(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Lai Zuhua is over 60 years old and lives in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. Ms. Lai was illegally arrested by the police in May 2004, when she was distributing "truth-clarification materials". The following is Ms. Lai's story.
Arrested for Distributing Truth-clarification Flyers
My name is Lai Zuhua and I am 64 years old. I live at 15 Huanyi Road, Donger Duan, Chengdu City. On May 14, 2004, I took 110 copies of truth-clarification materials (each included two sheets of paper) and went to Yulong Street to distribute them. When I had just handed out two flyers, I was captured by policeman Chen Shizhong, who was in plainclothes, and taken to the nearby Xiyuhe Police Station.
From 10:00 p.m. on May 14 to 6:00 a.m. on May 16, the police did not allow me to go to sleep. They shined three 200-watt electric light bulbs on me and put me in handcuffs. These policemen kept interrogating me about the source of my materials. I simply told them the facts of Falun Gong and at around 6:00 a.m. I escaped from the police station. I took a taxi to my elder brother's home in Puyang Town, Dujiangyan City.
My brother arranged for me to stay at the home of one of his friends. Unexpectedly, police came the next day (May 17) and arrested me. I was taken to the Xiyuhe Police Station again. At 9:00 p.m. that the same day, I was taken to the detention center in Chengdu City.
Interrogation
At 8:00 am on May 19, policemen from the Xiyuhe Police Station took me from the detention center to a site close to the Sports Center of Chengdu City. I was sandwiched between two policemen, handcuffed and blindfolded, and I was not told where they were taking me.
After reaching the destination, two policemen stayed with me in a room, removed the blindfold, made me sit on a stool and handcuffed both of my hands to the feet of that stool. I was interrogated continuously while they shined strong electric bulbs in my face. They still wanted to know where I had received the truth-clarification materials from. Sometimes my hands were handcuffed so low that I could not sit up straight. Because they realized that I was not going to tell them anything, they took me back to the detention center at 9:00 p.m. on May 21. They abused me, an over-60-year-old woman, for more than 60 hours and did not allow me to sleep.
During the interrogation, the policemen deliberately mis-wrote the number of copies of flyers I had, claiming that I had "440" flyers. The lawyer later said it is the Chinese Communist Party's "rule" that 300 or more copies meets the condition to be sentenced.
Illegally Sentenced
On February 4, 2005, I was taken to court for the first time. The judge asked me if I had anything to say. I started to clarify the truth to him, telling him that we practice Falun Gong according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassionate-Forbearance and try to be good people, which is definitely righteous. The judge told me to change my mind completely, then ended the session with a violent strike of his gavel. The second session was held at the end of March. They did not allow me to say even one word, and sentenced me to three years of imprisonment. I refused to sign the document, so the judge had someone else sign it instead.
On April 23, 2005, I was put in a prison for women in Sichuan Province. May 16, 2007 was the date I was supposed to have been released. Two days prior, my family came to ask about my release and were told to go back home and wait.
Forced into a Brainwashing Center
On May 17, I was met by people from three units: the Police Station, the Street Administrative Committee of Jianshe Road, and my workplace. I asked why none of my family members were present, and requested to call my home. The police told me that it had been arranged that I go to another place. Thus, I was locked up in the Legal Education Center of Chenghua District (a brainwashing center). The reason for this detention was because officials from the prison had written two reports stating that my performance was "not good." I was not released until July 3 and only then was I able to go back home to my family.
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