closely monitored all day long, and was forbidden to speak to anyone.

On September 21st, 2005, my husband went to Huandao Park to tell people the truth about Falun Gong. He was reported to the authorities and arrested. The police confiscated his keys. Jia Zhenlin from the security division, Lu Ping from the national security team, and several officers from Hongqi Street Police Station broke into and ransacked my home. When I tried to stop them from taking my Falun Gong books, Lu Ping beat me and said, "We will arrest you if you resist." In the end, they confiscated all of our Falun Gong books, and other personal belongings.

During the Beijing Olympic Games, the local neighbourhood committee and the police gathered a large group of the unemployed to monitor practitioners. There were always people closely monitoring and following us, even if we went to the supermarket.

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.ca/mh/articles/2009/12/25/215019.html