(Minghui.org) The Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison continues to abuse Falun Gong practitioners incarcerated there for upholding their faith, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Most of the practitioners were placed in the 8th, 9th and Intensive Training wards, where the guards torture them until they break down and renounce their faith. The torture and abuse include sitting still on a small stool for long hours, vicious beatings, verbal abuse, psychological manipulation, starvation, restriction of restroom use, and arbitrary extension of terms. The guards continue to mistreat even those who agreed to renounce their faith after they could no long endure the physical and mental torment.
The guards have also instigated criminal inmates at the prison to persecute practitioners with incentives such as term reduction and other privileges. Xiao Shufen, deputy chief of the 9th Ward, once said that torture of practitioners was “reasonable and legal.”
Minghui.org has reported extensively on the torture of Falun Gong practitioners at the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison for upholding their faith. This report covers four additional cases that recently came to light.
Ms. Tang Zengye
Ms. Tang Zengye, a 55-year-old resident of Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on July 12, 2022 and sentenced to 2.5 years on December 30 that year. She is currently held in Team Three of the 9th Ward.
The guards instigated criminals Li Qiujun and Li Bing to torture steadfast Falun Gong practitioners who refused to write statements to renounce and denounce their faith. They placed a small stool on a floor tile and forced Ms. Tang to sit on the stool from 3 a.m. to 10 or 11 p.m. every day. Occasionally the sitting torture lasted almost 24 hours at a time without her being allowed to get up even once.
Ms. Tang had to sit with her hands on her lap, her head and back straight, and her eyes open. She would be beaten and yelled at with the slightest movement. The only time she was allowed to stand up from the stool was at meal times, wash time, and for restroom breaks. Sitting on the stool motionless for so many hours each day is an unbearable torture.
The guards only allowed Falun Gong practitioners two restroom breaks every day. As Ms. Tang remained firm in her faith, they only gave her one restroom break per day. Once, when all other practitioners went out to use the restroom, inmate Li Qiujun and several others beat Ms. Tang savagely, knocking out one of her teeth and causing her mouth to bleed.
Ms. Tang reported the beating to guard Wang Dufang, only to face retaliation. Wang ordered inmates Li Qiujun and Li Bing to torture Ms. Wang even more. The two inmates barred others from giving Ms. Tang any daily necessities. Ms. Tang’s family was not allowed to see her or deposit money into her commissary account. She thus had no daily necessities.
Despite the abuse, Ms. Tang remained firm in her faith and never wrote any statements to renounce Falun Gong, even when the inmates grabbed her hand and attempted to make her write.
Ms. Tang became very weak and could only drink a small amount of porridge. But the guards sometimes didn’t even offer her any porridge and she had nothing to eat. As a matter of course, Falun Gong practitioners were not allowed to get food themselves. The inmates assigned to watch them often purposefully only got them half of the amount of food offered to other inmates. Many practitioners were always hungry, yet the guards turned a blind eye to the issue.
Ms. Tang was so weak that she needed to lean against the wall to walk, but the inmates didn’t allow her to hold onto the wall.
Ms. Zhao Libo
Ms. Zhao Libo, a resident of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on May 15, 2018 and sentenced to five years following two court hearings in early 2018. She is serving time at the 9th Ward.
As Falun Gong practitioners must use the restroom in groups at designated times, those whose turn had not come yet must hold their bladder and bowels, even if they were having diarrhea. Ms. Zhao had the stomach flu one day, and inmate Huang Tingting didn’t allow her to use the restroom on the grounds that it was not her turn yet. She was soaked in sweat as she was trying to hold her bowels, yet Huang accused her of faking diarrhea.
Ms. Zhang Shuqin
It is unclear when Ms. Zhang Shuqin was arrested or how long her prison term is. She is currently held in Team Five of the 9th Ward. She refused to write statements to renounce her faith and was brutally beaten by inmates You Fei and Huang Tinging.
Another practitioner, Ms. Shi Xiangyun, stopped the beating and warned You and Huang that she’d file a complaint against them. Guard Pei Tong then disciplined the two inmates and apologized to Ms. Zhang.
Pei next moved Ms. Zhang to the “new-admits” team designated to hold newly admitted inmates. Inmate Li Guimei beat Ms. Zhang and instigated other inmates to make trouble for her. She was later held in a solitary confinement cell and subjected to intensive brainwashing aimed to force her to renounce her faith.
Ms. Jing Yuhua
Ms. Jing Yuhua, of Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, was taken to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison on August 12, 2021, to serve a 3.5-year term. She was taken to the Second Team of Strict Management after 15 days of quarantine. She was forced to sit on a small stool from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., sometimes until 11 p.m. The inmates beat her and verbally abused her when she moved a little or closed her eyes.
In addition to the sitting torture, inmate Liu Shujie often sat on Ms. Jing’s legs and pinched her thighs. Inmate Zhao Ruixue pulled her up by her collar and pinched her on the neck, leaving deep marks on her neck. Another inmate, Zheng Cuiping, also beat her and pinched her. Others hit her on the head, jabbed her with a clothes hanger between her eyes, spat in her face or crudely passed gas in her face.
Another inmate once kicked Ms. Jing so hard that she rolled on the ground and her head hit the wall. In another incident, four inmates held her to the ground and then beat her, kicked her, and pinched her all over. Other torture methods included writing insulting words on her body, forcing her to sit on a washboard with a corrugated surface and watch videos smearing Falun Gong.
Ms. Jing was later transferred to Team Three of the 9th Ward. Under intense pressure, she wrote statements to renounce her faith. She soon felt extremely regretful and shameful and wrote a statement to nullify what she was forced to write earlier. Inmates Li Qiujun and Li Bing picked on Ms. Jing all the time after that. The guards later moved her to Team Four, where she was forced to sit on a small stool, all the while being beaten and verbally abused.
Related reports:
Targeted in a Mass Arrest, Two Heilongjiang Province Residents Sentenced for Their Faith
Practitioner Ms. Zhao Libo from Harbin Sentenced to Five Years in Prison
How Guards in Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison Torture Practitioners of Falun Dafa
Recent Torture Cases of Falun Gong Practitioners at the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison
Ongoing Torture and Brainwashing of Falun Gong Practitioners in Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison
Heilongjiang Women’s Prison Orders Inmates to Drug Falun Gong Practitioner
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Category: Torture of Women
