Ms. Liu Shuping and Husband Zhang Guangfu Repeatedly Persecuted

Name: Liu Shuping
Gender: Female
Age: 54
Address: Yang Village, Wuqing County, Tianjin

Occupation: Farmer

Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 27th, 2000
Most recent place of detention: Banqiao Women's Forced Labour Camp
City: Tianjin
Persecution Suffered: Detention, extortion, beatings, electric shock, torture, sleep deprivation, force-feedings, forced injections, denied visitation, brainwashing, forced labour, home ransacked

Ms. Liu Shuping and her husband Mr. Zhang Guangfu suffered repeated persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for their belief in Falun Gong, which has included multiple arrests, detention, and torture. Their young daughter was also affected by the persecution.

Ms. Liu was able to recover from severe pain in her legs shortly after starting to practise Falun Gong in 1998.

Ms. Liu and husband Zhang Guangfu repeatedly arrested and detained

After the persecution began in 1999, Ms. Liu and her husband Zhang Guangfu travelled to Beijing three times to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. On one trip, they went to Tiananmen Square to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong every day for eight days. Subsequently, however, they were arrested by the police from Xidan District in Beijing. Officers confiscated their bicycles and 6,000 yuan¹ in cash.

At the Xidan Police Station, police beat Mr. Zhang with a leather belt. Later, Ms. Liu and Mr. Zhang were transferred to the Huanghuadian Police Station in the Wuqing District. Zhang Peng, the director of the police station, used a high-voltage electric baton to shock Ms. Liu's hands, back, and back. Officer Shi Haibin used an electric baton to beat her, and assistant Yang Shihua repeatedly slapped her face, so that her face became swollen and blood seeped out of her mouth.

The next day, police sent the couple to the Wuqing District Detention Centre. At the detention centre, a guard with last name Zhang violently beat Ms. Liu for reciting Falun Gong teachings, and then handcuffed and shackled her. Guards also forced her to run in a big yard for an extended period of time, so that her ankles became torn and bloody. She was persecuted like this for one month before being released.

Huanghuadian and Quanzhoulu police stations also arrested and detained Ms. Liu and Mr. Zhang four times thereafter. On one occasion, Mr. Zhang was detained at the Huanghuadian Police Station, where Zhang Peng, Shi Haibin, and Yang Shihua tried to force him to tear apart Falun Gong books. When he refused, officers used barbed batons to beat him and used electric batons to shock him. Several officers took turns beating him for about 3-4 hours.

Officers from the Quanzhoulu Police Station also repeatedly broke into and ransacked the family's home during the day and in the middle of the night, scaring the couple's 11-year-old daughter, who was often left alone while her parents were detained. Officials also pressured school personnel to isolate and harass the girl, as a result of which she had to quit going to school.

Ms. Liu sentenced to forced labour

On December 27th, 2000, Ms. Liu was knocked to the ground while riding her bicycle by four plainclothes police officers from the Quanzhoulu Police Station. The officers grabbed her and forced her inside their car, confiscating the key to her house in the process, and took her to the Quanzhoulu Police Station.

Two officials from the Wuqing District Branch Police Station were waiting at Quanzhoulu Police Station. Four officers brought Ms. Liu to an interrogation room, where she was asked questions like, "How many fellow practitioners do you have? Where are they? Where did you get those [Falun Gong] materials?" When Ms. Liu refused to betray her fellow practitioners, officers slapped her face until it became swollen and bloody. Without providing any legal evidence or reason, they then told Ms. Liu that she was sentenced for one year of forced labour and demanded that she sign the paper work, which she refused.

The next morning Ms. Liu was sent to Banqiao Women's Forced Labour Camp in Tianjin, where she was imprisoned for the next six years because she refused to give up her belief in Falun Gong.

Mr. Zhang arrested and tortured

At the time of Ms. Liu's arrest, director of the Quanzhoulu Police Station by the name of Geng and police officer Liu Shuxiang broke into and ransacked her home, confiscating Falun Gong books and scaring her daughter, who could not stop crying.

Geng and officers from the Huanghuadian Police Station also sought to arrest Ms. Liu's husband, Mr. Zhang, and he was forced to leave home. Later, he was arrested by director of Huanghuadian Police Station Zhang Peng and officer Shi Haibin.

At the police station, officers hung up Mr. Zhang and did not allow him to move for a long period of time. Later, he jumped from the 2nd floor, hoping to escape the torture, but was injured as a result. After a hospital examination, he was diagnosed with thigh and pelvic fractures. After being released, Mr. Zhang continued to practise Falun Gong. Since he could not stand up, he would do the exercises sitting on the bed. About 20 days later, he could walk again and about one month later, he was fully recovered.

Several years later, while Ms. Liu was at the forced labour camp, Wuqing Branch Police Station, Quanzhoulu Police Station, and Huanghuadian Police Station again searched for Mr. Zhang, seeking to arrest him. Officials searched houses of many of the couple's relatives, and Mr. Zhang was forced to become homeless for a period of over a month to avoid the persecution.

Ms. Liu tortured in forced labour camp for six years

At the Banqiao Women's Forced Labour Camp, guard Li Xiaoling tried to force Ms. Liu to write the three statements promising to give up practising Falun Gong, but she refused. Li then instigated drug-addict inmates to beat her. Li then ordered the inmates to drag her to a dark room and kick her. They also grabbed her hair and violently hit her head against the wall. Ms. Liu became dizzy and could no longer stand still. After that, they forced her to sit on a small stool for a long period of time and did not allow her to go to sleep.

In order to protest the torture, Ms. Liu began a hunger strike, but the guards repeatedly force-fed her for close to five months until May, 2001. As a result, her trachea was severely damaged, became swollen and was not wide enough for the force-feeding tube anymore. Li Xiaoling and other guards, however, still forcefully inserted the tube through her nose and then to her stomach. Each time they force-fed her, they also deducted 30 yuan from her savings account. Li also ordered Ms. Liu to be handcuffed to the bed and given an infusion of an unknown drug, as a result of which she felt serious physical discomfort and suffered memory loss.

Because Ms. Liu refused to give up practising Falun Gong, police extended her term without any reason by adding seven extra days to each month of her one-year sentence. They also denied her family visitation rights.

Subsequently, Ms. Liu's term was extended to two years. At that point, Wuqing District Branch Police Station and Quanzhou Road Police Station sent someone to secretly transfer her to the Wuqing District Brainwashing Centre, where CCP officials broadcasted propaganda slandering Falun Gong day and night.

One month later, Ms. Liu still refused to give up her belief. Officers from the Wuqing Branch Police Station told her, "If you do not sign the three statements, we will sentence you to three more years." They tried to force her to sign the paperwork, but she again refused. A few days later, they told her parents that since she did not give up her belief, they sentenced her to another three years of forced labour. Ms. Liu's father had a sudden heart attack upon hearing this news and passed away. After her family's repeated requests, Banqiao Women's Forced Labour Camp allowed Ms. Liu to attend her father's funeral. Guard Li Xiaoling escorted her there. On their way there, he threatened her: "If you agree to stop practising Falun Gong, I will allow you three days to mourn your father at home. Otherwise, you have to return to the forced labour camp on the same day." Once again, she refused to give up her belief.

In 2003, leader Xia Chunli and guards Li Xiaohong, Ma, and others often instigated criminal inmates to brutally beat up Ms. Liu. They also deprived her of sleep and forced her to sit on a small stool for long periods of time. They even used a small stick to hold her eye lids up. They rewarded and reduced prison terms for inmates who actively participated in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. The guards also threatened Falun Gong practitioners' family members.

Banqiao Women's Forced Labour Camp also forced Falun Gong practitioners to do heavy labour, such as loading large bags of beans weighing 130 lbs onto and off the truck for 14-15 hours a day. Ms. Liu, who is only 5 feet tall, was physically exhausted and in pain as a result. In 2005, she began to refuse to perform the forced labour. Then, Xia Chunli, Liu Xiaohong, Guo Ling, and other guards deprived her of sleep and forced her to sit on a small stool for long periods of time again. They also ordered criminal inmates to monitor her.

In August 2005, Xia Chunli, Liu Xiaohong and other guards instigated criminal inmates to tie Falun Gong practitioner Zhu Limin, who refused to be "transformed" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] on a death bed². They would not release her even when she needed to use the restroom. Ms. Liu and other practitioners began a hunger strike to protest this persecution and demanded Ms. Zhu's release. Due to this pressure, guards released Ms. Zhu after the fifth day of the hunger strike. However, forced labour camp officials punished Ms. Liu by extending her term for another four months. She was thereby imprisoned and tortured at the Banqiao Women's Forced Labour Camp for six years for not giving up her faith in Falun Gong.

In 2007, shortly after her release from the labour camp, an informant reported Ms. Liu while she was talking to people about Falun Gong. Quanzhoulu Police Station dispatched two police cars to arrest her again. On the way to the police station, Ms. Liu Shuping shouted, "Falun Gong is good! Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" Officers kicked and punched her for four hours. Afterwards, Ms. Liu explained the facts about Falun Gong to the police officers and they eventually released her.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

2. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/9/29/230314.html