(Minghui.org) Mr. Yang Chuanhou, a Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province resident, was released on October 2, 2020 after serving a two-year term for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. He recently recounted his ordeal in an article submitted to Minghui.org.
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I was arrested on the afternoon of October 3, 2018, together with four other Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Wang Fang, Ms. Bai Xia, Ms. Zhao Tingting and Ms. Wang Fuhua, after we were reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. We were taken to the Beianxiang Police Station. The police interrogated us and demanded to know our addresses and sources of our Falun Gong materials for distribution. None of us answered their questions.
Officers at the Beianxiang Police Station reported our cases to the Lanxi County Domestic Security Office. While we were being transferred to the Lanxi County Police Department, I tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to Zhang Tao, the director of the Domestic Security Office, and urged him not to participate in the persecution. Zhang slapped me in the face. One of my ears bled and one of my teeth was knocked out.
At the police department, we were locked in metal interrogation chairs overnight and continued to be questioned. Before dawn, we were given 15 days of detention and taken to the Lanxi County Detention Center. The police interrogated me again at the detention center, but I refused to comply or sign any documents.
Fourteen days later, I was switched to criminal detention. The evening I was taken to another detention facility, the inmates poured cold water onto my clothes for nearly an hour before starting to beat and verbally abuse me. They also told me to curse the founder of Falun Gong and praise the Chinese Communist Party. I shouted, “Falun Dafa is good” and “the Chinese Communist Party is bad.” The inmates tortured me for about an hour, but I didn’t give in. The beating caused injuries all over, especially in my rib cage. I couldn’t sleep on my side for two months.
The next day, Zhang Tao and another officer, Liu Tong, came to interrogate me again. They tried to force me to provide false information to frame other practitioners. I refused to sign the documents they had prepared.
I held a hunger strike for more than 20 days to protest the persecution. My blood pressure became extremely low, I fell into a coma, and my body convulsed. I was then sent to the hospital for resuscitation. After I was taken back to the detention center ten days later, Yang Bo, the head of Heilongjiang Province Domestic Security Division, came to ask me whether I was a coordinator and whether I knew practitioners from other cities. After I refused to answer his question, he came back four more times to interrogate me. I was forced to sit in a metal interrogation chair each time he came.
I had several episodes of heart attacks during the interrogation and lost the ability to talk rationally. Only then did the officers leave.
One inmate named Zhang Jinfeng beat me. My knees and calves were injured, and I couldn’t walk for two months. Another inmate, Mou Lixin, told me to clean the restroom, but I refused. A murderer tried to beat me, but I complained to the guards and they transferred him away.
Three months later, I was transferred to An’da Detention Center and held there for ten months. The inmates there often beat and verbally abused me. My head once bled as a result. I was also forced to sit on a small stool without moving. I coughed, had a fever and vomited blood for more than eight months. My weight dropped from nearly 200 lbs to 120 lbs. Despite my severe shortsightedness, the guards took away my glasses during my detention and caused much inconvenience to my daily life.
During this time, the police submitted our cases to the Anda Procuratorate. When the prosecutor came to ask me questions, I told them how the police fabricated evidence against us.
The Anda Court later sentenced all five of us to two years in prison with a 10,000-yuan fine. My wife, Song Hongwei, who was arrested on October 10, 2018, for seeking my release, was given one and a half years. Ms. Gao Jinshu, who was arrested with my wife, was sentenced to one year. They were also fined 5,000 yuan each. The seven of us appealed to the Suihua City Intermediate Court, but it ruled to uphold all the sentences.
I was then taken to Hulan Prison while the female practitioners were taken to Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison. I was forced to sit on a small stool without moving and had very limited access to the restroom.
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