Inner Mongolia Woman Jailed for Three Years for Distributing Calendars with Information about Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Ms. Wang Yulan, 64, from Bairin Left Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia was sentenced to 3 years in prison for distributing calendars with information about Falun Gong in December 2016. She was subjected to various torture while in custody and many of her teeth became loose as a result.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Arrested for Distributing Calendars, Tortured in Detention Center

Ms. Wang was arrested on December 2, 2016, after she was reported for distributing calendars with information about Falun Gong on the street of Lindong Town. After hours of interrogation, the police took her to a hospital for physical examination, where the nurses forcibly drew her blood. Then she was taken to Bairin Left Banner Lockup and given 10 days of administrative detention. She was handcuffed for refusing to allow the police to take her photo.

Ten days later, she was transferred to a detention center. For doing the Falun Gong exercises in the first few days, director Huang instructed male guard Zhang Zhiqiang and another male detainee to strip Ms. Wang’s winter jacket and winter pants.

Ms. Wang was also forced to wear connected handcuffs and shackles designed for death row prisoners around the clock. Once she suffered severe constipation, and her face turned blueish. This scared the inmates, who then asked the guards to take off the handcuffs and shackles. But as soon as she finished using the restroom, the guards put the handcuffs and shackles on her again. With no winter jacket or heat in the winter and only given thin comforter, she often had cramps in her legs.

Sentenced to Three Years, Tortured for Upholding Her Faith

Ms. Wang stood trial at the Bairin Left Banner Court on the afternoon of March 3, 2017. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her. He argued that his client should never have been prosecuted for exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief, as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong.

When asked by the lawyer why she persisted in practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Wang testified that her many ailments, including inflammation of blood vein, uterine fibroids and nephritis all disappeared after taking up the practice. As she was talking, the judge interrupted her and said her testimony was irrelevant to the case. He also threatened to remove the lawyer of the courtroom if he continued to ask Ms. Wang such questions. He said the lawyer wasn’t defending Ms. Wang, but was defending Falun Gong.

The judge later sentenced Ms. Wang to 3 years in prison with 20,000 yuan fine. She appealed the verdict, but the Chifeng City Intermediate Court ruled to uphold her original verdict.

Ms. Wang was transferred to Inner Mongolia Women’s Prison one night in July 2017. The police didn’t inform her family of the transfer. 

While giving her a physical examination, the prison doctor found she had soft tissue deformation at her knee. Liu Jianru, the head of the detention center, said to her, “They even accept cancer patients, let alone you, who just have some pain in your leg.” 

Ms. Wang was thus admitted to the prison. She tried to file a motion to reconsider her case, but the prison guards refused to give her pens and paper.

While she was in the prison, Ms. Wang’s leg pain became worse. Her teeth were loose and couldn’t bite. She almost fainted several times.

Once a guard named Kang Jianwei beat Ms. Wang on her head and shoulders, when she refused to answer whether her son also practiced Falun Gong. Kang also attempted to shock her with electric batons, but was stopped by other practitioners.

During her three-year imprisonment, the authorities suspended her pension, claiming that no Falun Gong practitioners serving time for their faith are entitled to their benefits, though no Chinese law has such a stipulation. After she was released, she spent over 5,000 yuan trying to fix her teeth, which caused further financial constraint to the family.

Forced to Move over 10 Times to Avoid Police Harassment

Ms. Wang started to practice Falun Gong in July 1999, the same month when the Chinese communist regime started the persecution. Since then, she has been repeatedly harassed and arrested for refusing to renounce her faith. She moved over ten times between 1999 and 2009 to avoid the harassment, but the police were always able to find her quickly and harassed her again.

The police broke into her home in the summer of 2000 and ordered her to sign the statement promising not to practice Falun Gong anymore. After she refused to comply, they ransacked her home and confiscated Falun Gong books and tapes. The police returned on the second day to harass her again. Her family was terrified and her child was unable to go to school due to the harassment.

Two years later, after Ms. Wang moved to another place, the police came to search her apartment again. Police officer Jiang Haishan stayed at her home to monitor her daily life. 

To avoid the harassment, Ms. Wang went to Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, where her husband was working. Only nine days after she arrived in Shenyang, the police in Chifeng chased her there and ordered her to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong. When she refused to comply, the police also forced her husband’s workplace to fire him.

Ms. Wang was forced to moved again in 2003, only to be found and harassed by the police a month later. The police also held her in a brainwashing center for over two weeks. She was deprived of sleep and forced to watch propaganda videos smearing Falun Gong.

To avoid the non-stop harassment, Ms. Wang lived away from home in 2004. Shortly after, her mother-in-law passed away and Ms. Wang wasn’t able to see her for the last time.

Related articles:

Inner Mongolia Woman Detained Again Five Days after First Release

Lawyer Threatened While Defending Falun Gong Practitioner

Related article in Chinese:

警察持续骚扰-王玉兰被迫搬家十余次