Firsthand Account of the Persecution: Ms. Wei Currently in Heilongjiang Women's Prison

Name: Wei Jun
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 22nd, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Heilongjiang Women's Prison (also known as Harbin Women's Prison)
City: Harbin
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, torture, denial of toilet use

Ms. Wei Jun, a practitioner from Daqing City in Heilongjiang Province, was arrested and sentenced to five years of imprisonment in 2008. She is currently detained in the Heilongjiang Women's Prison. Ms. Wei was paralyzed twice due to long periods of torture. At present, she still suffers from numbness in her lower back and has difficulty walking. She lost feeling in her fingers and suffers from severe itching caused by skin inflammation. She is frequently beaten and denied family vistation rights.

Since the Chinese Communist regime under the leadership of then-president Jiang Zemin began to suppress Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Wei has been arrested four times, sent to forced labour camp twice, and most recently sentenced to prison. On February 27th, 2000, she was detained for three and a half months for appealing for justice for Falun Gong in Beijing. On November 27th of the same year, she was sentenced to one year of forced labour. On September 11th, 2001, she was sentenced to three years of forced labour.

The following is Ms. Wei's narration of the persecution that she has experienced:

1. Tortured in Heilongjiang Provincial Forced Labour Camp

In early October 2001, I was seized and taken to the Heilongjiang Provincial Drug Rehabilitation Centre (forced labour camp) and detained there for three years. During this time, I was forced to undergo "transformation" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. I was also subjected to torture, such as sitting on an iron chair for eight days and seven nights, being handcuffed and hung up for one night, and forced to squat for long periods. I was only given one meal a day, not allowed to wash or bathe for 13 days, and could not have any blankets or change of clothing.

In November 2003, the labor camp carried out a large-scale persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. I was taken to an underground cell along with 90 other practitioners who refused to be "transformed." Our heads were shaven bald. We were force-fed salt water; our hands were handcuffed; and we had to do military squats. We were exposed to cold wind let in through opened windows and drenched with ice-cold water, as well as subjected to other forms of torture. Some practitioners passed out from the torture; some became mentally unstable; and some were tortured to death. Guard Wang Dan shocked practitioners with electric batons nonstop for 4 hours. Some practitioners were forced to do military squats, and if they could not maintain the position, they had to sit in a basin of cold water. This persecution lasted for over three months.

2. Beaten and Forced to Do Manual Labour While in Detention; My House Looted by Police

On August 22nd, 2008, I was arrested by officers from the Babaishang Police Station in Daqing City and the Daqing National Security Team. They ransacked my home and confiscated many items, including a laptop my child used for school, a mobile phone, a printer, Falun Gong books, and the Falun Gong founder's portrait. My house was turned upside down.

I was taken to Daqing Detention Centre. On the way there, police officer Zhang Zhonghua pulled out my hair by the handful. At the detention centre, I was searched and forced to undergo a blood test, and my photo was taken against my will. I had to pay exorbitant prices for inferior-quality blankets sold by the detention centre. They also forced me to pay 2,500 yuan¹ for five months of boxed meals. During my detention, I had to make car-seat mats.

On November 6th, 2008, I was tried by the Honggang District Court in Daqing. The head of the court forbade me from making statements or hiring a lawyer to defend myself. I was sentenced to five years of imprisonment. Zhang Xiuren was the presiding judge. Shi Bochuan, Qi Yanhua, and other officials participated in the trial.

I appealed to the Daqing City Intermediate Court, but they kept the same judgement. Presiding judge Chen Shiyu and judge Yang Jing handled the case.

3. Cruelly Beaten and Denied Vistation Rights in Heilongjiang Women's Prison

On January 24th, 2009, I was taken to the No. 11 Ward in the Heilongjiang Women's Prison. Prison wardens stepped on me and forced me to wear prison clothes. Head of the ward Wang Yali personally instigated criminal inmates to tie me up with tape and stuff a towel in my mouth. Convict Gu Liqun forced me to wear prison clothes, and as I resisted, my left hand was twisted and injured.

Wang Yali refused to allow my family to visit me. Letters between me and my family were held back by the prison for several months. Prison officers also took money from my bank account without permission, claiming it was payment for summer clothes.

4. Zhao Huihua of Prison's No. 10 Ward Ordered Convicts to Beat Me

After April 22nd, the prison started another round of brutally persecuting practitioners.By then I had been transferred to the No. 10 Ward. Head of the ward Zhao Huihua and prison warden Zhao Xiaofan searched me and took away my personal belongings. They got criminal inmates Li Haipo and others to stamp the character meaning "convict" on my clothes. My trousers and leg were stamped with the character. Every morning prisoners Fu Zhongxiu and Chen Yanli forced me to wear prison clothes; then prisoners Gao Fuyan and Zhao Fangqing bound me, tying my hands and taping my mouth shut with sticky tape. Gao Fuyan also slapped me in the face every day, lifted me up and then threw me onto the ground, and stripped off my pants.

Prisoner Zhang Yan verbally abused me and beat me. Prisoners Fu Zhongxiu, Liu Zhenzhi, Chen Yanli, Deng Zhongyan, Zhang Yan, and others humiliated me.

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/2011/7/7/243544.html