After Two Labor Camp Terms, Sichuan Woman Sentenced to Seven Years for Her Faith
(Minghui.org) A Chengdu City, Sichuan Province resident was sentenced to seven years on June 28, 2022, by the Xindu District Court for practicing Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Yun, in her 50s, was arrested on April 25, 2021, as she returned home after work. Another five practitioners were arrested weeks later on May 12 and sentenced together with Ms. Li. Among them, Ms. Zhang Xunjun was sentenced to ten years, and Ms. Liu Guohua and Mr. Huang Huaizhou were given five and three years, respectively. Ms. Xie Shiying and Ms. Zhou Yuxiu’s verdicts are unknown.
Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Li has been repeatedly targeted since 1999 for upholding her faith.
She was first arrested in May 2000 and detained for 15 days when she went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She returned to Beijing in July 2000, only to be arrested again and detained for 45 days.
Ms. Li’s next arrest was in November 2000. The 3,000 yuan cash she had was confiscated by the police. She was tortured during the seven days at a detention center and then taken to a brainwashing center. She held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was force-fed. Her home was also ransacked and the valuables were taken away.
Ms. Li was arrested again in 2001 and given one year at Sichuan Province Women’s Forced Labor Camp. When her term expired, the police held her at a detention center and then a brainwashing center for three months.
Not long after she was released, Ms. Li was arrested one more time on July 22, 2002, and later given another labor camp term.
She recalled that the labor camp guards used all kinds of torture methods on Falun Gong practitioners who refused to renounce their faith, including constant beating, verbal abuse, and force-feeding, especially with concentrated saline water. Sometimes the guards forced the practitioners to drink an excessive amount of water, but without allowing them to use the restroom. The guards also forced the practitioners to sit in the double-lotus position and then tie them up for as long as 20 hours. When the practitioners screamed due to the pain, the guards stuffed dirty towels into their mouths.
Ms. Li was once forced to stand outdoors during the freezing winter every day for a month. Her feet were frostbitten. They became so swollen that she couldn’t fit into her shoes.
Torture illustration: tied up in a double-lotus position
Ms. Li was arrested again on July 27, 2005, and held at the Xindu District Detention Center.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Sun Zenhui (孙泽晖), president of Xindu District Procuratorate: +86-13908011161Zhou Bin (周斌), president of Xindu District Court: +86-13981962496Huang Shuo (黄朔), secretary of Xindu District Political and Legal Affairs Committee
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)