Name: Zhao Lianmin (赵连敏)
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Laishui Town, Laishui County, Hebei Province
Occupation: Chicken farm owner
Date of Death: Spring 2011
Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2003
Most Recent Place of Detention: Laishui County Detention Center (涞水县拘留所)
City: Laishui County
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, extortion, physical restraint, interrogation, detention, denial of restroom use, denied visitation
Key Persecutors: Han Yasheng (韩雅生), Laishui County CCP secretary; Sun Guijie (孙贵杰), Laishui County CCP deputy secretary; Liu Xinjian (刘新建), Laishui County CCP deputy secretary; Zhang Haili (张海利), Laishui County CCP Political and Judiciary Committee secretary; Liu Yaohua (刘耀华), Laishui County Police Department CCP Political and Judiciary secretary; Tan Shuping (谭书评), Laishui County Police Department director; Li Zenglin (李增林), Political Security Office chair (now retired); Cui Jikun (崔继坤), Laishui County Court judge; Hu Yuxiang (胡玉祥), Laishui Town CCP secretary; Liu Zhenfu (刘振福), Laishui Town chief.

(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Zhao Lianmin died as a result of being persecuted for her belief in Falun Gong. Ms. Zhao is the fourth Falun Gong practitioner to be persecuted to death in Laishui Township, Hebei Province. The other three were Ms. Xiu Xian, Ms. Cao Xiaoling, and Ms. Xia Shuqin. Ms. Zhao Lianmin was from Laishui Township, Hebei Province. She began practicing Falun Dafa on April 25, 1999. She diligently studied and followed the principles of Falun Dafa. After reading Zhuan Falun, she said excitedly, “I wish I had learned about Falun Dafa earlier.” After starting the practice her physical and mental health improved. Her cultivation brought happiness, laughter, and cheerful voices to her home. When her husband and children saw her changes, they were very supportive of her practice and often accompanied her to the practice site.

After July 20, 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the brutal persecution of Falun Dafa, Ms. Zhao joined other veteran practitioners to appeal for the practice in Beijing. She wanted to tell the government officials of her physical and psychological changes after practicing, and that Falun Gong taught people to be good. The CCP couldn't accept such a simple act and deprived her of a happy family life by cruelly persecuting her to the point of mental collapse.

On October 4, 1999, she was taken to the Laishui “Shooting Gallery” Brainwashing Center. The center was led by the county party secretary Han Yasheng, deputy secretary Sun Guijie, political secretary Zhang Haili, Public Security Bureau chief Tan Shuping, political secretary of public security Liu Yaohua, and Li Zenglin, from the Public Security Bureau. They ran a large-scale persecution of Dafa practitioners in Laishui. Ms. Zhao was persecuted severely in the “Shooting Gallery,” and her husband (not a practitioner) was also illegally arrested and detained for more than a month. He was released after paying 1000 yuan. During the month of his detention, more than one thousand baby chicks died at their chicken farm from lack of care. With the disastrous loss at the chicken farm, their source of family income was cut off.

On April 7, 2000, the party officials in Laishui carried out a second large-scale persecution campaign against Dafa practitioners. They divided the arrested practitioners into three groups. Ms. Zhao was taken to a group to face forced “transformation.” The guards forced Ms. Zhao to kneel on a brick floor and put a shovel handle on her calves. Several guards then stepped on the handle. Her painful screams in the silence of the night was heartbreaking. Deputy party secretary Sun Guijie beat Ms. Zhao's face with shoes so severely that the sole pattern covered her face.

Party secretary Hu Yuxiang and Laishui mayor Liu Zhenfu built a prison in the courtyard of the township government building. Ms. Zhao and other Dafa practitioners were detained there year round. They were not allowed to use the toilet or to have family visits. Liu Xinjian, a deputy party secretary, used a steel bar to beat Ms. Zhao until she was unable to move. A guard could not even bear to watch, and shouted to her, “Just say you will no longer practice so that they won't keep hitting you.”

In 2003, Ms. Zhao was illegally held in the Laishui County Detention Center, where she was violently tortured. The guards took her to the courtyard and severely beat her, and her constant screams could be heard from inside the walls.

Ms. Zhao developed a mental disorder from the abuse. When she was taken home, her eyes were dull and her body was deformed. The CCP threatened her family and ordered them not to help her to do the exercises or study Falun Dafa teachings.