(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhao Yalun, 71, is a quiet woman with a small frame and short hair. She never married and has always been shy. She lived a simple life with little interest in worldly affairs. No one expected that she would get into any kind of trouble. Yet she was taken from her home and sentenced to five years in prison for practicing Falun Gong in 2002.
At Heilongjiang Women's Prison, Ms. Zhao suffered terrible torture: her eardrum was ruptured by vicious beatings, she was buried in snow with only undergarments on, and she was put in solitary confinement for 15 days. Despite the torture, Ms. Zhao never wavered in her belief. Last year, she filed a criminal complaint against former head of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin for launching the brutal persecution of Falun Gong.
Wrongful Imprisonment
Plainclothes police broke into Ms. Zhao's home and arrested her on August 30, 2002. Ms. Zhao was sent to Harbin No. 2 Detention Center. When police asked if she would continue practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Zhao replied resolutely, “Yes!” She was sentenced to five years in prison and sent to Heilongjiang Women's Prison on March 21, 2003.
In order to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their belief, prison guards used torture and criminal inmates to carry out their orders. An officer once slapped Ms. Zhao so hard that her eardrum ruptured and started bleeding. Another time she and other Falun Gong practitioners were forced to run under the scorching sun. When Ms. Zhao slowed down, an inmate named Li Mei kicked her from behind, knocking her to the ground.
Buried in Snow
To protest their illegal imprisonment, Ms. Zhao and other Falun Gong practitioners refused to wear inmate name tags. In response, prison officials forced them to stay in freezing cold weather with little food, and no water or toilet breaks. After seven days, Ms. Zhao was the only one who still refused to wear the tag.
There was still snow on the ground at the time. Li Mei and several other inmates took off Ms. Zhao's winter jacket and trousers, and threw her into a pile of snow. They shoveled snow on top of her until her whole body was covered in snow.
'Falun Dafa is Good'
Prison police took roll call every evening at 8 p.m. Starting in early 2004, Ms. Zhao answered roll call with “Falun Dafa is Good.” For the first few days, she was beaten and handcuffed. Then she was put into solitary confinement, where her hands were cuffed behind her and attached to a ring affixed to the ground. She was in this position day and night for 15 days, with only limited restroom breaks.
When she was released from solitary confinement, she still answered the roll call with “Falun Dafa is Good.” Police eventually kept her inside her cell, so that she would not answer roll call anymore.
Living by Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance
Inmate Li Mei had been involved in assisting police to torture Falun Gong practitioners. The day after she and others buried Ms. Zhao in snow, she asked Ms. Zhao, “What do you think of me?”
“I carry no hatred or resentment toward you,” she said, calmly looking into Li's eyes. Li Mei's jaw dropped and she was speechless. The next day, she came up to Ms. Zhao and gave her a thumbs-up. “I admire you, Aunt Zhao.” From then on, Li Mei stopped torturing Falun Gong practitioners.
In the same ward there was a 23-year-old girl who was mute. Because of her disability, other inmates often bullied her. Ms. Zhao, on the other hand, was kind to her and looked after her.
Ms. Zhao was released on August 23, 2007.
She was arrested on other occasions, and was also detained for almost four months in 2000 for trying to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested en route to Beijing and detained at Harbin No. 2 Detention Center.
Ms. Zhao worked as a clerk at Heilongjiang Transmission and Distribution Engineering Company before retiring.
Background
In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the Chinese Communist Party, overrode other Politburo standing committee members and launched the violent suppression of Falun Gong.
The persecution has led to the deaths of many Falun Gong practitioners in the past 16 years. More have been tortured for their belief and even killed for their organs. Jiang Zemin is directly responsible for the inception and continuation of the brutal persecution.
Under his personal direction, the Chinese Communist Party established an extralegal security organ, the “610 Office,” on June 10, 1999. The organization overrides police forces and the judicial system in carrying out Jiang's directive regarding Falun Gong: to ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically.
Chinese law allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are now exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.
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