Ms. Liu Wanqiu from Lanzhou City Tortured on Multiple Occasions

On June 1st, 2010, Ms. Liu Wanqiu from the Xigu District of Lanzhou City was talking to students about Falun Gong in front of a middle school when some students, under the negative influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, reported her to the local authorities. On the afternoon of the same day, the employees' residence neighbourhood committee of her work place, the Lanzhou City Chemical Fibre Factory, together with the Xigu District Politics and Law Enforcement Committee, and the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) informed Ms. Liu to come to the neighbourhood committee to receive her long overdue wages. However, it turned out to be a trap, and over thirty plainclothes police were there waiting to arrest her. They also forcibly took away her keys and ransacked her home. Ms. Liu was then taken to the Xigu District's Siergou Detention Centre. She was released on the evening of June 8th.

1. Hung by the Wrists for 42 Days at Lanzhou City Legal Training School

Ms. Liu Wanqiu, in her 50's, is an employee of the Lanzhou City Chemical Fibre Factory. She was arrested and taken to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre in Lanzhou City in 2003. The brainwashing centre is also known as Lanzhou City Legal Training School.

Starting in September 2003, Ms. Liu was locked up in a solitary cell and hung by the wrists on the iron door for 42 days. After being let down, she was still detained in the solitary cell that had nothing but a toilet. Her wrists were bloody and developed blisters and pustules. Once when she fell asleep on the toilet, due to the severe sleep deprivation, she fell on the ground and injured her face. The scars from falling on the ground can be clearly seen on her face. Doctor Chen, a woman from the legal training school clinic, instigated the personnel from her workplace who were assigned to watch her to put nerve damaging drugs in Ms. Liu's food. Realising that there were drugs in her food, she had to waste all of it and was left with only a small amount of soup for a meal. After that, the authorities provided only a steamed bun for a meal. Also, they did not allow her to wash herself.

One day after 10 p.m., policeman Chang Linke handcuffed Ms. Liu, tied her up with rope, and dragged her to the basement, where he tortured her. The torture caused Ms. Liu to mentally break down and speak incoherently. Policeman Zhao Jian then sealed her mouth with clear plastic tape and wrapped it around her head several times. When the tape was ripped off, a lot of hair was yanked out.

Later, Ms. Liu was cuffed and hung on an iron frame in the basement for several days by policemen Zhang Zhigang, Zhao Jian and Liu Xiaofeng. She was taken down only to have meals. During a break for the policemen, Ms. Liu slipped through the handcuffs and tried to escape via the ventilation duct. She was spotted and dragged out by policeman Cui Lidong, who, together with Zhang Zhigang and Liu Xiaofeng, beat her savagely until she lost consciousness. After she woke up, the policemen hung her up for another week before locking her up in a solitary cell again.

After that, she was handcuffed and beaten multiple times. Two persons from her workplace surnamed Jin and Xie, who were assigned to watch her in the brainwashing centre, also beat her with a broom, held her down on the bed, and tore her hair out. Ms. Liu was later sentenced to a prison term.

2. Hung by the Wrists for 24 hours, Beatings, Forced Labour

In October 2005, Ms. Liu was distributing Falun Gong materials when she was arrested by policemen from Baiyin Street Police Station of Lanzhou City, and taken to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre.

It was cold at the time and she was wearing only a sweater. The authorities locked her up in a cell with no heating and hung her by her wrists that were handcuffed behind her back to an iron door. The handcuffs were taken off only for eating and using the toilet. She suffered through the hanging for half a month until her legs swelled up and became purulent.

Within a few days of letting her down, the authorities transferred her to the Heping Women's Forced Labour Camp in Lanzhou City.

At the labour camp, Ms. Liu was closely monitored by one or two inmates every day and forced to perform labour. She would be beaten and cursed at if she refused to do the work. To try to force her to give up practising Falun Gong, the camp guards beat her with a stick and instigated inmates to hang her up and beat her, causing her face to become disfigured.

After serving her forced labour term in 2007, Ms. Liu was sent to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre again by the forced labour camp authorities for not giving up her practice of Falun Gong. She was later released.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/6/10/225161.html