Account of Persecution Endured by Two Villagers

On March 9th, 2010, Ms. Chen Hongli and Ms. Zhang Guilan, from Xingcheng Town, Qianxi County, Hebei Province, were arrested at a checkpoint on the Luojiatun Township Highway.

Ms. Chen and Ms. Zhang were on a bus returning from visiting Ms. Chen's sick mother when the police stopped their bus. They were asked to show their identification, their personal belongings were searched without any warrant, and they were arrested after the police found Falun Gong related materials in their possession. They were taken to the Qianxi County Detention Centre, where they were held for 15 days.

Ms. Chen protested the arrest by refusing to get in the police car. An officer from the Luojiatun Police Station slammed the car door, injuring her right leg.

For the past ten years, Ms. Zhang and Ms. Chen have been repeatedly arrested, detained in forced labour camps and brainwashing centres, heavily fined, and had their homes searched and ransacked many times.

Hardships Ms. Zhang Guilan Endured

Ms. Zhang Guilan, 58, is from the Shalingzi Village, Xingcheng Town, Qianxi County. She suffered from poor health in her early 40's and had to rely on her husband to do most of the housework. She regained her health after she began practising Falun Gong. Since the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999, she has endured many hardships.

In the early morning of January 14th, 2001, six or seven officers broke into Ms. Zhang's home and took her to the county detention centre, where she was held for 18 months. While in detention, Ms. Zhang was constantly beaten, verbally abused, handcuffed, and denied use of toilet facilities and family visits. When she was released, she had become extremely thin and had aged noticeably. During her detention, her husband, who was not a practitioner at that time, was detained for a month by Zhu Zhengang, chief of the Domestic Security Division, for sending Falun Gong related materials to Ms. Zhang.

In May 2006, Ms. Zhang and her husband, Mr. Chen Baihe, were reported while distributing Falun Gong related materials, and they were taken to the county detention centre. Ms. Zhang was tortured until she was unconscious. She was not able to take in any food or water for eight days. Fearful of being held responsible for the consequences, the detention centre notified her family to take her home. When she was carried out of the detention centre, she was on the verge of death. Even before she was fully recovered, Wei Yutao and other officers from the Criminal Division of the Qianxi County Public Security Department, along with several village officials, went to Ms. Zhang's home several times to harass and threaten her. She was forced to leave home for eight months, to avoid further persecution.

While Ms. Zhang was homeless, the Qianxi 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), the Domestic Security Division, the Procuratorate, and the court, as well as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Political Security Committee of the Qianxi County, collaborated, trying Mr. Chen Baihe four times on fabricated charges. They sentenced him to a four-year term and took him to the Jidong Prison, where he was tortured. As a result, Mr. Chen lost vision in his right eye, had a serious decline of vision in his left eye, and his blood pressure reached 170. His family tried to seek parole for medical treatment for him, which was rejected by the prison.

On March 14th, 2009, Ms. Zhang was arrested by officers from the Qianxi County Domestic Security Division, who were following her on her way to the marketplace. That same day, more than ten officers broke into her house and ransacked it. Ms. Zhang's daughter, Miss Chen Qing, went to the Domestic Security Division and the 610 Office to seek her mother's release, and was detained by Zhu Zhengang for ten days.

On March 9th, 2010, Ms. Zhang was arrested for the fourth time.

Ms. Chen Hongli Arrested Five Times

Ms. Chen Hongli, 38, is from Wuchun Village, Xingcheng Town. In December 1999, Ms. Chen went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was arrested and beaten by the police stationed in Tiananmen Square. After she was escorted back to her hometown by Zhu Zhengang, she was detained in the Qianxi County Detention Centre for more than 40 days, during which time she was subjected to torture, including being handcuffed, hung by the handcuffs, and handcuffed with both arms tied behind her back. Officers from the Domestic Security Division also ransacked her home. She was released after the police extorted 3,000 yuan¹ in cash from her family.

In 2000, Ms. Chen and her mother were arrested and taken to a detention centre by officers from the Qianxi County Domestic Security Division. Ms. Chen held a hunger strike to protest the arrest and was forcibly fed. She was handcuffed with both arms tied behind her back for a long time and was unable to eat or use the toilet. The Domestic Security Division extorted 6,000 yuan in cash from the family.

On November 18th, 2000, Yuan Kaiyi, deputy director of the Qianxi County Public Security Department, along with four officers from the Domestic Security Division, broke into Ms. Chen's home and handcuffed her from behind as soon as they got in. They then ransacked her home and took her to the detention centre. The police claimed that she received Falun Gong related materials from someone in Beijing, and tortured her for several days to extract a confession. One officer slapped her in the mouth until her face was badly bruised and her mouth was bleeding. Officer Zhu Shouliang used a bamboo stick to hit her handcuffed hands until they were badly swollen. She was also handcuffed to a utility pole in the backyard of the public security department for several hours until she was almost frozen.

After Ms. Chen was detained for two months, she was taken to the Kaiping Forced Labour Camp, which refused to accept her after she failed the physical exam. She was then taken to the Qianxi County Detention Centre. A few days later, she was again taken to the Kaiping Forced Labour Camp, where she was tortured by various means, including sleep deprivation, electric shock, hung by handcuffs, handcuffed from behind, tied with rope, forced to sit on a small stool, and solitary confinement. She was also tied to a tree wearing very thin clothes in the cold weather.

On March 9th, 2010, Ms. Chen was arrested for the fifth time.

Additional informational on Ms. Zhang and Ms. Chen's arrests can be found at http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2010/3/23/115534.html ("Two Villagers Arrested at a Checkpoint Set up During the CCP's 'Two Conferences'").

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/3/17/219932.html