An account of the labor camp experience of Ms. Liu Hongzia before her release in October, 2007. At the beginning of her imprisonment she was told by an arresting officer, "In dealing with Falun Gong, we don't have to abide by the law." She discovered what this meant during her imprisonment.
The Persecution of Ms. Liu Hongxia in Jilin City, Jilin Province
Ms. Liu Hongxia began practicing Falun Gong in 1998 while she was living in Jilin City, Jilin Province. After she started practicing, she became healthy, happy, and energetic. She also came to the understanding that the real purpose for being human was to return to one's true self. After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, Ms. Liu was detained twice, and the CCP attempted to brainwash her three times because she refused to give up her belief.
On April 12, 2005, several police officers stormed into another practitioner's house where Ms. Liu and other practitioners were gathered. She escaped arrest with righteous thoughts, but the police grabbed her handbag with all her IDs and e-books. After this happened, she became homeless and destitute.
At around 10:00 a.m. on July 14, 2006, as Ms. Liu was selling her wares at the city's grocery wholesale market, a few plainclothes officers came to arrest her. They pushed her down to the ground and twisted her arms. She asked, "Why are you arresting me?" They didn't say anything because many people in the shopping center came forward to stop them and more and more people gathered around them. A businessman questioned, "Don't you people have any heart? Why are you taking advantage of a weak little woman? What did she do that is against the law?"
One of the arresters said, "You're not allowed to interfere with this. She's a murder suspect." Everyone in the crowd was shocked, so Ms. Liu Hongxia said, "I didn't kill anyone--they're lying." She kept struggling with them and they injured her. More and more onlookers tried to prevent her arrest. More officers were called into the shopping center and she was forced into a police vehicle and taken to Shanqian Police Station in Longtan District, Jilin City.
When they got to the station, Ms. Liu was thrown on top of a bed in the on-duty police office. By this time, she had lost all of her energy and was very tired from all the verbal abuse the police had hurled at her. In the afternoon, she was taken to another office but wasn't questioned. However, the police officer there had another person do the writing, and said, "In dealing with Falun Gong, we don't have to abide by the law. The crowd in the shopping center could have been all rounded up if they went too far interfering with official affairs. As for you, Ms. Liu Hongxia, if you cooperate a little better, you'll be detained only a few days. Otherwise, you'll be getting a month's detention."
At around 3:00 p.m., Ms. Liu was taken to Longtan District Police Branch and told to put a fingerprint on a document that claimed she had a large quantity of Falun Gong CDs and tapes. She rejected this allegation, saying, "I don't have that kind of stuff."
At around 5:00 p.m., she was transported to Jilin City Detention Center, where guards noticed that she wasn't able to walk normally and she was covered in bruises, so they gave her a physical exam. The results showed that her heart was a bit abnormal so they refused to admit her. Officers from Shanqian station had a "little talk" with them off site and when they returned, they forced Liu Hongxia to swallow a pill that caused her to lie down on the sofa for a while. At around 7:00 p.m., they had three inmates carry her to the cell upstairs where she was detained for a month.
On the morning of August 14, Ms. Liu was asked by the police from Shanqian Police Station and Longtan District Police Branch to sign a notice of release. They said, "Liu Hongxia, if you sign this, we'll release you and let you go home," to which Ms. Liu said, "I'll have to read it first." She moved the purported "Notice of Release" from the top and found a 15-month forced labor notice underneath. She asked, "On what grounds are you sending me to a labor camp?" and refused to sign it. However, the person from the sub-bureau said, "It's alright if she doesn't sign--handcuff her hands behind her back." Ms. Liu was then taken directly to Heizuizi Women's Forced Labor Camp.
In the labor camp, Ms. Liu was continually pressured by brigade captains Ren Feng and Liu Lianying, and guards Jia Hongyan and Liu Shuxia. They wanted her to write the so-called three statements, but she refused to cooperate with them, so she wasn't allowed to have a daily opportunity to wash up. On top of that, she was locked in a confined cell for 80 days straight and became infested with scabies. Her family members weren't permitted to see her even though they had to travel very far back and forth from Changchun City to Jilin City. The cotton clothing and cotton shoes that they had brought for Ms. Liu were withheld from her by the prison guards. She wasn't even allowed to buy things like sugar, beans, or canned salted vegetables.
On September 10, 2007, Ms. Liu Hongxia passed out in the restroom and she was carried back to her bed. According to the prison doctor, she had serious malnutrition, low blood pressure, and low glucose. Because she did not write a "prison diary," Ms. Liu was detained for two more days.