The authorities released her on medical bail only after receiving a signed statement they would not be held responsible for her treatment or condition.
Mr Li developed suffered severe mental and physical problems after torture early in his imprisonment beginning in 2001. He was nevertheless continuously imprisoned until July, 2008 without treatment. His family is trying to help him cope with conditions such as brain atrophy.
Ms. Chen Huijun, Brutally Beaten by Police, Is in Critical Condition
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Chen Huijun from Zhanli Village, Zhanlong Town in Puning City, Guangdong Province, was brutally beaten by police officers and is in critical condition. On August 4, 2008, after overcoming numerous difficulties, her family picked up Ms. Chen and brought her back home. Her condition remains unstable and her doctor has said that her life is in danger.
During this process, the agencies involved required the family to sign a statement releasing them from any responsibility for Ms. Chen's condition. In order to rescue Ms. Chen, the family unwillingly agreed to their requirement.
Ms. Chen was clarifying the truth in Guiyu Town on the night of February 7, 2008 when a police officer came to investigate her. When he found out Ms. Chen was a Falun Gong practitioner, he punched and kicked her, but Ms. Chen still tried to clarify the truth to him. The police officer did not listen and called the local 610 Office. The person who picked up the call possibly did not understand him and hung up. The officer got very angry and beat Ms. Chen even more brutally. He pushed Ms. Chen to the ground and she immediately lost consciousness.
The police officer dragged Ms. Chen to his vehicle and took her to the Guyu Police Station. When she woke up, she found there was blood all around her face. She was in unbearable pain and could barely speak. The officers saw that Ms. Chen was severely injured and were afraid that she would die at the police station. They did not want to take any responsibility so they took her to the Chaoyang Detention Center at approximately 2:00 a.m. on the same night. When the guards at the detention center saw Ms. Chen they did not want to accept her. The police from the station lied to them saying that Ms. Chen was just pretending to be sick, and forced the guards at the detention center to accept her.
On the second day there was blood in Ms. Chen's urine. On the third day, she could not eat and she was frequently vomiting up blood clots. Some clots were red and some were black. She could not walk or stand up. The guards were afraid of taking responsibility for her condition and required the police from the station to take her back for medical treatment.
Ten days later, police officers from the Guiyu Station picked Ms. Chen up and took her to a local hospital for a physical exam. After the exam, the doctor said Ms. Chen should stay in the hospital and receive treatment. Ms. Chen recalled that there were many Falun Gong practitioners who were forcefully injected with some unknown drugs when they were in the hospital while they were detained. After being injected with unknown drugs, some practitioners had symptoms of mental disorders. Ms. Chen did not want to stay in the hospital and asked to go back home, but the officers refused. The family learned of Ms. Chen's situation and went to the police station to ask for her release, but the police would not discuss it with them and threatened to arrest the family.
On April 15, 2008, with faked physical exam paperwork and a fake record of her illnesses, police from the Guiyu Station and other community agents took Ms. Chen from the Chaoyang Detention Center to the Sanshui Women's Forced Labor Camp. Ms. Chen was secretly sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor.
Guards from the Sanshui Women's Forced Labor Camp believed the police officers' lies that Ms. Chen was pretending to be sick, so they could receive a bonus from the police officers for agreeing to accept Ms. Chen. Ms. Chen, however, could not even take care of herself due to her condition.
As soon as she entered the labor camp, the guards ordered four drug users to frighten and beat Ms. Chen. The guards later found that Ms. Chen was not pretending to be sick. They sent her for a physical exam at a local hospital. They found that, in addition to high blood pressure and increased number of white blood cells and anemia, Ms. Chen had a very serious disc dislocation and related compression neuralgia. The doctor said that her condition was hard to treat and she could be disabled at anytime. The labor camp officials were afraid of taking responsibility and called Ms. Chen's family at the end of July. They required the family to apply for her release on bail for medical treatment.
Mr. Li Zhifa Suffers a Mental Breakdown During Persecution
Mr. Li Zhifa, 61, is a resident of Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, and a man of good reputation. Because of practicing Falun Gong, he was persecuted. He suffered a mental breakdown during seven years of imprisonment.
On July 27, 2001, Mr. Li Zhifa was arrested by the city police while using a pay phone in the 2nd Hospital of Cangzhou City. During Mr. Li's two-week detention, the police handcuffed his hands and legs to an iron chair, deprived him of sleep, and took turns interrogating him. The police beat him, and shocked him using electric batons. They poured water on him first, then shocked his body, his handcuffs, and his private parts. They hit his head with a mallet daily.
The brutal torture caused Mr. Li to become mentally disordered. He began to hurt himself, bite his own arms, and hit himself on the head. Even though he was in such a pitiful state, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members did not leave him alone. They transferred him to the Cangzhou City No.1 Detention Center. The officers from the domestic security section and the Yunhe Police Department interrogated him many times. His wrists were mangled from being handcuffed behind his back daily in the detention center.
On August 16, 2002, Yunhe District Court sentenced Mr. Li Zhifa to seven years in prison. This is someone who had had a mental breakdown and had lost the ability to take care of himself. Mr. Li was so weak after all his suffering that he had to be carried into the courtroom.
In September 2002, Mr. Li was transferred to the 4th Detachment of Jidong Prison in Tangshan City. There he was no longer physically tortured, but the guards kept trying to coerce him to "transform" (renounce his faith in Falun Gong).
During his years in the prison, his health was unstable. But by the end of 2006, his health had deteriorated noticeably. His body twitched, his face lost color, and his limbs contracted and were as cold as ice. He would break out in cold sweats. The guards had to send him to the 4th section hospital. They would not let his family visit.
Mr. Li's mother was in her 80s at the time. She had not seen her son for seven years. Worrying that the worst might happen to her son, she left home without others noticing. Her journey took her 130 miles from Cangzhou City to Tangshan City, 27 miles from Tangshan City to the Jidong Prison, and 19 miles from the prison headquarters to the 4th section hospital. Without sleep she transferred from train to bus, bus to taxi, to get to her son. But the guards at the hospital did not let her see him no matter how she begged. She cried all the way home.
After his family had made many such requests, the prison agreed to either reduce his prison term or release him for medical reasons. Tangshan City Middle Court got the request and sent an officer to interview him. When asked his views on Falun Gong, Mr. Li said, "If Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance is not good, what could be good in the world?" The officer got angry, "You have not been 'transformed' yet." The officer complained to the prison section, and the effort to have his sentence reduced failed.
On July 4, 2008, Mr. Li, who had by then developed high blood pressure and brain atrophy and had had a cerebral infraction and a seizure in prison, was released for medical reasons by the Hebei Province Prison Bureau. It was 23 days before the end of his full prison term. Bo Town 610 Office personnel instructed Waliwang Township Police Station officers to call his family and check on his whereabouts over and over again. The officers even went to Cangzhou City and demanded to see Mr. Li in person. His family was afraid that he would be persecuted yet again, so they hid him and refused to let them see him.
Mr. Li's health is still poor. He often has the same symptoms: his body twitches, his face loses color, his limbs contract and are as cold as ice. He says that there is something wrong with his brain. He has no strength, and he cannot find his way home when he goes out. He used to write calligraphy, but now even cannot remember the characters. A perfectly healthy person was destroyed by the persecution.