Ms. Yue Chunhua, 53, Detained Twice in a Forced Labour Camp

Name: Ms. Yue Chunhua
Gender: Female
Age: 53
Address: Huayan No. 1 Residential Area, Shapingba District, Chongqing
Occupation: Former president of the trade union and head of the labour section of Chongqing Standard Parts Manufactory Plant
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 12th, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shimahe Women's Forced Labour Camp, Chongqing
City: Chongqing
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, hung by handcuffs, solitary confinement, torture, sexual assault, force-feedings, interrogation, detention, denial of toilet use

Practitioner Ms. Yue Chunhua was the former president of the trade union and head of the labour section of the Chongqing Standard Parts Manufactory Plant. She has been detained many times and sentenced to forced labour twice in the past 12 years only because of her belief. The following is her account of the persecution to which she has been subjected.

I began practising Falun Gong in 1996. Since then, I have set the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance as the standard of my conduct and have experienced positive changes both mentally and physically. I try to improve my character, treat others kindly, and work more diligently at my job. All of my illnesses disappeared without taking any medication and my family environment became more harmonious.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has now lasted 12 years. During this time, I have been detained many times, held in brainwashing centres, and sent to a forced labour camp twice. I was also forced to leave home and separate from my family to avoid further persecution.

I went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong in 2000 and was detained at the Chongqing Train Station by the railway police. I was then escorted back to Chongqing and held in the Jingkou Brainwashing Centre for more than ten days. Afterwards, I was transferred to the Baihelin Detention Centre in Shapingba and detained for 19 more days. I was then sentenced to forced labour in January 2001.

Tortured at Maojiashan Women's Detention Centre in Chongqing

I was held at the Maojiashan Women's Forced Labour Camp in 2001 for one year and 18 days. I was beaten and subjected to other types of corporal punishment during my detention there. For more than four consecutive months, I was forced to get up at 5:00 a.m. and not allowed to go to sleep until midnight or after 1:00 a.m.

From May 10th to September 14th, 2001, I was subjected to many types of torture. I was forced to stay awake for seven days and nights because I didn't cooperate with guard Shu Chang's requests. I was also forced to stand still for a long time in the hot summer and was not allowed to wash my face or brush my teeth. My arms were cuffed behind my back—one arm from above one shoulder and the other from behind—a torture method called “carrying a sword in the back”—for two hours because I refused to wear the uniform and shouted, “Falun Gong is good!” to protest the persecution. Female guard Chen Ping once cuffed me behind my back and locked me in a small cell for seven days. I wasn't released from the detention centre until 18 days after my scheduled release date. Instead of sending me home, Director Ren from the Xinqiao Neighbourhood Committee and his men took me directly to the Geleshan Brainwashing Centre in Chongqing Municipality.

Mental and Physical Torture at the Brainwashing Centre

In attempts to force me to renounce Falun Gong, Xie Junwen, director of the brainwashing centre, tortured me by denying me food except for a little rice. At the time, there were only two of us at the brainwashing centre—practitioner Zhao Jiayu and I. We were given only a small amount of rice each day for four consecutive months. I became very weak from the torture. When the doctor gave me a medical examination, he couldn't even draw blood from my fingers. My pulse was also very weak. Nonetheless Li Fengjiu escalated the abuse and locked me in a small cell. Two male guards, Luo and Yi, cuffed my arms behind my back and held my head down. Then another male guard, Yue Haidong, along with Luo and Yi, dragged me to a small room and tortured me.

More than a dozen “aids” took turns monitoring me in the small room. Some of them loudly swore at Falun Gong, while others slandered the practice. They put a very bright light less than a metre away from my eyes so I couldn't fall asleep. This torture continued for several days and my health deteriorated. Even now my eyes still see blue. Under intense pressure, I became muddle-headed and wrote the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong against my will.

Two or three days later, I became clearheaded again and realised that I had made a mistake. I immediately stated that the three statements I wrote earlier were null and void. I told the “aids” that I wrote the statements when I was not clearheaded. I told them, “Falun Gong is good and I will continue to practice it.” As a result, they continued torturing me and locked me in solitary confinement. Four principals whose names I can't remember threatened me and tried to force me to admit I had been “transformed” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. I wasn't moved and continued to live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I was allowed to go home for three days on April 30th.

I was emaciated and my hair had turned half-grey by the time I was able to go home. I looked like someone over 60 years old when I was actually only in my early forties. I also had blurry vision and couldn't eat. If I returned to the brainwashing centre, I felt that I may have not come out alive. The persecution in the brainwashing centre was very severe. It was really “a hell in this human world.” I was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution.

Detained Again in 2009

I was reported to the authorities by someone who did not know the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. As a result, I was taken to the Rongchang Domestic Security Division by Wang Lijun and others.

Knowing I didn't violate any laws, I refused to cooperate with them. I didn't say a word or write anything. Wang Lijun subsequently grabbed my hair and smashed my head against the wall, hit me with a book, and pulled my hands up, which were cuffed behind my back. They tried to get a confession using torture, but failed. As a result, I was escorted me back to the Rongchang Detention Centre in the evening.

At the detention centre, I still refused to cooperate and held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Officials from the Rongchang Domestic Security Division and the County Police Department sentenced me to two years of forced labour. The name and the date of birth on their records were inconsistent with my personal information. They even used the name “anonymous person” in their documents.

Detained in Shimahe Women's Forced Labour Camp

I was transferred to Brigade No. 4 of the Shimahe Women’s Forced Labour Camp in Chongqing on May 5th, 2009. When I refused to wear their uniform and shouted “Falun Gong is good,” my mouth was tightly taped up, my hands were taped together, and I was locked in solitary confinement. I almost lost consciousness.

The perpetrators tried to cover up evidence of their detaining me by confiscating my copy of the sentencing notice. They didn't give it back to me until recently.

In June 2009, I went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, and was brutally force-fed by the guards and other inmates. Chen Yanyan cuffed my hands behind my back, while drug addict inmates held me down on the floor—one person holding my feet while another held down my body. Then Zhao Yuanyuan and prisoner Chen Zhi cruelly force-fed me a very thick soy milk powder. Guard Zhao Yuanyuan said spitefully, “Look at me. I am the one force-feeding you, so look carefully.” They force-fed me four times per day, from afternoon to evening. As a result, my stomach was full of water, but I was not allowed to use the toilet. I then developed serious bowel incontinence that caused my lower abdomen to bulge and my lower body to be in pain. I quietly endured this pain that lasted for about a month.

In the second half of 2009, I reported to brigade deputy chief Huang Xiaodong about guard Chen Xiaoqin torturing me. Deputy chief Hu Xiaoyan then angrily came to my cell and said, “You, Yue Chunhua, are accusing Chen Xiaoqin of torturing you!?” I replied that Chen Xiaoqin had beat me. She then said, “Show me your wounds. Go to the hospital for a check up. If nothing is found, then you are falsely accusing [Chen Xiaoqin].” Thus, in the forced labour camp, it is only called a beating if there is an injury to prove it.

In late January 2010, Li Yong, Wang Cheng, and another male guard were transferred to the Shimahe Women's Forced Labour Camp from the Xishanping Men's Forced Labour Camp that specially conducts brainwashing sessions on practitioners. When I refused to squat down or write a report, I was tortured in the study room that was only half the size of the cell room on the third floor. They closed the windows and doors in order to cover up their crimes. A female guard fiercely slapped my face many times. When she got tired, Chen Zhi and Ding Xia punched and kicked me to the ground and pulled my hair. They threw me to the ground many times. They also took off my shoes and covered my mouth and nose with it, trying to suffocate me.

They then humiliated me by taking off my trousers and putting several small, balled-up pieces paper in my vagina, and made random drawings on my buttocks with a pen.

The second round of torture consisted of violent beatings and force-feedings. I was beaten for three to four days and then put in solitary confinement on the second floor where inmates took turns monitoring me. I wasn't allowed to use the toilet. I had to get up at 6:00 a.m. and was forced to stand until 2:30 a.m. Later, the time was extended to 3:00 a.m. When I went to bed, I wasn't allowed to close my eyes. This torture lasted four to five days. As a result, I became absent-minded. Around the afternoon of January 26th, the force-feedings began.

Before they started, guard Tao Xin claimed that it was legitimate to act violently. So Chen Zhi and Chen Ting took me to an area with black ceramic tiles in the cell, since there wasn't a camera in that area. They pushed me against the wall and poured bottles of tap water into my mouth and ears. They forced me to stand against the wall in the beginning, then pushed me down to sit on the floor with my back against the wall. They continued to force-feed me with water while punching my face and head, kicking me and pouring water on my neck. It was very cold outside at the time, and my whole body and clothes were soaked. Guard Tao Xin ordered two people to drag me on the floor to clean up the water. Tao Xin told them to continue in the afternoon.

At around 5:00 p.m. when Tao Xin didn't show up, the two guards continued torturing me. At around 7:00 p.m., an on-duty guard Chen Lan wanted me to file a report, and I filed one against my will. The brainwashing session began on January 27th. Two days later, I had written the first sentence on the guarantee statement, promising to stop practising Falun Gong, against my will under the supervision of inmate Zheng Xiaolan. Several days later, I became clearheaded, and realised this wasn't right. It is not wrong to believe in Falun Gong and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and to be a good person. I am fortunate to have learned Falun Gong, and I should truly cherish it. I felt regretful and was determined to crawl up from where I had fell. Therefore, I wrote in the “thought report” that I wanted to keep practising Falun Gong and firmly practise to the end.

The brainwashing session lasted for over 20 days. When Tao Xin realised that I would not stop practising Falun Gong and was not “transformed,” she increased the physical punishment and the so-called “training and consolidation” effort. She told the supervising inmates to be “strict” with me and forced me to squat and stand for longer periods of time. I once was forced to squat from 8:30 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. the following day. This type of torture lasted until May 13th, at which time it changed to standing, sitting, or squatting from 6:30 a.m. (sometimes 7:00 a.m.) until midnight. This physical torture continued until December 2nd, 2010 when I was released for medical treatment.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/6/30/243195.html