(Minghui.org) Jilin resident Ms. Liu Shuying, 64, returned home on April 27, 2018, after spending the past seven and a half years in Changchun Women's Prison.
Before her arrest, like many retired Chinese Ms. Liu helped her daughter's family to prepare meals and took care of the grandchild.
However, being a practitioner of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice banned and persecuted by the Chinese regime, Ms. Liu has always been at risk of being arrested or sent to prison without any warning or legal procedures. This is exactly what happened to her seven and a half years ago.
Officers from the Minghua Police Station of Huadian City knocked on her door on the evening of November 26, 2010, and Ms. Liu was taken to the police station, then sent to a detention center the next day. She was illegally detained there for two and a half years. Only after being transferred to Changchun Women's Prison did she find out that she had been given a nine-year prison term.
Two inmates were assigned to monitor and torture her when Ms. Liu first arrived at the prison. Their job was to force her to give up her belief in Falun Gong in any way they could.
At first, they dragged her to the TV room to watch videos that defamed Falun Gong. When she refused to watch, they pushed her to the floor and cuffed her hand to the leg of a desk. After a while, seeing that she still did not watch the video, they dragged her back to her cell and forced her to sit on a small stool, 8 inches high by 8 inches wide. Each of her hands was cuffed to the end of a bed rail.
Every day for a month, Ms. Liu was taken to the TV room and forced to watch videos. When she refused to watch, the inmates turned the volume up. Seeing her still not give in, they took her to the bathroom, where they hit and kicked her viciously, cursing as each blow landed on her body. When they tired, they twisted Ms. Liu's arms behind her back and pushed her head into a water barrel until she almost drowned.
Torture reenactment: Drowning in a water barrel.
CCP-Style Torture
Not able to force Ms. Liu to give in, the monitors thought of another way to torture her. She was forced to sit on a small rounded plastic stool, 6 inches in diameter. There were raised patterns on the surface, which made it very uncomfortable to sit on. Ms. Liu was not allowed to sit on the entire stool—She could only sit on a small part of the surface area.
This is a commonly used prison torture method. One is forced to sit still for as long as 18 hours per day, holding one position. Hands must be placed on the knees, with eyes focused on one spot.
When a person sits like this for a prolonged period of time, the abdomen and legs swell, and the buttocks festers and bleeds. One's eyesight deteriorates, and the person sees double and loses focus.
Eventually, the person cannot stand up due to lack of blood circulation. If attempted, she shakes, and may even pass out.
Torture reenactment: Sitting on a stool for prolonged period of time.
Ms. Liu was not allowed to shower or brush her teeth, and her use of the toilet was limited. Many times she couldn't hold it and urinated in her pants.
The inmates would force her to clean the mess, but not her wet clothing. With her feet soaked in the urine, the skin would first turn white, then to a dark brown. She was slapped on the face whenever she moved while sitting on the stool.
A month passed, and Ms. Liu still did not give in.
This angered the inmates who were assigned to her. They then had Ms. Liu sit on the floor. Her legs were split open, with one person holding one leg, her hands held behind her back, and her upper body was forced down. The pain was excruciating, and Ms. Liu struggled to free herself. After an hour, they released her when she could no longer breathe.
Torture reenactment: The victim's legs are forced open to a split position.
Two days later, someone walked behind Ms. Liu and pulled her hair up as she was sitting on the stool. The person kept pulling as Liu held her own hair. The person spit out furious insults and curses.
As Ms. Liu described the attack after her release, she unconsciously touched her scalp. As her fingers moved along her head, I saw little bumps on her scalp.
A few days later, Ms. Liu was ordered to stand in the hallway for 18 hours each day. Whenever she looked tired, water was poured on her head. After 20 days, her legs and feet were severely swollen. When a prison health worker saw her and exclaimed that she would not live much longer, the forced standing was finally stopped.
However, the torture continued. Ms. Liu was tied to a bed with her four limbs spread out—known as the death bed torture. Her feet were bound to the bed railing with towels.
Her ankles festered due to the lack of airflow. When she was finally released from the death bed, her shoulders were very painful, and it took her a long time to even lower her arms. She couldn't move her arms freely.
Torture reenactment: Death bed.
The inmates then took turns to deprive Ms. Liu of sleep. Whenever she blinked, they used a fly-swatter to hit her face. Whenever her eyes were closed, they poured water on her face.
After two and a half months of torture, Ms. Liu could no longer endure and she gave in against her will. She wrote guarantee statements agreeing to no longer practice Falun Gong. Even so, the brainwashing continued. Ms. Liu and other Falun Gong practitioners at the prison were still forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong and were given books on traditional Buddhism, Taoism, and culture to read.
Personal and Family Turmoil
As Ms. Liu recalled her experience in prison, she unconsciously scratched her body, as if her body was still experiencing the prison torture. If others showed concern or discomfort, she stopped and appeared embarrassed. But she soon started scratching again.
The home she shared with her daughter's family is both familiar and strange now. Her grandson was only two years old when she was taken away by the police. Now the ten-year-old boy looks at her warily. The silence from her son-in-law only adds to the gloom.
When she was sentenced to prison, her family was thrown into turmoil. Her daughter, also a practitioner, faced intense pressure from her family. Her husband would not speak to her. Her in-laws threatened her by saying, “If you keep practicing [Falun Gong], we will jump off the sixth floor of our apartment.” Yet, Ms. Liu’s daughter maintained a bright smile through it all.
Ms. Liu's ex-husband, upon hearing of her sentence, became very concerned. He soon passed away from a stroke.
Ms. Liu Shuying started practicing Falun Gong in 1998 due to illnesses, including anemia and dizziness. She was very frail, and often had severe headaches. She became healthier after she started the practice, and also became a kinder person and got along with her ex-husband's family.
