(Minghui.org) The Minghui.org website confirmed in late March 2024 that a Pingdu City, Qingdao City, Shandong Province, resident was sentenced to three years in prison, with a 10,000-yuan fine, for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Li, 52, was arrested at home on August 30, 2023 by Liu Jie and several others from the Pingdu City Domestic Security Division. She was tried by the Huangdao District Court in the Pudong Detention Center on February 2, 2024 and convicted a month later.
Undated photo of Ms. Li Li and her husband Mr. Wang Huanzhong
Past 13 Years of Incarceration
Before her latest sentencing, Ms. Li had previously spent more than a decade behind bars for her faith, including serving a 2-year labor camp term, two 4-year prison terms, and another 3.5-year prison term. She endured relentless torture while in custody, each time for not renouncing her faith.
Detained for Doing Falun Gong Exercises in a Park
On July 23, 1999, three days after the onset of the persecution, Ms. Li did the Falun Gong exercises in a park in protest. She was arrested by officers of the Liyuan Police Station, and her home was raided. She was detained for 29 days and fired from her job. She was deprived of sleep and tortured by being forced to do the horse stance for long hours while in dention.
Held in Psychiatric Hospital for Appealing for Falun Gong
Ms. Li went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in October 1999. She was arrested and taken to the Qingdao Liaison Office in Beijing. The director, surnamed Cui, hit her and slapped her in the face for over two hours. She was handcuffed to heating pipes for two days and then taken back to Pingdu, where she was detained for another three days before being released.
Ms. Li returned to Beijing to appeal in November 1999 and was arrested again. She fainted twice as a result of the torture. The police handcuffed her and left her on the ground one night. The authorities held her in the Tonghe Psychiatric Hospital for four months after taking her back to Pingdu.
Ms. Li recalled that while being held in the psychiatric hospital, she was forced to receive injections and take unknown drugs every day. When she resisted, the doctors ordered strong-build male patients to hold her to the ground, and force-fed her the medicine. Afterwards, they tied her in a spread-eagle position or restrained her in a chair, pulled her hair backward, and force-fed her water. They didn’t stop until she almost suffocated.
Ms. Li held a hunger strike to protest the persecution, only to be force-fed again. The doctors found a thick and hard nasal tube and inserted it into her stomach, moving it back and forth to increase her suffering.
As a result of the drug administration, she gained weight quickly, became drowsy, and had uncontrollable drooling. She also lost control of her limbs and became disoriented. She couldn’t use the restroom or eat on her own.
As she still wouldn’t renounce Falun Gong, a doctor surnamed Jin inserted electroacupuncture needles into her acupoints and applied strong current to them, causing her head to shake and her teeth to chatter.
Ms. Li was released after 123 days of torture at the psychiatric hospital and being extorted of 5,000 yuan. Due to continued harassment by the police, she was forced to live away from home a month later.
Ms. Li returned to Beijing to appeal at a later date. She was beaten at the Qingdao Liaison Office in Beijing for over an hour and detained for 15 days after being taken back to Pingdu.
Two-Year Labor Camp Term
Ms. Li was arrested one more time in 2001, for spraying the message “Falun Dafa is good,” and was restrained in a metal chair for two days at the Taishan Road Police Station. The police later took her to a hospital for a physical examination. Four male officers carried her to the bed, held her arms and legs, covered her face, stuffed her mouth, and took off her pants. Two doctors performed a gynecological examination of her in front of the officers. She was then returned to the police station and forced to fingerprint her case document, before being transferred to the Pudong Detention Center.
Ms. Li held a hunger strike to protest the persecution in the detention center. The guards handcuffed and shackled her. The handcuffs were so tight that her hands became severely swollen and she couldn’t bend her fingers. Unable to stand up straight and walk normally due to the shackles, she had to crawl to the restroom when she needed to relieve herself. The guards didn’t unchain her until three weeks later. The inmates also beat and verbally abused her during that time.
Ms. Li was later given two years at the Wangcun Forced Labor Camp, where she was force fed, administered with unknown drugs, hung up by the wrists, deprived of sleep, forced to sit or stand motionless for long hours, and savagely beaten.
She held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The guards inserted a thick tube back and forth in her nose and then force fed her. One day, half an hour after they gave her a shot of an unknown drug, she felt like countless ants were crawling inside her blood vessels. She felt extremely uncomfortable and couldn’t remain standing or seated. The guards inserted the tube into her stomach again, taped it to her head, took her to the restroom, and hung her up by her wrists. When she stopped the hunger strike, they deprived her of sleep for 29 straight days. For four and a half months after that, she was only allowed to sleep for only two to three hours each night.
Ms. Li often fainted during the savage beatings by the guards and inmates. They pinched her, pulled her eyelashes, and dragged her on the ground back and forth. They sometimes forced her to stand or sit for long hours, and any slight movement would invite a savage beating. Her feet became so swollen from the standing that they could no longer fit into her shoes and she had to stand barefooted, which left her feeling like standing on the tip of a knife. After she fainted during one standing torture episode, guard Shi Cuihua hung her up by the wrists in the restroom for five days.
In addition, the guards often starved Ms. Li, didn’t allow her to take showers, and denied her of restroom use, forcing her to relieve herself in the basin she used to wash her face.
To achieve the transformation rate (percentage of practitioners forced to renounce their faith), the guards wrote a statement renouncing Falun Gong on her behalf. Four of them held her to the ground, with one sitting on her neck, one sitting on her back, one sitting on her leg, and another holding her hand to sign the statement. With no other option, she hit her head against the ground to protest.
Sentenced to Four Years for Putting Up Falun Gong Posters
On the evening of January 21, 2004, the eve of the Chinese New Year, Ms. Li was arrested while posting information about Falun Gong. She was beaten by a male officer at the Tonghe Police Station and restrained to a metal chair overnight, with her hands handcuffed behind the back of the chair and her down jacket taken off in a room without heat.
Ms. Li held a hunger strike after she was taken to the Pudong Detention Center again and was again force fed. She vomited blood after each force feeding session. The guards chained her hands and feet together and instigated the inmates to verbally abuse her.
Ms. Li was later sentenced to four years at the Shandong Province Women’s Prison. As she refused to renounce Falun Gong, the guards deprived her of restroom use and held her in solitary confinement. They sometimes didn’t give her any food, or gave her food laced with toxic drugs, causing her reactions to slow, and she fainted several times. She also developed unspeakable fear, which lasted a long time after her release.
One More Arrest
Ms. Li’s next arrest was at a local community fair on January 13, 2012. She was again beaten and interrogated. The police took her to the Pingdu Chinese Medicine Hospital for a physical examination that night and beat her again. She was taken to the Pingdu City Lockup afterwards. Her family was extorted of 1,200 yuan when she was released on January 16, 2012.
Second Prison Term of Four Years
Ms. Li was arrested again six months later, on July 24, 2012, for distributing information inviting the general public to attend the hearing of practitioner Mr. Wang Guangwei, when his lawyer would enter a not-guilty plea for him. She was interrogated at the Taishan Road Police Station. The guards held her at the Qingdao Brainwashing Center for 20 days, then took her to the Pudong Detention Center.
As Ms. Li refused to wear the inmates’ uniform, detention center director Zhuang Lijuan ordered an inmate to stuff Ms. Li’s mouth with socks. They also beat her, handcuffed, and shackled her. They wouldn’t remove the handcuffs even when she used the restroom.
Ms. Li was given a second four-year term at the Shandong Province Women’s Prison not long after, where she was again brutally tortured.
She recalled that in order to force her to renounce Falun Gong, the guards didn’t allow her to buy daily necessities, especially toilet paper. She could only use a sock to wipe herself after using the restroom. She then washed the sock and kept it in a bag to be used next time. For 131 straight days, the guards beat her every day in a shower room without a surveillance camera. They stomped on her, hit her head and mouth with a shoe, and pulled her arms behind her back and then up. The pain was excruciating.
When Ms. Li’s mouth became swollen from the beating, an inmate gagged her with the towel she used to clean her feet. They even stuffed her nose once and almost suffocated her. When the inmates became tired from the beating, they tied her hands behind her back.
Torture reenactment: Stuffing one’s mouth with a gag
Several inmates once held her to the ground, forced her to straighten her legs, and stomped on her legs. They then pried open her left eye, pricked it with hair, and tried to gouge her eye. Her left eye had excessive discharge and was unable to open for a long time after that.
During meal time, they put her food on the ground and kicked it. She wasn’t allowed to eat until the inmates had finished their meals. They also put toxic drugs into her food. She ate very little to avoid intaking the toxic substance. To prevent herself from drinking toxic water, she was forced to drink water from the toilet tank. She was held in solitary confinement for most of the time during her term.
She was released in August 2016 after four hellish years.
Third Prison Term of Three and a Half Years
Only six months following her release, Ms. Li was arrested again on January 31, 2017 by officers of the Taishan Road Police Station. As it was still during the Chinese New Year holiday, the police released her in the evening.
Officer Xu Zengquan and others of the Taishan Road Police Station broke into Ms. Li’s home on April 11, 2017 and raided her place. After taking her to the Pudong Detention Center, Xu grabbed her hair, held her to the ground, and forcibly drew her blood.
Ms. Li was sentenced to 3.5 years by the Pingdu City Court on October 11, 2017. She was transferred to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison on November 11, 2017 and released on October 10, 2020.
During her term, Ms. Li was again subjected to brutal torture, including having swirled shoe brushes and rags stuffed into her mouth every day, causing her entire mouth to fester and bleed; being stabbed with toilet brush on her private parts; being exposed to freezing temperature; and being forced to do leg splits. Details of the torture during this prison term is available in the first related report below.
Related Reports:
Having Been Incarcerated for 10 Years, Shandong Woman Tortured During Another 3.5-year Prison Term
After Ten Years of Detention, Shandong Woman Detained Again
A Shandong Woman’s Defense: Falun Gong Taught Me to Be a Good Person
Ms. Li Li and Ms. Jiang Tao from Shandong Province Illegally Sentenced
Police Accept Falun Gong Practitioner’s Bail Request After Her Lawyer’s Unwavering Efforts
“I Endured Four-Years in Prison for Inviting People to Witness a Trial”
I Was Injected with Toxic Drugs and Brutally Tortured in Wangcun Forced Labor Camp
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