(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Zhang Wei. I am a Falun Gong practitioner. On August 1, 2002, I was arrested by police in Donggang City in Liaoning Province, and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. On November 4, 2002, I was taken to the Sixth Team in the Third Division of Shenyang Women's Prison, where I was intensively tortured, both physically and mentally, by the guards and criminals who were led by team leaders Li Chunxia and Guo Haiyan.

The persecutors tried to force me to give up my belief. Team leader Li Chunxia ordered criminals Hou Yan and Cui Yanru to torture me. During the winter time, they didn't allow me to wear any heavy clothing. For an entire month, I had to wear thin clothes. They forced me to sit on a 3-inch tall and 1.5-inch wide stool from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and I was sometimes forced to sit on it till 2 o'clock in the morning, and I was not allowed to move around when sitting there. They drew a circle around my feet and told me that I could not step on that circle. If I did, they beat me. A few days later, the skin on my bottom was broken and I had pains in my lower back, legs, and neck due to sitting like that. Later, I was forced to remain in a crouched position. I had to crouch even when having dinner. I was allowed only two or three hours of sleep each day. They wrote other people's names on my shoes and forced me to wear them, but I refused. They beat me and pushed me down, and they put the shoes on me. Li Chunxia tried to instigate the criminals' hatred towards me. She gave me good rice, but gave others low-quality food. The criminals kicked me, spit on me, and slapped me.

I was often taken to a small cell, where the guards, with several other criminals, beat me. They once pulled my hair and pushed my head against the wall. The muscles in my body contracted. I later saw that my hair was everywhere in the room. Cui Yanru also often hit me in my joints with a wood stool, which caused extreme pain. She didn't stop until she was tired.

One day Cui Yanru told me that an older practitioner was sent to the prison. Cui Yanru and another criminal Shan Xia (who also often beat me) beat that practitioner from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. That practitioner, an older lady, passed out. Cui and Shan poured cold water on her. Her body was covered with wounds.

One night, they took me into a small room with two criminals. They used a power wire with a bronze core of 1/3-inch diameter as a lash. They took off my shirt and lashed my back. I had extreme pain. The next morning, I couldn't move due to the pain. I was then forced to sit on the small stool. They ordered a criminal, Yang Jing, to torture me. Yang Jing pulled out my hair from the wound on my head, then pulled my head backward against the floor. She also hit the wounds on my back, and poked my back with a pen. Later she pushed me against the floor and stepped on and kicked my back. They didn't allow me to sleep for 13 days.

The persecutors forced me to stand around the clock for a period of time, and they took turns sleeping. They wore thick winter clothes, but forced me to wear thin clothes. Sometimes, to keep me awake, they poured cold water on me. They also pushed my head into urinals.

In December, it was very cold. One night, Hou Yan, Cui Yanru, and several other criminals poured cold water on me. They first poured water on my head, and then forced me to stand up, and then poured water onto my clothes. When all my clothes were soaked, they took me outside and forced me to stand in the wind. The clothes were soon frozen stiff. They also pulled my hair, pushed my head against the iron door and kicked me. Due to the beating and being frozen, I could no longer stand up. They pulled my hair and forced me to stand up. I lost consciousness and was pulled me inside. When I regained conscientious, they poured cold water on me again and pushed me outside again. This was repeated several times.

Once my feet were tied together, and I couldn't stand up or walk. A kindhearted criminal said to them, "That will make her fall and break her head." They then released me. I was tortured several days in a row, and the persecutors became very tired from doing so. They then asked other criminals to watch me.

Due to the severe torture, my mind became unclear. Sometimes, I couldn't remember who I was. I couldn't see things clearly, nor could I move my head, and I heard noise in my ear. When criminals slapped me, I didn't feel pain because my face was already numb. I sometimes had illusions. My legs were so swollen that I was unable to bend them. When I used the bathroom, two criminals had to hold me standing up. A criminal knew that I couldn't walk, so she dragged me in the hallway and forced me to walk. My legs were swollen and my feet bled.

For 13 days, I wasn't allowed to sit down or lie down at all. I didn't sleep at all. On the last night, I had extreme pains in my chest and belly, and I threw up. Other criminals asked Hou Yan and Cui Yanru to let me lie down, so they did. I had stood around the clock for 13 days. If I were not a Falun Gong practitioner, I would have died or become insane.

On Monday, my parents came to visit me. Before they came, Hou Yan ordered me to wear her sweater to cover the wounds on my neck. She also had me wear winter clothes. My mother was scared and cried terribly by holding me when she saw the wounds on my face and noticed that I couldn't sit up and was very slow in responding to her. My father also cried with her.

At night, I took off the clothes and saw my legs were completely swollen and covered with wounds from the kicking and beating by the criminals. So were my arms. I laid down. The pain made breathing difficult. I couldn't lie on my back, but only on my sides.

On January 24, 2003, I was sent to the hospital. I often needed physical examinations, which cost 1000 yuan each time. This created a financial burden for my family.

On October 19, 2008, the local police arrested me and tried to take me again to Shenyang. My family and friends strongly condemned them, so they gave up. Later they claimed that I had escaped from the prison and that I was on the online wanted list.

June 12, 2009