(Minghui.org) Ms. Li Guirong, a 65-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Boai County, Henan Province, recounted how she was persecuted for her faith since 2007. She was arrested, beaten, extorted and had her personal belongings confiscated. She was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution before being arrested and sentenced to prison without legal representation.
Forced to Live Away from Home
Ms. Li was arrested by police officers at Boai County Train Station on December 12, 2007. The police claimed that she stole a motorcycle, when in fact, she had been reported by somebody for practicing Falun Gong. Sun Lujun, the head of the county 610 Office (an extralegal agency created specifically to persecute Falun Gong), led a few police officers to ransack her home. Due to their violence and threats, Ms. Li suffered a relapse of high blood pressure and a heart condition. Due to her poor health, she was denied admission by two detention centers.
Between March and September 2008, perpetrators from the local 610 office and procuratorate harassed Ms. Li at home and claimed that they would sentence her. She was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution.
Arrested Again Three Years Later
Ms. Li was arrested again in late June 2011 in the nearby Hebi City, about 100 miles from Boai County. The officers dragged her down from the 7th floor and stuffed her into a police car. She was locked in the basement of Changjiang Police Substation and tied to a metal chair. They did not give her food or drink. Around 10 p.m., she was taken to a hospital for a physical exam. Even though she failed the health requirement for detention, she was still admitted by the local detention center.
Torture Method: Dragging
Ms. Li’s health deteriorated in the detention center. She suffered a heart attack and passed out. The detention center called an ambulance and took her to the prison hospital for emergency treatment.
Although Ms. Li escaped from the hospital when the police weren’t paying attention, she was arrested again the next day. Her shirt was torn off as she struggled. A woman in the neighborhood gave her a shirt before she was pushed into a police car and taken to the detention center.
The following morning, Ms. Li was interrogated and videotaped by a few officers who appeared to be department heads.
As she was put on the wanted list, the Hebi 610 office connected with their colleagues in Boai. While she was detained at Hebi Detention Center, she was interrogated multiple times. The officers made video and audio recordings during the interrogation. They also forcibly collected her fingerprints and kicked her when she resisted. One officer said to her, “If you weren’t so elderly, I would have beaten you to death.”
Ms. Li was taken back to Boai on July 22, 2011. The detention center first rejected her as she failed the physical exam, but the police obtained special approval from the 610 Office and forced the detention center to accept her. The police deducted 200 yuan her family had deposited for her for a CT scan.
Detention and Prison Sentence
During Ms. Li’s one year and three months in the detention center, she went on hunger strikes four times to protest the persecution, either for the guards mixing unknown drugs into her food or bullying her. She reported the abuses to the detention center management, but they always used different excuses to dismiss her complaints.
Prior to Ms. Li’s hearing on August 23, 2011, she requested a lawyer to defend her. However, no local lawyers were allowed to defend Falun Gong practitioners, or they would be fired.
Ms. Li’s family was not notified of her hearing by the Zhongzhan District Court in Jiaozuo City. The court was filled with police officers and court staff members.
Ms. Li defended her own innocence and talked about how she had benefitted from practicing Falun Gong. The judge didn’t allow her to read her prepared defense statement and ended the hearing in 10 minutes.
Before the judge announced her verdict, Wang Tiexing, the deputy head of Jiaozhuo 610 Office, interrogated Ms. Li a few times at the detention center. He tried to trick her into disclosing information about other practitioners by promising to release her if she complied. Ms. Li said she would not let other innocent people get persecuted.
Ms. Li was sentenced to five years on December 10, 2011. After she appealed, the detention center management and two female judges from the local intermediate court all demanded that she withdraw her appeal. After she refused, the higher court ruled to uphold her original sentence on January 10, 2012.
Between March and September 2012, the police made four attempts to take Ms. Li to Xinxiang Women’s Prison. The first three times, she was rejected by the prison because of her health condition. But the prison finally accepted her on September 12 without performing a physical exam and put her directly in the prison hospital. She went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution and refused to wear the prison uniform. The head of the prison hospital told her that they didn’t want to accept her but was forced by a higher-up to do so.
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