(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Wang Xiangchen, 64, and his wife, Ms. Luo Xinping, of Yinchuan City have been persecuted numerous times since the Chinese Communist Party started its suppression of Falun Gong in July 1999.
Mr. Wang, a former employee at Ningxia Yinchuan Public Transport Co., Ltd., was detained five times, had his house ransacked eight times, and was sent to a labor camp for two years.
The local police harassed him in March and May 2017. Ms. Luo was sentenced to four years of imprisonment and is currently incarcerated at Ningxia Women's Prison.
Mr. Wang had severe gastrointestinal and heart diseases in the past. After he started to practice Falun Gong in August 1998, his health improved, and he did his best to live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. After Ms. Luo learned Falun Gong, her migraine was cured, and she had a better temperament.
The following is a summary of Mr. Wang's personal account of his ordeals.
First Arrest and Detention
On March 25, 2008, I was arrested by Wang Jun of the patrol unit of Kaifa District in Yinchuan City after being reported by someone while telling people about Falun Gong. Wang injured my chest and ribs, and it took one year for me to recover.
I was later detained for 15 days.
Second Arrest and Brainwashing Center
On a day in August 2008, eight officers from the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, police department, and 610 Office showed up where I worked, arrested me, and took me to the brainwashing center at the Ningxia Fire Brigade. I was detained for over a month.
During this time, two people took turns to watch me 24/7, including when I ate or used the restroom. 610 Office staffer Wang Man talked to me twice and tried to “transform” me.
Personal Belongings Confiscated with Third Arrest
One night in August 2009, I met a person at the market and told him about Falun Gong; I only knew that he was a plainclothes policeman. He called his two partners over, arrested me, and took me to the Xining District police station.
Inside the duty room at the second level, three policemen each shouted and swore at me while holding a baton. They hit me so hard I fell down. When I couldn't get up, they became afraid and helped me to the first level. Then they searched me and took my watch and money before releasing me.
It took a long time for my injuries to heal.
Fourth Arrest and Forced Labor Camp
On April 16, 2010, I was arrested for telling people about Falun Gong at Xining Park. Students reported me to the police. My hands were cuffed behind my back.
That night, Zhang Anzhong, Wang Shiyuan, and another officer from the police department took me back to my home to conduct a search. Wang fished out my house keys from my pocket and went upstairs to open the door. The sight of a stranger entering the home scared my wife and son.
Zhang and another officer then dragged me up the stairs by pulling at my cuffs, repeatedly knocking me against the wall. When I shouted for my neighbors to come out and witness the arrest, Zhang hit my head.
Torture re-enactment: Hands cuffed behind the back
My printer and over 2,000 yuan in cash were confiscated that night before I was taken to the Yinchuan Detention Center.
When I returned home, I learned that Wang had gone back to my house the next day and confiscated my desktop computer. Wang returned the key to my wife before he left.
I was taken to a room in the Yinchuan City Detention Center, which housed murderers, robbers, rapists, and drug traffickers. Half the room was occupied by the cell leader and four thugs. The remaining ten people in the room had to sleep on their sides.
At the detention center, I was forced to pack a huge number of lighters for more than 10 hours a day. After work, I would often be beaten or cursed at by the inmates and not allowed to sleep. Four officers also took turns to interrogate me, making me extremely exhausted mentally and physically.
Three officers took me to Ningxia First Labor Camp (now named Ningxia First Drug Rehabilitation Center) on May 7, 2010. I learned only before I was sent in that I had been sentenced to two years in the labor camp.
“Training Class”
At the labor camp, I was locked in with criminal inmates who had just arrived. Every day, the guards held a “training class” that included reading and memorizing rules, as well as singing. From time to time, the guards would use their electric batons to beat and shock the inmates. They also appointed gangsters as “directors” and “squad leaders.”
A “training class” would be held every few days or if the head guard got angry with inmates who did not finish their work, refused to comply with the guards, or did not memorize the “rules” in time. They would be told to line up, and the gangsters then slapped and punched the inmates.
Once, when I was a little slow in lining up, a gangster came and punched my chest twice.
“Strict Control Class”
I was imprisoned in a newly set up “strict control class” used to intensify the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Five drug addicts watched me around the clock, and my movements were restricted.
A few months later, I was forced to do hard labor. When I returned to the room, the inmates did a body search on me. I was told this was required by squad leader Wei Xinsheng. I refused to cooperate.
The labor camp was afraid that the inmates might hide weapons to harm themselves or use pencils to write notes. Wei feared that I was hiding articles written by Master Li Hongzhi (the founder of Falun Gong) and often gave surprise checks. All my things were thrown on the ground by the time the checks were finished.
Once, I picked up a dozen blades and handed them over to the inmates, which frightened them.
Whenever I tried to rest, Wei would arrange for someone to “talk” to me until midnight. He also threatened the criminal inmates with punishment if they did not actively persecute me.
One morning, I wanted to relax my legs and held my legs down. The inmates thought I was doing the Falun Gong exercises and reported it to Wei. Without explanation, Wei and four inmates dragged me to the room next door and made me sit on the “tiger bench.” I struggled and knocked the tiger bench to the ground. In his rage, Wei shocked me with an electric baton.
Tiger bench
Afterwards, I asked the squad leader to meet the person in charge of the labor camp, but I did not hear anything for over a month. Wei later told me that they could use electric batons and the iron chair legally.
When I had a fever one day and could not get up, Wei instructed the inmates to pull me to the meeting room so he could swear at me. I explained that I had a fever and asked him to use reason instead of swearing. Wei told the inmates to bring me back to the room before he came in with an electric baton. At this moment, the squad leader came and took the baton away.
“Transformation”
After Wei came back from his training, he organized a meeting and told the inmates to take me into a classroom, where Wei then searched my body and threw my belongings to the ground.
I was forced to sit on a stool and made to watch news that slandered Falun Gong. After that, I was taken to the classroom to watch the news and made to sit on the “small stool” from afternoon to midnight for a few days. Whenever I closed my eyes, the inmates would shake me.
After one month, I was in a daze, and my buttocks festered. I could not walk and had to lean on the wall to get to the restroom.
One morning, Wei announced that he had arranged for three infamous drug addicts to be my squad leaders. They immediately announced that I had to move to the upper bunk and let the younger inmate sleep on the lower deck. At the time, I couldn't walk, much less climb onto the upper bunk.
I felt I had no choice left and was very depressed when I returned to the cell. Without saying a word, I gave all my food to an inmate, who treated me slightly better. My behavior raised the inmate's suspicions, and he quietly reported it to the guards.
Wei and another guard then came to talk to me and “transform” me, saying I could go home earlier if I renounced my faith. Extremely desperate, I went against my will and “transformed.”
When I returned home, I immediately wrote a solemn declaration nullifying my statement.
While I was detained, symptoms of a serious heart condition appeared; two of my teeth fell out, and the rest became loose. Most of my teeth fell out later. My weight dropped drastically, and I became weak. I could also see a lot of dandruff on my clothes.
During my time at the labor camp, my employer came and terminated my contract with them. My mother also passed away.
Fifth Arrest and Detention
In April 2014, my wife and I were giving out a website address for circumventing internet censorship when a plainclothes policeman arrested us. We were detained for 12 days.
Related reports:
Two Women Illegally Detained for Two Weeks for Practicing Falun GongAfter Years in Prisons and Labor Camps, Ms. Mo Huiping Is Once Again ArrestedMs. Luo Xinping Illegally TriedIntermediate Court Upholds Ningxia Woman's Four-Year Prison Sentence
