(Minghui.org) A 60-year-old woman serving a nine-year term for practicing Falun Gong is being subjected to relentless torture for not giving up her faith.
Ms. Zhang Liping was arrested on March 11, 2019, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials. Because she refused to reveal her name and home address, the police slammed her head against the fingerprint scanner and pried open her fists to collect her fingerprints. One officer bent her fingers backward, while another held her arms and hair. Her hands kept sweating. They used so much force that she had difficulty breathing and talking and almost fainted.
After she was released on bail four days later, she continued to feel generally unwell. She had bruises and swellings on her face and a bump on her head. She also had difficulty sitting, standing, or even moving her legs due to her injuries.
The police later submitted Ms. Zhang’s case to the local procuratorate, and the court sentenced her to nine years. She was admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison in June 2021 and assigned to the fourth team in the 8th ward. The head of the 8th ward, Yue Xiufeng, instigated the inmates to torture her because she refused to renounce Falun Gong. Ms. Zhang’s cell was near the restroom, and other inmates often heard her screaming when they went to the restroom.
The inmates once hung up Ms. Zhang with a bed sheet and beat her. She had bruises all over and was unable to get up.
Ms. Zhang was transferred to the twelfth team in January 2022. The inmates there continued to beat her. For talking to her cellmates about Falun Gong, Ms. Zhang was hit on the head by inmate Li Miao, resulting in several egg-sized swellings on her forehead and temple.
Inmate Han Jie often beat or kicked Ms. Zhang from behind. Once after she beat her, Ms. Zhang’s face and neck were covered in blood. Under orders from the guards to monitor Ms. Zhang, Han often verbally abused her and didn’t let her talk to other inmates in the cell.
One common abuse Falun Gong practitioners often suffered in the prison was limited purchase of daily necessities. Every month, Ms. Zhang was only allowed to spend 100 yuan, which was barely enough to purchase toilet paper and other essential items. She wasn’t even allowed to buy a bag of instant noodles to supplement the meager amount of food she was given. Other inmates or Falun Gong practitioners weren’t allowed to share food with her either.
Inmate Qi Xin was later assigned to monitor Ms. Zhang. Qi is very experienced in mentally abusing Falun Gong practitioners by slandering Falun Gong and its founder. She often threatened to write the name of Falun Gong’s founder on a piece of paper and put it on Ms. Zhang’s private parts.
In August 2022, the inmates took Ms. Zhang to the sixth team, where there were no Falun Gong practitioners, and beat her. She suffered a stroke and was taken to the hospital.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Heilongjiang Woman Sustains Brain Damage and Heart Problems after Being Beaten by Police