Blinded from Torture, Yunnan Woman Sentenced to Seven Years for Her Faith

Ms. Yang, 54, had suffered from eye disease when she was little. She worked at Kunming Medical University starting in 1984. Her eyes recovered completely after she learned Falun Dafa.

Because she refused to renounce her faith after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution in 1999, she was forced to have an abortion, and her husband divorced her out of fear for the CCP’s retaliation. She was given two forced labor camp terms between 2001 and 2008 for a total of 5 years. Her eyes were injured from the beatings, and she went completely blind in 2012.

 

Most Recent Persecution

Admitted to Detention Centre Despite Failed Physical Exam

Officers from Zongshuying Police Station knocked on Ms. Yang’s door on May 28, 2022. She did not open the door for them, and the officers pried the door open. They handcuffed her and searched the place without a warrant. They confiscated her jewelry, other personal belongings and 16,000 yuan in cash. At the police station, the officers forced her to sit in a metal chair all night without giving her food, water or letting her go to the restroom. They also taped her mouth shut, but had to remove it when she had trouble breathing.

The next day, the police took her to Xinhua Hospital for a physical exam, in preparation for sending her to the detention center. Her left eye hit the ground and the wound bled.

At the hospital, while the male officers held her in the bed, the doctor took off her shirt and pants, and performed the exam. Her test results showed that she was unfit for detention, but the officers took her back to the police station instead of releasing her.

On the following day the officers covered her head and took her to Kunming City Detention Centre. Her handcuffs and shackles were too tight and cut into her flesh, leaving permanent scars. The guards at the detention centre refused to take her because of her health problems. The officers took her back to the station and released her on the evening of May 30.

From the moment she was arrested to when she was released, the police kept her handcuffed the entire time. They also failed to provide her with anything to eat or drink, or allow her to use the toilet once. The officer who took her home told her that she was released on bail, but she was not given any official document. The police took 2,000 yuan out of the 16,000 yuan in cash they confiscated to pay for her bail bond. They gave her jewelry back but never returned her other belongings, or fix the door they broke.

Baseless Interrogation and Indictment

Six months after her release, four officers from Zongshuying Police Station took Ms. Yang to Xinhua Hospital on November 16, 2022 for a COVID-19 test. Her hands were cuffed behind her back the entire time. The police then took her to Xishan District Procuratorate and interrogated her without introducing themselves. She remained silent to the questions.

The police returned in early December 2022 to deliver her indictment by prosecutor Zhang Jianwen of the Xishan District Procuratorate. A month later in January 2023, the police delivered a court subpoena and informed her that her case would be heard on February 1, 2023 by the Xishan District Court.

Forces to Stand Trial and Sentenced

The police showed up at Ms. Yang’s home on February 1, 2023 to take her to the courthouse for the hearing. She refused to open the door for them. Shortly after, she began to hear drilling and banging sounds. Then the officers broke the lock and charged in. They ordered her to go to the courthouse for the hearing. She refused to comply. The officers carried her by her limbs and threw her into the police vehicle. When they arrived at the courthouse, the officers put her in a wheelchair and pushed her inside.

Ms. Yang refused to accept the court-appointed lawyer, who was instructed to enter a guilty plea for her. The judge rushed through the procedure and adjourned the session. The police took her home, still refusing to repair her broken lock.

Judge Zhu Dandan announced on March 2 to sentence Ms. Yang to seven years with a 20,000-yuan fine. She was charged of violating the Article 300 of Criminal Law and “using cult organization to sabotage law enforcement.”

Complaint against the Police

Ms. Yang filed a complaint against Wang Yun, the director of Zongshuying Police Station, because his subordinates twice broke her door, illegally arrested her and ransacked her home. She demanded the following in her complaint:

1. The prosecutor should file a case and investigate the accused, Wang Yun, for crimes of trespassing on a citizen’s private residence, illegal search, illegal detention, robbery, coercing confession by torture, abuse of power, and abusing the law for personal gain.

2. The accused must return all personal property that he illegally seized.

3. The accused must compensate the accuser financially for breaking her locks twice.

 

Ms. Yang’s Accounts on Previous Persecution

The following is Ms. Yang’s account of how her practice of Falun Dafa improved her physical and mental fitness, and how much she has suffered in the past 24 years.

*****

Since little, I suffered from eye disease, constant fever, and rheumatoid arthritis. I stopped going to school after I finished elementary school. I started working in the division of General Affairs in Kunming Medical University in December 1993, mostly involved in distributing milk to university employees.

I took up Falun Dafa in 1995. By reading the books and doing the exercises, I understood many of my lifelong questions, and I had my full eyesight back. I could even read the small annotations in a dictionary. My arthritis went away as well. I felt more energetic and peaceful than ever.

After I got married in 1998, I led my life according to the Falun Dafa teachings, and my family lived a harmonious life. I persuaded my husband to let his younger brother, who got married but did not own a house, to live in a property of his. I respected my in-laws, and got along with my neighbors.

I had two chances to work comfortably and make more money, but I refused to do so because it was against my belief. One time the university general affairs built a small house at a remote spot, from which I could give out milk. This way I did not have to work outdoors, and could extend my work hours. However I did not want to inconvenience my customers and make them come all the way to get their milk. I continued to distribute milk at the school’s front entrance, rain or shine.

Another time the brand of milk I represented gradually lost its market, and seeing that I had years of experience and a big customer base, the manager of a competing company offered a fat salary for me to switch to his milk. I turned down the offer because I had worked with the same company for a long time, and did not want to betray its trust for me.

Forced Abortion, Detention, and Divorce for Not Renouncing Falun Dafa

After the persecution of Falun Dafa started on July 20, 1999, I told my coworkers and supervisors about the brutal persecution and exposed the CCP’s propaganda. The school set up a special team, with my then supervisor Qin Deyong being a member, to persecute me. They forced me to slander the practice and the founder, and give up practicing. When I denied the request, they threatened to suspend my father’s pension and take away my husband’s job. They made my elderly father kneel in front of me and beg for me to give up my faith.

Two weeks after I was confirmed to be pregnant, Qin ordered my husband’s supervisor to tell him that if I did not abort the baby, he’d lose his CCP membership and be fired. Fearful of being implicated, my husband took me to a hospital and had me abort the fetus on January 7, 2000.

The police arrested me on February 24, 2000 when I visited a friend, and detained me in the university overnight. The next day a supervisor at school asked me if I still practiced Falun Dafa, I told him that I did nothing wrong and should not be treated that way. They sent me to a detention center for 15 days for “disturbing social order.”

At the detention centre I had to pick chili peppers all day long and could not rest if I did not finish the job. I also had to pay six yuan each day for the food. They later transferred me to a police training centre for six more days, and charged my family 100 yuan per day for expenses. My husband proposed a divorce, as he could not take the pressure anymore. The persecution had made me lose my husband and child.

One day Qin ordered me to go to the university, and he took the opportunity to ransack my place, and confiscated my Falun Dafa literature. My father was home by himself and felt insulted and terrified. Blaming me for causing his suffering, he rushed to the university and beat me.

Two Years Forced Labor Camp and Extortion

An officer from Wuhua Police Department Domestic Security Office arrested me on December 29, 2001 and ransacked my place. I was detained in Wuhua Detention Centre for a month before being transferred to Yunnan Province Women’s Forced Labor Camp for two years. The university told my father to pay 18,024 yuan so that they could still keep my continuous working record during my time in the labor camp. It turned out to be a lie, and the school only refunded 5,000 yuan when I complained.

The labor camp guards tortured and brainwashed me. After a year and a half, I was released in 2003 to serve the remaining six months outside. When I went back to work, the school only paid me 66.14 yuan (less than US$10) per month.

Three Years of Torture in Drug Rehabilitation Forced Labor Camp

The head of the CCP office in the university came to me at work with two plainclothes officers on February 1, 2005 and ordered me to sign a notice of a three-year forced labor term for “disturbing social order.” After I refused to sign, the two officers beat me and took me to Kunming City Drug Rehabilitation Forced Labor Camp.

For the three years in the labor camp, because I refused to renounce Falun Dafa, the guards shocked me with electric batons, force fed me, sexually assaulted me, deprived me of sleep, and viciously beat me. My eyes were damaged and my legs and back were injured as a result.

Sometimes I had to stand still for 17 hours every day for several consecutive days. One evening the guards instigated other detainees to physically assault me. They kicked me and my head smashed again the concrete ground. After that my eyes hurt and could not open. I lost my left eyesight, and my right eyesight became blurry. By 2012 I became completely blind.

The university personnel office sent me a notice at the end of December 2005 while I was still in the labor camp, telling me that I was fired.

Two drug addicts beat me. I was hurt badly and had several stitches on May 1, 2006. I went on a hunger strike to protest the violence against me. Instead of addressing my issues, the authorities retaliated against me. The head of the training section many times tied my hands and kicked me in the groin area, resulting in severe swelling in my lower abdomen and loss of menstrual period for months. A guard shocked me with an electric baton, and my palms were swollen for a month. They also force fed me with a concentrated saline solution.

I was released in March 2008. Without a job, I had to depend on the little pension income of my father, who was nearly 80 years old at the time. He asked the community to arrange a job for me, but not long after I began to work as a janitor in the university, I became blind and couldn’t work anymore.

Lawsuit to Get Job Back Denied

I appealed to the Labor Dispute Arbitration Committee in Xishan District in 2012 to revoke the university’s decision to fire me. I wanted the university to reissue the wages withheld from me while I was in the labor camp, and refund the rest of the money they forced my father to pay, to include my term and my salary they suspended from me.

I also filed a lawsuit with Xishan District Court against the president of the university, Jiang Runsheng. The judge dismissed my case, saying that my case was a matter of internal administrative management and policy.

Chinese version available
(Clearwisdom)