Ms. Yan Chunling Sentenced to Prison For Nine Years--Inhumanly Tortured In Prison

Name: Yan Chunling
Gender: Female
Age: 36
Address: Street Dazhi, Nangang District, Harbin City
Occupation: Unknown

Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 19th, 2003
Most recent place of detention: Heilongjiang Women's Prison

City: Harbin City
Province: Heilongjiang Province
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, physical constraint, solitary confinement, torture, denial of toilet use.

Ms. Yan Chunling once suffered from severe myocarditis and developed cholecystitis. This made her unable to go to work. She later developed hyperthyroidism and could not even climb the stairs.

In the spring of 1995, Yan Chunling learned Falun Gong. After she began cultivation, her diseases all disappeared, and she was full of energy. Falun Gong gave her a new life.

On July 20th, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong, and at that time Yan Chunling wanted to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Her workplace, however, dismissed her, and she thus had no income. Her life became very difficult and she had no money to buy a train ticket to Beijing. Yan Chunling then decided to walk to Beijing. Around October of that year, when she walked to Gongzhuling City, she was forcibly taken to the No. 2 Detention Centre by CCP party members. There her hands and feet were shackled for more than 70 days. She was detained there until January 6th, 2000.

In May 2001, Yan Chunling again went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. While she was on the train she was again forcibly taken to No. 2 Detention Centre, and later transferred to Wanjia Forced Labour Camp. In the prison, due to the persecution, she contracted scabies and was severely infected. The blood and the sepsis formed scabs on her skin. The prison police peeled off the scabs with force. Yan Chunling had high fever for more than forty days, but the police forbade her family from visiting her, or sending her food or money. Because she refused to be "transformed [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]," she was not released from the prison until three months after her term expired.

On May 19th, 2003, Yan Chunling went to visit Lin Yongmei. The police happened to be there at the time to arrest Lin Yongmei and her husband, Zhang Chuanduo, so they also arrested Yan Chunling.

In the detention centre, Yan Chunling was forcibly cuffed at the hands and feet for more than forty days, and later sentenced to prison for nine years. On April 29th, 2004, she was sent to Heilongjiang Women's Prison. In the prison, she was subjected to a variety of tortures for long periods of time. These inhuman tortures included solitary confinement for a very long time, being handcuffed with her hands behind her back for 96 days, denied use of the restroom and showers, and many other tortures. In September 2006, Yan Chunling was sent to a special squad in No. 11 section because she refused to give up her belief. There the torture continued.

In April 2008, the prison stopped allowing Yan Chunling's family to visit her. It has been already more than twenty months since the last visit. Her condition now is unknown.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/12/29/215262.html