(Minghui.org) Ms. Gao Qingdi is a Falun Gong practitioner who lived in Guiyang City. She did not return home from an outing on the morning of May 6, 2017. The next morning she was escorted by four police officers to her home. The police ransacked the home and then took her back to the police station.
After that day, her whereabouts were unknown for some time, although her family and friends left no stone unturned.
They finally found out that she was held at the Liannigou Brainwashing Center. This was the second time she was taken to the Liannigou Brainwashing Center in Jinzhu Town, Guiyang City.
Synopsis of Prior Persecution
After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong in July 1999, Ms. Gao refused to give up her faith and her efforts to dispel the propaganda against Falun Gong. She was arrested, detained in a detention center and brainwashing center, and her home was ransacked. Her family has been harassed because of the implication policy by the CCP.
May 2013: Arrested, Home Ransacked and Property Confiscated
Over 10 officers and agents from the Hebin Police Station, Shifulu Police Station and Boailu Resident Committee broke into Ms. Gao's home on Fuyi Road, Guiyang City on May 22, 2013.
The police did not show a search and seizure warrant before they ransacked her home. They confiscated her desktop computer, laptop, recorder, cell phone, CDs, MP5 players and everything related to Falun Gong. They also appropriated her bank card, more than 600 yuan in cash, gold and silver jewelry, old coins, basically anything of value. Everything, except for some clothing, was gone when she was released from detention.
At the Hebin Police Station, about eight people took turns interrogating her. Then, they went back to her house and ransacked it again, while Ms. Gao was taken to Nanming District Hospital for a physical examination. They took a blood sample at the hospital and at the police station. She was transferred to the Nanming District Detention Center in the early morning.
Mid-2013: Detained at the Nanming Detention Center for 36 days
On arrival at the Nanming Detention Center she was searched, and they took a photo of her. While at the center, Hebin police interrogated her three times. She refused to sign documents they tried to push on her.
There were 47 detainees in that cell. Two drug addicts were assigned to monitor her around the clock. Everything was recorded, including going to the restroom. She also was made to perform labor for more than 10 hours a day. For refusing to recite the prison regulations, she was made to clean the toilets and wash dishes.
Two televisions were kept on constantly, preventing her from sleeping. The food was substandard and grooming and hygiene needs were restricted to 10 minutes per day. There were also military drills.
Her case was rejected by the local procuratorate after 36 days of detention. However, she was given six months of house detention by the Nanmin District Police Department.
June 2013 to January 2017: Detained in Brainwashing Center
Upon release from the detention center, officers from the Hebin Police Station and Zhongdong Police Station, as well as two women from the Zhongdong Residential Committee, transferred her to the Lannigou Brainwashing Center.
Ms. Gao was detained in the Lannigou Brainwashing Center from June 28, 2013, to January 27, 2014.
Two detainees were assigned to monitor her. She was not allowed to speak to anyone, and the lights were on all night, resulting in sleep deprivation. Given the substandard food and mistreatment, she became emaciated, and her hair turned white.
Staff demanded that she write the guarantee statements, promising that she would give up Falun Gong. They threatened that she would not be released otherwise. Police from the domestic security division came to interrogate her on January 24, 2014. They threatened to confiscate her retirement income and give her long-term detention.
Ms. Gao was released on January 27, 2014, but police video taped her until she entered her home.
After her release, the local police and residential committee kept harassing her and withheld her retirement pay. She was monitored and her phone was tapped.
CCP Implication Policy
When Ms. Gao was detained in the brainwashing center, her sister and cousin went to her house to get her property. However, they were arrested and taken to the same brainwashing center where they were detained for more than six months.
Ms. Gao's mother had practiced Falun Gong before 1999, but she gave up her faith because officials threatened to stop her retirement pay.
Ms. Gao's older sister was fired a few months before her retirement became effective, because of not giving up Falun Gong. The two sisters had to live on their mother's pension, which was only 900 yuan per month.
