Falun Gong Practitioner Zhang Jingxiang Arrested and Detained Six Times

Name:Zhang Jingxiang
Gender:Female
Age:55
Address:Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation:Unknown

Date of Most Recent Arrest:Mid May, 2007
Most recent place of detention: Jiamusi Detention Centre
City:Jiamusi
Province:Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered:Detention, extortion, forced labour reform, beatings

Falun Gong granted me a new life

I fortunately came across Falun Gong in March 1998. Before, I suffered heart disease, tuberculosis, nephritis and neurosis. After I began to practise Falun Gong and study the Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun, my body and mind were purified. I followed the teachings of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance", and after a while all my previous diseases disappeared without me even noticing.

Subjected to frequent detention and extortion

On July 20th, 1999 the CCP started to persecute Falun Gong. Because I was and still am a practitioner, I have been repeatedly persecuted by the Police Department since 2000.

In late September 2000, while studying the Falun Gong teachings at a fellow practitioner's home, I was arrested by An Quanzhi and several other policemen from Yingjun Police Station. I was first detained at Yingjun Police Station for seventeen days, and then sent to the Jiamusi City Detention Centre. At the detention centre, the only food I was allowed was two meals of mouldy steamed buns. And often there were bugs in the vegetable soup. Even so, I was still charged twenty yuan for food every day. Later on, after my family members were forced to pay 6,000 yuan¹ to Shi Xiuwen of the Suburban District Police Bureau, I was released.

At the end of July 2001, I was arrested again. While visiting practitioners , policemen from Yingjun Police Station broke into the house, and took thirteen of us to the police station and Jiamusi City Detention Centre. I was sent to the Xigemu Detention Centre of Jiamusi, where I was handcuffed and shackled. Only after my family paid fifteen thousand yuan to Chen Wanyou, was I released. After I returned home, An Quanzhi and other policemen often came to my home to harass me, trying to force me to sign and put my fingerprints on guarantee statements to give up my practice in Falun Gong. I refused to co-operate with them, and my husband asked a family member to use their fingerprint instead, as he worried that if I was arrested again, he would have to pay for my release.

In February 2002, the police arrested me for the third time. I was travelling with my five-year-old granddaughter to my brother's home on the train. While I was reading the Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun, the railway police seized and forcibly dragged me into the office cabin. My granddaughter was scared and crying. After the train arrived at Jiamusi Station, the conductor took us to the police division at Jiamusi Railway Station. I was detained till 8 pm, and the police threatened to send me to a forced labour camp. My daughter hurried to the station and had to pay over two thousand yuan before they would release me.

The fourth time was in July 2002. An Quanzhi and others from Yingjun Police Station came to my home. They again tried to force me to give my fingerprints, claiming that everyone who practised Falun Gong must do this. I escaped through the back door. After being homeless for a week, my family called me and told me that the police had forced them to give their fingerprints since they failed to arrest me. Director of Yingjun Police Station Guo Weishan made my family pay three thousand yuan.

The fifth time was in the spring of 2005, when a fellow practitioner offered to give a computer to me. At 9 pm I went to their home to pick it up, and as we were strapping it to my motorcycle, a stranger came to question us. He suspected me of stealing and took my keys, then called the police station to get someone to arrest us. We took the opportunity to run away. We had to leave the motorcycle and computer that were valued at over four thousand yuan.

The sixth time was mid-May 2007. Four fellow practitioners and I went out to post banners saying "Falun Gong is good" and "Quitting the CCP will ensure your safety and well-being in the future." When we were halfway through, two patrolmen from the Suburban Police Bureau saw us, and they called for six more policemen. They grabbed and dragged us, and one called Du Feng kicked me in the stomach and punched me in the head. They forced us into a police car and drove us to Yingjun Police Station. At the police station, Du Feng and other policemen beat me again. Later we were detained at Jiamusi Detention Centre.

At the detention centre, we were subjected to forced labour. If we could not finish the work quota, we could not sleep or rest. We were not allowed to practise Falun Gong, and we were watched every moment. Because of my stomach injury, I became very weak and could not walk. My family came to Yingjun Police Station, and the director promised that I could be released if they paid him money. When they paid more than ten thousand yuan, I was released after eighteen days. Afterwards, my back pain and headache lasted for a long time, and I could not work.

My family and I suffered tremendously from the persecution over so many years

The police repeatedly harassed, extorted and cheated us of money of tens of thousands of yuan. I suffered enormous mental pressure and my family members were also severely harmed.

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/2010/9/30/230335.html