(Minghui.org)

Introduction to the Key Facts Concerning the Persecution of Ms. Zhai Yuxin

Ms. Zhai Yuxin is a Falun Gong practitioner in her sixties from Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. She had many diseases before beginning her practice of Falun Gong in 1994, specifically cervical spondylosis, which compressed the nerve affecting her right arm and rendering it immovable and useless. Through practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Zhai recovered and became free of all her illnesses. She was able to save her work unit and the government a lot of money on medical bills.

Ms. Zhai has frequently been arrested, sentenced, and detained at brainwashing centers, detention centers, and labor camps. During her detention she experienced abuses and tortures, including forced labor, brainwashing, beatings, solitary confinement, force-feeding, physical restraint, interrogation, and denial of restroom use.

Her home was recently ransacked by officials, and she had to leave her hometown to avoid further persecution.

She has lived in various places over the past two years. She was arrested again on July 15, 2013 in Suzhou City by officers from the Ruijinlu Police Station in Nanjing City.

2. Appealing in Beijing

When Jiang Zemin's Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime started persecuting Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, all the media in the country were organized to slander and frame Falun Gong and it's founder, Li Hongzhi. Ms. Zhai went to the provincial government office twice to appeal.

News came in October 1999 that practitioner Zhao Jinhua from Shandong Province had been tortured to death. Ms. Zhai and about ten other practitioners subsequently went to Beijing to appeal.

Ms. Zhai was forced to spend a cold night in a cornfield in a suburb of Beijing because she didn't bring her ID and couldn't stay in any hotels. She went to Tiananmen Square to appeal and was subsequently detained for two days in Daguanglu Police Station after returning to Nanjing City.

Detention

Ms. Zhai was reported to police by an owner of a copy shop in December 1999, while she was attempting to make copies of Falun Gong materials. She was arrested by police from Daguanglu Police Station and interrogated at the Baixia Police Department. She refused to reveal the source of the materials no matter how the police threatened her. Her arrest was reported by the local TV station and all the local newspapers the next day. She was detained for one month.

People from Baixia Police Department, Daguanglu Police Station and Ms. Zhai's work unit, came to her home in May 2000 to take her to a psychiatric hospital. Ms. Zhai refused, and sternly said, “Why ask me to go to a psychiatric hospital for an evaluation? I don't have any mental problems. Ask my neighbors and colleagues whether they think I have any mental problems.”

The police stayed in her home from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., trying to persuade her to go to the hospital. They finally gave in and only asked her to write a guarantee statement promising not to go to Beijing. Ms. Zhai told them she wouldn't do that either. They finally gave up and left her home around 10:00 p.m.

The police told Ms. Zhai that some officials from the municipal government wanted to talk to her a few days later, and she politely received them at her home. They had a pleasant conversation. She talked about her own experiences in practicing Falun Gong and clarified some misunderstandings about the practice. She later learned that these people were not really government officials, but three doctors from the Nanjing psychiatric hospital. They had come under pretense to do an evaluation of “her condition.” Their conclusion was that she was clear-minded, and her mental state was normal.

Ms. Zhai was forcefully taken to a brainwashing center in Nonglin Research Institution, Jiangning District of Nanjing City on April 20, 2000. There were about 20 or 30 practitioners detained there. She was detained for 15 days and was requested to pay 700 yuan.

A practitioner was arrested for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in September 2000, and told the police about Ms. Zhai while being interrogated. Ms. Zhai was then arrested again. She started a hunger strike to protest the illegal arrest. She was interrogated for four days and nights in the police station, and was then sent to the Nanjing Detention Center. After eight days on a hunger strike, she was subjected to brutal force-feeding. She was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor and sent to the Judong Women's Forced Labor Camp.

Hunger Strike in the Labor Camp

Falun Gong practitioners were routinely mistrated in the Judong Women's Forced Labor Camp. Upon arrival, Ms. Zhai was immediately taken to meet with Niu Zhongping, head of the labor camp. She explained how she had become a healthy person after practicing Falun Gong and how benevolent Master changed her into a good person. She was adamant that she would always be grateful to Master.

She was later sent to join a team which was forced into slave labor. She went on a hunger strike and refused to work like a slave. She was carried to the workshop every day, and sat there for 15 to 16 hours.

A special team was set up in the labor camp to conduct force-feeding for those on hunger strikes. The guards would first open the practitioner's mouth with a special device before conducting the force-feeding. The rubber tube used in force-feeding was never cleaned, and was inserted into everyone's nose very roughly by the perpetrators.

Torture illustration: Force-feeding

On one occasion, doctor Yang mixed a large quantity of salt into the congee for the force-feeding of Ms. Zhai. She vomited and immediately fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

Ms. Zhai was confined to a solitary compartment for an extended time six months later. She didn't have a bed in the cell and had to lay on a wooden board on the floor. During the rainy season, the floor was always wet, which dampened the wooden board and bed cover as well. Since she refused to wear the prison uniform and badge, her term was extended by ten months. She was released in December 2002.

Example of the CCP's Inhuman Character

Ms. Zhai was released from the labor camp about one month later, and she was arrested again at her home. Zhu Yihua, party head of Daguanglu Police Station, sent a deputy and officer Wu Jiaai to arrest her, with the excuse that the National Congress and the Political Consultative Conference were approaching.

Ms. Zhai had volunteered to take care of Zhu Yihua for free while she was hospitalized in May-June, 2000. At that time, Zhu Yihua was the head of the organization section in Baixia District Police Department, and had just undergone surgery to remove her uterus. No one from her family could take care of her in the hospital. Ms. Zhai took good care of Zhu Yihua in the hospital and told her about Falun Gong. She read some materials to Zhu during her one month hospital stay. Ms. Zhai also cleaned Zhu's house before taking her home and didn't leave until someone came to Zhu's home to take over.

However, it was Zhu Yihua who ordered the arrest of Ms. Zhai, less than two months after she had been subjected to more than two years of persecution in the labor camp. How many people have lost their human conscience during the genocide of Falun Gong practitioners?

Suffering in Baixia District Brainwashing Center

When Ms. Zhai was taken from her apartment, she resisted being carried out by tightly holding the metal chain on the door. Te police forcefully broke her grip on the door, causing her hands to bleed. They sealed her mouth with her coat so she was unable to call out.

Ms. Zhai was taken to the Baixia District Brainwashing Center. She protested the illegal detention with a hunger strike. Xie Zhong, head of the 610 Office, arranged for a reporter from Nanjing TV Station to interview her, and intended to show how Falun Gong practitioners mutilate themselves. Facing the reporters, Ms. Zhai exposed the 610 Office's activities, and how they deceived the public and persecuted her. She further explained why she had to hold a hunger strike to protest. The interview ended with no further comment.

When the brainwashing session ended, Huang Suicheng from the Political and Security Section of Baixia District announced that Ms. Zhai had been arrested with a criminal charge. She was handcuffed and dragged down the stairs by two officers. Her body was covered with bruises. Her shoe was lost on the stairs and her heels were bleeding. The handcuffs on her wrists became tighter and tighter as she was dragged along. The scars from the cuts on her wrists remained even after several months.

When Ms. Zhai was carried to the detention center, her blood pressure was undetectable and the doctor in the detention center asked to send her immediately to a hospital. The police scolded her while transporting her to the hospital. While in the hospital, she still tried to clarify the truth about Falun Gong. When asked why she went to Beijing to appeal, she told the doctors that she wanted to tell the government how she had benefited from the practice.

Ms. Zhai returned home after staying in the hospital for about a week in late March 2003. Her home was a mess because the police had thoroughly ransacked her apartment. They even removed the air pipe in the bathroom to search. The cash of 1000 yuan under a box on the desk had disappeared.

Released from Forced Labor Camp After Two-Month Hunger Strike

In order to let more people know the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution, Ms. Zhai sent out New Year's greeting cards to co-workers in her work unit in late 2003. Many people happily accepted the cards, however, she was reported to police and arrested once again.

After being held in the detention center for two months, she was subjected to three years of forced labor. She started another hunger strike in protest.

When she was force-fed in the labor camp's clinic, doctor Xu purposely inserted the feeding tube repeatedly to make her suffer pain, and this damaged her esophagus and stomach. She was allowed to leave for medical treatment after two months on a hunger strike.

Hunger Strike During Her Third Forced Labor Sentence

The Tenth National Games were to be held in Nanjing in September 2005. Ms. Zhai was taken to the local police station and handcuffed to a chair. Xiao Ningjian, head of the Nanjin Domestic Security Division, decided to send Ms. Zhai back to the Judong Women's Forced Labor Camp to serve her remaining term.

Just after she was sent to the labor camp, she was stripped of all her clothes and subjected to a body search. To protest this mistreatment and the detention, she started another hunger strike.

Torture re-enactment: Force-feeding

The guards decided to conduct the force-feeding in her cell, and four or five inmates were called upon to assist. Ms. Zhai was restrained and prisoners Luan Yiali and Huang Lizhai grabbed her nose and held her ears. They opened her mouth with spoons and depressed her tongue. Her mouth was injured and she choked and was unable to breath. They pinched her legs viciously, causing severe bruising.

Luan Yiali slapped, pinched, and twisted Ms. Zhai's face. Yu An punched her in the face and pulled her hair. No one outside the cell could see what was happening because they closed the window and door tightly and loud music was played outside in the hallway. Ms. Zhai was not allowed to have short hair, so that they could easily grab her hair during the forced feedings.

Luan Yiali often beat Ms. Zhai until she lost consciousness. Luan would pinch the area beneath her nose or slap her face. Ms. Zhai's nose was swollen badly. They often covered her face with a wet towel.

Ms. Zhai was tortured and lost consciousness several times on October 1, 2005, while guard Wu Hongyan was on duty. Wu just played on her cell phone and didn't bother to intervene. The force-feeding lasted two to three hours (it was normally one to two hours) while Hu continuously played with her cell phone.

When Ms. Zhai lost consciousness again and couldn't be awakened, they reported this to Wu. When division head Liu Dongmei asked Wu for details, Wu lied and said that Ms. Zhai had looked OK just a few moments prior. Ms. Zhai was sent to the hospital for emergency care.

After each forced feeding, Ms. Zhai was covered with congee all over her body. Her clothes were soaked with sweat, and she was exhausted. Sometimes in summer, she was not allowed to take a shower or change clothes, which made her smell quite bad. She was scolded because she attracted flies. In winter, guard Zhao Jinli instigated the inmates to use her only sweater for cleaning. Guard Dong Aixiang told the inmates not to put the plastic cover over Ms. Zhai's bed, knowing that her bed would become wet and dirty.

Division head Hong Ying forced Ms. Zhai to write the so-called statements promising to give up the practice, and even said it was OK if she just pretended to do so. She didn't give in. Hong asked the inmates to copy the prepared statements and to sign Ms. Zhai's name to it.

Ms. Zhai held many hunger strikes during imprisonment, and her term was thus extended two more months. She was released in March 2007.

Sent to Brainwashing Center Once Again

Ms. Zhai was arrested and sent to the Nanjin Brainwashing Center for the third time before the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. She once found an opportunity to run into the hallway, and she called out loudly, “Falun Dafa is good!” All the people in other cells heard her words and many came out to see what was happening. She was carried back to her cell and locked tightly inside. She was released to her home after three months in the brainwashing center.

Several officers broke into her home in late December 2010. They damaged the lock on the door and smashed the window. Ms. Zhai had no other choice but to leave home and wander around. She had been on the wanted list for quite some time, and Xiao Jingjian, the head of Municipal Security Division, had been searching for her.

Ms. Zhai was arrested again on July 15, 2013 in Suzhou City.

Related perpetrator’s contact list:
Jinhui District Police Department: +86-25-84421315, +86-25-84421314 Yuijinlu Police Station: +86-25-84604801 Baixia District 610 Office: +86-25-84556611 Baixia District Police Department: +86-25-84421214 Baixia District Domestic Security Division: +86-25-84421221 Huang Jinsong (黄劲松), head of Baixia District 610 Office: +86-25-84556612