Ms. Liu Yingmei, 61, Jailed Four Times

Name: Liu Yingmei
Gender: Female
Age: 61
Address: Fengcheng City, Liaoning Province
Occupation: Former employee of the Fengcheng General Internal Combustion Engine Plant, Liaoning Province
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 2nd, 2006
Most Recent Place of Detention: Liaoning Provincial Women”s Prison
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, detention

Ms. Liu Yingmei was arrested, sentenced to forced labour, and imprisoned four times. She was inhumanly tortured and forced to do slave labour for nearly eight years during the last 12 years of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong.

Ms. Liu once suffered from several different women's diseases. She tried both Western and traditional Chinese medicine, but nothing helped. Her family spent almost all their income on her treatment. She began to practise Falun Gong in 1998 and soon recovered her health.

Arrested and Sentenced to Forced Labour Three Times in Three Years

The CCP led by Jiang Zemin began to persecute Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999. Ms. Liu and other practitioners went to the provincial government to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong later that year, and they were taken into custody and taken to a park as soon as they arrived at the gate of the provincial government. The Fengcheng City Police Department took Ms. Liu and seven or eight other practitioners from Dixiongshan Township and Baiqi Township back on the same day and then locked them in a cage inside the Fenghuang courthouse. The following day, officials from the local police station pressured Ms. Liu to pay a 200 yuan¹ fine, but she refused. She was released at lunch time. However, she was tricked into going to the police station two days later and was taken to a detention centre. The food in the detention centre was very bad and she had to sleep on the cold floor where rats ran around. She was detained for 15 days.

Ms. Liu went to Yanjia Village, Dabao Township, to hand out materials Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution in July 2000. She was reported by villagers, who did not know the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong. Officers from the township police station arrested her and escorted her to the Wenhua Police Station in Fengcheng City in the afternoon. Zhao Song, an officer then and currently the political instructor at the Liujiahe Police Station, handcuffed her to a central heating system pipe in the station until the following day when he came back to work.

In the detention centre, Ms. Liu was forced to do slave labour day and night. The conditions in the centre were terrible. The toilet was next to where the detainees had to eat and sleep. Many detainees were squeezed onto the damp, cold space of only a few square meters. Ms. Liu was sentenced to one year of forced labour in September.

Ms. Liu and another practitioner were posting materials at the Chengdong Post Office on the evening of December 28th, 2001. They were reported, and officers from the city police department arrested them and were locked them in a cage. Dozens of Falun Gong materials, brushes, and paste buckets were confiscated. They were taken to a detention centre before midnight. The following day, Zhao Jun, Cui Xishen, and other officers ransacked Ms. Liu's home and confiscated Falun Gong books and other materials she had locked in the cupboard. Four months later, Liu and Luo Shishuang escorted Ms. Liu and two other practitioners to the notorious Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, where she was tortured and had to do slave labour for three years.

Torture and Forced Labour in Masanjia Labour Camp

Su Jing was a CCP accomplice in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. The camp was under semi-military management. During the day the beds and bedding of the detainees were arranged for inspections. Practitioners, no matter how weak they were, were all driven to a classroom.

Ms. Liu was forced to undergo brainwashing. In the morning, she was forced to read materials and watch TV programmes that slandered Falun Gong. From 12:30 p.m. to 9:00 pm, she had to do forced labour. In the winter, she and other practitioners were forced to make poisonous goods and other arts and crafts in a sealed cell. Officials from the Provincial Department of Justice mentioned that this was to prevent practitioners from doing something “crazy” when they were homesick. However, the real reason was either to brainwash them or make big profits. A lot of practitioners felt dizzy and had to vomit, did not want to eat, and their faces were swollen, all symptoms of being poisoned. The guards did not care about the practitioners' health. As long as the factory increased the processing fee, they pressured practitioners to finish the work. A lot of times, before one batch of work was finished, another batch was brought in. Sometimes two batches were processed together. If they could not finish the job, they had to work in bed. They could not go to sleep before they finished their quota. The quota was on a per capita basis regardless of age or ability.

In July, Ms. Liu developed heart disease. She was given medicine and intravenous injections, and two people to help her just to walk. She became a burden for the forced labour camp, so she was allowed to be bailed out for medical treatment on August 17th. She had to pay a very high security deposit before she could go home. Since she was really in critical condition, her family paid a 300 yuan deposit, however, it was withheld by Su Jing. When Ms. Liu's term at the forced labour camp expired, Su Jing did not return the deposit to her. Ms. Liu was sent to the Central Hospital in Fengcheng City for emergency treatment. Despite her condition, officer Zhao Song still went to the hospital to keep an eye on her. The hospital was unable to cure her, so the doctor told her to go to Shenyang to have a heart stent surgery.

Falun Gong saved Ms. Liu once again. When she returned home, she studied the literature of Falun Gong and did the five exercises. She recovered in a very short period of time and was able to do all the manual labour at home by herself. During that time, Ms. Liu wrote letters to the Fengcheng City's Political and Judiciary Committee, the police department, and the local police station to expose the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong and to ask them to release all the detained practitioners.

The Wenhua Police Station sent four or five officers to Ms. Liu's home in January 2004 and confiscated all her Falun Gong books and materials, and then tricked her into going to the police station. She was taken straight to a detention centre. Three days later, Zhao Song and his men escorted Ms. Liu to the notorious Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

Ms. Liu was kept separately in a cell, where rats visited frequently. Two inmates were assigned to watch her around the clock. They did not let her talk to other practitioners. She was not allowed to return to her original cell before May 1st. She was forced to leave her cell at 5:00 a.m. and go to the strict-control classroom where all practitioners, who were physically weak stayed. They were not allowed to return to their cells until after 9:00 p.m., when other detainees went to sleep. All practitioners were watched by specially designated inmates. They were not allowed to talk to others about Falun Gong. When Ms. Liu's term in the forced labour camp expired, she was given a two-month extension.

Heavy Sentencing by Fengcheng 610 Office

Officials from the Fengcheng City Politics and Judiciary Committee, the Domestic Security Division, and the Social Insurance persecuted Ms. Liu both physically and financially. They suspended her salary during the time she was held at the forced labour camp. Over the years, the police department, the local police station as well as community organisations constantly harassed Ms. Liu by making phone calls or paying her visits at home.

When Ms. Liu was distributing Falun Gong materials in a residential area at the rear of the No. 4 High School early in the morning on July 2nd, 2006, she was spotted by a father and son who were walking their dog. They reported her to the police and snatched her bicycle and the materials from her bag. The police arrested her and took her to the Fenghuang Police Sub-department, where the officers confiscated all her cash. One of the officers pretended to show concern for her. He took 50 yuan of her money and bought her a bowl of noodles, which only cost 3 yuan. The 610 Office of the Fengcheng City's Political and Judiciary Committee collaborated with the court to have her sentenced her to three and a half years' imprisonment.

Ms. Liu was incarcerated in the Liaoning Provincial Women's Prison on December 8th. The guards stripped off all her clothes and even tore open her quilt to do a thorough search. Then they forced her to stand still for a long time and assigned two inmates to watch her. They also did not let her to go to bed on time. In the prison, the detainees started to work at 6:40 a.m., and if they had no outside inspections, they finished work at 9:00 p.m. Before they left the workshops, they were searched.

The “humane management” the prison boasted about was actually inhuman treatment and endless slave labour. The detainees were forced to work on holidays and sometimes when they did have a day off during holidays they had to work on Sundays to make up for it. When they worked on Sundays, they only were given two meals. The only time they could have a break was during meal time, to go to the toilet, or to drink water. During the hot summer, the electric fans were not switched on when the temperature was below 30 degrees Celsius. Prison officials informed the outside world that detainees had a lunch break until 1:00 p.m., but they actually had to start working half an hour earlier. As a matter of fact, their break was used for maintenance of the machines. The No. 3 Ward was a garment factory. Only when the prison had visitors were the detainees able to rest until 1:00 p.m. The food in the prison was really bad. In the hot summer they received very salty preserved vegetables. In the morning, they only had steamed cornbread and had to eat quickly or they would starve. When the inspectors asked about the food and the detainees told the truth, they were reprimanded.

In this prison, the status of the practitioners was even lower than that of the criminals. When writing letters to their families, practitioners had to go to a designated site, which was under surveillance. Pens and paper were strictly controlled. Their letters were checked by prison authorities before being sent out. In their letters they had to state against their own will that they were sound and well, otherwise their letters were not mailed. If her letter did not meet the standards set by the prison authorities, the letter was not mailed and the practitioner was reprimanded. All the letters from their families and relatives were checked by the authorities before reaching the practitioners. All the clothes sent in by their families had to bear the words “women's prison.” If not, they were confiscated. The criminals could often phone their families, meet visitors in the hall, and have meals with the visitors. However, practitioners could only meet immediate relatives who did not practise Falun Gong in a designated small room. During any visit, two guards were present. Practitioners were not allowed to have meals with their visitors. One Sunday four practitioners did not go to work. Team Leader Liu, who was on duty that day, did not allow the practitioners to rest and kicked them. Zhang, the head of the No 3 Ward at the Garment Factory, said at a general meeting that Falun Gong practitioners had to be “reformed” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] since they had violated the law. If they failed to fulfil their production quota, the team leader would be held responsible. Ms. Liu was forced to do slave labour at the No. 4 Team. The team leader was a demobilised female soldier. She confiscated Ms. Liu's handwritten Falun Gong writings as well as the statements to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organisations, which were handed to her by other criminals.

Ms. Liu's term expired on New Year's Day 2009. Team leader Gao, who was a graduate of the police academy, ordered Jin Lijun to search all of Ms. Liu's clothes. The prison authorities were afraid that she might take evidence or incriminating materials out of the prison when they were released, and expose the crimes that took place in prison.

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/2011/10/9/247639.html