Older Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Li Zhenying of Jixi City Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison

Name: Li Zhenying
Gender: Female
Age: 52
Address: Shuanghe Coal Mine, Hengshan District, Jixi City
Occupation: Former manager of Erdaohezi Mine Ice Cream Factory
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 17th, 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Heilongjiang Women's Prison
City: Jixi
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, physical restraint, home ransacking, detention

Ms. Li Zhenying began practising Falun Gong in the summer of 1998. Since the Chinese Communist Party started persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, she has been arrested, beaten, and tortured several times. Ms. Li was sentenced to eleven years in prison in 2003, and was taken to Heilongjiang Women's Prison on March 10th, 2004. She is currently being held in the No. 11 Ward of the prison.

Ms. Li went to Beijing twice to appeal for Falun Gong. The second time she went, on November 12th, 2000, she saw several groups of police on Tiananmen Square forcing people to slander Falun Gong. She immediately reprimanded them, “How can you make people do that? What kind of an example are you setting for your children? Aren't you ashamed?” Some of the police lowered their heads in shame, but others turned on Ms. Li and arrested her. She was taken to Jixi Detention Centre, where she went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Twenty days later, she was released.

Ms. Feng Guojun and Ms. Sun Shuying rented a room with Ms. Li in the Chengzihe District of Jixi. The police arrested Ms. Sun during the daytime on August 17th, 2002. Ms. Feng and Ms. Li were later arrested when they returned home at around 5:00 p.m. That night, they were taken to an unknown location, and forced to stand for the entire night with their hands and feet in shackles. The next day, they were beaten and forced to sit on a tiger bench¹ for a day. Officers poured boiling water over Ms. Li and burned her with cigarettes. Officers went to their home and confiscated two photocopiers, two mobile phones, and other personal belongings, valued at approximately 30,000 yuan².

Mr. Cheng Zhongqiang and Mr. Zhao Baoshan were also arrested at the same time. They were interrogated and tortured, then taken to Jixi Detention Centre.

Two dozen practitioners were detained there during a period from August 18th, 2002 to March 9th, 2004. Many held hunger strikes to resist the persecution and were force-fed milk powder mixed with large amounts of salt by inmate Gao Ying and prison doctor Mr. Wang. Ms. Zhao Chunying, 56, died several days after she was brutally force-fed.

The five practitioners were put on trial at Chengzihe District Court in late 2003. Ms. Li and Ms. Feng were sentenced to eleven years in prison, Mr. Cheng and Mr. Zhao were sentenced to twelve years in prison, and Ms. Sun was sentenced to one and a half years in a forced labour camp.

Ms. Li and Ms. Feng were taken to the No. 9 ward in Heilongjiang Women's Prison on March 10th, 2004. Lu Jinghui, head of the prison guards, and guards Niu Cuisong and Geng Xiuli tried to force them to renounce their beliefs.

Ms. Li was later transferred to the No. 1 Ward, where she was constantly monitored by guards. She was sometimes deprived of sleep for long periods of time. When she refused to wear the prison uniform and went on hunger strike to protest the persecution, the guards ordered inmates to viciously beat her and force-feed her. She was then put in solitary confinement.

In late 2006, Ms. Li and another practitioner, Ms. Zhang Li, were locked up in a small, dark room and were tortured for several weeks.

At around 3:00 p.m. on March 21st, 2011, guards ordered practitioners to wear the prison uniform. When practitioners refused to comply, the guards instigated inmates Wang Guihua and Lu Shan to beat them. Ms. Li and many other practitioners went on a hunger strike to resist the persecution and were brutally force-fed.

Ms. Li's daughter was taking her university entrance examinations around the time she was sentenced to eleven years. Her husband also divorced her because he was unable to bear the pressure of the persecution. Ms. Li's 72-year-old mother was so traumatised by the mistreatment of her daughter that she became ill and passed away on January 5th, 2011.

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

2. "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/2011/11/28/249931.html