Name: Li Yuhua (礼玉华)
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Heilongjiang Yilan
Occupation: Self-employed
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 25, 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Wanjia Forced Labor Camp (哈尔滨市万家劳教所)
City: Harbin
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Detention, extortion, interrogation, force-feedings, brainwashing, beatings, solitary confinement, torture, hanging up, electric shock, physical constraint, sleep deprivation and forced labor.
(Clearwisdom.net) Li Yuhua has been detained four times since 1999. She was detained in the No.2 Detention Center of Yilan Town for 267 days. She was also sentenced to a four-year term at the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp in Heilongjiang Province. Between 1999 and 2003, she was detained at a detention center or forced labor camp.
Ms. Li Yuhua recounts the persecution she experienced during those years below:
First Detention
I went to Beijing to clear up misconceptions about Falun Gong on January 15, 2000. I was illegally arrested by Yilan Town police officers in Beijing and agents from the Chinese Communist Party Appeals Office. Three days later, I was taken to the Yilan Town Detention Center by Yilan officer Long Yunfei.
Sub-team leader Lin Zhong forced me to jog outside despite freezing weather. Lin Zhong also poured cold water over practitioners.
The food, such as corn buns and cabbage soup, was dirty and contained grass, soil, rat feces, flies and other contaminants.
I was tortured in the No. 2 Detention Center for 72 days and the guards extorted 720 yuan from me for food and fined me 500 yuan. I own a company for business clothing. While in the detention center, around New Year's Eve, one of the busiest times of the year, I lost 9,000 yuan.
Second Detention
On the afternoon of June 1, 2000, Cui You, head of the Yilan Town Chumu Police Station, ordered police officer Lin to arrest me and bring me to the station. Lin and other officers took me to the Yilan Town Police Station on June 26 and then transferred me to the Yilan Town No. 2 Detention Center.
Sub-leader Lin Zhong ordered Shang Dezhong and other prisoners to force-feed me. I was also taken to a brainwashing session and had to watch television programs that slandered Falun Dafa.
Lin Zhong, Guo Ying, Su Di and another three prisoners beat us and confiscated the Falun Dafa book Zhuan Falun.
They made us pay 540 yuan for food, and an additional 3,000 yuan, and I was detained for 60 days. I was tortured by Yilan police for half a year. In addition, my business went bankrupt.
Third Detention
On November 25, 2000, I shouted, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is righteous!" on Tiananmen Square. Several police and plainclothes officers pushed me to the ground. I repeated, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is righteous!" three times. I was taken to the Tiananmen police station. Yilan Beijing police officer Han Yunjie, who has since died, recognized me. I was taken to the Yilan No. 2 Detention Center by a Chumu police officer.
Lin Zhong ordered five to six male prisoners to force-feed me and put me on a small stool, a torture instrument. My legs hurt and I could barely breathe. Then, five to six prisoners pulled me by my hair. Two prisoners held my hands and others pinched my nose to stop my breathing through the nose. Another pinched my face. One used a chopstick to probe my teeth and another brushed my throat with a tooth brush. Then, they poured salt water into my mouth and I was almost asphyxiated.
I fainted and one of the prisoners carried me back to my cell. I threw up and my hair, face, neck and clothes were covered by the regurgitated concentrated salt water.
The third detention lasted 30 days. I was sentenced to forced labor for one year starting on December 28, 2000.
First Forced Labor Camp Imprisonment
At around 5 a.m. on December 28, 2000, I was taken to the No. 7 Division in the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, by Wang, head of the No. 2 Detention Center.
Zhang Bo, the team leader of the No. 7 Division, put me into solitary confinement for 2 weeks because I refused to renounce Falun Dafa.
Another practitioner recited Falun Dafa teachings in the canteen. Guards from the No. 9 Division put her in solitary confinement. All firm practitioners went on a hunger strike and demanded that the practitioner be released. Male guards came into the canteen and beat and screamed at us. I was put into solitary confinement.
We had to attend brainwashing sessions and watch CCTV's "Focal Point" programs, which maligned Falun Dafa and Teacher.
Fourth Detention
At 9 p.m. on April 25, 2002, Li, the head of the Chumu police, ordered about five policemen to break into my home and ransack it. They confiscated Teacher's photo and Falun Dafa materials. Li called Lu Junshan, head of the Yilan police, for direction and was told, "Take her to the detention center."
I was taken to the Yilan No. 2 Detention Center. In June 2002, Wang Yutao transferred me to the Harbin Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. I did not pass the health test, so I was taken back to the Yilan No. 2 Detention Center, where I was held until August 8, a total of 75 days.
Second Forced Labor Camp Imprisonment
On August 8, 2002, Zheng Jun, the head of the No. 2 Detention Center, took me to Harbin Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, Heilongjiang Province. Yao Fuchang, sub-head at the camp, kicked my back. I was forced to squat for eleven days from morning to midnight.
On the afternoon of August 19, team leader Zhao Yuqing ordered prisoner Bai Xuelian to torture me with the "big hang up." My blood pressure was already 190. Yao Fuchang then shocked
my head, eyes, ears, lips and throat with an electric baton, increasing the electric power frequently.
Then, I was tortured on the iron chair. Yao Fuchang shocked me with an electric baton until I was at death's door. He asked Wang, the camp doctor, to give me medicine. Prisoner Bai Xuelian and another prisoner claimed that I was just pretending, so they beat me again. I suffered sleep deprivation for quite some time.
On October 16, 2002, I was forced to squat for three days and nights for refusing to renounce Falun Gong. In the afternoon, Zhao Yuqing took me to an office and kicked me on the way in. I again was tortured on the iron chair and Yao Fuchang shocked me with an electric baton.
At the end of 2003, I was taken to the No. 12 Ward and had to perform forced labor. I was not allowed to sleep until I met my quota.
Sometimes during January 2004, practitioners, including myself, were forced to bind books. The machine was very old. No one wanted to start the machine, as it did not look safe. The smell in the room made it hard for people to breathe and whoever was in there for a long time came down with a headache. Li Baibing, a supervisor, was worried about being poisoned. Around 6 p.m. on February 28, Harbin practitioner Zhao Fengyun died while working in that room. The next day, we shouted: "Falun Dafa is Good! No labor work. Mourn for Zhao Fengyun!" Practitioners who joined this activity were tortured for seven or eight days.
My Family's Suffering
My family suffered great financial losses due to my 260 days in detention. I was unable to work during one of the busiest seasons of the year. My store was forced to close down, eliminating my source of income. My husband had a heart attack and my daughter was upset because she could not afford her school tuition.
Guards of the No. 2 Yilan Detention Center extorted 4,670 yuan from us. My business lost 20,000 yuan. The four years in Wanjia Forced Labor Camp resulted in a loss of 80,000 yuan.
The persecution brought great suffering to my family.
