(Minghui.org) Division 8 at the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison is notorious for torturing jailed Falun Gong practitioners in an attempt to make them renounce their faith. At least two Heilongjiang residents are still serving time there.
Ms. Chen Xueyan, 69, from Mudanjiang City, was arrested on August 10, 2023 and was sentenced to three and a half years with a 1,000-yuan fine at an unknown date. She was admitted to prison on February 2, 2024.
Ms. Du Xiuyan, 60, from Harbin City, was arrested on April 1, 2024 and sentenced to nine years in mid-June that year. She was admitted to prison in August 2024.
When she was admitted to prison Ms. Chen was forced to write statements to renounce Falun Gong against her will. During a “performance review,” she nullified her statements and urged the evaluator, Liang Xue, an agent from the 610 Office in the prison, to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.
Liang dragged Ms. Chen out of the interrogation room and held her in the water room. Several inmates were instructed to torture her. Chen Yang (no relation) slapped her face. Yuan Jingfang and Wang Shu poured water on the floor and forced Ms. Chen to stand in it. Her shoes were soaked.
The inmates formed two-person groups and worked two-hour shifts watching Ms. Chen. She had to stay in the water room from 4 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Her food and water intake was restricted. After she returned to her cell at night, she was not allowed to change her clothes.
The water room abuse lasted nearly one month. Ms. Chen still refused to write thought reports or sign any statements. The guards instructed inmates to monitor her around the clock and threatened to have her local 610 Office or police station to pick her up after her prison release.
Ms. Chen was healthy before she was arrested, but has now developed high blood pressure and heart conditions after she was relentlessly abused in prison.
After Ms. Du was admitted to prison, the guards instructed an inmate to write statements on her behalf to renounce and denounce Falun Gong. She refused to acknowledge the statements and the prison deemed her a “failure” in meeting the transformation requirements. They directed criminal inmate Yuan Jingfang to yank her hair and beat her savagely.
Ms. Du was also held in a small room and not allowed to brush her teeth or eat breakfast. She refused to wear the prison uniform and was rotated among various teams in Division 8 to be tortured by each team. Despite the persecution, Ms. Du held firm to her faith and was often the first one to stand up for other tortured Falun Gong practitioners. The guards later changed their tactics against her and persecuted her in a stealthy way because they worried that her courage in facing the abuse may influence other practitioners.
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