(Minghui.org) Benxi Prison saw record cold weather in November 2015. The guard office had been modified as a torture chamber. There, a prisoner of conscience was tied to a chair and given only a vest for his upper body.
Mr. Chen Xiu, 56, was an engineer at the Liaoning Branch of China Agriculture Bank. He started practicing Falun Gong in 1995 and has benefited much, physically and mentally. After the 1999 persecution against Falun Gong began, he was imprisoned for his faith for 11 years and six months, including three years in a forced labor camp.
His most recent arrest took place in February 2015 at Benxi Prison, where he has been detained. Mr. Chen has endured brutal torture for his refusal to renounce his belief.
Persecution in Prison
On the first day of his arrest, Mr. Chen was taken to No. 8 Ward. He did not recite the ward rules and insisted on doing the Falun Gong exercises. Encouraged by the guards, inmates slapped him with shoes and kicked him in the head. The beating lasted deep into the night. The next day he was transferred to the No. 6 Ward.
In March 2015, he was given electric shocks for a half hour by No. 6 Ward guard captain Chen Geng, who tried to force Mr. Chen Xiu to denounce Falun Gong. Another guard and an inmate beat him at the same time. He was cuffed to an iron chair for more than two hours on the following day.
In May, Mr. Chen greeted another imprisoned practitioner. For this the guard captain and several criminal inmates beat him in front of other prisoners.
Brutally Tortured
The prison began what was called the “Year-End Transformation Movement” in November 2015 against practitioners.
On November 23, Mr. Chen was taken to the torture chamber. He was tied to an armchair with clear tape. The guard captain then shocked him from the neck down until the electric baton lost power. At night, the criminal inmates took turns to viciously beat him. In the freezing weather, they opened all the windows and doused him with cold water.
In the morning on November 24, the guard captain ordered the inmates to gag Mr. Chen with a towel and cover his head. He then shocked Mr. Chen while the inmates were beating him. The criminal inmates also pricked Mr. Chen's whole body with needles.
In the afternoon, three criminal inmates rolled the bottoms of their shoes across Mr. Chen's chest and ribs for more than two hours. His skin was broken and blood oozed. The pain was so unbearable that he could not breathe. The guard captain shocked him again until Mr. Chen passed out.
In the evening, an inmate cut open and tore off Mr. Chen's vest, which had stuck to his bloodied chest. The skin on his ribs was torn away.
The inmates then carried another practitioner into the room about an hour later and started to beat both of them.
To force Mr. Chen to sign a transformation statement, on the third day, an inmate put two books on his lap and hit the books hard with a wooden stick. Mr. Chen couldn't walk afterward.
To cover up their criminal activity, the inmates did not allow Mr. Chen to talk to anyone at the prison.
Long Hours of Work
When the guard captain Chen Geng was transferred to the No. 8 Ward in March 2016, the No. 6 Ward did not monitor inmate abuse of other practitioners for seven months. The inmates were given extra work and forced to work 13 hours every day to complete their assignments. They would be electrically shocked if the job was not finished.
Mr. Chen was too weak to finish his assignment because of the brutal torture. In order to recover his health and endure the torture, he started to practice Falun Gong again in March 2016. He has endured severe beatings.
Later, guard captain Chen Geng sent another practitioner to the torture chamber. He shocked this practitioner and threatened him. “You will be shocked whenever Chen Xiu does those exercises.”
Family Visit Denied
Mr. Chen's younger sister came to the prison to see her brother in May 2016, but her visit request was denied. When his sister made a visit request again in June, Mr. Chen was not even informed of the request.
He has never been able to visit with his family and was only allowed a short phone call that was tapped.
