Former Finance Director Endures Two Decades of Persecution for Upholding Her Faith

(Minghui.org) For the past two decades, Ms. Ma Yulian, a former director of the Finance Department of Taishan City Officials’ Sanitarium in Shandong Province, has been repeatedly arrested, had her home ransacked, and been jailed and sent to a forced labor camp for refusing to renounce her faith in Falun Gong. She was also denied all employee benefits, including her pension and medical insurance.

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

Ms. Ma, 66, was harassed again on February 3, 2021. Yingsheng Police Station officers went to her home but she did not answer the door. She received a harassing call from the police the next day. Ms. Ma asked them what was wrong and if they were planning to reinstate her salary. They replied that they were not responsible for her salary. When she began to talk about the financial difficulties she was facing, they hung up.

Three officers from the Yingsheng Police Station went to Ms. Ma’s home again on the morning of February 7, 2021, when her daughter was there alone. They searched the place and photographed every room in the house.

Force-fed in Brainwashing Center, Fired from Job

Before Ms. Ma started to practice Falun Gong in August 1997, she had a brain tumor and her life was at risk. When there seemed to be no chance of recovery, she was introduced to Falun Gong. After she began to practice, the tumor rapidly disappeared. She strove to live by Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and became sincere and kind.

When the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong in July 1999, she was persecuted for remaining firm in her belief.

On September 5, 2001, Zhao Jianhua, the head of the sanatorium head where Ms. Ma worked, led the police to her home. They arrested her and took her to the “Legal Training Center” in Zibo City, Shandong Province, also known as Wangcun Brainwashing Center. “I want you to change your mind here,” Zhao told her.

Ms. Ma went on a hunger strike in the brainwashing center. More than ten male officers pinned her to the chair and force-fed her, making her nose bleed.

Torture illustration: Force-feeding

During the month-long brainwashing, she was also deprived of sleep and forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong.

After Ms. Ma was released, Zhao invited his acquaintances in the 610 Office out to dinner and attempted to press them to give Ms. Ma a forced labor camp term, but he didn’t succeed.

Zhao then removed Ms. Ma from her position and didn’t let her attend any work meetings. Ms. Ma suspected that Zhao was trying to cover up the financial irregularities and embezzlement he was involved in and used her faith as an excuse to divert attention from himself and defame her.

Interrogated for Six Days, Left to Freeze in Winter

On November 29, 2002, Ms. Ma was arrested and taken to the Feicheng Detention Center by Qi Keyin, vice captain of the Domestic Security Division of Taian Municipal Police Department; Zhu Zonghai, political instructor of the Anti-Cult Division of Taian Municipal Police Department; and Zhang Jixuan, Political and Security Section chief of the Taishan District Police Department.

The police also ransacked her home and took her cash, a deposit statement, payroll cards, jewelry, watches, and other items. Due to her arrest, her 87-year-old father was hospitalized and had no one to care for him.

Days later, Ms. Ma was transferred to a police compound. The police took her coat and kept her handcuffed and shackled. They did not let her eat or drink. When she used the restroom, several male officers surrounded her. They deprived her of sleep and interrogated her for six days.

Even when it snowed, the police didn’t let Ms. Ma wear her winter jacket. She shivered in the cold in only a thin layer of clothes. She felt dizzy and her body began to swell. Because of the swelling in her feet, she had great difficulty getting her shoes off. The officers also verbally humiliated her. Officer Yang Qiang said, “The goal of the torture is to make you feel you’d be better off dead than alive.”

Zhu, the political instructor of the Anti-Cult Division of Taian Municipal Police Department, was the main instigator in torturing Ms. Ma, although he pretended to be nice to her.

When Ms. Ma was being tortured, Zhu would come over and say to the officers, “Why did you do that? Remove the handcuffs and shackles and let her put on a coat.” Zhu used similar tricks on many other practitioners. When they trusted him, he would begin to slander Falun Gong and encourage them to renounce their faith.

Because Ms. Ma stayed firm in her faith and refused to provide information about other practitioners, the police took her back to the Feicheng City Detention Center. It was a long way from the gate to the cell, but they chained her hands and feet together so that she was bent over and had to walk that way to the cell. The pain in her wrists and ankles was excruciating.

Torture illustration: Handcuffed and shackled

A month later, on December 29, 2002, Ms. Ma was released and taken back to her workplace.

During the first week after Ms. Ma was arrested, Zhao gave orders for the suspension of her salary and other benefits and for the lock on her office to be changed. After she was released, Zhao formally revoked her position, dismissed her accountant title, and prohibited her from going to work for a year. He also warned that she wasn’t allowed to engage in accounting work in the future.

Locked in Solitary Confinement, Deprived of Sleep, and Beaten

Zhao kept inviting his acquaintances in the Taian 610 Office out to dinner in an attempt to persecute Ms. Ma. She suspected that he was afraid she would expose his misdeeds.

At Zhao’s request, Zhang Qinlai, captain of the Domestic Security Division and the Feicheng City Police Department, summoned Ms. Ma to the Feicheng Grain Bureau Guest House, claiming her confiscated belongings would be returned to her. Not knowing it was a trap, she went, only to be arrested and detained for nine days.

While she was detained, Zhang assigned several male officers to eat with and stay with her. All of their living expenses were covered with the money confiscated from Ms. Ma.

On January 17, 2003, Ms. Ma was arrested again and taken to Shandong No. 1 Women’s Forced Labor Camp in Jinan City, where she was tortured and forced to work for three years without pay. In order to “transform” her, the inmates deprived her of sleep and restroom use. They woke her up at 4 a.m. daily and then forced her to sit on a small stool until midnight.

Torture re-enactment: Sitting on a small stool

For nearly two years, Ms. Ma was placed in solitary confinement and tortured. When the guards saw that she refused to give up Falun Gong, they assigned other inmates to torture her. Her nose bled after one inmate hit her.

The guards assigned another guard, Cao Dongyan, to try to “transform” Ms. Ma after she repeatedly refused to renounce her faith. They locked her in a small room under the stairs and forced her to stand until midnight. She was deprived of food, water, and use of the washroom. When she still refused to give up, the guards forced her to labor in the workshop during the day and locked her up at night in an empty room.

This went on for 23 days. The room didn’t have a bed, so she couldn’t sleep. When she was absolutely exhausted, she laid down on the cement floor to rest. In a few days, her legs and feet became swollen and she couldn’t get her shoes on; she had piercing pain on the left side of her body that often woke her up in the middle of the night. When she started doing the Falun Gong exercises again after returning home, she recovered.

For over two years, Ms. Ma was not allowed to call her family and was denied family visits, even when her daughter came to see her.

When Ms. Ma’s term was almost over, it was extended for another month because she remained steadfast in her belief. She was put in another team specifically for practitioners who refused to “transform.” She was held in a small room. After she protested to the guards that this was illegal and she would file a complaint once she was released, the guards allowed her to call her family to inform them that she could return home in time for the Chinese New Year. She was released on January 22, 2006.

While Ms. Ma was incarcerated, her only daughter had no source of income and had to depend on relatives and friends. Ms. Ma’s father, who was in his 90s, worried about her every day.

Tortured in Prison

On July 15, 2012, two out-of-town Falun Gong practitioners who were visiting her were arrested outside of Ms. Ma’s apartment right after they left. Three days later, dozens of police officers surrounded Ms. Ma’s home, ransacked it, and confiscated her Falun Gong books, printouts, two computers, two printers, a CD burner, hard drive, numerous cell phones, printing material seals, and other items.

Ms. Ma was interrogated in the Yingsheng Police Station and then taken to the Taian Detention Center.

The Taishan District Court tried Ms. Ma in December 2012. When she entered the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles, her soon-to-be-married daughter was in tears. Although her lawyer entered a not guilty plea on her behalf, the judge sentenced her to four years in Shandong Women’s Prison.

In prison, Ms. Ma was placed in solitary confinement and monitored by the inmates. She was forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong and ordered to write guarantee statements. She was deprived of sleep and not allowed to drink water, use the restroom, bathe, or wash her clothes.

After Ms. Ma was released on July 17, 2015, her employer stopped her pension and other benefits. She negotiated with them, and they agreed to give her 1,400 yuan a month beginning in December 2018. The amount was increased to 1,800 yuan in September 2021, though the minimum wage for Taian City is 1,900 yuan per month.

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