(Minghui.org) Ms. Jin Junmei, 61, is a resident of Yuzhong County, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. She had been repeatedly arrested for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a mind-body practice being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
She was sentenced to eight years in prison following her arrest in 2008. When her husband died months later, she was released on probation. However, she was taken back into custody in 2012 and imprisoned for three years, during which time she was severely beaten, deprived of restroom use, and forced to drink urine and eat feces.
Below, Ms. Jin recounts her ordeal.
Disabled at Five and Reborn in 1997
I was physically normal until I turned five and caught a contagious disease that left me unable to walk. My right leg improved by the age of 13 but my left leg still could not bear my weight without crutches.
I married when I was 25 and later gave birth to a boy and a girl. My life took a downturn in 1992 when a neighbor rebuilt their house and took some of our land. When I argued with them about it, they kicked me and stepped on my stomach. I spit blood and had no strength to fight back.
When I went to the hospital, I was diagnosed with stomach bleeding. Doctors also discovered gallstones, cholecystitis, and heart disease.
I tried to seek justice about the seizure of our land and filed a complaint with the local court but to no avail. I appealed to the intermediate court but still did not get any compensation.
The injustice made me furious, and my health deteriorated. My heart often skipped beats. My eyesight worsened. My husband wanted to borrow money so I could get medical attention, but I did not want to be a burden to my family. I tried several times to kill myself but my husband stopped me.
In early 1997, a friend gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun. Several months later, I tried to read it even though my eyesight was still really bad. I told Master Li, the founder of Falun Dafa, in my heart that I would like to take up the practice if my health could improve. Then I saw the words on the pages start to shine and later become clear. I began to read.
My stomach bleeding stopped before I learned the exercises, and I felt better. I soon found a local practice site and started to go. All of my illnesses disappeared shortly afterward.
By reading Zhuan Falun, I was no longer obsessed about my neighbor taking my land. I learned not to fight for money or personal gain. Dafa gave me a second life.
Three Arrests in Two Years
After the persecution of Falun Gong began, I, like millions of Falun Gong practitioners, wanted to tell the government that the persecution was wrong.
Other Lanzhou City practitioners and I went to the Gansu Province government offices to appeal on July 22, 1999. I was detained. Local village officials brought me back and told me to blame Falun Gong for my disabled legs in an interview with a TV station reporter. I refused.
In October and November 2000, I went to Beijing twice to appeal for Falun Gong. After the second appeal, I was arrested and later released.
The local police ransacked my home in 2001. They confiscated Dafa books and materials and took me to the Yuzhong County Police Department. They beat me and handcuffed me behind my back with one hand over my shoulder. They released me after I told them that I could die if I didn't practice Falun Gong.
Slammed to the Ground and Leg Broken in Detention
My sister-in-law, Yue Dingxiang (also a Falun Gong practitioner), and I were arrested on April 13, 2008. The police broke into my home and arrested my husband as well. My husband was released a few days later, but I was sent to the Jiuzhou First Detention Center.
I was detained for nine months. Detention center officials took away my crutches and I was unable to walk on my own. The guards told the inmates to carry me to the restroom. The inmates always pushed or dropped me when we got there. I had to hold onto the wall or window to avoid falling down.
Once they slammed me directly onto the toilet, and I was hurt so badly that I cried out. After I was finished, the inmates took me outside and pushed me down. My left thigh was torn and started to bleed. The doctor told me that my leg was broken. My vagina was also injured and bled for several days.
The Chengguan Court heard my case on August 15, 2008. With a broken leg, I had to be carried into the courtroom. I was sentenced to eight years in prison.
My husband passed away in December 2008. My son asked the court to release me. At that time, I had not yet stopped bleeding and I was emaciated. The court granted me probation because of my condition and I returned home on December 10, 2008.
Taken Back to Prison and Subjected to Brutally Torture
On July 30, 2012, the local police, 610 Office personnel, and officials from my workplace—about a dozen in all—came to my home. They handcuffed me and carried me away. I was taken to a hospital to be examined and then to the detention center. A month later, I was transferred to the Gansu Women's Prison.
During the three years I was imprisoned there, I was brutally tortured.
Severe Beatings
The beatings began the day I arrived. Guards and inmates beat me whenever they felt like it. When my answers did not please them, they punched or kicked me and sometimes even shocked me with electric batons.
The inmates hit me with whatever was available—long plastic rulers, basins, stools, or lunchboxes. The broke several basins, stools, and lunchboxes from hitting me with them. The basin cracked my head.
Torture Reenactment: Beating with a stool
When I fell down, they stomped on my hand. The inmates also broke my left hand on purpose when they carried me.
Deprived of Restroom Use
I was often not allowed to go to the restroom and was forced to soil my pants. Then the inmates dragged me to the restroom and poured cold water all over me, one basin after another, whatever the weather. Sometimes, they stripped off all of my clothes before dousing me with water. I was so cold that I had difficulty breathing and shivered uncontrollably. I was often beaten if I resisted. I was also force-fed unknown medication afterward.
At night, to keep me from wetting the bed, the inmates made me plastic pants and forced me to sleep with them on. Since the plastic pants didn't breathe, I developed red, itchy eczema on my buttocks, waist, and thighs. That torture lasted for more than a year.
Forced to Drink Urine and Eat Feces
Once I did not finish all my food when the meal break was over. The inmates dragged me to the restroom along with my leftovers. They poured urine and feces on the leftover food and beat me until I ate it.
Another time, I urinated into a plastic container at night and tried to secretly pour it out at the restroom. An inmate discovered it and poured the urine in my drinking water. She ordered me to drink it. When I refused to, she beat me until I did.
During those three years in prison, because of my inability to walk, I was dragged on the floor most of the time. I had cuts and bruises all over. I was also deprived of sleep when they ordered me to write reports defaming Falun Gong.
Torture Reenactment: Dragging
I was often told that practitioners who died from beatings were considered suicides. The guards ordered the inmates to monitor and torture practitioners. Several inmates were rewarded with early release since they did an “excellent” job “watching” practitioners.
When I was at the brink of death or in a desperate situation, Falun Gong gave me hope, yet I was arrested for upholding my faith.
I am still alive, and my personal experience is the best testimony to the relentless persecution of Falun Gong.
Related Report:Ms. Jin Junmei, a Woman with Disabilities, Beaten in Prison
