Issued by Clearwisdom Net

An account of personal experience written by a Falun Gong practitioner who was imprisoned in the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Liaoning Province.

In March 2008, Westlake District Courts in Nanchang City held a kangaroo court trial against seven Falun Gong practitioners after they had been jailed for one year. The court staffs admitted that the sentence had been made by the upper level prior to the trial.
 

Mr. Gao Ke Tortured at Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp in Harbin City (Photo)

On February 9, 2008, When Li Quanhua, the deputy director of Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp in Harbin City, went to Ward 1 to check routine issues, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Gao Ke greeted him "Happy New Year" and told him kindly, " Quit the CCP to ensure your safety." Li got very angry and ordered guards to put Mr. Gao into a small cell (1).

Mr. Gao was held to the floor and handcuffed to an iron chair (2). Mr. Gao cried out, " Falun Gong is good." The chief of Ward 1, Yang Jintang, ordered another prisoner to seal Mr. Gao's mouth. The prisoner then put a dirty wipe in his mouth and sealed Mr. Gao's mouth with a wide piece of tape. Yang ordered another prisoner to tie Mr. Gao to the iron chair and watch him closely. Mr. Gao was not allowed to use the bathroom and he had to urinate and defecate with his pants on. Mr. Gao was also not allowed to eat for two days.

On the fourth day, Mr. Gao's feet became extremely swollen. The iron hoop on the chair cut into his muscle. He felt so much pain that he cried for help. His ankle was tied with rope so tight it gave him a few big blisters. After he sat on the iron chair for ten whole days, his feet had swollen hugely. His feet were so swollen they had the shape of a square. His calf turned purple and only after all this was he was released from the iron chair. During this period, Yang said to Mr. Gao, "Once you say that you do not practice Falun Gong, I will immediately unlock you."

Mr. Gao replied firmly, "That's impossible."

Ten days in the iron chair almost caused Mr. Gao to become disabled. The photos attached were taken nine days after he was unlocked from the iron chair and released back home.

On February 6, 2008, Shi Yingbai, the director of Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp, along with the chief of Daowai District went to Ward 1 to inspect the work. Mr. Gao reported how the head of Ward 5 Wang Kai tortured Falun Gong practitioners to them. The deputy head of Ward 1 Ji Zhiwei (male) threatened him, " Are you exposing the persecution? So you will be tortured too. We'll see about this!"

(1) The detainee is locked up in a very small cell individually. The guards handcuff practitioners on their back in a fixed position, in which the practitioners can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and no sunshine comes in. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the cell. Only half of a regular meal is served to detainees locked up in a small cell during the daytime. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.

(2) The iron chair is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time. See illustration on /emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html.

Bearing Witness to the Cruelties Committed at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp

By a Falun Gong practitioner in China

Guards at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, have been cruelly persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Persecution methods include torture, brainwashing and heavy forced labor. The following is what I experienced and witnessed while imprisoned at Masanjia.

First I wish to tell you about the heavy forced labor practitioners have to perform. Every day, practitioners have to work for 17 hours. Times for meals and restroom visits are restricted. Sometimes restroom visits are restricted to twice a day. The labor is generally making handicrafts, with most of the products being artificial flowers. Between August and September, we were forced to cut garlic or peel ginger for more than 10 hours a day. Many practitioners' skin broke open and festered.

We made the flowers in our cells, which included spray painting. Most of the sprays are toxic, which affected our breathing. Those doing such work also had headaches, vomited and were fatigued. Guard Shi Yu was afraid that people could see through the windows and find out what was going on in the cell, so he covered the windows with paper.

One day at the end of November 2007, people visited the labor camp. The guards removed the paper, cleaned the cells, hid everything that had to do with the forced labor and took practitioners to workshops for non-practitioner inmates. Once the visitors left, the guards covered the windows again with paper. The practitioners were moved back to their cells to again make artificial flowers. Shi Yu tortured those who provided information to the outside. Whenever there were visitors, the guards would provide better and plenty of food. Generally, practitioners were only fed coarse grain. No one dared to complain, because whoever complained was tortured.

Usually, one was not allowed to go to the restroom when working. On September 6, 2007, practitioners asked the supervisory guards for additional restroom time. It was not granted. Many people had to urinate in their pants. When Ms. Kang Xiaoyan asked to use the restroom, she was verbally abused. She was not allowed to see her family for three months, and the guards even tried to extend her forced labor term.

Ms. Feng Guobi was in her 60's. She sustained a broken bone from the torture and could not sit. The guards did not allow her to go to the bathroom. The elderly lady passed out since she could not urinate. She was bedridden for more than 10 days.

Brainwashing is one of the inhuman methods used by guards at Masanjia Labor Camp. They generally used those who had succumbed to the torture and turned against Falun Gong to help with the re-education (brainwashing) of practitioners. These collaborators were like robots and did whatever the guards told them to do. They were made into tools that persecuted practitioners and they were controlled and easily manipulated by the guards. Li Mian and Li Teng are former practitioners. For several years, they tortured practitioners. Guard Guan Liying ordered them to persecute Ms. Xu Hui, Ms. Sheng Lianying and Ms. Geng Lili. The practitioners were handcuffed, hung up and brutally beaten. Ms. Geng Lili became emaciated as a result of this abuse. Ms. Zhi Junying was handcuffed and hung in the air for 8 days in the Donggang confinement room. She was almost paralyzed afterwards. Newly arrived practitioners or those who refused to renounce their belief were all detained in the Donggang confinement room. This is where they torture practitioners inhumanly. Donggang is on the east side of the building. The doors and windows are covered with curtains all year long, and no one else can get near that area.

One night in the middle of September 2007, guard Wang Xiaofeng put Ms. Lu Ling (a practitioner from Beijing) into the Donggang confinement room. He tried to make her write the three statements. Ms. Lu refused. Wang Xiaofeng told others to bring prepared statements and demanded that Ms. Lu sign them. Ms. Lu refused. Wang Xiaofeng hung up Ms. Lu for one month. After she was released, she was paralyzed. In August of the same year, practitioner Ms. Wang Lijun refused to wear the prison uniform and did not obey orders from any of the guards [Note: Because Falun Gong practitioners have committed no crimes and should not be incarcerated, imprisoned practitioners often protest the illegal detention by refusing the wear the prison uniform or refusing to follow orders from the guards]. She was hung up, beaten and verbally abused by Wang Xiaofeng. Later she was handcuffed to a bed for more than two months. Ms. Han Xiujian, 58 years old, finally gave in to the extreme pressure and wrote the three statements because of the brutal physical torture. In July, Ms. Han Xiujian declared the statements null and void. Wang Xiaofeng tortured Ms. Han Xiujian inhumanly and handcuffed her to a bed for more than one month.

In September 2007, Ms. Xie Guihua sang a song about Falun Gong in the workshop. Guan Yanjie, a former practitioner, reported it to a supervisory guard. Guard Cui Hong ordered three male guards to beat Ms. Xie Guihua. The next day, guard Shi Yu hung Ms. Xie Guihua up in the reception room for 5 days. Former practitioners Yuan Shuzhen and Zhao Yonghua were brought to Masanjia Labor Camp to torture practitioners. Yuan Shuzhen was brought in as a "teacher" to "transform" practitioners. Ms. Han Junlin did not listen to what she said. Yuan Shuzhen cursed at Ms. Han Junlin and claimed, "If I can't 'transform' Ms. Han Junlin, I will not return to Masanjia." Ms. Han Junlin ignored her and held no fear of her. Yuan Shuzhen was not able to "transform" Ms. Han. In the middle of November of last year, the labor camp authorities reassigned guards Shi Yu and Wang Xiaofeng.

A Show Trial against Falun Gong by CCP Court in Nanchang City

On March 17, 2008, Mr. Tu Guofan, Shi Lagen, Wang Qingyun, Li Liefeng, Wu Laiting, Tao Fu, and Li Chunfeng were put through an illegal trial by Westlake District Court of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. The practitioners had already been detained for one year. During that period they were put through the so-called "check" by the district political security team, the district procuratorate, the district court, and the intermediate court of Nanchang City, under different excuses. The Falun Gong practitioners had no way to hire lawyers to represent them in court.

During the trial, each of the Falun Gong practitioners said that the police illegally arrested them and ransacked their homes without showing any warrants. When the police entered, they only demanded where their money and identification were, nothing else. No matter how hard the practitioners pleaded their innocence, the CCP agents wouldn't listen and only wanted to sentence them to at least seven years. A person who went to witness the court session couldn't stand the situation anymore and said that Hong Kong is part of China, but Falun Gong practitioners are not being arrested in Hong Kong. The man asked, "Why is it illegal here? Is the law here fair?" The judge heard his comments and ordered the man removed from the courtroom.

Practitioner Shi Lagen said in court, "It is always believed that the reason why a cult is called a cult is because it does bad things like burn, kill, rob, and plunder. Yet Falun Gong teaches people to be good and the practice has spread all over the world. Is there anything like a cult in this? If something is labeled a cult just because CCP does not accept it, and there are so many things in this world that the CCP does not accept. Are they all cults?"

The so-called "presiding judge" of this illegal trial was Chen Minping, who has persecuted many Falun Gong practitioners and handed down heavy sentences. When practitioners clarified the truth to him, he trotted out his "merits" from the CCP for persecuting Falun Gong and said that not one Falun Gong practitioner could escape his palm. He also mocked the fact that he had suffered no retribution at all even after sentencing so many Falun Gong practitioners. The so-called "public prosecutor" was Zhong Xiaoning, the chief prosecutor of Westlake District Procuratorate. During the trial he refused to listen to the fact that Falun Gong practitioners were tortured cruelly in detention. Instead, he actively persecuted Falun Gong practitioners.

The so-called trial process was extremely unfair. The fact that Falun Gong practitioners' houses were illegally searched and ransacked, as well as the torture they suffered, was totally ignored. The court asked only how many truth clarification materials (which had been labeled "cult materials") Falun Gong practitioners had made. The so-called "evidence" were messages like "Falun Gong is good" and "Quit CCP and Be Safe," which were posted by Falun Gong practitioners. Other "incriminating evidence" included Falun Gong books and truth clarification materials.

When the practitioners mentioned that they were tortured in detention, the presiding judge would shout, "You can only answer 'yes' or 'no.'"

Practitioner Tu Guofan lost everything in the police raids, including a fridge, a TV set, a motorcycle, a bicycle, two cell phones, cash, a laptop, a printer, a paper cutter, and a CD burner, as well as other personal items in his house. They were all taken away by the police. Even cooking supplies were taken away. There is nothing left in his house. Tu Guofan himself was handcuffed and hung up for four days and four nights by the political security squad of Westlake District. He was badly injured due to being beating. He lost consciousness four times and was revived by having cold water dumped on him. In the end, his handcuffs broke. His hands were still numb and couldn't feel anything even one year after he was tortured. Mr. Tu also lost much of his hearing. The Falun Gong practitioners all suffered torture in one way or another.

Falun Gong practitioner Li Chunfeng mentioned several times that her sister Li Liefeng only went to bring her some clothes and was not involved in making truth-clarification materials, but no one paid attention to what she said in court. She was also robbed of 5,000 yuan. Nobody paid attention to that, either. Her household possessions, including oil, rice, gas tank, stove, food, and many other things were all taken away, just like those of the other practitioners. The police did not produce a warrant until after they searched her house.

Practitioner Wu Laiting's wrists were handcuffed behind his back and he was shocked with two electric batons by seven policemen. He was also beaten. Parts of his body turned black due to the electric shocks. His back was severely injured, and he is still unable to stand up easily.

Practitioner Tao Fu said he stayed at Tu Guofan's house to heal. His ankle had been smashed and broken. When he was arrested, he was carried to the political security squad, where he was tortured. Policemen stepped on his ankle and ground it into the floor with their feet, saying wickedly, "Why didn't you die? You didn't die, so I will now make you paralyzed." They used this method to force him to "confess" that he participated in making truth-clarification materials in Tu Guofan's home. As the torture continued, Mr. Tao couldn't bear the pain and said that he had made 8,000 copies of the materials. People from the political and security squad noted it down and used it as an "evidence" in court. Tao Fu's feet were already broken before being tortured by the police. Later, he was sent to the hospital at a forced labor camp for treatment. He stayed there for six months. His records at the hospital can be traced.

Tao Fu said in court that he saw with his own eyes that when people from the state security squad beat practitioner Wang Qingyun, he heard them shouting loudly. Tao Fu also indicated with his hands how Wang Qingyun's head was so swollen that even a man's hands couldn't hold it. But the presiding judge stopped him from saying anything more and only ordered the next person to answer.

Staffs in Westlake District Court said they just followed the order from the Intermediate Court of Nanchang City. The decision to sentence the practitioners had already been made prior to the hearings. Westlake District Court merely held the trial for show.