Repeatedly Persecuted, Jilin Woman Imprisoned for Her Faith Again

(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhu Xiyu, a 67-year-old resident of Yanji City, Jilin Province, started practicing Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, in 1999. Months later, in July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong. Having benefited from the practice, she stayed firm in her faith. As a result, she has been arrested over 30 times, and given three forced labor terms and two prison terms.

Ms. Zhu was released after serving four years on October 17, 2020, only to be arrested again in March 2021. Her pension was also suspended. It’s reported that she has been taken back to Jilin Women’s Prison for the third time, but the details aren’t clear.

After her October 2020 release, the Yanbian Social Security Administration extorted 200,000 yuan from Ms. Zhu’s family. She filed a lawsuit and demanded the return of the money. The court accepted her case. It’s not clear whether her latest arrest was related to the lawsuit.

Below is Ms. Zhu’s persecution account in the past 22 years.

Arrested for Appealing in Beijing

Ms. Zhu went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong on February 22, 2000. She was arrested in front of the Bureau of Appeals. A few days later, she was taken back to Yanji and detained for 18 days.

Persecuted in Heizuizi Women’s Labor Camp

Ms. Zhu was arrested again on June 29, 2001 for urging an officer of Henan Police Station not to participate in the persecution. She was beaten and lost a few teeth. She was then given one year of forced labor without due process. 

On August 1, Ms. Zhu was taken to Heizuizi Women’s Labor Camp, where she was beaten, shocked with electric batons, and force fed because she refused to give up her belief. On one occasion, she passed out from the electric shock.

Torture Reenactment: Brutal Beating

On May 13, 2002, Ms. Zhu started a hunger strike to protest the persecution. She was beaten with batons and force fed by several guards. After each force feeding, Ms. Zhu vomited blood and had difficulty breathing and profuse sweating. 

Her term was extended for ten days and she was released on July 8, 2002.

On November 4, 2002, Ms. Zhu was arrested and taken to the brainwashing center inside a police school. She was released three days later on November 7.

Ms. Zhu returned to Beijing on April 21, 2003 and put up a banner that said “Falun Dafa is good” at Tiananmen Square. She was arrested, beaten and kicked. She was released because she had a fever at the time of the SARS epidemic. 

Tortured to the Verge of Death in a Police Station

On September 1, 2003, Ms. Zhu was arrested again for doing Falun Gong exercises in a public plaza. She was handcuffed to a chair for more than ten hours. The police slapped her in the face and caused it to become severely swollen.

Ms. Zhu was taken to the Yangji City Police Department the next day and hung up by her wrists for 16 hours. In the first three hours, her right hand was tied up high and her left hand was stretched out and tied horizontally. When the guards let her down to use the restroom, she was so thirsty that she scooped water from the toilet and drank it. For the next 13 hours, she was hung in a reverse position, left hand up and right hand horizontally. 

Torture reenactment: hanging with both arms tied horizontally

By the time Ms. Zhu was taken to Yangi Detention Center on the third day, she had lost the ability to walk and was dragged to her cell. She went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was force fed on September 8.

Torture Reenactment: Brutal Forced Feeding

Ms. Zhu was given another three years in Heizuizi Women’s Labor Camp. The guards refused to admit her because she was dying. They brought her to her son, who was studying at Changchun University, and ran away. She returned home with her son on September 17.

Brutally Tortured in Heizuizi Women’s Labor Camp Again

Although Ms. Zhu recovered quickly after she was released, she was arrested again on November 4, 2003 after the police found her doing Falun Gong exercises in the same plaza. She was taken to Heizuizi Women’s Labor Camp the following day.

In the labor camp, Ms. Zui refused to give up Falun Gong. She was subjected to various torture again, including beating, electric shocks, lockup in an isolation unit, tied to the “death bed” torture device, and force feeding.

On one occasion, Ms. Zhu went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. She was tied to a bed for 45 days, including 5 days on the death bed. She was brutally force fed, during which several of her teeth were broken by the pliers that were used to force open her mouth. She was shocked with several electric batons simultaneously. She also lost a tooth from being kicked in the face.

Torture reenactment: death bed

The guards also dragged Ms. Zhu on the cement floor, which resulted in severe bleeding on the buttocks and the back. After 13 months of torture, Ms. Zhu was released on December 3, 2004.

More Arrests

Ms. Zhu has been arrested more than 30 times between 2005 and 2011 for doing Falun Gong exercises and putting up Falun Gong banners at the Jindalai Plaza. 

In 2005, she was arrested six times and detained for a total of 21 days. The breakdown included 7 days between April 11 and 18, 4 days between May 4 and 8, 3 days between July 8 and 11, and 7 days in August. She was brutally tortured during the detention. 

On May 11, she was taken to a mental hospital and held there for 7 days. She was tied in bed and force fed and injected with unknown drugs. 

Torture reenactment: drug administration

In 2006, Ms. Zhu was arrested five times and detained for a total of 28 days. She was arrested on February 9 for handing out Falun Gong materials and released on the same day. On August 23, she was also arrested and released on the same day. She was detained for three days during a local expo from August 28 to September 1. On one occasion, Ms. Zhu was detained from September 8 to September 30 and then given a two-year labor camp term. But the labor camp refused to accept her. Ms. Zhu was again arrested on October 9 and released on the same day.

After 2006, there were dozens of arrests that took place at the Jindalai Plaza. Some known dates of the arrests included June 7, 2008, November 8, 2008, and April 7, 2011. 

Ms. Zhu was also arrested on March 12, 2010 when she was telling people the facts about Falun Gong. 

On March 3, 2011, she was taken to the mental hospital for seven days and injected with a lot of unknown drugs.

Persecuted in Brainwashing Center

On March 31, 2011, police officer Zheng Zhezhu grabbed Ms. Zhu by her hair and dragged her all the way to the brainwashing center from the Jindalai Plaza. This caused her knees to bleed. Although Ms. Zhu was detained only for a few days, the torture was so severe that she she became emaciated.

Torture reenactment: dragging on the ground

Ms. Zhu was arrested and taken to the brainwashing center for the third time on June 4, 2011. She continued doing Falun Gong exercises at the Jindalai Plaza after she was released. She was made to stand trial on June 13 and sentenced to four years on June 22. She was held in a brainwashing center between June 22 and 24, and taken to the Jilin Women’s Prison on July 5.

Tortured in Jilin Women’s Prison

Ms. Zhu narrated below the sufferings she has endured during her four years of imprisonment.

“As soon as I arrived at the prison, two inmates were assigned to closely watch me. I started a hunger strike to protest the persecution. In the afternoon, the inmates wrapped my palms and feet separately with plastic tape. They then put one end of a rope over the tape and tied the other end to the bed post of a bunk bed. I was hung in the air in a painful position with my hands and legs tied to the four corners.

Torture illustration: hanging by the wrists and ankles

“The torture resumed the following morning. As a result of the persecution, I felt extremely uncomfortable. My hands and legs were numb and twitched. I felt hopeless.

“After the hanging, the inmates tied me to the bed every day with hands and legs spread open and force fed me. 

“On July 16, I pulled the feeding tube off my nose. Four inmates thus hung me up in the air again. My wrists soon turned purple and became numb. I started to vomit green bile. When they finally put me down, I threw up the bile again and fainted.

“Later, two new inmates were assigned to watch me in the second half of July. Although they did not hit me, they tied me in various postures. They also tied me up tightly, especially at night. Sometimes, they tied my hands together behind my back for more than two hours. On one occasion, they crossed my hands and legs and then tied them to four bed posts for five nights.

“I was transferred to Building 411 in No. 8 Ward on July 23, 2013. I was brutally tortured every day by inmates, especially by an inmate named Zhang Yanmei. She often slapped me, hit me with sandals, and kicked my private part with hard shoes. 

“On March 29, 2014, I shouted ‘Falun Dafa is good!’ during the roll call. Some practitioners followed, shouting “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” I was thus handcuffed for 53 days. 

“On September 29, 2014, I demanded to do the Falun Gong exercises, only to be forced to wear handcuffs daily from this day on until I was released on June 14, 2015. Every day, the handcuffs were removed three times.”

Incarcerated for the Second Time in Jilin Women’s Prison

On March 3, 2016, Ms. Zhu was arrested and taken to the brainwashing center by officers from Yangi City Police Department. She was placed under house arrest for six months on March 22. 

Ms. Zhu was tried by the Yangi City Court on April 7, 2017 and sentenced to four years. She was taken to Yangji Detention Center on May 9 and then to Jilin Women’s Prison on May 11. 

Related report:

Two Jilin Residents Sentenced to Prison After Court Dismisses Their Case

Perpetrators’ contact information:An Tongyu (安彤宇), warden of Jilin Women’s Prison: 086-431-85375001Wei Lihui (魏丽慧), deputy warden, Jilin Women’s Prison: +086-15312692195Qian Wei (钱伟), head of No. 8 Ward, Jilin Women’s Prison: +086-18504301922

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)