Jian Anyun (pseudonym, female, 55 at the time), living in Dandong City in Liaoning Province, is a Christian from The Church of Almighty God.
At about 10 a.m. on November 21, 2018, Jian Anyun had just got back home from going out for errands when she was arrested by the officers from local police station who had conducted a stakeout of her house. The police officers wrestled her to the ground and found on her a TF card containing faith-related materials. They then carried out a forcible search of her house by tossing around all household items from the cabinets onto Jian’s mother, who is over 80 years old, leaving the house in disarray. The police officers confiscated one laptop, two Mp5 players and one cell phone. Jian Anyun asked them on what grounds they arrested her. One officer showed her a leaflet with her name and photo and rebuked her, “We arrest you for this.” Then she was forcibly escorted to a local detention center for interrogations.
In the interrogation room, Ms. Jian was locked into a special iron cage (a torture device measuring one meter tall, about 30 centimeters wide, and about 60 centimeters long) with very little space inside it. So, Jian’s chest and back were pressed against the iron bars of the cage, with only her shoulders and head exposed outside the cage. Her hands were locked to the table in front of her, and her thighs shackled to iron bars. Both of her feet were also locked in place, barefoot on the cold floor. There was a curved iron bar tightly strangling her chest. It made her feel difficult to breathe as if her heart stopped beating and she was about to die.
At about 2 p.m., a policeman violently grabbed her by the throat, demanding her to sell out the church leaders and other Christians, but to no avail. When Ms. Jian was released from the cage that night, her limbs went numb. She was unable to stand and collapsed on the ground. The officers threw her onto the carriage of a vehicle and took her to the hospital, where Jian was diagnosed as early stage heart disease. On the way back, an officer fiercely kicked Jian’s legs, and stamped on her head. When arriving at the station, the police threw her onto the floor. As a result, her head banged against the floor and she immediately lost consciousness. She didn’t wake up until three hours later. Afterward, she was locked into the cage again. Ms. Jian felt hard to breathe, but the policemen who were watching over her just ignored her.
Jian Anyun didn’t eat or drink anything after being arrested. The torture of police pushed her to the limit. She feared that she might leak the church information when she could not bear the torture. So, taking the chance of being allowed to go to the toilet, she exerted all her strength to smash her head hard against the cement floor in an attempt to end her life. Seeing that, the police were afraid of being held responsible for her death, they then dragged her into the cage again and kept her locked in.
On November 22, the chief of the detention center came to interrogate Jian Anyun about the church information but remained fruitless. The officers forcibly turned her handcuffed hands up side down to collect her fingerprints, which immediately caused her excruciating pain, as if her fingers had been snapped. At that time, she had been deprived of food and water for two days and locked in the cage for more than 20 hours. She was unable to walk after she was taken out of the cage that afternoon.
After the interrogation proved fruitless, Jian Anyun was sentenced to 10 days of detention on the charge of “using a xie jiao (heterodox teachings), secret society, and superstitious activities to harm society.” Jian was released on December 2.
The torture caused Jian Anyun a headache, which would not get better for over a month after release. But the back injuries deteriorate day by day, and as the pain and numbness remain, she is unable to perform any physical work. Her left thumb has lost sensation and hasn’t been cured as yet. The torture left her terrified, so even now she still often suffers rapid heartbeat and has no strength all over. Her daily life has been badly impacted.
