Written on January 3, 2004
(Clearwisdom.net)
I was sent to forced-labor camp. I was not a Falun Gong practitioner, so I was not treated as harshly as they were, but I had the opportunity to witness the brutal torture of many Falun Gong practitioners, and I also had the chance to meet with some steadfast Dafa practitioners. I shall now describe how Ms. Chen Jingru from Yitong County Food Storage Company was tortured.
Ms. Chen Jingru, nearly 40, is gentle, quiet, restrained, and able to endure hardships. I have a very deep and good impression of her because of the way she carried herself. For example, the living conditions in Heizuizi Labor Camp were tough. When her family came to visit and brought her food, she would share it with everybody. But when other people had something good to eat, she always tried to pass it up. In the evening when we worked late past 10pm, she still insisted on cleaning up the room that was both our bedroom and workshop. She always bore the brunt cleaning up our bedroom. When there was not enough hot water, she would use cold water and left the hot water for other people. Therefore, I have an extremely good impression of her.
Once I told her that after I was released, I would settle the score with those who had sent me to the labor camp. She told me many principles that helped me give up the idea. I still have a vivid memory of what she said to me at the time. She said that as for herself, she was only exercising her right as a citizen to appeal to the government about the truth of Falun Gong, and she was punished for it. She knew all the people who sent her to forced labor camp, for example, the Political Commissar Ma, Section Chief Huang from Political and Security Section, Han Jie and Zhang Jianbo. Director Zheng from the detention center even put shackles on her and forced her to freeze outside in the snow for 3 hours. She said that the persecution of Falun Gong was all engineered by Jiang Zemin, who threatened and coerced other people to carry out the atrocities. This persecution could not last long.
Out of the people in Heizuizi Labor Camp, she was one of the most viciously tortured. The first episode was in mid-August of 2000, police transferred her from Team No. 3 to Team No. 6. From the outset, the team leader Li Hong of Team No. 6 wanted her to acknowledge guilt and admit her mistakes. She reasoned with her, but Li Hong had nothing to say in reply. Then Li Hong organized prisoners to take turns working on her with threats and bribes to win her over, but without avail.
On the third day, the section chief Yue from the Administration Section and Li Hong summoned her to the guards' room. Both of them were in a police uniform, and each with electric baton in hand, attempting to coerce her to acknowledge guilt and mistakes. Yue said, "We know that you firmly believe in your faith, we won't ask you to break away from it, so we only need you to acknowledge guilt and mistakes." Chen Jingru responded, "I have no wrongdoing to acknowledge; to appeal is a citizen's right and freedom of belief is guaranteed by the Constitution. Your regulations are in conflict with the Constitution and fail to follow due legal process, so they are completely invalid. The treatment of Falun Gong will be rectified sooner or later." On hearing this, Yue and Li Hong fiercely shocked her face, neck and head with electric batons, burning most of her hair. Her face and neck became red and swollen with many big blisters. They shocked her for more than one hour, but she did not acquiesce. Yue called in 4-5 guards, Hu from Team No 3 among them. They swarmed at her to slap her. Yue also fiercely beat at her chest, and then grabbed her clothes and threw her at the wall. Even with such brutal torture, Chen Jingru didn't give in. On the fourth day, she was returned to Team No. 3.
Another time they tortured her physically for a long time, forcing her to squat the whole time except when she ate, used the toilet and slept. That was from September to October of 2000, a period of over 40 days. They tortured her like this for as long as 15-16 hours but at least 12 hours everyday. I could see from her expression when she finished squatting and stood up that she had unbearable pain and even had difficulty walking.
The most severe occasion was on November 17, 2000, at around 9am when guard Wang Lihua and team leader Xi Guirong in police uniform fiercely shocked her for more than 2 hours with high-voltage electric batons. When it began, guard Wang Lihua summoned her to the guard's room. I had the premonition that something awful was going to happen, so I made sure that I did not miss anything. At first, Xi asked her to recite the regulations of the forced-labor camp, but Ms. Chen was not able to do it. Then Xi asked her to acknowledge guilt and admit mistakes. When Chen Jingru said, "I cannot," the two guards each held an electric baton and fiercely shocked her head, face, neck and back. At the beginning, Chen Jingru reminded the guards that they, being the law enforcement agents, should not break the law themselves and that good and evil would be justly rewarded. The two guards not only refused to listen to her, but handcuffed her arms to the back and continued to shock her. Chen Jingru's whole body twitched and convulsed violently, and one of her slippers came off. The two guards continued to torture her for over two hours nonstop until lunchtime. Chen Jingru's face became red, swollen, deformed, and full of blisters. Her neck looked like cauliflower. Large blisters appeared on the back of her neck. Her back turned black from the shocks. Most of her hair was burned, her scalp was full of blood blisters, and her body smelled awful. In the evening, I quietly asked her how she felt and she told me in a very feeble voice, "My head feels numb. The pains in my back and chest are unbearable." I could not imagine how she survived that evening. That evening, many prisoners sobbed and I could not sleep the whole night. I wrote all these in my diary. Later I was released before her, and she gave me a pair of socks to remember her by.
In Team No. 3 of Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp, beating, cursing and physical tortures are the daily routine. The deputy leader of the team cursed as she said, "Beat them harder, and if they cannot take it, they would have to write pledges to give up." Guard Wang Lihua also went to all cells to intimidate everyone and asked prisoners if this was like Zhazidong Prison (Note: Zhazidong Prison was a prison in Chongqing City in China in the 1940's notorious for its brutal torture).
After I came back home, I found that many people didn't believe that labor camps would engage in torture. My conscience compelled me to write down the facts of persecution that I had witnessed.