My Personal Experience of Being Persecuted for 11 Years

Name: Wen Jie
Gender: Female
Age: 40s
Address: Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Teacher at Qiqihar Nationality School
Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 17th, 2001
Most Recent Place of Detention: Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison
City: Qiqihar
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, brainwashing, forced labour, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, extortion, fired from workplace, interrogation, detention

Before I started to practise Falun Gong in 1995, I had several illnesses, including arthritis, heart problems, and I had a nervous breakdown, but these soon disappeared after I started practising. Since the start of the persecution in 1999, I have been detained many times, and was sentenced to nine years in prison. I was fired from my job and police extorted 20,000 yuan¹ from me. Below are some of my experiences over the past 11 years.

Fired for going to Beijing to appeal

After I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in October 1999, I was arrested and held at Qiqihar City First Detention Centre. They then transferred me to Gannan County Detention Centre and released me one month later. I went to Beijing to appeal again in October 2000, and was detained for one day at Qianmen Police Station, where I was beaten with a police baton. Officials at my school were forced to fire me in December 2000.

Brutally tortured for putting up the words 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance' outdoors

I was arrested on the evening of January 17th, 2001, by Sunwu County Railroad Police when I was seen putting up the words “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” outdoors. They took me to the Sunwu Police Department. I was interrogated and they shocked my head with an electric baton. I was taken to Sunwu Detention Centre later the next day. Three officers from Jianhua District Police Department in Qiqihar took me to Jianhua District Criminal Police Division on January 20th. Political Security Division head Zhang Yide slapped me in the face, kicked me and tortured me by a method called “The Big Hang Up”. My feet were tied to a metal chair, and my arms were cuffed behind my back onto the upper level of a bunk bed. Once the metal chair was pushed backwards, my body was immediately stretched and my arms felt excruciating pain. I later fainted and did not know when I was taken down. I lost feeling in my arms and did not fully recover until two years later. I was taken to Qiqihar Second Detention Centre on January 20th, 2001, and was kept there until January 22nd, 2002.

The cells were crowded since many practitioners were detained there. We took turns to sleep on the beds, while others had to sleep on the cold, concrete floor. I joined other practitioners to oppose the persecution by going on a hunger strike. On the fourth day of my hunger strike, the head of the detention centre Lin Yonggui took me to the guards' office and beat me. He put my feet in shackles and cuffed my hands behind my back. He then connected the handcuffs and shackles together with a short metal chain. I was kept like this for one night. My hands and feet were swollen. When I was allowed to use the toilet, two people had to carry me there. The guards also pulled me by the hair, forcibly opened my mouth with a metal spoon and stirred hard around my mouth, damaging my gums. The doctor at the detention centre Sun also force-fed me with salted corn soup.

Sentenced to nine years and tortured in prison

I was sentenced, along with other practitioners, in July 2001 by Jianhua District Court. Mr. Wang Weihua was sentenced to four years, and died in prison as a result of torture. I was sentenced to nine years, and was taken to Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison on January 22nd, 2002.

Guards ordered inmates to constantly monitor me, and often forced me to stand till late in the night. I was placed in Division 7 three months later. Four inmates took turns to monitor me. They also swore at me and beat me. I was made to do forced labour for about 17 hours a day. Some practitioners and I opposed the forced labour in July 2002, and were put in an intensified unit for 56 days. There was no natural light in the unit, and it was constantly dark and damp. Even during the summer I woke up several times at night because it was too cold. On the 56th day I was handcuffed and taken back to my cell. In the following two weeks I was forced to sit on a small stool 24 hours a day. I was handcuffed all the time, even when they allowed me to eat or go to the toilet.

I was later cuffed with my hands behind my back to a metal ring on the floor. The handcuffs were only released when I was allowed to eat or use the bathroom. It was very painful to sleep at night, because I was handcuffed to the floor ring. No matter what position I tried move to, my arms were pressed against my body, and it was very painful.

Guards forced practitioners to sit on a small stool for long periods of time every day. We were not allowed to close our eyes, and even using the toilet was restricted. They forced us to listen to broadcasts that defame Falun Gong, and inmates read us books that slandered Falun Gong every day. Gradually, we were transferred to Division 11, where they specifically brainwash practitioners. I was transferred there in April 2007, and inmates headed by Cui Xiang began to mistreat me. They cursed at me, beat me, deprived me of sleep and brainwashed me. This lasted for two months, until my mind was no longer clear. At that point, I cooperated with the guards' demands and wrote guarantee statements to stop practising Falun Gong.

In late 2007, I wrote a declaration to make null and void the previous statements which I made under duress, and I resumed practising Falun Gong. In early February 2008 I was transferred to Division 6, and two inmates were assigned to monitor me.

When my prison term ended on January 19th, 2010, my family members were nervously waiting outside the prison for several hours. Although I requested many times that morning to be released, the prison officials said that they were waiting for permission from the officials at Qiqihar 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong).

My persecution did not stop there

Although I was released, my previous workplace still did not restore my teaching post. Also, when the police ransacked my home in 2001, they stole my bank deposit book and withdrew more than 20,000 yuan from it. Upon my release, when I went to the bank to check my deposit, there was only about 100 yuan left.

The communist regime has persecuted me for 11 years, and harmed my family tremendously. After hearing that I was sentenced to nine years, my elderly father could not sleep for two weeks and was constantly afraid of the police. After my release from prison, I met my 20-year-old son at a railway station. We could not recognise each other.

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/2011/10/27/248299.html