Name: Li Zhenjin (李振金)
Gender: Female
Age: 46
Address: Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Store owner
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 11, 2005
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jiamusi City Forced Labor Camp (佳木斯市劳教所)
City: Jiamusi
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Forced labor, brainwashing, beatings, torture, assault, extortion, home ransacked, interrogation, detention, denial of restroom use
(Clearwisdom.net) In December 2005 Ms. Li Zhenjing was arrested with five other Falun Gong practitioners and was later sentenced to three years of forced labor. Finding nowhere to seek justice, she described in writing the persecution she suffered, hoping to disclose the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) crimes of persecuting innocent Falun Gong practitioners to the public. She called for help to stop the tragic persecution of Falun Gong in China and bring those criminally responsible to justice. Following is Ms. Li's account in her own words.
My name is Li Zhenjin, and I am 46 years old. In 1997 I began practicing Falun Gong along with my husband, Mr. Yang Dexian, and I recovered from many diseases, like viscous blood and heart disease. Dafa cured me physically and purified my mind. In everything I did I conducted myself in accordance with the principle Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Many people liked me and were inclined to make friends with me.
On the night of December 11, 2005, I drove to the Xinmin Village, Songjiang Town, to distribute Falun Gong truth clarification materials. Five practitioners, Mr. Wang Shilin, Mr. Han Zhong, Ms. Wang Shuxian, Ms. Du Hui, and Ms. Li Yajie, went with me. On our way home we were stopped and arrested by more than ten officers from the Songjiang Police Station.
Mistreated in the police station
During my detention in the police station, the police detained Mr. Han and Mr. Wang sperately. They cuffed Mr. Wang's hands to a radiator and cruelly beat him during interrogation. Yan Hongbin, the police station chief, and three others violently beat Mr. Han in turn. They took his mobile phone and intimidated him. The four of us female practitioners kept clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to them, but they refused to listen and searched us by force. When I refused to cooperate with them, an officer beat and kicked me and slapped my face. They also took 50 yuan from me. Later Yan Hongbin and several other police cruelly beat me, shackled my hands and feet to a tiger bench and took my fingerprints against my will. At 4:00 a.m. the next day several officers headed by Yan Hongbin ransacked my shop. Many items made of glass and plastic were broken. The financial loss amounted to more than 10,000 yuan. They also took away a picture of the Falun Gong founder, some truth clarification matertials, and my ID card. In the meantime police ransacked the home of the other four practitioners.
Mistreated in the detention center
At about 8:00 p.m. on December 12 we were taken to the Jiamusi City Detention Center. To get permission to see me, my sister paid guard Gao Bo 500 yuan. During my detention I was forced to wear a prison uniform. I ate food of poor quality and was forced to make toothpicks without being paid, while inmates who were rich enough to bribe and please the prison guards were assigned to closely monitor me.
Over the past ten years the Dongfeng District Police Station in Jiamusi City and the city police department have actively persecuted Falun Gong. In particular, Chen Wanyou from the National Security group and Liu Yan from the local 610 Office played notable roles in the persecution.
Mistreated in the forced labor camp
We did not receive any official document of my forced labor sentence for three years-until the day we were taken to the labor camp, when the guard forced us to sign it. Female guard Wang Xiurong verbally abused us, while the others, including Sun Huimin and Lu Yu, headed by director Yu Wenbin, forced us to take off our clothes and be searched without any privacy. When Ms. Du Hui refused to cooperate with them Yu Wenbin verbally abused her and forced her to take off her clothes. The guards laughed sinisterly.
They later detained me alone and tried to force me to write a repentance statement to renounce Falun Gong. When I refused to, guard Liu Yadong intimidated me with an electric-shock baton. She pulled my hair while another guard, Gao Jie, held my hand and signed my name on a written repentance statement.
In the labor camp, practitioners were forced to endure huge workloads every day. If they failed to finish the workload, they were abused verbally and their terms were extended. Beatings and abuse were an everyday occurrence. Although we were forced to do heavy work, we were not given enough food of acceptable quality and the guards usually cut our grain portions. They even took the monthly 8 yuan paid to us to buy our daily necessities. We had to wake up at 5 a.m., and no one was allowed to speak to another or walk side by side. Anyone who broke the rules was abused by the prison guards. The amount of time allowed to use the toilet was very short, and anyone who was slow was verbally abused. Some of us suffered from incontinence because of the high tension. There were usually long queues of prisoners waiting to use the toilet. No matter how badly they needed it, they were not allowed to go before the others, but when their turn came they could not go because of waiting so long. Every four prisoners formed a group called a network and no members were allowed to go to the toilet alone. Even when the other members were sleeping, they were required to get up and go with the one who needed to use the toilet. No one slept well because of this.
We practitioners were closely monitored around the clock, and there was no space for personal freedom. In the daytime we were forced to sit still on a small bench, with other prisoners watching at the side. No one was allowed to close their eyes, lower their head, or speak. We had to sit straight with our eyes fixed on the TV right in front of us. Some of us became very tired but were not allowed to lower our heads, while other prisoners could walk around freely. The guards usually called these prisoners for meetings and awarded them authorization to guard the practitioners, just like deputy prison guards. When new prisoners arrived in the labor camp, the guards valued them very much and trained them to mistreat practitioners. They received a reduction in their term for mistreating practitioners as the guards wanted. If they did not cooperate, their terms would be extended.
Although China's law stipulates that no mistreatment of prisoners is allowed in prisons, this law is commonly violated in the labor camps.
My husband, who was also a Falun Gong practitioner, died as a result of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. I was sentenced to three years of forced labor because I clarified the truth about Falun Gong. Because of the cruel persecution, my 15-year-old was evicted from his school and leads a life full of fear and grief.