(Minghui.org) A resident of Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province, was tortured in Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison while serving a three-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Zhao Chunyang, 65, was a design engineer at the Qitaihe City 204 Exploration Team. She started practicing Falun Gong in 1999, and recovered from many of her illnesses, including femoral head osteonecrosis. She was known as being a good colleague and is a good daughter, wife, and mother.

Ms. Zhao was traveling on the bus on May 7, 2016, when five plainclothes police officers boarded the bus and dragged her out. They took her to the Taonan Police Station and interrogated her. They threatened to hit her if she refused to answer their questions. The police also ransacked her home and confiscated items worth 60,000 yuan.

The police continued to interrogate Ms. Zhao after she was taken to a local detention center. The police also worked with the detention center guards, trying to lure her into signing the documents. The daily necessities her family sent her were given to other detainees, who were also instigated by the guards to verbally abuse and humiliate Ms. Zhao.

Ms. Zhao was sentenced to three years in Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison on November 28, 2016. She appealed, but the higher court ruled to uphold her original verdict in April 2017.

Torture re-enactment: Sitting on a small stool

The prison guards ordered Ms. Zhao to watch brainwashing videos and made her sit on a small stool every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. With the stool already very small, the guards further ordered her to sit on half or one-third of the surface area, which was also uneven. The inmates monitoring her humiliated and verbally abused her at will.

Once, when Ms. Zhao refused to sign a statement renouncing Falun Gong, the prison guards incited four burly inmates to sit on her and hold down her head, hands, and legs. They then forcibly pressed her thumbprint on the statement.

Ms. Zhao was monitored when eating, sleeping, and using the restroom. She was not allowed to communicate with other practitioners and could not close her eyes when sitting on the bed, or the inmates would accuse her of doing Falun Gong meditation.

The Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison is notorious for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. According to available statistics, at least 31 practitioners died after being tortured here, and at least 90 percent of the practitioners who were detained there were injured after being tortured.

Related reports:

Higher Court Upholds Guilty Verdict Against Woman Sentenced for Her Faith

Recent Persecution Deaths of Falun Gong Practitioners in Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison