Woman in Her 70s Forced to Leave Home Due to Persecution

Ms. Zhao Yingzhe from Lanzhou, Gansu Province, is over 70 years old. She has suffered persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for her belief in Falun Gong for more than 10 years. She has been sent to a brainwashing centre three times, and has been physically restrained in solitary confinement for seven consecutive days and nights. Under the pressure and influence of the CCP, even her own son has participated in her persecution. In order to stop her from practising Falun Gong, he bound her hands and feet with tape and also put tape over her mouth. As a result, the old woman was forced to leave her home.

The following is Ms. Zhao's own account of the persecution she has suffered over the past decade:

I started practising Falun Gong in 1998. In 2000 [after the Chinese communist regime began the persecution], I went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong. I shouted in Tiananmen Square, "Falun Gong is good!" and as a result I was taken straight to Tiananmen Police Station. I was later transferred to the liaison office of Gansu Province in Beijing. The director of my workplace then brought me back to Lanzhou, where I was detained at the Taoshuping Detention Centre in the Chengguan Police Sub-bureau. There, I was tortured both physically and mentally for 15 days straight. In addition, officials forced me to pay 4,000 yuan¹ for the airfare and train tickets, as well as food and lodging expenses, of the director and secretary of the Communist Party. In addition, they cut my retirement pension, and I was only given a little more than 200 yuan per month for living expenses to cover my 90-year-old mother, my son, and me.

In October 2002, during the Communist Party's 16th Congress, the secretary of the Communist Party at my workplace, Yang Yongsheng, lured me into work and then took me to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre. I was detained there and persecuted both physically and mentally for over four months. I was also forced to write the three statements to promise to stop practising Falun Gong, and they took another 1,400 yuan from my retirement pay.

Sometime around the Chinese New Year in 2003, I was arrested by officers from the Gongjiawan Police Station while distributing Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution. My home was searched and ransacked. I was detained at the Xiguoyuan Detention Centre for over two months.

In 2004, I was reported to the police for talking to people about Falun Gong at the Nanguan Shopping Centre. I was arrested by officers from the Qingyanglu Police Station and taken to the Taoshuping Detention Centre, where I was detained for 15 days.

When I left the detention centre, I went to the police station and demanded that the police return the Falun Gong books they had confiscated. The police then reported me to my workplace and Yang Yongsheng again sent me to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre. They handcuffed me and hung me up in solitary confinement for seven days and nights. I was not allowed to sleep. Whenever I closed my eyes, they would use a stick to poke me. My skin turned black and purple, and my legs and feet were so swollen that I could not put on shoes as a result of this torture. I had to stand on the concrete floor in bare feet. They kept torturing me until I lost control of my bodily functions, and my life was in danger. Then they finally took me out of solitary confinement. I was also forced to do the dirtiest work and write the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong. I was almost 70 years old back then. I was detained there for over five months. During this detention, they also stopped my retirement pay. I have become hunchbacked as a result of the persecution.

After I returned home, the people from the CCP had my son and daughter-in-law monitor me. In order to keep me from studying the teachings of Falun Gong and doing the exercises, they taped my hands and feet, as well as my mouth. In the past few years, I have been forced to rent an apartment and live elsewhere because I couldn't live at home.

In 2009, officers from the Huochezhan Police Station often harassed me at my apartment. They conspired with agents from the State Security Division of the Police Department and sent me to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre for the third time. This time, I was detained for almost two months. Zhao Zhi from the brainwashing centre was especially ruthless. I was not allowed to sit on my bed. If I was found sitting on my bed, I was forced to stand for several hours. People were assigned to watch me. I became slow to react and suffered mentally.

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/2010/10/23/231355.html