Changsha Women's Prison Guards Brutally Torture Ms. Zhang Yaqin

Name: Zhang Yaqin
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Xiangtan City, Hunan Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 2nd, 2008
Most recent place of detention: Changsha Women's Prison in Hunan Province
City: Changsha
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Detention, brainwashing, imprisonment, brutal beatings, long-term standing, electric shock, back cuff torture, denial of toilet use, sleep deprivation, forced injections, blood drawing.

Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Yaqin is from Xiangtan City Hunan Province. She was arrested in March 2008, and was sentenced to three years in prison on January 2009. She was brutally abused in Changsha Woman's Prison.

From February to March of 2008, Xiangtan City 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), the Political and Judiciary Committee, Domestic Security, Police Department began a campaign to arrest Falun Gong practitioners. At that time nine practitioners were arrested.

On March 2nd, 2008 in the afternoon, staff from Xiangtan 610 Office, Police Department, Domestic Security along with administrators from her workplace, ambushed Zhang Yaqin at her subdivision. They arrested her when she went out. She was held one night at Wujiahuayuan Brainwashing Centre, and then transferred to Sanjiaping Detention Centre in Xiangtan and held there over five months. The detention centre did not release her until she developed hypertension. After being released she was harassed constantly by staff from the court and Procuratorate. On December 30th, 2008, Xu Fumin from Xiangtan 610 Office along with other CCP thugs broke into her home and arrested her again, and she was again held at Sanjiaping Detention Centre. On January 4th, 2009, the Yuhu District Court in Xiangtan sentenced Zhang Yaqin and eight other Falun Gong practitioners from 3 to 7 years in prison.

Zhang Yaqin was transferred to Changsha Women's Prison on March 10th, 2009, where she was held for three years. The persecution she suffered there was beyond imagination. She was held in No.8 prison district for 42 days. A guard named Zheng ordered other inmates to beat her. They punched and kicked her, used a club to beat her, slapped her face, pinched her arms, and tied her hands behind her back to a bed pole. The guard told inmate Sun Shan to monitor Zhang closely. Sun Shan told inmate Zhang to beat Zhang Yaqin with force so as to get a reward.

On April 23rd, 2009, Zhang Yaqin was held at No. 6 District , which specialised in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. The guards forced her to stand from early morning to 2 a.m. the next day. She was not allowed to move, rest or sleep. Yet Zhang Yaqin would still kindly explain the facts about Falun Gong to them. When she told them the wonders of Falun Gong , they taped her mouth shut. When they forced her to stand for over twenty days her legs became terribly stiff and swollen. On June 3rd, guards named Li Juan and Mao Huiping came in with some electric batons and forced Zhang to do hard labour. When she refused they began shocking her. Simultaneously, Li Juan shocked her neck and Mao Huiping shocked her abdomen. As if the shocking with electric batons was not enough, they back cuffed her hands. (The practitioner’s hands are cuffed behind his or her back with one hand over the shoulder and the other hand against the lower back). They tortured her slowly for a long time. When the cuff was open, her neck, shoulder, and back muscle would spasm, and she would continue to suffer for a long time.

On September 1st, 2009, prison authorities moved Zhang Yaqin to a brainwashing centre, where she endured brainwashing for over four months. The guards used all methods of torture on her to force her to give up her belief in Falun Gong. They forced her to write all the rules and regulations of the prison, and to sit on a small bench. Her bottom festered after fifteen days straight. She was subsequently forced to stand for over sixty days. The guards were cursing her while kicking her, pulling her hair, and they used a flyswatter to hurt her eyes, mouth, and ears. She was not allowed to go to the toilet for 24 hours straight, she also suffered sleep deprivation. They drew her blood, and injected unknown drugs into her. The guards ordered inmates He Yun, Huang Ping, Chen Qun and Wang to back cuff Zhang Yaqin again. The first time lasted 9 hours, the second time lasted 22 hours, and her wrists were covered with bloody blisters. She completely lost all feeling in her arms. Even with all the tortures and brutal persecution, Zhang Yaqin would not give up her belief. If she is not released soon, the prison authorities will attempt to send her to a mental hospital.