Award Winning Teacher from Suining City Imprisoned for Five Years, Now Homeless to Avoid Further Persecution

Name: Guo Chunfang
Gender: Female
Age: 44
Address: Huima Town, Daying County, Suining City, Sichuan Province
Occupation: Teacher
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 20th, 2006
Most recent place of detention: Longquanyi Women Prison in Chengdu
City: Chengdu
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced labour, solitary confinement, denial of restroom use, long-term standing, sleep deprivation, brainwashing, home ransacked, interrogation, torture, imprisonment

Guo Chunfang was previously a teacher at the Second Central Elementary School at Huima Town of Suining in Sichuan Province. She won an award for “Best Teacher” several times in a row. Her students and their parents loved her teaching ability. Guo Chunfang is steadfast in her belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and plans to continue practising Falun Gong in spite of the persecution.

For the five years of January 15th, 2007 to February 19th, 2011, Guo Chunfang was imprisoned at the Longquanyi Women's Prison in Chengdu. On March 8th, she was released. When she returned home, police from Huima Town surrounded and harassed her, trying to take her to a brainwashing facility. With help from her relatives, she managed to get away from the police officers, but now she can't go home for fear of further persecution.

Guo Chunfang Was Harassed and Arrested Almost Every Year Between 1999 and 2006

Guo Chunfang has been consistently persecuted by the Daying County Police Station, the Huima Town Police Substation, the local legislation system, and the Township government ever since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its brutal persecution against Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999. During what the CCP deemed “politically sensitive” days, they stopped by Ms. Guo's house to harass her, to make sure she was not planning anything that might embarrass them. They always interfered with Ms. Guo's personal life at home and at work. They interfered with her teaching schedules at school, and the local police often sent people to follow and harass her.

Towards the end of July 2000, Guo Chunfang went to Suining Park to join the group Falun Gong practice. She was arrested by police officers from the Nanqiang Police Substation in Suining. One afternoon, Zhang Yang, head of the Huima Town Police Substation, together with Guo's principal from the school, took her to the Huima Town Police Substation. They ordered Guo to write a guarantee statement promising to renounce Falun Gong. Guo refused to give up her practice and belief in Falun Gong. The authorities at the police substation then took Guo to the Daying Detention Centre. Two days later, the school principal and Xiong Shouquan, from the Township Management Department, brought her back home.

The school was on a break on November 11th, 2001, due to families having to work on their farms. Guo Chunfang went to distribute flyers to help people understand the facts about Falun Gong in the south suburb of Suining. Someone followed her and reported her to the police from the Nanmen Police Substation, who then arrested her and took her to the Lingquansi Detention Centre in Suining. She was later transferred to the Wujiawan Detention Centre. On March 7th, 2002, she was imprisoned at the Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp at Zizhong in Sichuan Province. She was locked up in a small cell for three days and nights, and wasn't allowed to use the bathroom. Every day from morning until late at night, she had to stand up straight. She wasn't allowed to sleep or wash her bowls after each meal. As a result, bugs and flies crawled in her bowls, which she had to use for her next meal. People who had been tortured and "transformed" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] by the CCP officers tried convincing her to give up Falun Gong. During this period of time, Guo suffered a lot both physically and mentally. Nearly seven months later, on October 1st, 2002, she was released.

In December 2003, Li Kaiyuan, head of the Huima Police Substation, and Chen Yong, a police officer in charge of residencies, broke into the school dorms. They searched frantically, trying to find Falun Gong books or flyers so that they could arrest and charge Ms. Guo. They didn't find anything, but still tried to arrest her. Ms. Guo rationally and compassionately pointed out their wrongdoings. Because they found no evidence, they could not arrest her and had to leave.

One morning in late September 2004, when students were preparing for the start of classes, the head of the Huima Police Substation, together with Xu, the head of the Legislation Bureau, led a group of people from the Daying County National Security Team to the school. They ordered Ms. Guo to go to the office to verify some details. They didn't allow her to go help her students. Instead, they kept her on the playground until the last class of the morning. Even though they tried to stop her, Ms. Guo insisted on teaching her students. In order to avoid further persecution, Guo Chunfang left home and became homeless for over two months.

On Sunday, February 19th, 2006, just a few days after school started, a group of people from the Daying National Security Team again drove to the school. They found a few students that Ms. Guo had taught. They lied to them, trying to get them to fabricate stories about Ms. Guo when she was teaching in Suining.

At noon on February 20th, Guo Chunfang was at her dorm reviewing her students' completed essays, when a group of police officers broke into her room. With many people watching, they threw her into the police car at the school entrance. After arresting Ms. Guo, Tang Bing, the head of the National Security Team ordered the officers to return to Guo's room. They searched her home and took her Falun Gong books, MP3 player, recorder, mobile phone, and watch. They broke her furniture. They didn't provide any receipts for the personal belongings that were confiscated. When they returned to the police substation, they forcibly took Ms. Guo to the Daying Detention Centre, where they began a ten-day interrogation of her. They also fabricated many lies to stir up hatred from Ms. Guo's family against her. Her husband was especially upset. In April 2007, when Ms. Guo was once again imprisoned, her husband divorced her.

In late February 2006, the Daying National Security Team took Guo Chunfang to the Yongxing Detention Centre in Suining. She refused to answer to roll call or join the forced labour. Policewoman Jin Hui cursed at her and tortured her. Jin called a dozen male prisoners to bring an “emperor seat,” a torture tool. They forced Guo onto the seat and handcuffed her arms to the chair. They then put a pot beneath the seat to collect Guo's urine and stool. Guo was locked to the seat and couldn't move for three days. After she was taken off the emperor seat, her feet were so swollen that she couldn't walk.

Guo Chunfang Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

The Daying Court processed Ms. Guo's case in September 2006. The CCP judge didn't adhere to proper legal procedures. There was evidence or witnesses presented, nor was a list Ms. Guo's so-called crimes, because there were none. After being sentenced to five years in prison, Ms. Guo refused to accept the sentence. She appealed to the Intermediate People's Court of Suining City, but as collaborators, they didn't look into her case at all. They simply closed the case and upheld the original sentence.

On January 15th, 2007, the detention centre at Suining took Guo Chunfang to the Longquanyi Women's Prison in the city of Chengdu. Policewomen Lu Qiaoxia and Zhou Guafang, together with prison section head Liao Qunfang, ordered two criminals to closely monitor Ms. Guo. They didn't allow her to step out of the cell, purchase any necessities at the store, or get water for taking a shower. They also didn’t allow inmates to give water to Guo. Guo could only have a half-bottle of water per day, and she wasn't allowed to wear her own clothes or make phone calls. The prison section head, Liao Qunfang, often told the criminals to search her bed and locker. They took away her clothes, and tape-recorded Guo without her permission. Police constantly searched her. Guo suffered five years of relentless torture, and was released on February 19th, 2011.

CCP Agents Tried to Take Ms. Guo to a Brainwashing Session

After she returned home, Guo went to talk to the Huima Town government. She asked them to order the school to cover her financial losses. The school first agreed to pay her 800 yuan¹. Eventually, they agreed to pay her 1,000 yuan. On the morning of March 8th, Xia Hegao, head of the local Appeals Office, asked Guo Chunfang to come to the township to pick up the money. This was, however, a set up to lure Guo to their office.

When Guo arrived, she was surrounded by secretary Liu of the CCP's local standing committee; Chen Changquan, head of the local armed squad; Xia, head of the local Appeals Office, along with his assistants; Ren Hao, deputy chief of the police substation; Li, head of the Daying Government Office, and two of his assistants; policeman Zhao Wen, and two policewomen and two staff members. They told her that all these people from the city of Suining wanted to talk to her because she was a person who was being closely monitored by the CCP. They had two CCP members also closely monitoring her that day.
They never left her alone and even followed her into the toilet. They wouldn't let Ms. Guo leave. After lunch, the local officials left to discuss amongst themselves what to do with Ms. Guo. They left five or six people watching Ms. Guo so that she couldn’t escape.

Eventually, Guo Chunfang's family came to get her, but she was forced to become homeless and go from place to place to avoid further persecution for her and her family.

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/2011/4/20/239303.html