Falun Gong Practitioner Li Xianzhong from Heilongjiang Province Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Watching NTD Television

Falun Gong practitioner Li Xianzhong of Qitaihe, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested by local police in May 2008 and sentenced to four years in Jiamusi Prison in January 2009. The following is his personal account of the events of his capture and sentencing.

My name is Li Xianzhong. I was working in the rice field on the morning of May 22nd, 2008, when Gao Baomin, Li Huailai, and Sun Dongsheng drove up in a van, looking for me. They told me to come with them to the Beixing Police Department because the chief, Gao Sheng, needed to talk to me. When we arrived at the police department, no one talked to me. They didn't even let me out of the van. We waited in the van for Zhang Chunhua, Liu Liying, and two people from Beixing TV Station. The group then went back to the village, picked up village head Fang Zhenhai, and went to my home. They spotted the satellite dish as soon as they entered my courtyard. They went into my house, turned on the TV, and recorded NTD Television programmes.

They took videos of my home, and confiscated my Falun Gong books, music tapes, and brochures. One hour later, they forced me into the van again.

I was taken to Beixing Police Department and locked up in an iron cage. Liu Xiaodong repeatedly demanded my name and birth date. Before long, officers Zhao Yingguang, Zhang Chunhua, and Liu Xiaodong put me into a car and took me to Hongxinglong Police Department. Thirty minutes later, officer Xu Bin directed them to send me to Hongxinglong Detention Centre.

At the detention centre a guard named Yao ordered me to take off my clothes and sit on the floor. About 10 minutes later, they told me to put my clothes back on, and put shackles and handcuffs on me. I was forced to wear them for 49 days.

One time, guard Xu Lianbin took me to the office and asked me who else practised Falun Gong. When I said I didn't know, he put 80-pound shackles on me. Wearing the heavy shackles day and night quickly caused my skin to tear open, and my ankles started bleeding. They finally took them off after seven days.

When I went to appeal, two people from the Agricultural Bureau of Heilongjiang Province asked me why I was appealing. One of them said, “You can be sentenced to prison just for watching NTD Television.” I was later sentenced to four years in prison for watching NTD Television and taken to Jiamusi Prison on January 20th, 2009.

Someone from the Education and Reform Office came with a question-and-answer form on February 20th. The content slandered Falun Gong, so I didn't cooperate with him. Guard Zhang Zhaohui slapped me in the face twice, took me to a warehouse in the jail and forced me to “fly an airplane.” He hit my ears with an electric baton. Inmate Wu Chuanhai kicked me in the face until my nose bled. Another inmate named Wang Jicheng kicked my hands and forced me to remain in the posture of flying an airplane. They tortured me this way for over an hour.