(Minghui.org) A 51-year-old resident of Changchun City, Jilin Province was recently sentenced to a four-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong. She has appealed the verdict, and her family received a text message from the court on March 2, 2021, informing them that they would receive the result of her appeal case by May 6.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Wang Yujie was arrested on March 6, 2020, for talking to people about the persecution of Falun Gong. The police took her to a police station, and then ransacked her home. They confiscated her Falun Gong books, an audio player, all of her cash, and keepsakes which had information about Falun Gong on them.

Ms. Wang was held in the police station for more than 12 hours before being released. She was threatened with a prison sentence.

On the morning of July 20, three police officers dashed into the supermarket managed by Ms. Wang's family and searched for the money box without a word.

While Ms. Wang avoided the arrest back then by slipping out the back door, she was arrested in the afternoon on the street and has since been held at the Changchun City No. 4 Detention Center.

Detained and Tortured Three Times

Ms. Wang started practicing Falun Gong in 1993. Since the persecution started, she has been arrested and detained three times in a police station, detention center, and Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp where she was tortured and forced to do unpaid labor.

16 Days of Detention for Going to Beijing to Appeal

Ms. Wang went to Beijing in early December 2000, to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. A group of police officers pinned her to the ground and stepped on her after she held up a banner at Tiananmen Square. She was then dragged into the police vehicle. The police continued to step on her and kick her temples.

Torture illustration: Beatings

Ms. Wang was taken to the Zhanqian Police Station in Beijing. There, all of the Falun Gong practitioners arrested for appealing for Falun Gong were ordered to stand in a line while the police slapped their faces and asked for their names and addresses. Those who refused to answer were sent to other police stations. Ms. Wang was transferred to the Haiding Police Station.

Ms. Wang was later taken to the Haiding Youth Detention Center where she was beaten and had her hair pulled. After eleven days, she was transferred to a prison in Hebei Province and imprisoned for five days before being released.

Hunger Strike for 13 Days

More than 5,000 practitioners in Changchun City were arrested after practitioners in the city intercepted local TV signals on March 5, 2003, and played video clips that debunked the communist regime’s propaganda against Falun Gong. Ms. Wang was walking on the street when she was arrested by two plainclothes police officers and taken to Sandaojie Police Station.

The practitioners were taken to the Tiebei Justice Bureau Building and detained on the first and second floor. Many local residents who didn’t practice Falun Gong were also arrested, including a very pregnant woman and a breastfeeding mother. They cried out in fear. Some were so frightened that they wet their pants.

The police started interrogating everyone the next day. When Ms. Wang refused to reveal her name and home address, the police kicked her in the stomach. The officers beat a practitioner's legs with a stool until she was bleeding and unable to walk on her own.

No matter how the police exerted violence, Ms. Wang refused to cooperate, and she started a group hunger strike along with some other practitioners. On the tenth day of the hunger strike, the police started injecting glucose into her. The doctors and nurses from Kaixuan Mental Hospital cooperated with the police to give injections and force-feed the practitioners. They inserted a speculum into the practitioner's mouth to open it before pouring in corn paste with salt. Some practitioners’ teeth were knocked off, causing bleeding.

The police wanted to inject Ms. Wang with glucose the second day, but she pulled her arm back. The repeated injections caused her arms to become bloody.

Torture re-enactment: Using a mouth-opener for force-feeding

Her brother-in-law finally learned her whereabouts on the eleventh day. He choked upon seeing how Ms. Wang had been persecuted. When her family came to pick her up on the thirteenth day, the police wanted Ms. Wang to write a guarantee statement, but she refused, and instructed her family not to write it on her behalf. She was released without writing the statement.

Imprisoned at the Forced Labor Camp

Ms. Wang was arrested on the third night after returning home. She was first detained at Shuangyang Detention Center for a month before being sent to Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp for a year.

Newly admitted practitioners were not allowed to shower or wash their clothes for their first three months in the labor camp. They were also prohibited from talking to each other. If they talked or glanced at one another, they were slapped in the face or kicked.

After three months, the practitioners were forced to work by folding origami. Those who were unable to finish the assigned tasks were punished and beaten. Because Ms. Wang crossed her legs while working, an inmate forcefully stomped on her legs, causing Ms. Wang to limp when walking.

During each month’s “thought report,” Ms. Wang told the authorities about Falun Gong and signed her name as “Falun Gong practitioner.” An inmate then grabbed her by the hair and banged her head against the wall. Another officer stood at the side with his fist clenched and used his middle finger joint to push on her throat. If Ms. Wang refused to comply, she would be forced to work.

Torture illustration: Beaten and head banged against the wall

When Ms. Wang sat on the ground to work, an inmate kicked her, causing her to fall over. The inmate then laughed out loud at her, and said she deserved it.

During June and July 2002, the labor camp started torturing practitioners who refused to be transformed. One day, after Ms. Wang was tripped by an inmate, other inmates came up and pinned her arms and legs. They wanted Ms. Wang to press her thumbprint on a statement that was written in advance to renounce Falun Gong.

Ms. Wang was beaten when she refused to cooperate. She didn’t press her fingerprint or sign the document after struggling for a long time. Seeing that the document was not signed, the inmates shocked Ms. Wang’s chest and neck with an electric baton.

Ms. Wang was released on April 10, 2003 after being held at the forced labor camp for a year and ten days.