Death of Elderly Lady as a Result of Torture and Police Harassment

Facebook Logo LinkedIn Logo Twitter Logo Email Logo Pinterest Logo

Ever since July 20, 1999, Dafa practitioners from Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province have suffered from severe persecution. Thirty Dafa practitioners have been detained, fourteen were sentenced to forced labour education (two of them were sentenced twice), and one practitioner was persecuted to death. Seven practitioners are still being detained. They and their family members have been badly hurt by and suffered greatly from the persecution.

Ms. Chen Guiqin, 58 years old, was a teacher at the First Elementary School. After July 20, 1999, officers from the local public security bureau, the national security bureau, the government, her workplace and the area of her residence frequently went to her home to harass her and she was detained in detention centres several times.

In the summer of 2000, a practitioner posted some banners saying, "Falun Gong is good" in the Tangwanghe district. The local police failed to find out who posted them. A group of police officers led by Jiang Wei, the vice bureau chief, took Ms. Chen from the detention centre to the local public security bureau to try to force her to "confess" that she had written and posted the banners. Jiang Wei insisted that she had done it because a handwriting analyst determined the writing was hers. The policemen spent a whole night trying to extort a confession from her. The next morning, they kept on torturing her.

A female police officer beat her down to the ground and then pulled her up by her hair. She was tortured using "Body Folding." (1) She was also forced to hold a flask full of boiled water, with her arms straight out in front of her. In the meantime, the officer forbade her from eating and drinking. They even threatened that if Ms. Chen did not confess, she would be thrown off the mountain and killed.

Policewoman Huang Yan from the detention centre said to her: "You'd better acknowledge it. It is you if you acknowledge it, and it will also be you even if you do not acknowledge it." Ms. Chen succumbed to the torture and, under coercion, "confessed" that she had written the banners. The policemen immediately went to her home and confiscated her children's crayons, calling them "evidence."

She was sentenced to two years of labour education and was sent to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre of Harbin City, where her physical condition gradually deteriorated.

She was extremely weak when she was released. The police kept harassing her at home causing her health to deteriorate further. She died on January 6, 2004. Many people grieved because of her death.

(1) "Body-folding": a torture method. It refers to standing with two legs straight and close, and bending the head down as far as it will go toward the feet, in front of the knees. The fingers point to the ground, the head is upside down, making the body form a 90-degree angle. The victim is forced to keep this position for 17 to 18 hours a day except when eating, sleeping and using the toilet.


Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/1/22/93995.html

* * *

Facebook Logo LinkedIn Logo Twitter Logo Email Logo Pinterest Logo

You are welcome to print and circulate all articles published on Clearharmony and their content, but please quote the source.