Personal Account of Persecution Told By Chen Shufen in Longxi County, Gansu Province

Name: Chen Shufen
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Longxi County, Gansu Province
Occupation: Distributor
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 25th, 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Gansu Women's Forced Labour Camp
City: Lanzhou
Province: Gansu
Persecution Suffered: Extortion, detention, forced labour reform, forced labour, hanging by handcuffed wrists, beatings, long-term standing, sleep deprivation, interrogation, brainwashing.

Ms. Chen Shufen was persecuted for a long time by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and police because she practised Falun Gong. She was sentenced to forced labour camps twice, where she was tortured and made to do forced labour. The persecution of Ms. Chen is narrated by herself below.

At the end of 1997, when I started to practise Falun Gong, I was benefitting greatly both in body and mind. My illnesses disappeared, my temperd improved and my family lived in harmony. When I was laid off, I started a small business. I followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and did business with honesty. Gradually we developed into a wholesaler and were praised by customers.

The CCP began the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. On March 27th, 2000, Song Jianhua and Lu Dechang from the 610 Office [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong] and the National Security Section of the Longxi Public Security Bureau rushed into my store. They told me, “You disturbed social order, and watched a film about the life of Jesus. You are fined 1,000 yuan¹.” They wrote me a ticket immediately and asked me to hand it in the next day. My husband and I argued with Song Jianhua, until he said that 500 yuan would be acceptable, and claimed that practitioners from the 113 Plant, who went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, were all fined 3,000 yuan. I said that I did not violate any law by watching the film and that I would not hand in any money. At that point, Song Jianhua wrote a warrant with a seal of Director Ma Xianwu to detain me for 15 days. My family members worried so much after learning about the warrant that they handed in 400 yuan. In the end, Song wrote a ticket for 200 yuan and most likely pocketed the difference. After this incident, my family members were afraid of persecution and frequently blocked me from communicating with other practitioners. My home was full of fear after that.

From July to December 2000, Wang Lijuan and someone else from the Wenfeng Police Station in Longxi came to our store many times and told me, “You cannot go out of town at any time and you should ask for a leave from the local police station when you go out. You also cannot go to Beijing to appeal for any reason, because if you do, our salaries will get cut.”

One Year in Forced Labour Camp Due to Appeal in Beiijng

In December 2000, I got away from the local police and went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. I was subsequently detained in the Shiijngshan Detention Centre by police from the Beijing Police Station. After 17 days, I was transferred to the Longxi Detention Centre and was sentenced to a forced labour camp for a year.

In the No. 2 Women's Forced Labour Camp in Gansu Province, I was forced to wrap disposable chopsticks. The soaking solution was strong and toxic, and could turn all of your hair yellow. My eyes were irritated and could not open, and sometimes I could not even breathe. It would also make people faint. When I finished working, I was reluctant to even eat.

In the detention centre I was hung up three times. In May 2001, Tian Li, the guard leader, forced Falun Gong practitioners to watch a photo display in Qilihe, Lanzhou, which denounced Falun Gong. I said, “This is not true. Falun Gong is most profound.” My mouth was immediately covered with tape prepared by team leaders Bu Qi and Duan Ling. I was also beaten by them with sticks and handcuffed to a bunk bed for seven days.

In July, some practitioners did the Falun Gong exercises. Team leader Wang Yonghong started drinking alcohol, and then asked drug addicts and criminals to push us into a room. I was slow to obey, and was hit in the face, making me bleed profusely. I was then hung up for five days straight.

On September 9th, we did the exercises together. Afterwards, over twenty practitioners were tortured and hung up for over ten days. I then went on a hunger strike. This time, even 70-year-old practitioners and handicapped practitioners were hung up. Guards designated drug addicts to put unknown drugs into Ms. Wu Lanfang's food. They also forced us to write reports on our thoughts. Policemen took advantage of drug addicts who wanted to go back home sooner and had them harass practitioners in all kinds of ways. Drug addicts had special rights over practitioners. They beat and insulted us, and did not allow us to go to the toilet. Practitioners were also forcibly sent to be brainwashed.

Arrested by Plainclothes Policemen and Sentenced to Forced Labour Camp for Another Two Years

On April 29th, 2002, I was abducted at Lanzhou Train Station and forced into a black car. They put black cloth and plastic bags on my head, as well as that of another practitioner. Then they brought us some place and confiscated my cell phone and handbag. I later on found out that they were members of the Lanzhou Public Security Bureau. Three hours later, we were transferred to the Dingxi Grain Depot Reception Centre in the same way, with our heads covered, and I was forced to remain standing for a whole night by the police. The next day I was transferred to a hotel. There were two beds in the room for inmates to sleep in turn. They handcuffed me and didn't allow me to move or close my eyes. I was then brought into a dark room whose windows were covered with newspaper, where one policeman insulted me and another held an electric baton to threaten me for interrogation.

On April 30th, police also coerced my husband, who was not a practitioner, out from our home and placed him in handcuffs in Dingxi for one day.

On May 4th, I was transferred to the Longxi Detention Centre. On May 5th, Lu Dechang from the National Security Team in Longxi dragged me by my hair and tried to force me to sign the detention notice in the meeting room of the detention centre, but I refused. Lu Dechang and Song Jianhua then handcuffed me and brought me to the second floor, which was still under construction. Song Jianhua hit me in the face, and I fainted and fell to the ground. I regained consciousness after a long time, but the bridge of my nose was hurt. They said, “We will detain you forever and not allow you to go home. We will tell your husband to look for a prostitute.”

On June 20th, they asked me to sign a judgment that read: “Released on May 25th due to lack of evidence.” However, they did not release me, but still detained me in the detention center. On September 11th, they issued another release warrant. Practitioners released together included He Wenge, Mo Xueqin, and her husband Zhang Junqing, who has since been persecuted to death.

On December 25th, 2002, I was arrested. I was taken to the Gansu Women's Forced Labour Camp and persecuted there for two years. Two drug addicts watched over me, and I was forced to watch TV programmes and read books that slandered Falun Gong. I was then forced to write reports on my thoughts. I was also forced to write the “three statements” to denounce Falun Gong. I was not allowed to sleep, but was made to do forced labour during the day, including carrying stones or soil on my back, peeling soy beans or garlic cloves, and knitting nets.

In early 2003, Zhou Huafang, a Qingyang Falun Gong practitioner, was detained in a small solitary room. Drug addicts forced her to eat faeces and drink urine. Jingyuan Falun Gong practitioner Liu Xiaoli was confined in a hallway after being brought in and was not allowed to sleep. In the winter of 2004, she was forced to stand for over three months with thin clothes and was forced to work during the day. Later on she managed to escape briefly, but was arrested again, brought back, and put in solitary confinement for over twenty days. Her detention was then extended by half a year.

Starting from 1999, police from the CCP's Public Security Bureau have continually harassed Falun Gong practitioners, ransacked their homes, arrested them and sent them to forced labour camps, destroying lives and breaking up families that practise Falun Gong. Song Jianhua said, “The Communist Party gives me money, and I will do whatever they tell me to do. Since you practise Falun Gong, no torture is too much.”

Lu Dechang: 86-13993213556 (Mobile)

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/1/7/234622.html