Name: Liu Shuling
Gender: Female
Age: 55
Address: Wuqi Township, Hongwei Town, Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Small business owner
Date of Death: July 3rd, 2010
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 28th, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Harbin Women's Drug Rehabilitation Centre and Forced Labour Camp
City: Harbin
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, electric baton shocks, hung by handcuffs, other torture
On July 3rd Ms. Liu Shuling was tortured to death in the Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. According to informed sources, a dozen or so practitioners were tortured by being hung up, then forced to sit in an iron chair, in an attempt to coerce them to write the so-called "five papers" (conversion paper, separation paper, repentance paper, exposing paper, and pledging paper) to give up their belief in Falun Gong. Ms. Liu remained steadfast in her belief and refused to write anything. The police tied her to a chair and shocked her with electric batons until she died.
Practitioner Ms. Cheng Li had been sentenced to two years of forced labour and finished her term in July 2010, but the labour camp extended her term for another month. Ms. Liu Shuling, Cheng Li, Liu Yanhua, Xie Wei and another practitioner joined together to protest the extension by refusing to wear the prison uniform.
At 4:00 a.m. on July 1st, 2010, when all the inmates were still sleeping, terrible screams woke everyone up. Concerned, people all came out to check. They figured out that the screams came from the fourth floor, where the guard's office was located. Across from the guard's office was a room without monitors, where the guards tortured Falun Gong practitioners.
At around 8:30, many policemen appeared on the fourth floor with grim faces. Right away, cries mixed with shouts of "Falun Gong is good" echoed through the whole building. Practitioners in other cells all came out to see what was going on. They saw that Zhao Jiakun, Manager Yang Mingjun of the Discipline Department, Liu Ming, and Captain Liu Wei of the Third Division, ordered male guards to tape the mouths of about 17 practitioners who were being tortured, tied their legs and arms, and carried them to the fifth floor.
On the fifth floor, the police hung up a dozen or so practitioners including Ms. Liu. Eyewitnesses said that after Ms. Liu's death, the rehab centre called a meeting immediately to unify their stories. They forbade the guards to talk among themselves, and isolated the inmates whom the police had assigned to monitor and guard the practitioners.
Ms. Liu had already passed away by the time her family anxiously drove to the centre overnight. Her body was taken to the Xihuayuan Funeral Home in Nangang District. Yang Mingjun and others at the rehab centre answered the family's questions evasively, and lied saying, "Ms. Liu fainted in the toilet, and died of a heart attack."
The family asked to watch the video recordings from the monitor, but were told that there were none. The family then asked, "How did the circle of bruises around her neck occur?" A female doctor lied, saying that it developed naturally after her death. When the family wanted to take off Ms. Liu's clothes to examine her body, officers stopped them sternly and said, "You need to go through the formal legal process. Otherwise, we will not be responsible for medical and funeral expenses."
People from the rehab centre did not want Ms. Liu's family to go to the higher authorities. Using deceit and pressure tactics, they forced the family to sign an agreement that stated that Ms. Liu died of natural causes. The agreement also stated that the family members should not retract their agreement, as otherwise they would bear all responsibility. The rehab centre pressured the family to have Ms. Liu's body cremated quickly, in order to cover up their crimes.
Those with the most responsibility for the incident on July 1st were Zhao Jiakun, the centre director, Capatin Liu Wei of the Third division, Yang Mingjun of the Discipline Department, squadron leader Luu Peihong, and police officers Cheng Xiangyi, Zhao Xiufen, and Liu Tingting.
Ten Years of Persecution
Ms. Liu Shuling was a practitioner in Wuqi Village in Hongwei Township, Qitaihe City. She was born in 1956, and operated a small store. She was arrested and jailed many times under the persecution of Falun Gong, and had been twice sent to forced labour.
On February 19th, 2000, Ms. Liu went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and was arrested at Qianmen in Beijing. She was held in the Qitaihe City Business Office in Beijing for two days, where the two employees there took the five hundred yuan1 that she had on her.
At the same time, the chief of the village police department Wang Jianfu threatened Ms. Liu's family and extorted 2,000 yuan from them. On February 21st, Ms. Liu was brought back from Beijing by police officer Chen Lu and the political director Wang Yuncheng, and detained in the Qitaihe Administration Detention Centre for three months.
Around June 2000, Ms. Liu went to Beijing to appeal the second time, and was intercepted at Jiamusi Train Station. Chen Lu, Village Chief Bai Yuzhu, and two other officers arrested her again and put her in the Qitaihe Administration Detention Centre again. Ms. Liu went on a hunger strike to protest and was released ten days later.
Twelve days later, thirty or so people, including Village Chief Bai Yuzhu, Police Chief Wang Jianfu, and officers Dong Jifu, Chenlu, Dong Tienan, and Yang Xiguang broke into Ms. Liu's home at midnight and arrested her again, taking her to the Qitaihe Administration Detention Centre.
On July 24th, Ms. Liu was sentenced to one year of forced labour. During her detention in the Jiamusi Forced Labour Camp, she was forced to do work from 6:00 a.m. until noon, followed by brainwashing sessions in the afternoon. Under the tremendous mental stress and hard labour, Ms. Liu had a relapse of tuberculosis, and she coughed up blood often.
Some time after her release, on July 1st, 2001 a dozen or so people including Chen Lu, Yang Xiguang, Dong Jifu and Dong Tienan arrested Liu Shuling and took her to the Second Jail of Qitaihe, held her there for thirteen days, and then took her to the Harbin Women's Forced Labour Camp. Since Ms Liu's health was extremely poor due to the persecution, the forced labour camp refused to take her. Ms. Liu was taken back to Qitaihe, where she began a hunger strike. The police began to force feed her on the fourth day, and finally released her when she showed signs of serious health problems.
After Ms. Liu was released, Chinese Communist Party agents continued to harass her. They kept her under surveillance, followed her wherever she went and confiscated her Falun Gong books.
At around 10:00 a.m. on March 5th, 2008, Ms. Liu and practitioners Zhang Tianjun, Wang Chongyuan, Ma Fengxia, and Xu Yian were arrested at the Jinmei Group Electric Power Station and taken to Taonan Police Station.
Ms. Liu was interrogated by Manager Sun Tangbing and Deputy Manager Fu Xunhuan of the Security Department of the Taoshan District Police Department, and officer Bi Shuqing from the Political Department of the City Police Department. One of them punched her in the head. She went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution.
The police then took Ms. Liu to the Taoxi Police Department, and continued with the torture. They put a blanket over her head and beat her head and face, and interrogated her continuously for two consecutive days and nights without letting her sleep. They poured cold water over her whenever she closed her eyes, then opened the door to freeze her. A total of more than 30 officers from the Qitaihe City Police Department took turns interrogating Ms. Liu.
On March 8th, Ms. Liu suddenly developed heart problems as a result of the abuse and torture. Her tuberculosis relapsed, she was coughing up blood badly, and her life was in danger. On March 9th, the Qitaihe Jail notified Ms. Liu's family to take her home so that they would not have to bear the responsibility for Ms. Liu's possible death. On March 10th, her family brought her home. Ms. Liu experienced a persistent headache caused by the beating and she had constant noise in her ears.
On the afternoon of July 27th, 2008, Ms. Liu and practitioners Liu Junyin, Zhu Minjun, Guan Yumei, Li Waxia and Ma Guizhi went to Farm 853 in Baoqing County to visit Diao Lixia whose husband had just past away.
At around 3:00 p.m., Sun Ronqing spotted them, and informed his wife Luan Fuxiang, who was the head of the neighbourhood association. The two reported them to the police. Officer Su Guijun and others broke into Ms. Diao's home, arrested the practitioners and took them to the 853 Police Station.
The police seized Ms. Liu's cash in the amount of 1,400 yuan, three e-readers, two mp3 players, two mobile phones, and some clothes, and interrogated them.
At around 10:00 p.m., the practitioners were taken to the Hongxinglong Detention Centre. As soon as they arrived, the police ordered them to stand against the wall. Officer Zu Xuewu dragged Ms. Liu to the ground and took off his shoe and repeatedly slapped her face with it. During the beating, she called out, "Falun Gong is good." As a result of being beaten, Ms. Liu's face was distorted, her lip was swollen, and one of her eyes was blackened.
On September 2nd, 2009, Ms. Liu and the other women practitioners were taken to the Harbin Drug Rehab Centre, while the male practitioners were taken to the Suihua Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Liu was sentenced to two years of forced labour.
On January 1st, 2009, Ms. Liu was tortured and began to vomit blood at the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Centre. She refused to follow the guards' unreasonable orders and went on a hunger strike in protest. She continued to vomit blood for 22 days. When her life was in danger, the trainer of the Fourth Division, Liang Xuemei, was forced to take her to an outside hospital. In the hospital, Liang urged the medical staff to verbally abuse Ms. Liu. The captain of the Fourth Division Niu Xiaoyun also was involved.
Ms. Liu's husband and her uncle went to visit her at the forced labour camp, but were refused entry. They stood outside in a blizzard for over two hours without being able to see Ms. Liu.
At midnight on May 22nd, 2010, Ms. Liu felt chest pains and could not sleep, so she sat up. Police Officer Yu Kun thought that she was mediating, and pulled her blanket off to check. In the morning, Ms. Liu questioned Yu as to why she pulled off her blanket. This angered Yu, who pushed her to the guard's office, choking her with one hand while covering her mouth with another to stop her from making noise. Ms. Liu struggled and called out to let people know that the officer was beating her.
Other practitioners heard the shouts and rushed to help. Seeing that Yu was still choking Ms. Liu, they pulled her away.
Drug Rehab Centre in Heilongjiang Province: 86-451-82412884/82447079
Chen Guiqing, Deputy Director: 86-451-82424046/82412172/82424014
Discipline department of the Drug Rehab Centre: 86-451-82413103
Yang Mingjun, Discipline Office Chair: 86-451-82415994
Division Telephone: 86-451-82424093/82447079
Wang Dan, Guard of the Drug Rehab Centre: 86-13804531119 (Mobile)
Guard Liu Wei: 86-451-89170197
Psychological counsellor: Liu Zhujie: 86-451-82447052
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/2010/10/12/230894.html
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