On the morning of August 27, 2009, at around 8:30 a.m., Xiaokang (pseudonym, female, 41 years old at the time, from Yichun City), a Christian from The Church of Almighty God (CAG), had just walked downstairs when she was stopped by five plainclothes police officers from the Domestic Security Brigade of the Yuanzhou District Public Security Sub-Bureau in Yichun City. The officers seized her bag, took her keys, forcibly opened the door and entered her home, and conducted a search. They confiscated five books of God’s words, one desktop computer, two laptop computers, two printers, one CD burner, two CD players, two audio systems, two watches valued at RMB 1,800 (about USD 270), and plundered RMB 1,000 in cash (about USD 150). The police confiscated virtually all of the valuables in the home.
The search continued until around 11:00 a.m. The police then took Xiaokang and two other CAG Christians who were staying at her home—Sun Yu (pseudonym, female, 34 years old at the time, from Yichun) and Wang Yanna (pseudonym, female, 27 years old at the time, from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province)—to the Yuanzhou District Public Security Sub-Bureau in Yichun City. The three of them were handcuffed and detained separately.
This is how Wang Yanna was tormented by the police: On the day of the arrests, Wang Yanna was held in a conference room with her hands cuffed behind her back while she sat on a wooden chair. Two police officers guarded her. She was not given food or water and forced to remain there until after 6:00 p.m. After eating dinner, two other officers began interrogating her. They demanded information including, “Who is the supervisor of your church?” and “Where is the church’s money kept?” The interrogation continued until midnight without producing the desired information. She was then transferred to the Yuanzhou District Detention Center.
At around 7:30 p.m. the following day, police took Wang Yanna back to the public security sub-bureau, where she was subjected to round-the-clock interrogation and torture for an entire week. The officers shackled her hands and feet to a “tiger bench,” yanked her hair forcefully, burned her arms with a lighter, struck her face with heavy books, and repeatedly hit her head with bottles full of water. They also used a type of handcuff known as “horse-tooth handcuffs” to restrain her hands behind her back. Whenever she moved her hands, the handcuff mechanism dug into her flesh, causing severe pain and cold sweats. The police repeatedly insulted and humiliated Wang Yanna and pressured her to betray the church and renounce her faith. During her subsequent detention, detention-center officers forced her to perform labor and deprived her of adequate sleep. She was required to stand guard for two hours at irregular times during the middle of the night every day.
On December 8, Xiaokang, Wang Yanna, and Sun Yu were transferred to a labor camp to serve one-year terms of “Reeducation Through Labor.” During their time in the labor camp, the three Christians were subjected to inhumane treatment. They had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to work, packaging and inspecting medical gloves, making paper boxes, and performing other tasks, and continued working until 9:00 p.m. They were sometimes required to work overtime until midnight. If they failed to meet their production quotas, they were punished. While other detainees were resting, they were often ordered to clean toilets and hallways or assigned additional tasks. The prolonged, excessive workload, combined with exposure to the many chemicals used in processing the products, caused skin irritation. In the winter, Wang Yanna developed severe chilblains on her hands, which cracked open and bled, causing unbearable pain. However, the prison guards refused to allow her to receive medical treatment or medication. During the hot summer of 2010, Wang Yanna and Xiaokang failed to meet their production quotas. Zhang Kun (female), the leader of the Second Squadron, ordered them to squat on the ground for several hours. Their feet became numb, and they nearly fainted. Their meals generally consisted of boiled Chinese cabbage and white radishes and provided little nutritional value. In short, their situation could be described as: “They ate like pigs and dogs and worked like oxen and horses.” Wang Yanna lost more than 5 kilograms of weight.
Xiaokang and Wang Yanna were not released until August 26, 2010. Sun Yu was released on August 19, 2010.
