Ms. Jia Guilan, 69, Tortured at Heilongjiang Women's Prison

Sixty-nine-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Jia Guilan from the Jianhua District in Qiqihaer City was arrested for her belief in April 2009. While detained in Ward 9 of the Heilongjiang Women's Prison, she was subjected to extremely inhumane torture.

Wards 9 and 11 at Heilongjiang Women's Prison are designated units for newly-arrested Falun Gong practitioners, and are known as the “devil’s wards.” The heads of these two wards are team head Zheng Jie of Ward 9 and Wang Yali of Ward 11. Both are instrumental in torturing practitioners.

Ms. Jia Guilan began practising Falun Gong in 1994. After the onset of the persecution in 1999, she remained steadfast in her belief. While she was in Ward 9, Zheng Jie tried to coerce her into “reforming” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong].

The guards assigned criminal inmates Wang Dongmei and Wang Yajuan to closely monitor Ms. Jia around the clock. Their job was to force Ms. Jia to sit on a small plastic stool daily, from 5:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. Her back had to be straight, hands on knees, and her legs had to form a 90-degree angle. She had to remain in this posture for 17 hours straight. The inmates brought her meals, so she did not have any chance move.

Ms. Jia suffered from high blood pressure and had difficulty breathing due to the harsh torture. Criminal inmates took turns watching and insulting her every day. The stool she sat on had a rough texture. After a long time of sitting, her buttocks became badly bruised, the skin was broken, and blood soaked her trousers. Her underwear often became stuck to her buttocks.

Despite such pressure, Jia Guilan refused to give up her belief, so guard Zheng Jie decided to escalate the intensity of the torture.

Instructed by Zheng Jie and Sun, the criminal inmates increased the torture time. Ms. Jia was forced to sit on an even smaller tool for 19 hours per day (5:00 a.m. to midnight). She could hardly sit straight, and breathing became more difficult. She almost fainted several times.

One day Ms. Jia felt very tired and went to her bed for a short rest. The criminal inmates were so furious that they dragged her back across the concrete floor while shouting profanities. Wang Dongmei and Wang Yajuan tied Ms. Jia's hands behind her back, and tied her to a bed rail. After a few hours her fingers turned purple. Even now, two years later, her fingernails are still purple. She was forced to sit on the concrete floor while tied to the bed. Despite Ms. Jia's severe pain, Zheng Jie did not stop the abuse.

Wang Dongmei was especially malicious. She repeatedly hit and verbally abused Ms. Jia. After the rope was removed, Ms. Jia was forced to return to the stool, but by now she was too weak to sit. Criminal inmates dragged her to the floor. She had no energy to sit up. Lingering on the floor for the entire night, she endured constant pushing and cursing from three inmates. The next day, Zheng Jie again ordered the inmates to tie her to the bed rail in a standing position. After two full days and nights of standing, Ms. Jia began vomiting and twitching badly.

One criminal inmate could not stand watching her suffer like that and gave Ms. Jia a small pad to sit on. After sitting on the pad for 19 hours, her sweat soaked the padding.

Despite the cruel treatment, Jia Guilan bravely resisted the persecution and refused to give up her belief. She remains at the prison.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/12/16/250628.html