Husband Sent to Forced Labour Camp Three Times--Wife Repeatedly Tortured

Name: Guo Yujun
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Luotaizi Village in Zhongtun Township, Daihe District, Jinzhou City
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 31st, 2005
Most Recent Place of Detention: Masanjia Forced Labour Camp
City: Jizhou
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, sexual assault, force-feedings, extortion, physical restraint, home ransacked, interrogation, detention
Key Persecutors: Jiang Haishan, Kong Xianwei, Li Kai,Yang De'an, Wang Jianguo, Guo Jinning

Name: Liu Changping
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Luotaizi Village in Zhongtun Township, Daihe District, Jinzhou City
Occupation: Taxi driver
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 15th, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Masanjia Forced Labour Camp
City: Jinzhou
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, extortion, home ransacked, interrogation, detention
Key Persecutors: Zhang Jiuyi and Dai Yong (same ones are not repeated here)

Ms. Guo Yujun and her husband Mr. Liu Changping are residents of Luotaizi Village in Zhongtun Township, Daihe District, Jinzhou City. They both practise Falun Gong and no longer have illnesses. They lived a happy life. However, during the past ten years of persecution, Mr. Liu Changping was sentenced to forced labour three times and was brutally tortured. Ms. Guo Yujun has been detained in the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp twice. During her detention in the police stations, detention centres, and labour camps, she was shocked with electric batons and brutally forced-fed. She was at times on the verge of death.

Below, Ms. Guo talks about her family's cultivation stories and their experience of persecution.

My Husband and I Obtained Healthy Bodies and Minds through Falun Gong Practice

My name is Guo Yujun. In 1997, my family went to my parents' home for the Chinese New Year. One day while we were there, my uncle came and brought the book Falun Gong with him. My husband was immediately attracted to it, and read the book. He read the book for an entire day and finished it. He then excitedly told everyone that it was a really good book. He has since quit all of his bad habits, including smoking cigarettes, drinking, and gambling. Shortly afterwards, all of his illnesses disappeared. I joined him and began to practise Falun Gong as well.

We both tried to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in our daily lives to become better persons. My husband was a taxi driver. Since he quit smoking and became honest and trustworthy, people liked having him as their taxi driver. I used to suffer severe insomnia and neurasthenia and had a bad temper. After I began practising Falun Gong, my illnesses disappeared and I became happier.

After witnessing our physical and mental changes, more than 100 people have started to practise Falun Gong. We bought a tape player and used our home as a place for group Falun Gong study. Many people have eliminated their long-term illnesses through the practice.

In 1998, the village officials asked every household to donate money to buy quilts for the flood victims. Many Falun Gong practitioners in our villages brought their new quilts and donated more than what they were asked. The party secretary of the village praised the practitioners' kindness.

Harassed Several Times at the Beginning of the Persecution

After the persecution of Falun Gong officially began on July 20th, 1999, the local police often came to my home to harass me or ransack my home.

On July 22nd, 1999, Jiang Haishan and a couple of police officers came to my home while only my husband was there. They confiscated a tape recorder and some Falun Gong books and materials.

On July 25th, village official Wang Jizhong ordered the local police to take me to the village office, since I refused to give up my Falun Gong books. I was released after 9:00 p.m.

On September 17th, I was arrested while visiting a practitioner. The next day, I was sent to a detention centre. While under detention, I, along with other detained practitioners, were beaten if we practised the exercises. So we held hunger strikes to protest. We were released on October 3rd after the police station extorted 1,500 yuan¹ and the detention centre extorted 550 yuan from each practitioner.

On October 11th, police officers Jiang Haishan and Li Kai came to my home. They attempted to arrest me. I resisted and they finally left at 7:00 p.m.

On the morning of May 22nd, 2010, local police officers Jiang Haishan and Kong Xianwei came to my home to harass me.

Arrested and Detained for Appealing

On October 11th, 1999, I went to Beijing with several practitioners to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. My husband joined us on October 19th in Beijing. We went to Tiananmen Square to appeal but were all arrested. The next day, we were transported back to Jinzhou City and detained at the Jinzhou City Drug Rehabilitation Centre.

Fifteen days later, we were transferred to the brainwashing centre inside the Taihe District Party School in Jinzhou City, where we were forced to watch videos that defamed Falun Gong every day. My husband and I along with two other practitioners were confined to a room without any heat for 12 days. On January 24th, 2000, we were sent to the the detention centre. On February 24th, local police took my husband and me from the detention centre to a retirement centre. We were constantly monitored and had to do cleaning work and serve the elderly residents. On April 26th, we were sent to the detention centre.

Persecution in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

On May 16th, 2000, my husband and I were both sentenced to one year of forced labour. I was detained at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp and he was sent to the Jinzhou City Forced Labour Camp.

In the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, I was subjected to various forms of torture, including deprivation of sleep, forced labour, brainwashing, electric shocks, and various physical punishments. All Falun Gong practitioners were forced to get up at around 5:00 a.m. and work until 9:00 p.m. Over 40 people lived in one room. Practitioners who refused to renounce Falun Gong were forced to sit on small stools all day, or squat, or stand facing the wall for long periods of time. We were forced to watch videos that defamed Falun Gong.

My Husband Sentenced to Forced Labour for a Second Time

On January 22nd, 2001, I was released from the labour camp. My husband's term was extended for six months and he was released on October 27th, 2001 from Jinzhou City Forced Labour Camp. Before my husband recovered, at around 9:00 p.m. on November 14th, 2001, police officers Kong Xianwei, Li Kai, Yang De'an, Wang Jianguo and Guo Jinning from the Zhongtun Township Police Station broke into my home and ransacked it. Then they took us to the Zhongtun Township Police Station. We were sent to the detention centre the following day.

Fourteen days later, I was released but I wasn't able to go home since my house keys were taken by the police. I was forced to become homeless. On December 14th, my husband was sentenced to three years of forced labour and sent to the Jinzhou City Forced Labour Camp again. He only stayed at home for 18 days after his release.

My husband suffered various forms of torture in the labour camp. He had been confined to a tiny cell several times. He was released on March 20th, 2004.

Tortured to the Verge of Death

On August 8th, 2002, I attended the funeral of practitioner Ms. Cao Shufang in Jinzhou City and was arrested by officers from the Shiqiaozi Police Station. A police officer slapped me more than a dozen times and the corner of my mouth began bleeding. My hands were then tied behind my back. Police officers yanked my arms with ropes behind me which was extremely painful. When they untied me, I couldn't move my arms. I was then handcuffed. In the afternoon, Miraculously, my handcuffs were removed and I walked out of the police station.

On the evening of June 25th, 2003, several practitioners and I were on our way to distribute leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in Chaoyang County, but were arrested. The police from the Chaoyang County Domestic Security Division shocked me with electric batons and forced me to sit on an iron chair. They didn't allow me to sleep for six days, and watched me around the clock. Whenever they saw me close my eyes, they shocked me. My legs, arms, and mouth were all bruised. They shocked my private parts as well. They also poured water on the ground and forced me to sit in the water, then shocked me. Several police officers brutally force-fed me. They pried my mouth open with a bamboo stick and inserted a tube into my stomach.

After I was transferred to the detention centre, I was forced-fed twice a day. Once, they beat me with rubber tubes and iron bars. After the beating, I had a high fever and was sent to a hospital with handcuffs and shackles on. On the second day, I was transferred to a different hospital. When my parents came to visit me and saw the bruises all over my body, they cried. However, the police didn't allow them to stay with me and drove them away since they didn't have any money to pay their extortion.

A few days later, I was sent back to the detention centre. Since they were unable to insert tubes into my stomach to forced-feed me, I was sent back to the police department. I was forced to sit on the cement floor with handcuffs and shackles for the entire night. The next day, my family came to take me home after they were extorted 3,000 yuan.

Detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

I went back home to take care of a few things on the morning of March 31st, 2005, since I had left home for a while to avoid the persecution. However, I was reported to the authorities. Shortly after I returned home, police officers Kong Fanjia, Yang De'an, Li Kang, and Gao (first name unknown) came and arrested me. At the police station, they handcuffed my hands behind my back to a heating pipe.

The next day, I was sent to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. To protest the persecution of other Falun Gong practitioners, all of the practitioners in my room started hunger strikes. I was forced to sit on a small stool from about 5:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. My body started to ache. Four days later, I was taken to the hospital for an examination. But I was getting worse. I had difficulty breathing, was not able to walk, and kept vomiting.

Seven days after I arrived at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, I was released.

My Husband Sentenced to Forced Labour for Third Time

On July 15th, 2009, while my husband, Liu Changping was driving his taxi, the police from the Nuerhe Police Station stopped him and arrested him. I had been living away from home to avoid persecution. He was later sentenced to two years of forced labour, and on August 12th, he was sent to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. This was his third forced labour sentence. My family tried to visit him but were refused.

On August 16th, 2009, my son and other family members came to the Nuerhe Police Station to request a visit with my husband. Zhang Jiuyi, the director of the police station asked my son to sign the detention certificate. When he refused, Zhang squeezed his neck with both hands. Then several police officers dragged him upstairs. They tried to extort money from my family but my family refused. They released my son that night.

A few days later, my in-laws went to the Nuerhe Police Station to ask about their son's arrest. No one paid attention to their question at first, then a police officer brought my father-in-law into a room and asked him many questions. He was then forced to sign with his thumbprint. He was so scared he was bed-ridden afterwords. He told us that the police officer asked him where I was and many of our relatives' addresses.

Around October 1st, 2009, Dai Yong, the director of Taihe Domestic Security Division of Jinzhou City, kept calling my relatives to ask my whereabouts. He tried to use them to deceive me into going to the police station.

Officers from the Zhongtun Police Station have frequently come to my parent's home and my in-law's home to harass them ever since the persecution began in 1999. They once even came to my parent's home at around 11:30 p.m. Therefore both my parents and my in-laws dared not let me come to their homes, even though they missed me. Due to the long-term mental torture, they are in bad health and react fearfully when they hear a police siren. I haven't been able to take care of them and my child.

I worry about my husband's current situation since the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp is notorious for its cruelty. As of now, my family has not been allowed to see him.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/10/5/230570.html