Yunnan Province Woman Spends 17 Years Behind Bars for Upholding Her Faith

(Minghui.org) A former worker at an asphalt supply station in Kunming city, Yunnan Province was incarcerated four times after the Chinese Communist Party launched the persecution of Falun Dafa in July 1999.

Ms. Song Lixia, now 61, is a Falun Gong practitioner who refused to renounce the practice in the midst of the ongoing persecution. As a result, the authorities put her in a forced labor camp for two years and three months and sentenced her to prison three times for a total of 15 years.

While in prison, Ms. Song was fired by her employer and lost her qualification to receive a pension. Her husband divorced her because he could not bear the pressure of the persecution. After she was released from her last imprisonment in December 2022, the local police and judicial bureau personnel continued to harass her. It was hard for her to get a job and she lives in destitute.

Benefits from Practicing Falun Gong

Ms. Song suffered frequent diarrhea when she was a child. After she grew up, she suffered cholecystitis, gallstones, and anemia, and often fainted. Her husband worked out of town year-round, and she had to take care of their child alone while working. Her husband had an affair when their child was six, and she tried hard to stay in the marriage for the child’s sake.

Ms. Song took up Falun Gong in 1996 and soon became illness-free. She felt hopeful about life and let go of her grudge against her husband. He was touched and promised her that they’d lead a good life together from then on.

The supermarket where Ms. Song worked as a cashier occasionally received counterfeit bills from customers. Normally the cashier would report it to the supervisor, who would then find a way to put the counterfeits back into circulation. After Ms. Song took up Falun Gong, she stopped doing so, but tore the counterfeit bill she received and put a real bill of the same value out of her pocket.

At the end of the day sometimes the store would find the amount of sales did not match the amount of money received. The workers would suspect their colleagues of stealing the money. When it happened, Ms. Song often asked everyone to calm down and then check if the cash registers were broken. A few times they found that the bills got stuck in the cash registers, causing errors in the money count. By reducing conflicts and fostering trust among her coworkers, she helped create a pleasant working environment.

After the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Song was targeted for not renouncing her faith. As a result, she was demoted to work in the asphalt supply division. The work was labor-intensive and had exposure to toxic chemicals. She never complained and continued to work hard, which earned the respect of her coworkers.

First Forced Labor Camp Term

Ms. Song was arrested for handing out Falun Gong materials on November 9, 2001. She was given two years in Yunnan Province Women’s Forced Labor Camp. Besides being subjected to brainwashing, she had to do hard labor without pay, including plowing the soil, transporting manure, and planting vegetables.

One day she tried to stop an inmate from beating another Falun Gong practitioner. In retaliation, the authorities extended her term for three months. She was released in February 2004.

Sentenced to Four Years in Prison and Fired from Work

Within six months after her release, Ms. Gong was arrested again on July 7, 2004, by officers from Luoyang Town Police Station, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials in a village.

While she was soon released, the police showed up at her workplace a week later and arrested her again. She was detained in the Chenggong County Detention Center. The Chenggong County Court sentenced her to four years in prison on December 31.

Shortly after Ms. Song was transferred to Yunnan Province Second Women’s Prison in February 2005, a person from her work unit came and announced that she had been fired from her job, where she’s been working for 21 years since 1984. The person also said that she would not be eligible for a retirement pension.

Because Ms. Song refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was put in solitary confinement for six months and had to sit on a bench all day long. The guards beat her with batons until she was covered in blood and passed out. She was released on August 30, 2008.

Second Prison Sentence of Five Years and Divorced By Husband

Ms. Song and another practitioner, Ms. Ni Meizhen, went to Baoshan City to pass out Falun Gong materials on January 22, 2009, only to be arrested again and held in the Changning County Detention Center. The Changning County Court later sentenced Ms. Song to five years and Ms. Ni to three.

At Yunnan Province's Second Women’s Prison, Ms. Song was forced to sit still on a small stool motionless for long hours. The torture damaged her lower back, buttocks, and lower limbs. The guards put her in solitary confinement for six months and forced her to embroil tiny beads and sew skirts, without pay.

Yielding to the authorities’ pressure, her husband filed a divorce in 2010 while she was in prison, and took most of their properties.

When she was released on January 22, 2014, she struggled with memory loss, and lower back pain, and was slow in reaction.

Given Runaround When Seeking to Reinstate Pension

Soon after her release Ms. Song went to the Kunming City Appeals Office to ask for her pension to be reinstated. The receptionist told her that she must make up for the missing contributions between 2004 and 2014, the time when she was in prison, and then she’d be eligible for a pension once she reached 55 (the legal retirement age in China).

Ms. Song explained that it was wrong in the first place for her workplace to fire her because of her faith. She added that there was no legal basis for the authorities to demand her to pay for the ten years of contribution when she was in prison. The receptionist refused to provide a detailed explanation but only told her that it was the government’s policy.

Ms. Song consulted a lawyer at Yunnan Province Labor Union Law Office in March 2015, and the lawyer also told her that there was nothing he could do and that she had to make up for the missing contributions. She then went to the chair of a labor union at her workplace and asked to know the legal basis for firing her. The chair took her to the secretary, who then had the head of the HR department call the Social Security Bureau, but still to no avail.

Ms. Song then went to the local social security bureau herself. But the receptionist still demanded her to make up for the contributions before she could receive her pension.

Third Prison Sentence of Six Years

Two years after her prison release, Ms. Song was seized by two plainclothes officers on December 17, 2016, when she was handing out Falun Gong fliers on the street.

At the detention center, she was put in solitary confinement for a week because she refused to do hard labor or follow the guards’ orders to squat, do roll call, or remove her clothes for a body search.

Without any prior notice, she was taken to the Guandu District Court on May 19, 2017, for a hearing. She refused to accept the lawyer appointed by the judge, who was instructed to enter a guilty plea for her. When she was acting as her own lawyer and entering a not-guilty plea, the judge constantly interrupted her and adjourned the hearing in only ten minutes.

The judge sentenced Ms. Song to six years in prison with a 20,000 yuan fine on May 25. She appealed with the Kunming City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold the original verdict on August 4. She was taken to the Yunnan Province Second Women’s Prison on September 17.

Six Years of Torture in Prison

Upon arrival at the prison, Ms. Song did not have any daily necessities. As they could only make one purchase every month, two inmates lent her some laundry detergent and other necessities. Ms. Song thought they were being kind to her. But when the next purchase date came, an inmate ordered her to write in the first paragraph of her purchase application the so-called crimes she committed. The inmate insisted that she must return the items lent to her when she first got there and that the only way for her to obtain the items was to fill out the purchase application. A guard then told her that returning items she borrowed would make her life easier in prison. She was left with no choice but to write she was guilty of practicing Falun Gong, to make the purchase.

Every day in the prison, Ms. Song was forced to read psychology books in the morning and embroil tiny beads on a 10-meter-long nylon strip in the afternoon. She had to write a thought report every week and the inmates constantly tried to pressure her into renouncing her faith.

Falun Gong practitioners were only allowed to use the restroom at certain time slots, and they also had to get permission from the supervising inmate. Sometimes the inmate yelled at the practitioners when they were using the restroom, to make them nervous and have a hard time relieving themselves.

The prison set up two cells in the 9th ward in July 2019 to be used specifically for torturing practitioners who refused to renounce Falun Gong. The walls were painted with blue and white strips to make people feel dizzy after looking at them for a while. The floor was divided into three areas: introspecting, learning, and sleeping.

The practitioners tortured in the prison around the year 2020 include: Ms. Xiao Yuxia, Ms. Zhao Feiqiong, Ms. Wang Meiling, Ms. Liang Yun, Ms. Yu Lanru, Ms. Deng Cuiping, Ms. He Lichun, Ms. Zhao Chenyu, Ms. Guo Qiong, Ms. Xu Yamei, Ms. Chen Shimei, Ms. Wang Jinxian, Ms. Bi Jinmei, Ms. Pu Baoyu, and Ms. Luo Baixiu.

The prison put all the steadfast practitioners under strict management in February 2022. They had to do hard labor work during the day. If they could not finish the workload that day, they’d be punished by doing military-style exercises. When they returned to their cells at night, they had to sit still on small stools until 10 p.m. before being allowed to go to bed. On Sundays, while other inmates have a day off, the practitioners had to get up at 6 a.m. and sit still on small stools until 10 p.m. with only four bathroom breaks in between.

Under strict management, each practitioner could only purchase 50 yuan worth of necessities every month, and they had to address themselves on the purchase application as criminals for it to be approved. The practitioners could only shower once a week with two buckets of water and do laundry once every other week. If a practitioner wanted to wash her bedding, she’d have to write an application. Because Ms. Song refused to call herself a criminal, she was not allowed to wash her bedding for over nine months. She was also denied family visits, writing to them, or calling them.

Ms. Song’s health deteriorated over the years because of the torture. Several of her teeth fell off, and she could barely chew her food, which had very little vegetables, during the limited meal time. Also because of long hours of sitting and restricted restroom use, she suffered constipation, bloating, stomach pain, and other digestive problems. One time she had an urgent need to use the bathroom, but the inmates would not allow her to. She ran to the bathroom regardless, only to have a fall and knock herself out.

Before she was released, the guards did a blood test on her, without providing the reason or sharing the results with her. On the day she left the prison on December 6, 2022, a guard instigated an inmate to tear all of her court documents and verdict, saying that Falun Gong practitioners didn’t need them.

When reunited with her family, her family said that she looked emaciated and at least ten years older than her age. She suffered back pain and felt weak. She could not lift heavy objects and suffered chest pain and shortness of breath.

Non-stop Harassment

Shortly after Ms. Song was released, the local police and community workers harassed her at home in January 2023, with the excuse of visiting her. Officers from Fude Police Station came again in April 2023 and asked if she still had contact with other Falun Gong practitioners. They warned her not to go out and talk to people about Falun Gong and the persecution. Four officers harassed her one more time in July and still asked her if she had contact with local practitioners.