(Minghui.org) Guards in Jilin Province Women’s Prison often authorize or instigate prisoners to torture Falun Gong practitioners incarcerated for upholding their faith.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that teaches Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. The Chinese communist regime launched the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999.
To get reduced sentences or other rewards, the prisoners often torture the practitioners to try to force them to renounce their faith. They starve them, freeze them, beat them, deprive them of sleep, refuse to let them wash, and force them to sit still on a small stool for long periods of time.
The management in the 8th ward in Jilin Women’s Prison allows and authorizes prisoners to beat Falun Gong practitioners without consequences. Those in charge include Qian Wei, head of the ward; Chen Xi, deputy head; and chief guard Yuan Tingting, a recent graduate who began to work at the prison two years ago.
The following are three examples of how practitioners in Jilin Province Women’s Prison are tortured.
Ms. Li Cong, 40, is from Qingshan Township, Nong’an County, Changchun City. She has a 10-year-old son. She was arrested at home on May 31, 2019, and held at the Nong’an County Detention Center.
Ms. Li was tried in the Dehui City Court on November 12, 2019, and sentenced to six years with a 20,000-yuan fine on November 29. She appealed to the Changchun City Intermediate Court, which rejected her case on February 18, 2020, without a hearing.
Ms. Li was taken to Jilin Province Women’s Prison in July 2020. The guards only let her sleep between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m. and then forced her to sit on a small stool without moving for most of the time. If she moved, she was punished. The flesh on her buttocks began to rupture and fester because of the pressure.
She was not given enough food, nor was she allowed to shower or wash. The guards also brainwashed her, insulted her, beat her, and splashed her with freezing water. In the winter, they opened the window to let the freezing wind blow on her.
Prisoners Tian Xiaoyun from Changchun City, Zha Guang from Baicheng City, and Wang Shuwen from Songyuan City held Ms. Li down and tried to force her to sign the statements to renounce Falun Gong on August 11, 2020. People outside of the room heard the sounds of a struggle and Ms. Li shouting in protest, “Falun Dafa is good!”
A month later on September 11, the inmates attempted to force Ms. Li to renounce Falun Gong again. People outside the ward heard her struggling and yelling, “I will not sign the statements!” There were loud noises that suggested the prisoners repeatedly threw Ms. Li against the metal bed frame.
Ms. Li was put in solitary confinement on November 24 and tortured by prisoners Tian, Zheng Dan, Yang Yali, Ding Ling, and Li Mingzhu. They took off her warm jacket and poured cold water on her on December 16 and 18. She had a thin shirt on and the window was left open. By the end of December when she left solitary confinement, she appeared incoherent and sickly thin. Yet the authorities are still planning to continue brainwashing her.
So far Ms. Li hasn’t been allowed any family visits. She talked to her family on the phone once. It was on speakerphone and everyone could overhear the conversation, during which she wasn’t allowed to talk about how she was being abused.
Ms. Zang Zhongmei, 49, was an elementary school teacher from Siping City. To escape the persecution, she moved to Baicheng (about 300 miles away) and did odd jobs for a living.
Taobei District Domestic Security officers arrested her on February 16, 2020, for talking to people about Falun Gong and ransacked her home. She was taken to the Baicheng City Detention Center.
She was sentenced to five years after a secret trial in June 2020 and put in Jilin Women’s Prison. Unable to bear the pressure, her husband divorced her and was given custody of their child.
Ms. Zang was subjected to brainwashing in prison. She was forced to sit on a small stool for a long time and wore only a thin shirt in winter. Others claimed that they often heard her screaming when she was being beaten.
Ms. Dang Yanhua, 67, of Jilin City, Jilin Province, was arrested on May 21, 2018, after being reported for handing out information about Falun Gong. She was transferred to Jilin City Detention Center on May 31, 2018, and sentenced to three years and two months some time in 2019.
The prison guards also forced Ms. Dang to sit on a small stool without moving for long hours, causing her buttocks to fester. She also has pain in her legs and has difficulty walking.
The inmates used all kinds of ways to torture her. They either starved her or allowed her to eat but didn’t let her use the restroom. Sometimes the inmates forced her to collect her waste in her lunch box and then used the same container to serve her meal. Sometimes she was forced to relieve herself in her pants and the inmates wiped her excrement on her mouth.
Former Elementary School Teacher Secretly Sentenced to Five Years for Her Faith
Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Jilin Women's Prison
Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners Held at Jilin Women’s Prison
Two Jilin Woman Imprisoned for Their Faith Are In Declining Health