(Minghui.org) A 61-year-old woman in Tieling City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on July 12, 2024, while shopping at a local market. She has been held in the Tieling City Detention Center ever since and the police are seeking to press charges against her.
This isn’t the first time since the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of this ancient spiritual discipline in 1999 that Ms. Zhang Shuxia has been arrested for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhang took up Falun Gong in 1996 and soon recovered from chronic mental and gynecological problems. She remained firm in the face of the persecution and was repeatedly arrested and detained. She previously spent a total of 13 years behind bars and was subjected to all kinds of torture aimed to force her to renounce her faith.
Due to the persecution, her husband divorced her; her mother lived in fear and passed away when she was still detained; her son, in his 20s, believed in the communist regime’s propaganda and didn’t dare to stay in the same room with her, fearing that she might kill him; and her sister, who didn’t practice Falun Gong, was implicated and detained in 2002 and again in 2011. Her other relatives were also harassed by the police from time to time.
According to an insider, Ms. Zhang’s latest arrest came as a result of retaliation due to her complaints about the perpetrators who persecuted her in the past. Details about her case aren’t clear.
Below is Ms. Zhang’s own account of what she has suffered over the past 25 years.
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Given One Year of Forced Labor, Term Extended by Five Months
I went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong on October 28, 1999, and was arrested and escorted back to Tieling. At the Qinghe District Police Department, officers Liu Yongren and Yang Lei interrogated me, sexually harassed me, and threatened to shock me with electric batons. During the 30-day detention at the Qinghe District Detention Center, a female guard surnamed Wang forced me to squat twice, each time for two hours. After that, I was held at a guesthouse of my workplace for six days and then transferred to the Tieling Forced Labor Camp to serve a one-year term.
Wang Zhibin, the head of the labor camp, shocked me with electric batons on my legs and back, attempting to force me to renounce Falun Gong. I shouted in pain and collapsed.
Despite the freezing cold outdoors, the guards forced me and 20 other Falun Gong practitioners to dig ditches by hand. The soil was frozen and we could barely get our shovels into the ground.
On January 29, 2000, one week before the Chinese New Year, the Tieling Forced Labor Camp transferred the over 20 female Falun Gong practitioners detained there, myself included, to the Liaoyang Women’s Forced Labor Camp. We weren’t allowed to bring the food we’d purchased at the other labor camp with us.
Guard Liu Wei found I had a pen and articles written by Falun Gong’s founder. She slapped me in the face so hard that she broke one of my front teeth. The guards ordered us to read propaganda materials slandering Falun Gong. I refused to comply. Guard Sun Aiqin beat me with a baton on the back, kicked me, and slapped me in the face. Most of my upper teeth became loose and I had to have them removed after I was released.
In addition to the torture, we were also forced to do unpaid labor every day from early morning to midnight and sometimes until 2 or 3 a.m. We weren’t allowed to sleep if we didn’t finish the daily quota. The skin on my fingers was rubbed off and my legs became swollen due to the heavy workload.
The guards also forced us to clean a garbage dump. The smell was sickening. In the heat of the summer, we were ordered to load trucks of scrap steel, about ten tons each day. At night, we still had to make crafts until 11 p.m. The workload was extremely heavy and I had never worked so hard in my life.
On October 20, 2000, I was transferred to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp with other practitioners. My term was extended by 159 days because I refused to renounce Falun Gong.
Sentenced to Five Years
I was arrested again at home on December 25, 2001, by Guan Yingjie, my manager at work, and police officers Liu Yongren and Wang Shufen. They confiscated my TV, a VCD player, a recorder, two Walkmans, and my child’s computer game disks. I was taken to the Qinghe District Detention Center. I strongly protested the persecution and was released the next day. To avoid being implicated in the persecution, my husband divorced me.
I was arrested yet again on August 1, 2002, for talking to people about Falun Gong. The 920 yuan in cash I had was confiscated and only 200 yuan was later returned. I was held in the Tieling City Detention Center.
Officer Wang Yi and others later took me to the Yinzhou District Police Department for interrogation. I had been on a hunger strike for three days. They hung my arms and one leg to the rail above my head and shocked me with electric batons on my head and hands. The pain was excruciating, and I had fecal incontinence. Officer Liu Yongren and Yang Lei held my hand and attempted to force me to sign a prepared statement to renounce Falun Gong. I closed my fist so tightly they couldn’t open it. Liu was infuriated and slapped me in the face. I said, “I won’t sign it even if you break my finger.” The police then relented.
After I was taken back to the detention center, inmate Feng Wenyan was instigated by the guards to slap me in the face. When I continued the hunger strike, she kicked me on my tailbone and injured it. They handcuffed and shackled me when I refused to wear the inmate’s uniform. When I also refused to do the forced labor, they chained me by my neck to my left foot. The chain was less than 60 cm (about two feet) in length. I couldn’t stand up straight and had to squat and move slowly in little steps.
More than ten other practitioners joined me in the hunger strike. Three days later, the detention center doctor, Qian Dapeng, force-fed me with a half basin of tap water. They again chained me by my neck to my left foot. I was unable to use the restroom on my own and inmate Feng didn’t let anyone help me either.
When I appeared in the Qinghe District Court, the police presented a letter with information about Falun Gong. They claimed that I had writtten the letter and mailed it to them, which I never did. (Even if I had, I didn’t do anything wrong.) I was sentenced to five years on March 13, 2003, and taken to Shenyang Women’s Prison.
Around 9 p.m. on March 16, when most of the other inmates had gone to bed, inmates Zhang Yanping, Lan Guihong, Wang Xiulan, and Zhang Yuyan took me to the restroom. They were all wearing thick jackets and pants, while I only had a thin layer. They whipped me with brooms and hard brushes. Zhang instructed them to each hit me 50 times but to avoid hitting my hands, so I could still do forced labor. She laughed wildly while beating me, saying, “She is pretty tough.”
Lan also pinched me on my inner thighs and buttocks, which turned completely black and blue.
They put a bucket full of water on my back and ordered me to lift my arms. Zhang then poured the ice-cold water on me. I kept shivering. The torture lasted until late at night.
I wrote a complaint in November 2003 about the inmates for torturing me, not allowing me to use the restroom, and taking away my food. In retaliation, inmate Lan and seven others pulled my hair and pinched my legs. I shouted for help and inmate Liu Junhua stopped them, fearing that they might beat me to death. At night, inmate Lei Xiubing stole my denture, attempting to use it to force me to renounce Falun Gong. They also forced me to squat as part of the torture.
Second Forced Labor Camp Term of One Year and Nine Months
I was on my way home around 2 p.m. on October 28, 2006, when two police officers suddenly showed up and dragged me to a police car. I shouted “Falun Dafa is good” in protest. One officer covered my mouth. As soon as I was taken to the Hongqi Police Station, an officer grabbed my hair and hit my head against the wall. I was very dizzy. They handcuffed me behind my back and left me in the interrogation chair for over ten hours. The police shocked my mouth and abdomen with electric batons. My mouth was full of blisters.
Li Meng of the Qinghe District Domestic Security Division took my house key and confiscated my Falun Gong books, picture of Falun Gong’s founder, and a cell phone worth 1,600 yuan.
After spending one month in the Kaiyuan City Lockup, I was transferred to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp to serve a term of one year and nine months.
In the labor camp, other Falun Gong practitioners and I were forced to work for long hours every day without pay. We had no freedom, no basic rights, and not enough food or clothes. Twenty-eight days before my release, my mother, in her 80s, passed away without seeing me for the last time. No words can describe how sad I was.
Third Forced Labor Camp Term of Two Years
Officer Wang Xingjun followed me when I was talking to people about Falun Gong on October 6, 2011. He grabbed my hand from behind and called in more police to arrest me. He injured my left ankle. After I was taken to the Hongqi Police Station, they took my key and raided my home. My Falun Gong books, lecture DVDs, and an MP3 were confiscated. My neighbor later told me that the police returned the next day to search my place again.
The police forcibly collected my fingerprints and palm prints. Then they took me to the Tieling City Detention Center. When I urged them to not persecute Falun Gong and reminded them that there would be karmic tribulation for their wrongful deeds, officer Zhao Baifeng accused me of cursing him. Officer Wang Chong slapped me in the face.
At the detention center, officer Wang Xingjun forced me to squat. He squeezed my arms with his legs and pulled my jaw. I screamed in pain and hit my head on the leg of a desk. My head was injured and kept bleeding. The police took me to the hospital to have three stitches.
After taking me to the detention center, they chained me to the ground in a spread-eagle position. I held a hunger strike to protest. The police took me to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp four days later on October 9 to serve a two-year term.
On the way to the labor camp, because I scratched the wound on my head, officer Wang Chong slapped me in the face and hit me on the left rib. The pain was so intense that I couldn’t sleep on my left side for over a month.
I was given a physical exam at the labor camp and was found to have high blood pressure. The guards refused to admit me initially but relented in the evening after officer Wang Xingjun used his connections to pressure them.
To achieve a 100% “transformation” rate, the guards tried all kinds of torture methods and tactics on us practitioners. When my ex-husband came to visit me, they turned him away on the grounds that I didn’t renounce Falun Gong.
On October 31, 2011, guard Zhang Lei took me to a dark room and forced me to squat for two hours. I was forced to squat again for two hours the next day. When I remained firm in my faith, they squeezed my wrists until my hands turned dark. Then they stretched my arms to the extreme. I felt my arms, chest, and back were torn apart. I almost suffocated. Unable to bear the pain and against my will, I wrote a statement to renounce Falun Gong and read it to other practitioners. I was so sad that I felt as if I had fallen into an abyss.
During an inspection by the Liaoning Province Labor Camp Bureau on December 28, 2011, the guards warned me not to talk about the stretching torture.
During a brainwashing session on March 16, 2012, I refused to answer the question to slander Falun Gong. Guard Zhang Lili ordered me to her office, where she beat me and kicked me. My legs were bruised and my face was swollen.
Because we could only use the restroom at designated times, I wet my pants one day. Inmate Ding Xukun forced me to admit that I violated the labor camp rules and put my name on the bulletin board before allowing me to use the restroom.
Due to the long term mental and physical torture, I often had nightmares and woke up screaming. A few days before my release, the labor camp’s discipline team asked me if I had any complaints. I didn’t dare to mention anything about the torture for fear of retaliation.
Second Prison Term of Three Years
I was arrested again on December 14, 2016, after being reported for distributing calendars with information about Falun Gong. Because I didn’t cooperate with the police during the physical exam at Tieling Hospital, officer Zhao Baifeng and Wang slapped me in the face and hit my chest. Zhao threatened me that I was a “repeat offender” and that my family didn’t care about me if I was detained. I was later taken to the Tieling Detention Center.
When I was tried in the Qinghe District Court on May 12, 2017, I had extremely high blood pressure, but the judge still held the hearing. My two lawyers demanded that my shackles be removed and presiding judge Sun Di agreed.
Prosecutor Bo Ying of the Qinghe District Procuratorate presented the following prosecution evidence: five pendants, eight postcards, 12 paper currency bills, and six calendars printed with information about Falun Gong. Judge Sun kept pressing me to plead guilty and prosecutor Bo threatened to sentence me to a heavy term if I didn’t comply.
I pointed out how police officer Zhao beat me during my arrest, but judge Sun turned a blind eye to it. Sun also interrupted my lawyers and adjourned the session not long after they began to enter a not guilty plea for me.
Judge Sun heard my case again on May 19, 2017, and sentenced me to three years. I appealed to the Tieling City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold the original verdict. I was taken to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison and again tortured for upholding my faith.
Related Reports:
Liaoning Woman Detained a Total of Almost 12 Years for Her Belief
Liaoning Woman Appeals Her Latest Prison Sentence After Being Incarcerated for a Total of Nine Years
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