(Minghui.org) A couple in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, were both sentenced for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Mr. Guan Xintao was given eight years, and his 59-year-old wife, Ms. Wu Yanhua, was sentenced to seven and a half years. Mr. Guan is now in Hulan Prison and Ms. Wu is in Heilongjiang Women’s Prison. Prior to the latest sentence, Mr. Guan had served 10 years in Tailai Prison.

Sentenced to Prison

Neighborhood community workers called Ms. Wu several times in early 2018 and ordered her to renounce her faith. These workers and some police officers also went to her house to harass her on several occasions.

Ms. Wu was arrested at around 8 a.m. on November 9, 2018, when she went to pay the home association fee. When she didn't return by 1 p.m., Mr. Guan went out to look for her, and he was also arrested when on his way home.

Six officers knocked on the couple's door at around 3 p.m. but before Ms. Wu’s mother could open it, the police barged in. They raided the place and confiscated the couple’s Falun Gong books and computers.

Ms. Wu’s father had passed away many years earlier. Though she has other siblings, her mother preferred staying with her as she and her husband were very kind. The elderly woman, who is in her 80s, shook uncontrollably for hours after witnessing the police raid.

Mr. Guan is the only son, and his mother lived alone after his father passed away many years earlier. His mother suffered a heart attack and stroke that same day, after learning of his arrest.

The couple was detained in the police department for two days and sent to the No. 1 and No. 2 Detention in Daqing City on November 11, 2018. When their family went to the police department to ask for their release, the officers threatened them.

Mr. Guan was sentenced to eight years in prison and Ms. Wu to seven and a half years on September 29, 2019, after being detained for more than a year. They appealed to the Daqing City Intermediate Court but the verdicts were upheld.

Mr. Guan was admitted to Hulan Prison on January 14, 2020, and Ms. Wu was admitted to Heilongjiang Women’s Prison on January 7, 2020. Both were denied family visits.

Tortured in Prison

Crowded Prison Cell

Ms. Wu was brutally tortured in Heilongjiang Women’s Prison. She was initially taken to Team 19 in Division 8. The division is not more than 30 square meters and sometimes holds up to 28 people. The small area used for working is laid with mattresses at night.

The head inmate, Zhang Yang, who is in her 40s, swore at and beat people randomly, and has been persecuting Falun Gong practitioners during her imprisonment. Ms. Liu Shuyun, in her 60s, was beaten by Zhang; another inmate was also beaten by Zhang and suffered a heart attack. Zhang has the final say in deciding which inmates will monitor which practitioners, assigning the workload for each individual, and meting out punishments (such as throwing away inmates’ clothes or prohibiting them from making phone calls, going to the grocery store in the prison, going to the restroom, or sleeping).

Four Inmates to One Practitioner

Four inmates are assigned to watch over one practitioner. If the practitioner did the Falun Gong exercises, talked to other practitioners, or refused to cooperate, all five of them and the head inmate would be punished, had their points deducted, and be prohibited from going to the grocery store or making phone calls. They are also made to stand, do labor work, and not allowed term reductions. The guard in charge would also be penalized with her bonus withheld and passed up for promotions or pay raises.

Falun Gong practitioners are confined to a small area in the cell and not allowed to walk around casually or talk to other practitioners. When they leave the cell to go to the restroom, inmates follow them closely by linking arms together, which misleads others into thinking that the inmates and the practitioners are best friends. Practitioners are also not allowed to look at each other. The inmates said that if practitioners made eye contact, they would understand everything and it would be hard to transform them. It is also not allowed for a practitioner to even look at another practitioner without the latter being aware of it. As inmates all want to have their sentences reduced, they watch practitioners closely.

Sworn at, Threatened, and Humiliated

Zhang often holds meetings to reprimand practitioners for being disobedient, working too slowly, and refusing to slander Falun Gong in writing. She scolds other inmates as well. She often scolds everyone for one to two hours or from morning to afternoon. Everyone can hear her from the hallway and other cells. When other head inmates hear Zhang, they tell the practitioners under their charge, “Anyone who hates to be here is welcome to go to Zhang Yang’s team! I don’t treat you like Zhang does!” This gives a false impression that other teams are better than Zhang’s team, when in fact, all teams are the same in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

There are four other practitioners in their 60s or 70s who are also in the same team as Ms. Wu. Zhang, and other inmates often swear at them, threaten, and humiliate them when they refuse to write materials to slander Falun Gong.

When there is an activity in the prison, Zhang leads all inmates, including practitioners, to perform songs that praise the communist regime. A practitioner who can not stand was made to sit on a stool to perform.

Ordered to Renounce Faith

Division 8 is known as the devil division. Inmates do not want to be assigned to this division. The biggest and most important task in the division is to force practitioners to renounce their faith by making them watch materials that slander Falun Gong. Practitioners are tortured and ordered to write guarantee statements and thought reports.

Head inmates, regular inmates, and guards are rewarded if they successfully transform a practitioner (i.e., making her renounce her faith). The reward could include term reductions, promotions, bonus points for good behavior, swag bags, or a small bowl of rice. To receive these rewards, the inmates use evil methods to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Inmates are not given the freedom to do whatever they like, except in persecuting practitioners, and they use whatever it takes in attempts to force practitioners to renounce their faith.

Some torture methods include isolation, sleep deprivation, no food, denied use of the restroom, beatings, exposure to the elements, and forcing practitioners to squat, wear a straitjacket, or sit on a metal chair or small stool. One of the common methods used is forced sitting on a small stool. Nearly all practitioners have been subjected to this torture method.

The stool is very short and measures 19 centimeters by 23 centimeters. Some stools are as small as a woman’s hand. Practitioners have to sit upright with their hands on their knees and look straight ahead. They aren’t allowed to move or close their eyes. If they move slightly, the inmates pull their hair and clothes and swear at or beat them. Some practitioners are forced to eat while sitting on the stool. The inmates help them carry or wash their bowls. When other inmates are still sleeping, practitioners are forced to wake up early to sit on the stool.

Many practitioners’ buttocks become bruised and fester after sitting on the stool for a long time. When they can no longer bear the torture, some practitioners have written the guarantee statements to renounce their faith.

Ms. Wu was also subjected to this torture method.

Torture re-enactment: Sitting on a small stool

Labor Work

Though Ms. Wu is nearly 60 years old, she was nonetheless ordered to do the same amount and type of work as younger inmates. She had to sweep the snow, pull the weeds, sweep the yard, carry a large, heavy stainless steel barrel of soup with others, load and unload groceries, and do labor work such as picking coffee stirrers, toothpicks, rubbing cotton swabs, and make false eyelashes.

Ms. Wu had to carry materials from the field to the fourth floor of the building. The fiberglass bag that holds the coffee stirrers is one meter wide and one and a half meters long and filled to the brim. One person has to carry four to five bags and filter the stirrers before putting them on the vehicle. Those who can not finish their quota are not allowed to eat or sleep and have their points deducted. The inmates assigned to monitor the practitioners are also punished. To prevent the inmates from being implicated, everyone works through the night.

The handmade false eyelashes on the market are exquisite and beautiful, but few know that they are created using a push plate. The materials for making the fake eyelashes are simple—a small roll of eye hair, a palm-sized push plate, and tweezers. The merchants for these fake eyelashes have high requirements and use high-power magnifiers to check the finished products. Inspection of the goods is done every day and the work done is calculated according to the finished product. The task is very harmful to the eyes and the spine. One has to sit for 18 to 19 hours, or even longer, and people in their 30s had to wear reading glasses. One cannot move while making the eyelashes. There are very few people who do not require reading glasses. Nearly everyone has problems with their eyes, spine, and swollen legs.

Ms. Wu has to wear reading glasses and sit down the entire day to make the eyelashes and spends a lot of effort on this. Other practitioners who are in their 70s or 80s are also forced to do the same task. Even those who are sick are not spared. Those who cannot do the eyelashes will cut the tapes or recycle the spoiled eyelashes. The cost of making the eyelashes is low, and the cost of the handmade eyelashes is high, so merchants make a good profit.

The prison accepts any work that can earn profits, regardless if the work is urgent, difficult, or harmful to the body.

Over 20 people are crowded in a small cell and the room is filled with the raw materials and tables, with some cardboard boxes placed on the stool. There is no room to walk. In the summertime, the fan cannot be turned on so as to prevent the eyelashes from flying away, and people all have breathing difficulties due to the weather. Everyone sweats and their clothes are soaked in sweat. They have to work through the night every day. The forced work brings in millions of yuan in revenue annually for Division 8 and 9.

By law, forced labor is not allowed to be done in the cell. Whenever higher-ups come to inspect the prison, the inmates stuff the tweezers in their pockets without moving other things, then continue after the inspection is over. If the inspection is announced suddenly, the tools and eyelashes are kept and stored in an empty room. Everyone then sits upright while the inspectors walk along the hallway. After the inspectors leave, the inmates resume their work.

Persecution Intensified

Division 8 was moved into the fifth and sixth floors of a new building on November 24, 2021. There are a total of 24 cells with eight big teams and four small teams on each floor. Every team has a captain and every floor has a hallway leader. A guard is in charge of three or four teams. Inmate Liu Hong is in charge of floor 5. Inmate Fan Xiumei was in charge of floor 6 but inmate Sun Jing took over from Fan two months later. The captains and hallway leaders were chosen based on their long sentences and ruthlessness when persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

Teams 1 to 8 on each floor are big teams and teams 9 to 12 are small teams. Each big team has three beds against the walls and 12 bunk beds. There are three to four single mattresses in the middle that can be folded. In the small team, there are two beds against the walls and eight bunk beds with two to three single mattresses in the middle.

Ms. Wu was assigned to Team 6 and the captain in charge was still Zhang Yang.

Every day from 9 a.m. to 11:10 a.m., and from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., inmates have to study in the cell while sitting upright, except once a week when they will go to the lobby. The study materials in the cell are books while the study materials in the lobby are pre-planned by the guards. Both the books and other materials are about the communist regime’s history, movies that praise the regime, the law and constitution, and videos slandering Falun Gong. Before returning to the cell after studying in the lobby, inmates have to sing songs praising the Communist Party. the guards sometimes say that the inmates sang too softly or sang a very short time. The inmates aren’t allowed to return to their cells until they sing to the satisfaction of the guards. Inmates also have to write a learning experience sharing every day, and practitioners have to write once a week. Those who refuse will have their points deducted, and not be allowed to go to the grocery store, make phone calls, or send letters, and are forced to sit upright and punished with other inmates and the captain.

All inmates line up and go to the lobby every night at 6:40 p.m. to watch the CCTV news broadcast. Afterwards, they have to sing pro-Communist Party songs and are only allowed to return to the cell after the guards are satisfied. The guards regularly organize big meetings and order select inmates and practitioners to attend. The practitioners are forced to learn materials that slander Falun Gong or listen to speeches slandering Falun Gong by the guards or the inmates. Guard Guo Lei organized such classes many times and required those who attended the class to write two learning experience sharings that slander Falun Gong or about persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

On the sixth floor, inmates Wang Min and Yuan Jingfang organize meetings and learning sessions every day. Newly admitted practitioners and practitioners who the guards feel have not "transformed" well enough are ordered to each bring a small stool to the lobby to learn materials that slander Falun Gong, or content about other religions (those steadfast practitioners are sent to restrooms and made to sit on a small stool or be subjected to other torture methods). Every practitioner is forced to take a stand during or after the learning session by introducing themselves and talk about their understanding of Falun Gong. If the speech does not conform to the guards’ requirements, the practitioner is sent to a place to sit upright or be persecuted.

Not long after, the guards extend the learning sessions to every practitioner, regardless if they are young or ill.

If there are other activities on some days and practitioners no longer need to attend the learning sessions, Wang and Yuan keep requesting that the guards allow them to take practitioners to study in the lobby and broadcast materials that slander Falun Gong. Inmate Sun also attended the study sessions. During the learning sessions, Wang, Yuan, and Sun would humiliate practitioners who closed their eyes, lowered their heads, or did not pay attention. The inmates then reported this to the practitioners’ captains, and the practitioners would be threatened, punished to be on duty, or had their points deducted and not be allowed to go to the grocery store or make phone calls. The inmates assigned to monitor the practitioners are also implicated.

As a result, 20 newly-admitted practitioners are made to sit upright, punished by forced standing, being beaten, and being tortured in the restroom, workshop, bathroom, and cells.

Initially, practitioners on the fifth floor were only required to attend learning sessions once a week and watch the news broadcast every night. By March or April 2002, after Liu went to the sixth floor on April 11 to retrieve materials that slandered Falun Gong and DVDs containing content on other religions, practitioners on the fifth floor also had to learn materials that slander Falun Gong in the lobby.

Financial Persecution

Ms. Wu’s pension was suspended shortly after she was sentenced. Her family found out about it after calling her former workplace to inquire about her benefits. They were not given a reason for the pension suspension.

Mr. Guan was left with no income after serving his previous ten-year term. Following their latest arrest, Mr. Guan was also fined 30,000 yuan and Ms. Wu was fined 20,000 yuan. The couple had to fork out money to buy daily necessities in the prison despite having no source of income.

Past Persecution

The couple obtained healthy bodies after practicing Falun Gong in 1996. They also became helpful and kind to others.

Police ransacked their home and confiscated their Falun Gong books after the communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999. Ms. Wu was detained for half a month and beaten by police after she went to Beijing to appeal in April 2000. She was arrested and taken to a brainwashing center in 2003 and was forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong.

Mr. Guan went to Beijing to appeal in 1999 and was arrested. He was beaten and punished while detained at the Chaihe Police Station. He was detained for 15 days and had to pay 4,000 yuan. The police continued to harass him in the following two years.

Torture illustration: Beatings

Mr. Guan went to Beijing in 2002 and was arrested again. His family members and police from Ning’an City took him back. He was subsequently detained at Chaihe Police Station and later sentenced to ten years in prison by the Nangang Court in Harbin. While imprisoned at Tailai Prison, he was forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong and made to memorize the prison rules. He was released on November 10, 2012.

Related reports:Four Heilongjiang Residents Imprisoned and Denied Family Visits for Practicing Falun GongTargeted in a Mass Arrest, Three Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced to PrisonThree Heilongjiang Residents Tried for Not Renouncing Their Faith