(Minghui.org) A 72-year-old Chongqing resident was arrested at home on April 24, 2020 for practicing Falun Gong. She was charged with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” a standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
A group of officers broke into Ms. Zhu Dazhen’s home around 1 p.m. on April 24 and ransacked her place. Her computer, Falun Gong books and many other materials were confiscated. The 5,000 yuan in banknotes printed with information about Falun Gong were also taken away. (Due to the strict information censorship in China, many Falun Gong practitioners use creative ways to spread information about their faith, including printing messages on banknotes.)
None of the officers who arrested Ms. Zhu and ransacked her home identified themselves. At the Wenfeng Police Station, a young police officer verbally abused her.
An officer took Ms. Zhu to the hospital for a physical checkup. She was ordered to pay the examination fee herself.
Due to her medical condition, Ms. Zhu was released on bail. The police ordered her younger son to pay 5,000 yuan for her bail bond.
Past Persecution
Ms. Zhu began practicing Falun Gong in 1998. Because of upholding her faith after the persecution began, she has been repeatedly arrested over the past two decades and incarcerated three times, for a total of seven years.
First Two-year Labor Camp Term
Ms. Zhu was first arrested and had her home ransacked on May 22, 2001. After three months of detention, she was given two years at Maojiashan Women’s Labor Camp.
The labor camp guards forced Ms. Zhu to watch videos slandering Falun Gong every day and write weekly thought reports. Two inmates were assigned to monitor her around the clock. They often physically abused her when she refused to cooperate with the brainwashing. At one time, she was forced to do more than 900 squats a day. Other forms of torture included sitting on a small stool for prolonged periods, long hours of standing, intensive physical training, and being forced to walk in a half-squatting position with her hands behind her back.
The guards attempted to force Ms. Zhu to step on the photo of Falun Gong’s founder. When she refused to comply, they sent her to solitary confinement.
Second Two-year Labor Camp Term
Ms. Zhu was arrested again on October 22, 2006. She was given two years at Zoumahe Women’s Forced Labor Camp after twenty days of detention. There, because she refused to renounce her faith, she was forced to stand or sit on a small stool for long hours, detained in solitary confinement, and forbidden from taking showers or doing laundry.
Three-year Prison Term
Ms. Zhu was arrested on May 1, 2013 after being reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. At the Jiulong Police Station, the police placed a 1,000-watt light bulb in front of her face. The intense heat and light made her very dizzy and she felt her head was exploding. She said later that the police attempted to use this torture to break her will while interrogating her.
The police ransacked Ms. Zhu's home later that day and confiscated her Falun Gong books, computer and other personal belongings.
She was later sentenced to three years in Zouma Town Women’s Prison. She was deprived of sleep, forced to sit on a small stool until her buttocks developed open sores, and was forced to do intensive physical training. Unable to bear the torture, against her will, she wrote a statement to renounce Falun Gong.
Afterwards, the guards moved her to a regular ward to do unpaid labor every day. She was still forced to attend weekly brainwashing sessions and write thought reports. The guards forced Ms. Zhu to read her self-criticism and sing praise of the communist regime in front of other inmates and recorded it. Such recordings were then used to brainwash other practitioners and inmates.
The police continued to harass Ms. Zhu and her family after she was released.
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