Ms. Zhao Lianmin Brutally Beaten to Point of Mental Disorder Before Her Death

Name: Zhao Lianmin
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Laishui Town, Laishui County, Hebei Province
Occupation: Chicken farm owner
Date of Death: Spring 2011
Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2003
Most Recent Place of Detention: Laishui County Detention Centre
City: Laishui County
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, extortion, physical restraint, interrogation, detention, denial of toilet use, denied visitation
Key Persecutors: Han Yasheng, Laishui County CCP secretary; Sun Guijie, Laishui County CCP deputy secretary; Liu Xinjian, Laishui County CCP deputy secretary; Zhang Haili, Laishui County CCP Political and Judiciary Committee secretary; Liu Yaohua, Laishui County Police Department CCP Political and Judiciary secretary; Tan Shuping, Laishui County Police Department director; Li Zenglin, Political Security Office chair (now retired); Cui Jikun, Laishui County Court judge; Hu Yuxiang, Laishui Town CCP secretary; Liu Zhenfu, Laishui Town chief.

Ms. Zhao Lianmin died as a result of being persecuted for her belief in Falun Gong. Ms. Zhao is the fourth Falun Gong practitioner to be persecuted to death in Laishui Township, Hebei Province. The other three were Ms. Xiu Xian, Ms. Cao Xiaoling, and Ms. Xia Shuqin. Ms. Zhao Lianmin was from Laishui Township, Hebei Province. She began practising Falun Gong on April 25th, 1999. She diligently studied and followed the principles of Falun Gong. After reading the Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun, she said excitedly, “I wish I had learned about Falun Gong earlier.” After starting the practice her physical and mental health improved. Her cultivation brought happiness, laughter, and cheerful voices to her home. When her husband and children saw her changes, they were very supportive of her practice and often accompanied her to the practice site.

After July 20th, 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the brutal persecution of Falun Gong, Ms. Zhao joined other veteran practitioners to appeal for the practice in Beijing. She wanted to tell the government officials of her physical and psychological changes after practising, and that Falun Gong taught people to be good. The CCP couldn't accept such a simple act and deprived her of a happy family life by cruelly persecuting her to the point of mental collapse.

On October 4th, 1999, she was taken to the Laishui “Shooting Gallery” Brainwashing Centre. The centre was led by the county party secretary Han Yasheng, deputy secretary Sun Guijie, political secretary Zhang Haili, Public Security Bureau chief Tan Shuping, political secretary of public security Liu Yaohua, and Li Zenglin, from the Public Security Bureau. They ran a large-scale persecution of practitioners in Laishui. Ms. Zhao was persecuted severely in the “Shooting Gallery,” and her husband (not a practitioner) was also arrested and detained for more than a month. He was released after paying 1000 yuan¹. During the month of his detention, more than one thousand baby chicks died at their chicken farm from lack of care. With the disastrous loss at the chicken farm, their source of family income was cut off.

On April 7th, 2000, the party officials in Laishui carried out a second large-scale persecution campaign against practitioners. They divided the arrested practitioners into three groups. Ms. Zhao was taken to a group to face forced “transformation” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. The guards forced Ms. Zhao to kneel on a brick floor and put a shovel handle on her calves. Several guards then stepped on the handle. Her painful screams in the silence of the night was heartbreaking. Deputy party secretary Sun Guijie beat Ms. Zhao's face with shoes so severely that the sole pattern covered her face.

Party secretary Hu Yuxiang and Laishui mayor Liu Zhenfu built a prison in the courtyard of the township government building. Ms. Zhao and other practitioners were detained there year round. They were not allowed to use the toilet or to have family visits. Liu Xinjian, a deputy party secretary, used a steel bar to beat Ms. Zhao until she was unable to move. A guard could not even bear to watch, and shouted to her, “Just say you will no longer practise so that they won't keep hitting you.”

In 2003, Ms. Zhao was held in the Laishui County Detention Centre, where she was violently tortured. The guards took her to the courtyard and severely beat her, and her constant screams could be heard from inside the walls.

Ms. Zhao developed a mental disorder from the abuse. When she was taken home, her eyes were dull and her body was deformed. The CCP threatened her family and ordered them not to help her to do the exercises or study Falun Gong teachings.

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/2011/4/24/239456.html