Female Falun Gong Practitioner Beaten and Raped by Beijing Police

[Falun Dafa Information Center, June 14] — On the evening of May 14 in Beijing, a female Falun Gong practitioner [name withheld to protect her identity] was beaten and raped on the street when she was posting Falun Gong fliers.

According to this woman’s account, she was stopped by a plainclothes policeman when she was posting Falun Gong fliers along the city moat from Dabeiyao to Yonganli. The policeman appeared to be approximately 30-years old and 1.65-meters tall. After being beaten for more than one hour, she was raped. The policeman claimed: “there are commands from the top to beat Falun Gong practitioners to death when catching them.” The woman lost two front teeth during the beating, and several places of her head were severely injured.

During the incident over ten onlookers passed by. The policeman, however, shouted: “she is a Falun Gong practitioner, currently anti-revolutionary. Her being beaten to death will be counted as null.” After this, the onlookers moved away in a hurry.

This incident comes at a time when the authorities in China are stepping up the crackdown against Falun Gong in order to combat many of the less visible activities of Falun Gong practitioners, such as distributing flyers about the persecution. The legal system of mainland China has recently passed more stringent directives to control Falun Gong. Human rights organizations have indicated that these directives created by the Chinese government are purposely left vague, to be used as legal justification for cracking down on Falun Gong at will.

Before this, there have been several sexual abuse cases happening to female Falun Gong practitioners: Masanjia Labor Reeducation camp stripped eighteen female practitioners naked and threw them into a male prison; the head of Beijing Qianmen police office raped female Falun Gong practitioners; policemen in Beijing Qinghe Detention Center often kicked or beaten the genitals of female practitioners; Chaoyang District Detention Center in Beijing beat female practitioners after tying them to a position similar to a Chinese “da” character (two legs split in wide angle and two arms stretched to both sides) on a wood board, with their pants stripped below the knees; policemen in JinXing police office threw a 55-year-old female practitioner into a male prison, etc.

The following account was given by this Falun Gong practitioner:

“A little bit after 9:00 pm on the evening of May 14th, I was stopped by a patrolling policeman (He was in plainclothes at that time) when I was posting Falun Gong fliers along the city moat from Dabeiyao to Yonganli. He said that he is a policeman. He showed his working ID and tried to take me to the police office. I told him the truth about Falun Dafa. He did not want to listen at all, but said, ‘There are commands from the top that we should beat Falun Gong practitioners to death when we catch them!’ He then grabbed my genitals while “searching my body.” I didn’t want to comply, and ran towards the road. The policeman pursued me on his bicycle, and used a plastic baton to beat me. I did not fight back but just told him that ‘Falun Gong teaches people to be good people. We are not bad people’. But he beat me even more crazily. I endured the severe pain and tried to persuade him: “You should not treat a Falun Gong practitioner like this. We practice ‘truth, compassion and forbearance’, which are the principles of the universe. You will bring retribution to yourself when you do bad things.’ The policeman didn’t seem to make a distinction between good and evil, but said complacently, “The top have told us that we cannot let Falun Gong practitioners off the hook. Today I will either beat you to death and throw you into the city moat, or send you to the police station.’ I continued to try to persuade him to be compassionate. I wanted to run away from his control, but could not do so.

This policeman appeared to be about 30 years old and approximately 1.65 meters tall. He was very strong. He beat me for more than one hour until I felt I was on the verge of dying. During that period more than ten onlookers came to see what was going on. The policeman shouted at them: “She is a Falun Gong practitioner, currently anti-revolutionary. Her being beaten to death will be counted as null’. No one dared to stay, and everyone went away in a hurry.

I had heard from police, ‘Jiang Zemin ordered that Falun Gong practitioners’ who are beaten to death will be counted as null and reported as suicide.’ I didn’t dare to believe it at that time. From my experience today, this is a cruel reality. It is even worse than Mafia.

Finally, I was beaten to the ground and was not able to get up. Two of my front teeth were knocked out; several places on my head were hurt; my body was swollen and turned purple; my bones felt like they were falling apart. He then hit my right ear and temple hard with a stick and I lost consciousness. At this moment he pulled me under a bridge, tore my pants apart and raped me. After that, he inserted a plastic baton forcefully into my vagina, and rode on my body. When I regained my strength and was able to shout, I shouted with all the strength I had: “Help! Catch this hooligan!” The man seemed to have no fear. Finally, he got on his bicycle and rode away in a hurry, leaving me behind.”