Ms. Shang Yuqin Persecuted in Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp in Changchun

Name: Shang Yuqin
Gender: Female
Age: 66
Address: Changchun City, Jilin Province
Occupation: Unknown

Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 14th, 2006
Most Recent Place of Detention: Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp in Changchun
City: Changchun
Province: Jilin
Persecution Suffered: Detention, torture, forced labour, sleep deprivation, denial of toilet use, electric shocks, beatings

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Shang Yuqin was arrested three times and twice sentenced to forced labour camps since the persecution of Falun Gong began in China in 1999. She was tortured severely in Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp in Changchun. The following is her account recalled in her own words:

I began to practise Falun Gong in 1992. Before practising, I had very serious rheumatism and could not walk. All of this disappeared after I started to practise Falun Gong. My mind was uplifted, and everyone recognised a great change in my temperament.

On October 27th, 2000, I was distributingFalun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution about Falun Gong, but was found out by police and brought to their station. I was detained in Tiebei Detention Centre, where I was forced to sit on a board during the day and sleep in a crowded room at night. We could only sleep sideways, with our heads facing one another's feet. The room could hold just ten people, but 20 to 25 people were forced to sleep in there, though there was extra space elsewhere. After 24 days, I was sent to Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp by Erdao 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) officials from the Erdao Police Station. While I arrived I was healthy. The torture that I endured left me with very high blood pressure, and I had to be released for medical treatment.

In 2002, I went out to distribute Falun Gong materials. At the entrance of an alley, I saw a slogan denouncing Falun Gong on the wall. Just as I started to wipe it off, I was again arrested. I was brought to Rongguang Police Station on Eighth Street. Later on, the 610 Office in Erdao Police Station detained me in the Third Detention Centre. After a month, I was detained in Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp for two years.

On June 14th, 2006, I went to visit a fellow practitioner. I noticed a police car parked in front of the home, but did not pay much attention to it. Within a few minutes, several policemen broke into the house and took me to the Third Detention Centre. Later on I was again sent to Heizuizi Women's Labour Camp for two years.

In the forced labour camp, I was watched over by several inmates every day. They did not allow me to sleep. I was unable to think clearly and ended up writing several Repentance Statements to renounce practising Falun Gong. I was arrested three times and wrote a statement every time. I very much regret denouncing Falun Gong. Although I wrote another statement the third time that I was arrested, I was nonetheless detained for an additional month.

In the forced labour camp, we were forced to work from 6 a.m until 8 or 9 p.m. We prepared 500 boxes to be shipped by air every day and could not rest without finishing the work. We were not allowed to go to the toilet most of the time, and they even locked the door to the toilet. One practitioner could not wait any longer and soiled her trousers. We were forced to stand every two or three days, facing the wall, and were not allowed to look sideways. If we were found turning our heads, we would be beaten. It happened during our work time frequently, too. We were also searched regularly and even stripped-searched.

One day after returning to my cell after work, a criminal inmate searched me when I approached my cell and took some Falun Gong articles in my pocket. The next day, I was called to the guards' office. They shocked me with electric batons on my chest and back, I saw the arc light and heard the crackling sound. I was shocked for over two hours. They asked where I had gotten the articles, and I told them that I had memorised them and wrote the words down myself. They then slapped my face several times and berated me. They handcuffed my hands separately to bed poles for over two hours. Guards released me after lunch. When I returned to the work unit, it was already one a.m. and I still had to finish packing 500 boxes and was not allowed to sleep before finishing.

I was arrested three times and twice sent to forced labour camps, which greatly upset my family both mentally and physically. By the time of my third arrest, my husband was so distraught that he developed heart disease. My two daughters had already married and did not live with us, so no one would know if he suffered a heart attack. My sister-in-law went to the forced labour camp to ask them to release me, but the gate guard would not let her in. He stated that if my husband had a heart attack, even if he died, I could not be released once detained.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/9/30/230358.html