Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gao Yuqin was 66 years old and lived in Jilin City, Jilin Province. She was a pharmacist employed by the Jilin City Hemorrhoids Hospital, and was regularly harassed by policemen, 610 Office agents, and the neighborhood administrators. She went to Beijing to make an appeal on behalf of Falun Gong at Tiananmen Square and was arrested and detained in the Jilin City Detention Center for more than one month. She was sentenced to three years of forced labor at the beginning of November 2000 and served in the Sixth Ward, Heizuizi Labor Camp in Changchun City.
During her time doing forced labor, due to severe living conditions, she became extremely thin and developed severe heart and brain problems. Her family spent more than 10,000 yuan and did everything they could to bail her out on medical parole at the end of December 2000, after she served four and a half months.
After returning home, policemen from Xiangyang Station, neighborhood administrators, 610 office members, and State Security agents kept harassing her at home. In June 2002, four people from the neighborhood administration stormed into her home and took away her Falun Gong exercise tape that was in the stereo. Xiangyang Police Station Head Xia Yongbin (male) and 610 office members often came to her door to harass her, causing both mental and physical damage, which made her become very weak. She was often forced to leave home to avoid being arrested.
In January 2004, Ms. Gao went to distribute truth clarifying materials with fellow practitioners. They were reported and arrested by policemen from Longtan Station, and detained in a wire cage for three days. Her family spent several thousand yuan to have her released.
Due to living in such a severe environment for a long period of
time, being
arrested and threatened repeatedly by police and 610 office members,
and having
her home ransacked, her mental and physical health was severely
damaged, causing
her kidney disease to reoccur. She died on March 19, 2006.
The Shenyang City Police Department illegally detained practitioner Mrs. Zu Liming at 10 p.m. on May 23, 2006. The authorities sentenced her to two years of forced labor and sent her to the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. Her young son Miao Yumeng is now at home, all alone. His father Miao Qisheng died from persecution in May 2002.
Mr. Miao Qisheng used to work at a printing press for the Political Committee in Shenyang City. He began to practice Falun Gong in 1994 and was in charge of materials at the Falun Gong General Assistance Center of Shenyang. He was also the former head of the Huanggu District Falun Gong Assistance Center. He was viewed as a great person in his workplace. He was arrested in October 1999 and held in a detention center in Shenyang, where he was brutally persecuted. In March 2000, the Middle Court in Shenyang City secretly sentenced him to two years of forced labor, but he was actually held for two and a half years.
On May 14, 2002, a group of police from Xianggong Police Station in the Huanggu District broke into Mr. Miao's home. Mr. Miao had just been released from the labor camp, but they took him away. They brutally tortured him. They fractured both his arms in the police station and later beat him to death. He was only 39 years old. The police later had a meeting to block information regarding his death and claimed that he had committed suicide by jumping off of a building. His ten-year-old son Mengmeng lost his beloved father forever.
Mengmeng's mother, Ms. Zu Liming, was an architecture budgeting accountant. She was arrested and tortured numerous times for practicing Falun Gong. In April 2001, she was secretly arrested and sentenced to forced labor. Mengmeng was then left behind in the care of his relatives.
What Mengmeng has experienced in the last seven years is beyond imagining for a child his age. The emotional trauma has been terrible. From being homeless to having a broken family, there were only few days he spent with both of his parents, and the happy times they spent together are only a memory. Mengmeng has suffered tremendous pressure from the CCP's brutal persecution against Falun Gong and it has made him even more withdrawn.
I obtained the Fa in 1998 and have personally benefited since then. Our Master teaches us to practice according to "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance" and that we should conduct ourselves better than everyday people. Nevertheless, Master has been slandered for no reason. As Master's practitioners, shouldn't we speak up and defend Falun Gong? I was twice illegally arrested and taken to the Baimalong Forced Labor Camp because of sticking to my belief and speaking up for Falun Gong. During my detention, I witnessed many instances of police brutality towards practitioners.
In 2000, while heading to Beijing to appeal, I was detained by the local police in Changsha City Railway Station without any legal process. I was sentenced to one year of forced labor and was sent to the Baimalong Forced Labor Camp. At that time, there were 200 practitioners inside already. We faced all kinds of physical abuse each morning when we tried to do the Falun Gong exercises. The guards handcuffed practitioners' hands and hung them up so that their feet could not touch the ground. They kept some practitioners in solitary confinement and did not let them sleep. They forced practitioners to stand on the top floor facing the bone-chilling wind and had them stay there for the whole night. They did not allow the practitioners to use the restroom and even shocked them with electric batons. Under these circumstances, we resorted to a hunger strike to protest the persecution. In turn, what we got was ruthless persecution.
In March 2003, guards and drug addict inmates led by Yuan Lihua started brutally force-feeding us. Six or seven people held me down on the floor and force-fed me with a bamboo container, which almost killed me. Some practitioners' teeth were knocked out. In the middle of March 2001, police and special agents led by Yuan Lihua tortured practitioner Ms. Zuo Shuchun to death. We saw them carry her out on a stretcher. Her head was completely covered. We requested to see her. The police lied to us, saying that she was in the hospital and had suffered a heart attack. We never saw her again. She was only in her 40s at that time.
Practitioner Mr. Yang Youyuan, in his 60s, is a resident of Huaihua. He was illegally sentenced to one year of forced labor, suffered from brutal torture, and was later sent to Zhuzhou Mental Hospital for further persecution.
Practitioner Mr. Cao Jianzhong, in his 50s, was a resident of Yueyang City. He was brutally tortured to the verge of death. His ribs were broken, and he suffered from internal bleeding and was only skin and bones. The labor camp officials still did not let him out. Finally, when they saw that he was about to die, they released him. He died after returning home.
Practitioner Ms. Zhou Manxiu, in her 40s, became mentally traumatized due to torture.
Practitioner Ms. Chen Ouxiang, in her 40s, was tortured to death by several drug addict inmates led by Zheng Xia and Huang Mingwei.
Practitioner Cao Xiangfei, in her 50s, was a resident of Yueyang City. In July 2001, they kept her inside a special unit, where guards and four drug addict inmates covered her head with a piece of cloth and beat her continuously for four days and nights. Bruises and wounds covered her entire body. It took her a long time to recover.
Practitioner Mr. Hu Yuehui, in his 40s, is a resident of Yiyang. One day, police shocked him with electric batons for the whole day.
There were too many similar cases to list here. For the practitioners who did not give in, their sentences were extended by one more year. I was sentenced to one year and I stayed there for two years. I was released in November 2002. I told other people about what I had seen and experienced in the labor camp. Less than two months later, the 610 Office sent a group of people to take me to a brainwashing center. I started a hunger strike against the persecution. I asked them why they arrested me, and they said it was because I was promoting Falun Gong. I did not eat and they force-fed me. One practitioner was starving, but the police only gave him a little bit of food and also did not let him sleep. All of this was directed by Shi Jin. Later on, they saw that my condition was deteriorating and released me after 70 days. One month after I returned home, when I had just recovered physically, the police arrested me again and sentenced me to one and a half years of forced labor, saying I had shouted, "Falun Gong is good" and had conducted a hunger strike. I found a chance and ran away, but I had to stay away from home to avoid further persecution.
In January 2004, the local police station sent me to the Baimalong Forced Labor Camp. In the winter, I was kept barefoot, and the police tied me up to a window and force-fed me. Liquid food spilled all over me. They did not allow me to take showers or change clothes. I faced the chilly wind and the cold made me shiver constantly.
The guards divided practitioners into three teams. Team 7-3 was located on the third floor of the labor camp's hospital. One practitioner was kept in each room and three or four drug addict inmates closely watch him or her. Each day they cursed or beat us at will and did not let us sit or sleep. They also mixed unknown drugs into our food.
In July 2004, practitioner Ms. Liu Xialing, in her 40s and a resident of Lengshuitan, went to the office to report an issue. She was brutally beaten and covered with her own blood. The guards threatened her that if she did not write a guarantee statement, they would kill her. Police guard Peng Jingwen was in charge that day. During the beating, four addict inmates said that they would have their sentence terms reduced for beating her.
Mr. Xu Shaoan, 57, is a resident of Xiangtan City. In July 2004, guards Fan Yingqiao and Peng Jingwen of Team 7-1 directed four drug addicts to torture him. They beat him and used sewing needles to stab his fingers and toes. He was injured in many places and lost consciousness. After he came to, they continued to torture him. He was transferred and suffered persecution in Team 7-3 in 2005. Police mixed drugs into his food and tied up his hands. He could not stand up. He was only allowed to be in a sitting position. His face became disfigured due to torture. He was finally released after being tortured until he was mentally traumatized.
In September 2004, five groups of more than 70 guards brutally tortured practitioners. They used all kinds of tactics to try to force the practitioners to "transform." Their methods of torture included using electrical batons; not allowing their victims to sit, sleep, or use the restroom; and gripping practitioners' hands to write letters assuring they would no longer practice.
Practitioner Mr.Yang Ju Song, 67, a resident of Loudi, was tortured till the brink of death. Guards tied up his hands, did not let him sleep for six days and nights, and beat him viciously. All of this was directed by guard Yuan Jia.
Practitioner Mr. Shu Pilan, 57, is a resident of Changsha. Huang Weiming led other guards to torture him so that he felt pain throughout his entire body. His feet were also injured. Later he was sent to Team 7-3, where police did not let him sit or sleep. They released him when he became emaciated due to the abuse he was suffering.
Practitioner Mr. Hu Xiqing, 60, is a resident of Changsha City. They knocked out his teeth and injected him with unknown drugs, which made him unable to even hold up his head. He died in May 2005.
My husband Zhang Hongwei is a Falun Gong practitioner. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and to clarify the truth in January 2001.
My husband benefited both physically and mentally from his practice of Falun Gong. He became a completely new person, a person with high morality, after he started to practice Falun Gong. During a propane gas explosion, he rushed to the explosion site to rescue people. As a traffic policeman, he gave out traffic tickets for violations and would turn in all the receipts honestly (many policemen would pocket this money). He would not allow a single private cargo truck to pass his post, though others would allow trucks to pass without inspection if bribed. His supervisors praised him for being a trustworthy traffic policeman.
Because he went to Beijing to appeal, he was held in a detention center in Beijing for nearly eight months. Then, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison and transferred to Tiebei Prison in Changchun City, Jilin Province. Because he refused to be subjected to brainwashing and persisted in his belief, he was transferred to Jilin Prison, where he suffered extremely inhumane torture. He was locked in a small cell for more than two years for persisting in his belief in Falun Gong. During the two years, he was tortured on a Death Bed for over 50 days. He also was tortured in the "Big Hang-up" (1) position. Jailors instigated criminals to beat him savagely. He suffered tremendously due to the brutal torture.
Currently, my husband is in extremely poor health and his condition is getting worse. Early this year, a physical examination revealed that he had tuberculosis and suffered from pleural effusion (water collecting in his lungs). He had difficulty speaking and walking. My family requested that he be released on medical parole. The prison authorities denied our request with the excuse that his condition did not meet the requirements for medical parole. In March, his condition further deteriorated. The prison authorities took him for a physical examination. According to the results, he had tuberculosis, class III pleurisy, high blood pressure and heart disease. His life was in jeopardy. The prison authorities reported his case to the Bureau of Prison Management and requested medical parole, but it was denied. The reason the Bureau gave was that according to the law, if the detainee's lungs don't have holes or if he or she does not have haemoptysis, then he or she cannot be released on medical parole. We'd like to ask them, which law, then, allows the jailers to beat detainees? Which law allows the jailers to lock a detainee in a small cell for two years? Which law stipulates that a person should be imprisoned for telling the truth? As his family members, we cannot accept such a statement and we strongly protest it.
My father Song Wenhua was sentenced to forced labor in 2005 for speaking out for Falun Gong. He suffered from cruel torture during his one year and two months detention in the labor camp. He used to weigh 190 pounds. By the time he was released, he was reduced to a skeleton and weighed less than 100 pounds. My father is almost 60 years old. During his detention at the labor camp, he contracted tuberculosis as a result of torture. In June, upon seeing that my father was dying, the labor camp authorities reported his situation to the Department of Justice in Changchun City and requested permission to release my father. However, Zhang Jianhua from Changchun's Department of Justice denied the request; he even said that he would take the responsibility if anything happened to my father. As a result, my father could not obtain any medical treatment while there was still a chance to save his life. His illness further deteriorated and the labor camp did not release him until he was on the verge of death. My father came out of the labor camp in a car because he was unable to walk; he was deaf and had great difficulty speaking and breathing. A few days after his return home, he passed away.
Before my father was sent to the labor camp, he was very healthy. In just one year and two months, he died as a result of persecution. His death was devastating to my family.
Currently, I need to take care of my school-aged son and elderly relatives in the family. For three months, I have toiled to rescue my husband. Because of the prolonged persecution, my family is suffering from financial difficulties. I have lost my father. I cannot afford to lose my husband, as well. I appeal to all righteous people to extend your help to rescue my broken family! I request the prison to unconditionally release my husband Zhang Hongwei immediately!
Note: There are two forms in this torture: (1) With both hands
cuffed behind
the back and only toes touching the ground, one is hung by a rope that
is tied
to the metal window frames; (2) One hand of a practitioner is cuffed to
one bunk
bed and the other hand to another bed, and the two beds are pulled in
the
opposite directions. One feels extreme pain as the body is
pulled. See
illustration on
/emh/articles/2004/11/17/54624.html.
Practitioner Peng Jufeng, who was admitted to the Shanxi Provincial Women's Labor Camp on April 11, 2006, has not been assigned a bed. They deprived her of sleep and forbade her from using the restroom. The camp officials coerced a "collaborator," Ms. Zhang, to swear at and beat and kick Peng frequently.
Practitioner Chen Fang, who was admitted to the camp in June 2005, was beaten by the drug addicts, which caused distinctive bruises on her chest. The guards swore at and humiliated her.
Practitioner Ja Yuzhen, who was admitted to the camp in November 2005, was over 60 years old. They deprived her of her sleep for over ten days in a row. Sometimes they let her stand through the night without letting her use the restroom, which caused her high blood pressure.
Practitioner Jin Jing, admitted to the camp on September 1, 2005, was handcuffed and left to stand in the yard for several days in the middle of winter. Drug addicts and collaborator Zhang Ruiling beat her many times. They grabbed her hair and punched her in the face and about the eyes. They hid her for weeks so people would not see her blood-shot eyes. It took three months for her to recover. During this period, police Meng Hao and others used a shoe-shining rag to muff her and forced her to lie on the ground motionless all day long.
Practitioner Xin Enhao, who was released in 2004, had been persecuted severely while she was in the camp. She was brutally beaten many times and was allowed very little time to sleep at night.
Practitioners Ma Yueying and Li Runfang were admitted to the camp for the second time in 2004. The guards took turns watching them and depriving them of sleep. The guards swore at them in public many times. Li was beaten several times by drug addicts and collaborators when she was on her way to get her meal. Once woman guard, Chen Chunxiang, ordered a depraved inmate to beat Li and knock her teeth out. Her mouth was filled with blood, but that did not stop them. They pulled her out and beat her again. Policeman Yang Bing beat Ma himself. In order to protest, Ma and Li began a hunger strike, but were force-fed with food and a large amount of salt water. The guys used pliers to pry open their mouths during the force-feeding, causing the blood to smear all over their faces, bodies and the bed.
Practitioners Ms. Meng, Ms. Zheng, Ms. Ma, and Ms. Xin were all watched intensively. They were deprived of sleep and warm food, and the right to use the restroom. They were also deprived of water for a long time. But other times they were forced to drink a lot of water to make them urinate into their pants. They were beaten several times and were given very little time to rest.
Drug addicts used needles to prick Ms. Zheng. They forbade her from sitting and asked her to squat all day. In September 2004, she was forced to work during the day and stand in the corridor at night, which lasted over ten days. She was so tired that someone had to pick her up when she fell. Ms. Ma had bruises and cuts all over her body when she was released.
Now Ma Yueying, Li Runfang, Jin Jing and Jia Yuzhen were put in Group Nine, which is even harsher. Here they were not allowed to go out to get food, take showers or stretch. They were kept partially starved, and only given cold food. They were assigned extra workload with no days off. They have been subjected to corporal punishment, and are now all pale and skinny.
The drug-addict-turned hatchet men, and the collaborators, who were trained by the Shanxi Provincial Women's Labor camp, used various schemes to persecute practitioners. Every day they forced the practitioners to do so much work that it exceeded their endurance limits, typically more than ten hours a day. They extended practitioners' camp terms when the practitioners refused to cooperate with them. Police officers Meng Hao, Liu Zhongmei, Lei Hongzhen, Chen Chunxiang and Yang Bing are some of those involved in carrying this out.
Mr. Zhou Zhigao, a Falun Gong practitioner that is around 56 years old, is a retiree from the Hunan Provincial Installation Company and lives in the company's living quarters in Changsha City in the Tianxin District. He was arrested on August 21, 2002, and illegally sentenced to a seven-year jail term by the local court in Kaifu. Mr. Zhou is currently imprisoned in the Third Group of Wuling Jail in Changde City, Hunan Province.
While in Wuling Jail in Changde City, Mr. Zhou was tortured and persecuted both physically and mentally because of his persistence in the belief of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."
From June 12 to 13 in 2005, the provincial authority came to Wuling Jail to conduct a field inspection. Mr. Zhu was brutally beaten for refusing to wear the jail uniform. A week later, he was mercilessly beaten by prison guard Li Hui, around 30 years old. The beating caused profuse bleeding. Another time, when he refused to comply with the roll call in the middle of the night, he was pushed from the upper tier bunk bed, causing him to fall. His subsequent injuries hindered his mobility for a week. The prison guards' cruelty toward Mr. Zhou was so outrageous that even the other prison inmates found the punishment objectionable.
For a long time, Wuling Jail in Changde City used corporal punishment and regarded its implementation as an "accepted norm" in the management of the prisoners, disregarding the civil rights of the prisoners, abusing their power and violating the law. When it came to their treatment of Falun Gong practitioners, they were notorious for their cruelty.
Apart from Mr. Zhou Zhigao, other practitioners like Mr. Gu Zhihui were also persecuted severely for non-compliance with the authorities' requests. The prison guards brutally and mercilessly beat him. His hands and body were constantly tied up, and he was hung by a rope with his feet barely touching the ground. The persecution caused his hands to become swollen, and his body was covered with bruises. He was forced to kneel for long periods of time and denied sleep for up to seven days.
Practitioner Tan Zhiyang was also imprisoned in this jail.
[Note: The following is a shortened version of a more detailed article that appeared on the Minghui.org website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net).]
On the evening of June 18, 2006, practitioner Mr. Sha Litian (in his 60s) from Xizhou Village, Douzhangzhuang Township, Wuqing District of Tianjin City, was spray-painting truth-clarification words in Damengzhuang Township and was arrested by police from the Damengzhuang Township Police Station. Afterwards, the police notified the Douzhangzhuang Police Station. On June 19, Mr. Sha Litian was taken to the Wuqing District Detention Center by police from the Douzhangzhuang Police Station and was held there as a criminal. He is currently on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. On the same day, police officers from the Douzhangzhuang Township Police Station climbed over the courtyard wall and ransacked Mr. Sha Litian's home.
After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, Mr. Sha Litian was brutally tortured repeatedly. On January 1, 2003, when he was held in the Jianxin Forced Labor Camp of Tianjin City, the temperature was 15 centigrade below zero (5 degrees Fahrenheit) and it was snowing. All of his clothes were ripped off and he was locked in an iron cage for seven days, with the windows and doors around him opened and an electric fan running. Three to four guards wearing insulated coats used high voltage electric batons to shock him. Later, in the hot summer, he was forced to wear a helmet and was locked in a room with all of the windows and doors closed. He was also deprived of sleep for forty days. When he was on his last breath, the forced labor camp released him to avoid being held responsible if he died.
[Note: The following is a shortened version of a longer and more detailed article that appeared on the Minghui.org website, the Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net.]
When Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhou Runlin from Kaifu District, Changsha City was working at her company on the morning of June 15, the police from the Xinhe Local Police Station in Kaifu District arrested her. Later, the police also searched her home and took her computer, other machines and some Falun Gong materials. At present, Ms. Zhou Runlin is illegally imprisoned at the Changsha City Detention Center.
Ms. Zhou Runlin, 40, was a staff worker at the Man-Made Lumber Factory in Hunan Province. She started to practice Falun Gong in 1996 and was once a Falun Gong assistant at the Zifeng Park Practice Site. After the CCP started to persecute Falun Gong, she went to Beijing to appeal to the central government on behalf of Falun Gong and was later sentenced to the Baimalong Forced Labor Camp for Women in Zhuzhou city, Hunan province.
[Note: The following is a shortened version of a longer and more detailed article that appeared on the Minghui.org website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net).]
Since July 20, 1999, the police, urged on by the Chinese Communist regime, have persecuted practitioner Mr. Sun Jinghuan's family in Dalian City for a long time. They are destitute as a result. Soon after the birth of Mr. Sun's child, his family started moving around to different locations to avoid persecution. The child is five years old now, and the family still lives in exile.
In June 2001, Mr. Sun was illegally detained and held at the Dalian Forced Labor Camp for three years. He became skin and bones after three years of torture. His weight dropped to about 70 jin (77 pounds).
In May 2006, lawless officers from the Quanyong Police Station in the Shahekou District in Dalian City and from the Xinggong Street Residential Committee went to Mr. Sun's rented home. They threatened, intimidated, harassed, and monitored him.
Right now, the police officers are still watching him from outside his home.