(Minghui.org) Nanchang First Detention Center in Jiangxi Province has been used as a major facility to detain local Falun Gong practitioners since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) in July 1999. Various torture measures have been employed in attempts to force practitioners to give up their faith.
The detention center was in a state of isolation between February and April this year amid the coronavirus pandemic. Every ward in this facility housed detainees beyond its capacity, after prisons in the province stopped receiving new inmates. Daily necessities, especially toilet paper, were in shortage, as all deliveries were stopped.
Due to limited resources, Falun Gong practitioners detained for their faith were not given enough food and were forced to sleep on the cement floor. They were not allowed to purchase items or receive things from their families either.
Currently, more than ten Falun Gong practitioners are detained in this detention center, including Ms. Zhang Li, Ms. Deng Guiying, Ms. Jiang Lanying, Ms. Hu Shuiying, Ms. Wan Lihua, Mr. Yang Dexin and Mr. Zhang Wentao.
Below are the persecution accounts of Ms. Zhang and Ms. Deng.
Ms. Zhang Li
Ms. Zhang Li is a 60-year-old resident of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. She was arrested in July 2019 and has been detained for more than ten months.
In the past twenty years, Ms. Zhang had been arrested more than ten times and imprisoned two times for a total of seven years. Her home was also ransacked on multiple occasions. She was fired from her post as a senior treasurer. She suffered great pain, physically and mentally, and substantial financial loss as a result of the persecution.
Past Arrests
Between July 1999 and January 2000, Ms. Zhang was arrested multiple times for appealing to the government for the right to practice Falun Gong or attending a gathering of local practitioners.
On February 13, 2001, officers from Xihu Police Department arrested Ms. Zhang from her workplace. They shocked her with electric batons, in addition to other torture means in order to force her to reveal the sources of Falun Gong materials found at her home.
She was sentenced to three years by Xihu District Court and then sent to Jiangxi Province Women's Prison.
Her husband could not endure the pressure from her persecution and divorced her in 2002, when she was still in the prison. Her workplace also fired her in the same year.
On May 29, 2005, Ms. Zhang was arrested by a plainclothes police officer while distributing Falun Gong booklets. She was sentenced to four years and sent to the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison again.
Ms. Deng Guiying
Ms. Deng Guiying is a 66-year-old resident of Nanchang City. She used to work for the Dongfeng Printing Company.
Ms. Deng was arrested at home by officers from Sandian Police Station and Qingyunpu District Police Department on September 20, 2019, when she was having dinner with her mother. She has been detained in Nanchang First Detention Center for more than eight months. Her family has no way of getting information about her situation.
Ms. Deng had been arrested and detained for more than three years in the past. During her detention, she has suffered physical and mental damage. When she was not in detention, she was busy pulling her pedicab to make a living and support her elderly mother and her drug-addicted son.
Past Arrests
On her way to Beijing one day in January 2001, Ms. Deng was arrested on the train and taken to Shizi Street Police Station. She was released after a few hours of detention.
Five days later, staff from the Neighborhood Committee deceived Ms. Deng into going to the local police station. She was then taken to a brainwashing center inside the Changbei Police Academy. She was forced to watch TV programs that slandered Faun Gong. She was detained there for three months.
On February 6, 2003, Ms. Deng was arrested at home by an officer from Xihu District Police Department. Her home was ransacked. At about 2 a.m. in the police station, the officers struck her in the back with handcuffs and kicked her in the legs. The brutal torture lasted for almost three hours.
Ms. Deng was then transferred to Nanchang No. 2 Detention Center, where she was detained for one year. In her detention, she was interrogated about the sources of the Falun Gong materials the officers confiscated from her home.
She was sentenced to three years and sent to Jiangxi Province Women's Prison for further persecution.
In the prison, she was forced to endure an extraordinary workload and poor working conditions. As a result, her left thumb was severely deformed and could not bend or stretch. Her left leg was also in pain, and is still hurting to this day. She also suffered mental trauma during her incarceration.
Ms. Deng was released from the prison on September 2005. On that day, the officers from Xufang Police Station took her to the police station and forced her to fingerprint a statement, asserting that she would send thought reports to the police monthly. Ms. Deng rejected this illegal request as it violated her freedom.
In October 2013, Ms. Deng went to the police station to renew her ID card and was harassed again by the police.
All content published on this website is copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
