Ms. Li Yushu Brutally Tortured in Heilongjiang Women's Prison

Ms. Li Yushu from Mohe City, Heilongjiang Province, was the secretary of the Education Commission of the former Amu'er Forest Bureau in Daxing'an Mountain Forest. She began to practise Falun Gong in 1996 and was sentenced to a 12-year prison term in May 2002. In January 2003 she was taken to the Intensive Training Centre in Heilongjiang Women's Prison, where she was tortured brutally. She was held in a small cell once and in an isolation cell six times. She ended up emaciated.

Ms. Li recounted the torture she suffered during her imprisonment:

1. Barbaric Force-feeding

Guard Jia Wenjun of the No. 9 Ward and personal cangue Wu Xiangfen involved others to force-feed me. On December 10th, Li Mingying pinched my nose and Wu Xiangfeng and Liu fengzhen sat on top of me, forced my mouth open, and poured liquid food down my throat. I resisted with all my strength and vomited. Then they covered my mouth with a towel to keep me from vomiting, which took my breath away. Generally, force-feeding went on for one to two hours, twice a day. After each episode I was exhausted, had blood all over my face, and sustained injuries to my mouth.

Inmate Zheng Dongmei inserted the nasal tube while Wu Xiangfen sat on top of me and inserted the tube into my trachea. I couldn't breathe and struggled. A big syringe was filled with milk powder and injected through the tube. I vomited milk powder and blood. When I objected, Zheng Dongmei said, "Don't you want to die?"

I had to suffer through this for three days. On the fourth day they ordered inmate Shang Xiaomei, a murderer who was serving a life term, to force-feed me. She was 1.7 metres tall, like a wrestler, and was known for torturing practitioners. She was utterly devoid of conscience and force-fed us garlic, thick salt water, and chilli water, which made us vomit. She used a mouth opener to open our mouth as wide as possible, which was extremely painful. This went on for several hours. The practitioners' mouths were swollen. Practitioners on a hunger strike were injected with unknown drugs.

2. Detained in the Small Cell for More than 40 Days

I was taken to a small cell on February 4th, 2005, two days before the Chinese New Year. The small cell was damp and dark and the heating system was leaking water. Several practitioners were detained there for several months, and their feet were frostbitten. They handcuffed me, so I could not do the Falun Gong exercises. When I was in the No. 2 Cell, a fellow practitioner in the No. 3 Cell recited the Fa for me and no one could not stop her. Therefore, I was transferred to the No. 1 Cell for 40 days. I was handcuffed, and my legs and arms were tied into a position that was very painful. I couldn't sleep.

3. Tortured Around the Clock for Seven Days

I was taken to the No. 10 Ward, a ward for sick inmates, on March 14th, 2005. Five criminals including Wang Xinhua, Shan Yuqin, and Xiang Guifen held me down, sat on top of me, twisted my arms, and pushed my legs and head down. Then they pried my mouth open with spoons and a mouth opener, held my tongue down with chopsticks, and inserted a tube. I bled profusely. Wang Xinhua used toilet paper to clean the blood up because they were afraid the guards might see it.

At the time I only weighed between 25 and 30 kilograms and my blood pressure was extremely low. They tied me to a bench and I had to watch video programmes that slandered Falun Gong. They turned the volume as loud as possible. I was force-fed at 7:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. from April 13th to June 1st.

They also deprived me of sleep, tying me to a bench from May 25th to 31st. They used a syringe to squirt water over me to keep me awake. Whenever I closed my eyelids, they used toothpicks to hold them open. They pulled my ears and slapped my face to keep me awake. Shan Yuqin and Wang Xinhua took turns beating me and injured me. That inhuman torture went on around the clock for seven days.

In December, Zhao Yinglin told me that my husband and son were waiting to see me. Since I refused to wear the prison uniform, I wasn't allowed to see them. I was allowed to see my elder brother from Harbin. That was the only family visit I had while imprisoned. I refused to wear the prison uniform since I wasn't a criminal.

4. My Thumbs Are Broken

Inmates Wang Xinhua and Xiang Guifen brought in a large bowl of liquid food in December 2006. They force fed me half of it, but I vomited all of that. Wang Xinhua was outraged, so she poured the remaining liquid over me. I was wet from head to toe, and Wang Xinhua opened the window, so I would be cold.

One day when I was meditating Wang Xinhua hit my face with a broom. My face was swollen and injured. Another day, Yuan Anfen knocked me down. I fell on the little bench I used to sit on and crushed it. Then she stepped on my face. When I cried for help, she stuffed underpants into my mouth and hit my arm with a big brush.

He Yinjie, who was serving a life sentence for murder, attacked me when she noticed that I was sending righteous thoughts at around 5 a.m. She twisted my left thumb until it broke with a loud crack. It was very painful. He Yingjie was shocked and didn't dare to say a word. She looked at me with her eyes wide open and said after a long pause, "Those who fear no death can't be hurt!"

I recited Falun Gong teachings at the top of my lungs. The inmates covered my mouth with their hands and then closed it with tape. One day Yu Yingmin ordered them to drag me to the toilet. I was standing on the ice cold floor barefoot, facing the window, but I continued to recite the teachings.

When I was meditating on June 10th, 2006, Wang Xinhua pushed me down and slapped my face hard. When she got tired, she used a clothes hanger to hit my head for half an hour. Yuan Anfen, who had come into the room, also began to beat me until they were both exhausted.

That night I felt dizzy and was semi-comatose. The next morning I was incontinent and my head was covered with bruises, which took two months to heal. I was emaciated, needed to hold on to the wall just to walk, and had no strength left to speak of. I felt as if I was at death's door.

One day Wang Xinhua tied me up in the toilet and threw me to the ground. Then she stuffed the toilet bowl brush into my mouth. Later, she broke my right thumb.

Wang Xinhua took my clothes and wrote "criminal" on them. Then she returned them to me and said with a sneer, "Let's see what you do about that." I only wore my underpants and covered my body with a piece of cloth. I was not a criminal, so I refused to wear those clothes. Later, I cut out the word and patched up the hole.

One day when I was doing the exercises, Wang Xinhua squirted cold water at me and then poured a basin of water over my head. I did not move and continued to do the exercises until the following morning.

5. Injected with Unknown Drugs

One day Shang Xiaomei injected me with unknown drugs. I resisted and asked her, "What are you giving me an injection for?" Before she finished, the needle had bent.

A while later I felt weak and my heart was palpating. I wanted to go to the restroom but could not move. Yuan Anfen dragged me to the restroom. I felt that I was at the verge of death and very thirsty. I asked her what drug she had injected, and she said, "Diazepam."

Guard Feng Xue said to me one day, "If you give up the hunger strike I'll ask the local court to reduce your term. Isn't your family appealing for a reduced sentence?" I said, "I want the Communist Party to stop the persecution of Falun Gong and release all detained practitioners!"

I was taken to the No. 11 Ward (Intensive Assault Unit), where practitioners were tortured so they would renounce Falun Gong, on November 13th, 2006.

6. Binding Belt

Cangues Chen Xiaoxia, Han Liyin, and Wang Xinhua bound me with the "binding belt" whenever I was doing the exercises in June 2008. Wang Jinhua tied one of my arms to the bed for more than an hour. She placed my other arm on the bed rails and tried to break it. At 6 p.m. she used tape to bind my arms to the ladder at the bedside from 40 minutes to two hours. I was nearly suffocating.

They tortured me like this from August 9th, 2007, to July 31st, 2009, because I refused to renounce Falun Gong.

Heilongjiang Women's Prison:

387 Xuefu Road, Nangang District, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, China
Postal code: 150069
Telephone area code: 86-451
Fang Baogen, prison head: 86639099
Bao Rui, prison deputy head: 86639066

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/9/6/229218.html