Chapter 6: The Arraignment
It was a clear, brilliant morning. When I opened the window, I was greeted by a fresh breath with the chill of winter approaching. The guards were outside changing rooms, yelling loudly to inform the inmates that it was time to change their sheets. In good weather, this monthly routine must be done. On such days, some extra water was supplied, and the inmates soaked their sheets in the water, rubbed them with soap, and then sent them out through the window hole in the door with the basin, and the young woman who was rehabilitated here (the pale girl mentioned in Chapter 5) took them to the laundry room.
While I was soaping the sheets, one of the male guards opened the door and yelled at me. “Come out!”
“I’m washing the sheets.” I said.
“Don’t talk back! When I tell you to come out, you come out!” The female guard on duty came in and said, “You can wash them when you get back, but now go to your trial.”
Arraignment! It was finally time for a head-to-head. I dried my hands with a towel.
“Hurry up.” The guard said impatiently.
I followed him out of the cell, through the women’s prison yard, to another building behind the prison headquarters. A large block of wood with black letters on a white background read, “Confess, resist, redeem.
My heart was pounding with excitement, and I stepped forward with confidence. The moment I had been looking forward to for so long had finally arrived. I will plead with them and ask for my case to be reviewed factually. I believe that as a state trial judge, I will not be able to understand that hysterical Red Guard rebels. They must have been trained and responsible enough to distinguish between criminals and innocent people.
I was handed to one of the guards who escorted me through a long corridor flanked by interrogation rooms, most of which had their doors closed, but there was still slurred speech and occasional shouting. The guard stopped at a doorway, threw it open, and bellowed, “Get in!”
It was a long, narrow, eerie room. The only window threshold, embedded high on the back wall, was the size of my cell. Two men in fat, faded liberation suits sat behind a high wooden table under the window. This size of clothing is almost always a personal set in China, except for senior leaders. About two yards away from the window rested a crude wooden chair, which was used by the prisoners. Although the room is dark, but the window cast a note of sunlight, coincidentally fell on the prisoner’s seat. The four walls were covered with dust, and the dampness and dust on the concrete floor were mixed together, presenting a black and stained mess. The tables and seats were so worn that their original color could not be seen.
After entering, a man said, “Read a quotation from Chairman Mao.” The quotation he selected was the same one that the Red Guards had chosen when they first came to my house to raid it.
“After the enemy with a gun has been destroyed, the enemy without a gun still exists. ……” At this point, the two men kept pressing me, and I read carefully, putting on a calm and self-possessed look, lest they think I was weak because I was guilty.
“Sit down!” The man gestured to the chair.
I turned to sit, and then I realized that the wall behind the back of the chair, there is a small window slightly larger than in the cell. I was sure that someone was listening behind the window while the interrogation was going on inside.
I sat down in the crude chair, while looking at the two people sitting behind the high table. Their faces were pale, and they seemed to have worked indoors for long periods of time, rarely being outdoors. Although their appearance dressed shabbily, but with my first prison check-in that person is very different, they appear to be awe-inspiring, calm and comfortable, very much an air of authority. Naturally, for them, interrogating prisoners is their daily work. I am sure that the speaker, is the arraignment officer, another in front of a stack of paper, is the recorder.
After I sat down, the interrogator’s eyes, over my shoulder, looked at the small window behind me, and then nodded knowingly. It seems that my estimate was good, there was indeed someone outside listening to my interrogation. At once I felt disappointed. Because the interrogator was just a puppet, I could not see the real opponent. At that time, I was so eager to confront the guy who framed me face to face, so that I could remember his face for eternity!
The interrogator, in a low, tired tone, asked me my name and other information, then looked up at me and raised his voice and said, “You know, what is this place?”
“I think it’s about a prison or a concentration camp or something, because everyone is detained.”
“That’s right. This is Detention Center No. 1, the prison for political prisoners. This is where anti-government counter-revolutionaries are detained for interrogation.”
“In that case, I shouldn’t go into such a place.” I stated forcefully.
Unaffected by my words, he continued on in a high voice: “You were sent in because you committed a crime against the government. That’s plain to see.”
“You must be mistaken.” I said.
“The government can’t be wrong.”
“You are not an unreasonable Red Guard. You represent the government, and you can’t falsely accuse me that irresponsibly.”
“It’s not a false accusation.”
“You have to speak with evidence.” I was very disappointed. Because the interrogation I had been waiting for for a long time turned out to be exactly the same as the theory of the rebels before I was imprisoned.
“Of course we have evidence!” The arraigner threatened me shamelessly.
“Then show them!” I sneered and asked him to show his cards, “Why bother spending time on the trial? Why not show the evidence and convict?”
“Don’t underestimate the power of the masses. The Red Guard rebels can provide us with the evidence we need. Muddying the waters will not work. Anyone who makes a mistake or commits a crime must give an honest account and denounce others. By giving an honest account, you can be lenient, and by denouncing others, you can redeem yourself.”
“I don’t believe you can find the so-called evidence to frame me. This is not because I do not understand the nature of the Cultural Revolution, nor do I underestimate the power of the masses, but because I simply do not believe that you, or anyone else, will be able to obtain such purely criminal evidence. How can I find evidence of crime when I have never committed a crime?” I said. Because he lied to me that he already had the evidence, and by telling me so, I could overpower him in momentum and thus increase my confidence.
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