(Minghui.org) It was recently confirmed that Ms. Li Qiaolian, 69, from Baiyin City, Gansu Province, who was arrested on January 14, 2022, was sentenced to three years and nine months by the Baiyin District Court for practicing Falun Gong. She was also fined 8,000 yuan.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Li Qiaolian is retired from the Yinguang Factory in Baiyin City. She started practicing Falun Gong in 1998.
Around 4 p.m. on January 14, 2022, eight officers from the Baiyin District Police Department broke into Mr. Wang Ligui’s home and arrested Ms. Li, Mr. Wang, Ms. Liao An’an, Mr. Gu Fuman, Mr. Yang Yuenan, Ms. Liu Yulan, Ms. Liu Fengying, Ms. Zhu Ju, and a ninth practitioner whose name is unknown.
The officers searched each practitioner and confiscated the items they carried.
Mr. Wang’s home was raided and videotaped. He was not given a list of confiscated items. After about two hours, the police took all nine practitioners to the Baiyin District Police Department for interrogation.
Four practitioners were released on bail at different times following the group arrest.
Mr. Wang, Mr. Gu, and Ms. Li were held at the Baiyin City Detention Center. Ms. Liao was put under house arrest. The cases against these practitioners were later submitted to Baiyin District Procuratorate and then forwarded to the Baiyin District Court.
Ms. Li, Mr. Wang, Mr. Gu, and Ms. Zhao were tried on March 30, 2023, with Ms. Liao joining remotely from her home (as she was unable to walk). The other four appeared in person in the Baiyin District Court. The presiding judge, Gu Qinghua (no relation to Mr. Gu), did not allow the practitioners to testify in their own defense. Instead he tried to pressure them to admit they were guilty during the six-hour hearing. Ms. Liao, Mr. Gu, and Ms. Li all said that they were innocent of any crimes and demanded an acquittal.
On September 5, 2023, Minghui.org confirmed that Ms. Li, Ms. Liao, and Mr. Gu were each sentenced to three years and nine months and fined 8,000 yuan. Mr. Wang was sentenced to three years and five months and fined 6,000 yuan. Ms. Zhao was sentenced to one year in prison and given 18 months of probation. She was also fined 5,000 yuan.
Ms. Liao was also ordered to re-serve the last three years of her second prison term, even though she already served those three years at home per court order and was closely monitored by local authorities.
Ms. Li’s Past Persecution
Prior to this latest sentence, Ms. Li was imprisoned twice in Gansu Women’s Prison, also known as Lanzhou Women’s Prison.
Below is a partial list of the persecution Ms. Li was subjected to in the past two decades.
Brainwashing Classes
On August 16, 2008, Ms. Li was arrested and taken to the Wuchuanxiang Brainwashing Center in Baiyin City. She was previously detained there. The brainwashing center was one of the main locations in the region where Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted.
Handcuffed and Beaten During Interrogation
Ms. Li was arrested by officers from the Baiyin City Domestic Security Office and the Silonglu Police Station on April 24, 2009. They ransacked her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books, informational DVDs, and other personal belongings. After taking her to the police station, they handcuffed her to a chair for 24 hours and interrogated her.
The police grabbed Ms. Li by the hair and hit her head. She passed out due to the pain. The police also kicked her hands and tightly tied her to the chair, causing immense pain. She was taken to Jingtai Detention Center the next day.
Torture illustration: Tied up on the chair
Other practitioners were also arrested at the same time, including Mr. Hou Xingzhong, Mr. Zhang Tao, Ms. Cui Peizhen, Mr. Cui Youlin, Mr. Wang Hui, Ms. Wang Qingfang, and Mr. Wang Xiaocai.
Sentenced to Six Years in Gansu Province Women’s Prison
The Jingtai County Court sentenced Ms. Li to six years in prison on February 21, 2010. She appealed to the Baiyin City Intermediate Court but the judges upheld the original verdict. She was admitted to Gansu Province Women’s Prison on June 9, 2010.
As soon as they arrive at the prison, most practitioners are immediately tortured, including being forced to stand facing a wall for hours or slapped in the face. They are ordered to learn all the prison rules within a day or two and are not allowed to smile, walk with their heads up, or talk to others. The guards arrange inmates to monitor the practitioners and constantly report their every action.
When Ms. Li refused to renounce Falun Gong in her “thought report,” the inmates beat her, resulting in her having a big bump on her head and two black eyes.
Inmate Chen Xiaoling, who was arranged to watch Ms. Li, often spit on her and grabbed and stretched her ears, making them bleed. At one point, Chen did not allow Ms. Li to use the restroom for 24 hours. Ms. Li could not hold it any longer and asked to go to the restroom. Chen grabbed her by her hair and smashed her head into the restroom door. Ms. Li almost fainted. All the inmates who witnessed this were scared and asked Chen to stop. Chen pointed to Ms. Li and said, “If you do not listen to me, you won’t have any good days.”
In order to "transform" Ms. Li, guards incited inmates Chen, Yan Feng, Meng Haihong, Xian Deying, and Yuan Xueying to falsely claim that Ms. Li had high blood pressure. Then they gave her unknown drugs. When Ms. Li resisted, they grabbed her hair, repeatedly hit her head against the wall, and beat her. She suffered multiple injuries.
When Chen kicked Ms. Li in the legs and injured them, Ms. Li said it felt like her muscles were torn apart. She was in so much pain that she could not sleep. A year later, she still had not recovered. The other inmates often beat her as soon as they thought she even slightly did not follow the rules. They spit on her and slapped her in the face. Her head and face were often bruised.
The inmates also threatened her and said that if she reported the abuse, she would not have a single good day. Chen also forced Ms. Li to buy things for her. If Ms. Li refused, Chen beat her.
The guards and the inmates often insult and brutally beat Falun Gong practitioners to try to pressure them into giving up their faith. When that does not work, they treat them even more brutally.
The police often incite the inmates to beat practitioners. A guard asked Ms. Li if she would “transform.” She said, “I firmly believe in Falun Gong, as it teaches people to cultivate themselves, be good, and do good things.” In retaliation, the inmates beat her and hit her head against the wall. Her face immediately swelled.
Although the practitioners were exhausted from doing unpaid labor all day long, they were still forced to watch TV programs that slandered Falun Gong at night. Since Ms. Li refused to write the “thought report,” guards and inmates beat her. Her face swelled, her nose bled, and her entire body was bruised. Even though her head hurt terribly, she was forced to do the unpaid labor and did not have any free time.
When Ms. Li was released on August 24, 2013, she found her pension was suspended.
Sentenced Again to Five Years in Gansu Province Women’s Prison
Ms. Li, Ms. Liao, Mr. Chen Zhongxuan, and Ms. Yang Wenxiu were arrested at Mr. Chen’s rental place in Baiyin City on September 19, 2014. During the arrest, Mr. Chen was beaten by four officers, causing the loss of one of his front teeth, and injury to his left thigh. The police handcuffed him behind his back and took him to the Xi District Police Station.
At the police station, the officers shackled Mr. Chen’s hands and feet to a tiger bench and stepped on the shackles, causing him to sweat profusely due to severe pain in his wrists.
The Baiyin District Court held a secret hearing for the practitioners’ cases on January 21, 2015. The court announced their prison sentences on February 6, 2015. Mr. Chen was given 6 years, Ms. Li was sentenced to 5 years, Ms. Liao was sentenced to 5 years, and Ms. Yang was sentenced to 3 years. The female practitioners were taken to Gansu Province Women’s Prison and Mr. Chen was taken to Lanzhou Prison.
Because Ms. Li refused to transform, the guards again incited the inmates to torture her.
In 2015, inmate Wang Nai hit Ms. Li in the restroom after changing the angle of the restroom’s CCTV. Ms. Li’s head and face were repeatedly punched causing her face to become deformed. Despite her injuries, that afternoon Ms. Li was forced to squat and write thought reports. She was told she would not be allowed to use the restroom or sleep if she refused to write them.
As she refused to be "transformed," she was forced to squat in a military pose from morning to 11 p.m. without moving her legs. Her legs went numb after squatting for hours and she couldn’t keep her balance when she got up to walk. An inmate scratched her face with a gel pen.
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Category: Torture of Women
