Name: Zhao Chunyan (赵春艳)
Gender: Female
Age: 59
Address: Hengshan District, Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: November 28, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Harbin Drug Rehab Forced Labor Camp (哈尔滨戒毒劳教所)
City: Jixi
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, imprisonment, solitary confinement, ransacked home, detention

(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Zhao Chunyan is a Falun Dafa practitioner in Heilongjiang Province. Falun Gong has made her healthy and optimistic. She has continued to practice Falun Gong even though she was subjected to forced labor twice. The following is her first-hand account.

I am Zhao Chunyan. I am 59 years old and live in the Hengshan District, Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province. I started to practice Falun Gong in the autumn of 1997. The Chinese Community Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong 13 years ago. Since then, I have been illegally detained and subjected to forced labor twice. My family and I have endured severe mental and physical damage because of the persecution. We also suffered severe financial loss.

Subjected to Forced Labor for Legally Appealing My Sentence

My own experience of practicing Falun Gong made me treasure Dafa, and I believe that the universal values of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance are the hope of mankind. I had suffered from rheumatism, heart disease, and neurasthenia for many years. They disappeared after I began practicing. I was astonished and grateful.

Falun Gong really benefits the society in many, many ways and does no harm. Yet practitioners are still being persecuted. When the persecution began, evil seemed to blot out the sky and cover up the earth. I was deeply hurt and could not understand. Out of my duty as a citizen, and because of my deep trust in the law and the government, I appealed in Beijing on June 29, 2000. After I came home, officer Xu, who was in charge of our neighborhood, asked me, “Where did you go?” I said, “Beijing.” Sun Mengshan, director of the Hengshan District Fendou Police Station, and officer Xu then arrested me. They detained me for 24 days. During my detention, Chi Baoliang, secretary of the Hengshan Political and Legal Committee, and Zhang Wenchang, director of the 610 Office, tried to pressure me into writing aguarantee statement. When I refused, they forged my signature.

I left home to go to Beijing to legally appeal the unjust persecution in November of 2000. I was intercepted by police after reaching Acheng. Officer Hu Guangdong said that I would be detained for 15 days. But after 40 days I was still not released. I went on a hunger strike to protest their illegal conduct. Agents from the city 610 Office tried to coerce me to write a guarantee statement to not practice Falun Gong. After I refused, they threatened me: “We will put you in a forced labor camp if you do not sign the statement.” I was finally released after being detained for 52 days. Three days after I was released, officer Xu tricked me into going to the police station, saying, “Director Sun asked you to come to the station.” Then they took me to Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. The camp rejected me at first because I had not been formally sentenced. Director Sun then ordered Hu to create a document and bring it to the camp. I was imprisoned for a year in the labor camp. During that time, chief guard Lin and guard Wu Jinying locked me in a small cell for a month. As a result, I got scabies all over me.

Subjected to Forced Labor Again for Legally Attending a Trial

Practitioners were put on trial in the Mudanjiang Xi'an District Court on November 28, 2008. I thought that a public trial was a way for citizens to gain general knowledge about the law, and that it was a good chance for me to learn about it. In addition, it was practitioners who would be on trial, so I decided to attend. But court agents rudely pushed us out of the courtroom, then into the yard, then out into the street. Many officers were involved. They arrested us and took us to the police department. Xu Mengfei, Wang Shouben, and other officers from the Hengshan Domestic Security Division transferred us back to Hengshan. Hu Guangdong, Liu Huixue, and other officers ransacked my home, seizing my computer, my printer, and other property. I was sentenced to 18 months of forced labor.

My neighborhood is under the jurisdiction of the Fendou Police Station. But they transferred me to the Liumaokuang Police Station, so they could fill up their “forced labor allotment.” I was taken to the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Forced Labor Camp by four officers from the Liumaokuang Police Station.

Since I went on a four-day hunger strike while I was detained, I became very weak. My heartbeat was irregular. I was not qualified for admission. But they ignored all of these symptoms and put me in jail. I suffered from various forms of harassment. Inmates were assigned to monitor me closely. Every morning I got up at 5 o'clock. As soon as I finished breakfast, two monitors forced me to stand until 10 o'clock at night. They meant to torture me until I “transformed.” Since I did not give in, guards Liu Wei, Zhang Li, and Feng Yuan frequently harassed me. They forced me to work doing slave labor, saying, “We will hang you up if you don't work.” I was weak and my heartbeat was irregular. On time my blood pressure was measured as high as 200. I was dizzy and had a fuzzy head the whole day. My movements were slow. The head of the guards, Liu Wei, yelled at me for being lazy and extended my prison term whenever he felt like it. When I could not work, they forced me to sit on a small stool for more than four months, from 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. every day. Monitors uninterruptedly read articles slandering Dafa's Master beside me. I was firm and refused to “transform” the whole time. Guards extended my prison term from 18 months to 2 years, citing as reasons that I “did not work,... did not write a guarantee statement,” and “did not 'ransform.'”

They did not release me even when my 2-year term ended. They gave me an extra extension. My term was extended for a total of 16 months and 9 days.

My Family Suffered

My husband and I get along very well. Our son is obedient and sensible. My husband and son had to go to another town to work because I was repeatedly persecuted by the evil CCP. Our family lived apart. I could not help them even when my daughter-in-law gave birth.

In 2000, when my elderly father was badly sick and paralyzed in bed, I was detained. He worried about me. He did not get to see me before he died in pain. This is a heartache that I will suffer forever. My husband and brothers came all the way to visit me many times while I was in the forced labor camp. They came with hope and left with sorrow, because the guards refused to let them visit me every time, citing the fact that I did not “transform.” After I was released, the Security Bureau did not pay me my back salary. I went there many times. The agents gave me evasive me and deceitful answers. After my much effort, I only got back part of the salary that I would have made had I not been forced to be in the labor camp.

The evil CCP has been persecuting practitioners for 13 years. The CCP staged a “self immolation” on Tiananmen Square. The CCP killed thousands of practitioners for their organs, which are sold and transplanted for enormous profits. People can now see the CCP's inhumanity and the evilness of the persecution. Practitioners awaken people's consciences with their upright actions and suffering. Please stand with justice and conscience. Judge the persecution using justice, morality, and the law. Recognize the wicked nature of the CCP. This is very important to your future. Knowing the truth and staying away from the evil CCP creates a better future for you when a disaster comes. This is the prayer of every practitioner.