(Minghui.org) “My husband divorced me for fear of being implicated while I was imprisoned for my faith. My father passed away a few years later, distressed over my repeated detentions. My son grew up without his mother by his side. He was so traumatized that he once contemplated taking his own life.”
Above is an excerpt from a schoolteacher's criminal complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution of Falun Gong that resulted in her repeated incarcerations.
Ms. Gong Ruiping was sentenced to four years in September 2001 and brutally tortured during her imprisonment. Three years after her release in 2005, she was captured again and given two and a half years of forced labor. She discovered upon her release that her school had fired her.
Shortly before the 18th National Congress in November 2012, she was given two years and nine months of forced labor.
Though now released, Ms. Gong still trembles when she recalls the chilling torture that she endured in different detention facilities. She almost died on several occasions. In her own words, “My whole family still lives in fear, not sure when I may be taken away and brutalized again.”
But Ms. Gong does not regret her decision to take up the practice of Falun Gong about 20 years ago. She said, “My husband and I fought all the time. If it were not for our son, we'd have filed for divorce long ago. Fast forward to May 1996, when I watched a video lecture of Master Li Hongzhi's teachings of Falun Gong.
“I learned how to conduct myself following the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I no longer quarreled with my husband and also repaired my relationship with my mother-in-law. Life was beautiful again for my family.”
The happy days didn't last long, though. A nearly-broken family once saved by Falun Gong was torn apart by the persecution. Ms. Gong detailed in her criminal complaint how she was targeted for her faith over the past 16 years.
First Arrest Followed by Torture and Force-feeding
I was arrested on July 2, 2001, and was incarcerated at the Beijing Legal Education Center, a brainwashing center. They took me to Xinan Forced Labor Camp in Daxing County, Beijing, during the day, and then escorted me back to the brainwashing center in the evening to be tortured.
Torture
The guards instigated the prisoners to slap me in the face countless times. Two teachers sent by the county education department, Wang Qiying and Li Cuilan, joined the guards to torture me. They stuck papers into my mouth, pinched my nose and covered my eyes. I could not breathe, and nearly fainted.
After they let go of my nose and I took a deep breath, Wang Qiying grabbed my hair and hit my head against the wall numerous times. They then struck me in the face until I lost consciousness.
When I revived, Wang Qiying roared into my ear, “Your husband doesn’t want you anymore. Do you know that?” I tried to fathom what she meant, and where I was, but could not remember anything. I did not know when they took me back to the brainwashing center, but vaguely remembered being dragged on the ground back to a police vehicle. I later found out that my knees were bleeding and my face was swollen.
The head of the brainwashing center, Yang, and director of Pinggu District 610 Office, Wang Hongjing, and the two teachers came early the next morning. The teachers dragged me off the bed and beat me again.
Wang Qiying then picked up a big object and hit my head with it. I lost my hearing right away and my head was spinning, but I did not cry out. She barked at me, but when they found out that I could not hear them, they grabbed a pot of cold water and poured it on my head.
Force-feeding
I went on a hunger strike to protest against the illegal persecution. They inserted a long plastic feeding tube into my stomach through the nose to force feed me, and mixed some laxatives in the food, which caused me to have diarrhea more than a dozen times a day.
About six people pushed me into a chair, and Wang Hongjing tried to insert a feeding tube inside one of my nostrils. When that did not work, he tried the other nostril. I began to vomit blood, but that still did not stop them. I realized that they actually did not care if I died.
Many practitioners in China have died while being force fed, so I began to eat the next day. But the four perpetrators were agitated to see me eating. I heard them saying that they should take the initiative. I became more convinced then that they actually intended to kill me.
I stared at them with a strong and clear thought that I would not let them torture me to death. When two of them left the room, I told myself that I should leave and expose their crimes.
When the door opened, I dashed out of the building shouting, “They’re trying to kill me! They’re trying to kill me!” They chased after me, and told me to get back to the room.
Escaping from the mental hospital and becoming homeless and destitute
The brainwashing center next sent me to Pinggu District Detention Center, where the guards hit my head against the wall and instigated the prisoners to hit me. They had two male prisoners cuff my hands and shackle my feet, and then the female prisoners hit and kicked me while roaring curses at me.
A prison guard came one day and said that he would take me home. I trusted him, and followed him into the police car. However, they took me to a mental hospital, instead. I knew that I could not stay there, so while they worked on the paperwork, I climbed out of the police car and escaped.
After running away from the mental hospital, I lived on the streets.
Second Arrest Leads to 4-Year Imprisonment
I was captured again on September 17, 2001 and sent to Beijing Legal Education Center.
Forced to Drink My Own Urine
The guards hung me up, deprived me of sleep and use of the toilet, and poured cold water on my head if I dozed off. A guard slapped my face more than 500 times. After a long time, I couldn't hold it in any longer and wet my pants.
It was very cold, and the guards forced me to wear my wet pants. One guard even forced me to drink my own urine. She stripped off my clothes, and then opened the window to have the cold wind blow on my naked body.
I was tied to a chair, and then pushed down to the ground while still in the chair. Guards held my nose shut and poured liquor into my mouth. After being tortured for two months, I became mentally disoriented. The guards yelled, “If you don’t denounce Falun Gong, we’ll make you either lose your mind or your life!”
I was later given four years and transferred to Beijing Women’s Prison.
Shocked with Electric Batons in Prison
The prison guards cuffed my hands and shocked me with electrical batons. The head guard instigated prisoners to hit me. One prisoner kicked my legs for several days in a row. Two other prisoners whipped me in the back with their leather belts.
A prisoner jabbed my palm with a ballpoint pen. I was tortured by different people around the clock for over a month. I was not allowed to sleep. Their goal was to force me to denounce my faith.
A group of guards and two prisoners carried me into a small deserted room in the basement. After locking the door, they tied me up so that I could not move my limbs at all. Then they immobilized me on the ground, and one of them sat on me. My limbs and back were injured.
A prisoner hit me with a wooden club and poked my ears with needles. They tied me to the back of a chair, made me squat, and then pressed my upper body forward into the shape of a bow. It was hard to breathe in this position. One of them sat on the chair so that I could not move at all. They laughed out loud, seeing me suffer.
I still refused to submit, so the guards pulled my head up and forced my body backward. After that, the guards threw my head into the wall until my head was bleeding profusely. They also stomped on my feet till they were bleeding.
In the #8 prison section, the head guard had a group of prisoners bombard me with vile propaganda from morning till late at night. They forced me to stay up till 2 a.m. After I lay down, one of them grabbed my ears while others roared curses at me.
Third Arrest Accompanied by 2.5 Years of Forced Labor
Before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, I was arrested again and given two and a half years of forced labor. In Beijing Daxing Forced Labor Camp, the guards instigated drug addicts to torture Falun Gong practitioners. I had a hunger strike to protest against the brutal torture.
Guards took me to the clinic to force feed me. They injected food into my nose, but did not stop, even when my stomach was completely filled. I began to vomit. The nurse collected the vomit into a plastic bag, and then injected it back through my nose many times.
After that, they pinched my nose shut and stuffed my mouth with steamed buns to choke me.
Fourth Arrest Results in Second Forced Labor Detention
I was arrested for a fourth time in November 2012, shortly before the 18th National Congress. I was given two years and nine months of forced labor.
After detaining me in Beijing Daxing Forced Labor Camp for a month, they incarcerated me in Wuhan City Women’s Forced Labor Camp for over two years. I was denied sleep. When I held a hunger strike in protest, they pried my mouth open to force feed me. My jaws hurt terribly, since they kept my mouth open very wide for a long time.
The guards often made me clean the bathroom late at night or forced me to stand still for two hours to punish me for not finishing my work for the day.
I was arrested while again working in a day care center before the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th National Congress in 2012. Police officers searched and ransacked my residence, took away my personal belongings, and then gave me two years and nine months of forced labor.
In Beijing Women’s Forced Labor Camp, I was forced to sit on a small plastic stool for an extended period of time, sometimes for more than a dozen hours a day. Some prisoners were there to make sure that I did not move, and they kicked and swore at me if I did.
Related reports:Four Teachers in Beijing Sentenced to Forced Labor over 18th Party Congress “Security Concerns”Teacher Gong Ruiping from Beijing Arrested Again, Subjected to Repeated PersecutionMs. Gong Ruiping, a Teacher from Beijing Who Suffered Repeated Persecution, Imprisoned AgainPractitioner Gong Ruiping Injected with Harmful Drugs in Beijing Women's PrisonAre They Really Trying to "Save" Me?
Background
In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the Chinese Communist Party, overrode other Politburo standing committee members and launched the violent suppression of Falun Gong.
The persecution has led to the deaths of many Falun Gong practitioners in the past 16 years. More have been tortured for their belief and even killed for their organs. Jiang Zemin is directly responsible for the inception and continuation of the brutal persecution.
Under his personal direction, the Chinese Communist Party established an extralegal security organ, the “610 Office,” on June 10, 1999. The organization overrides police forces and the judicial system in carrying out Jiang's directive regarding Falun Gong: to ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically.
Chinese law allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are now exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.