I Was Whipped with Chains in Shenyang Women's Prison

Name: Jing Cuizhen
Gender: Female
Age: Around 60
Address: Yaotang Village, Nuerhe Township, Jinzhou City
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 25th, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shenyang Women's Prison
City: Shenyang
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, physical restraint, home ransacked, interrogation, detention, denial of toilet use

Just past 10 p.m. on August 25th, 2007, I went out to distribute Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution with another practitioner. We were arrested and held at the Nuerhe Township Police Station, the Taihe District Police Department, and the Jinzhou City First Detention Centre. Shortly after 9 a.m. on December 11th, 2007, the Taihe District Court sentenced me to four years in prison and took me to Shenyang Women Prison.

As soon as I entered the prison, guards Shen Xuyang and Zhang Lei tried to force me to give up my faith in Falun Gong, but I refused. They assigned three prisoners to monitor me. Shi Susheng watched me during the days, while Fan Xu and Zhao Limian watched me at night. They tortured me in many different ways.

I was forced to sit on small stool only was three inches wide and one inch high. They allowed me neither toilet use nor sleep. When I became so tired that my eyes closed, Fan Xu or Zhao Limian would whip me with an iron chain. It wasn't long before I couldn't open my eyes anymore because they were so swollen. Fan Xu then dragged me to the washroom, poured ice-cold water over my head, then continued to whip me.

Three days later, I could no longer stand up. On the fourth and fifth days, my mind was a blur and my entire body felt paralysed. Fan Xu and Zhao Limian never ceased torturing me. They refused to allow me to use the toilet or sleep, whipped me with chains, constantly doused me with cold water, and forced me to sit on the tiny stool. I felt paralysed on the small stool, because I was unable to sit up. They tortured me like this for six days.

During the four-year prison term, I was also forced to do slave labour from 6 a.m. until after 9 p.m.

Sometimes I was forced to work even later in order to fulfil a quota.

After the first month in the prison, guards again ordered me to fill out a repentance statement to renounce practising Falun Gong, but again I refused. They tortured me over and over: no sleep or toilet use, whippings with iron chains, and dousings with cold water. One morning, Zhao Limian slapped me until she was exhausted. On another morning at around 4 a.m., Fan and Zhao squeezed my private parts and my arms until I was covered in purple bruises, which remained visible for several months. Despite this intense abuse, I still refused to write what they wanted. Fan held me down on the floor, stomped on my chest, and stripped off my clothes in freezing weather. They tortured me like this for another 5 or 6 days straight.

Ever since my time in prison, I have had constant chest pain and am short of breath. I am still unable to do heavy labour, which immediately causes me to become short of breath or leaves me feeling weak. I returned home on August 26th, 2011.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/10/27/248385.html