(Minghui.org) The “Legal Education Center” in Qinzhou City, Guangxi Province, was set up in 2013 to force steadfast Falun Gong practitioners or other religious believers to renounce their faith. Its operation is under the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judiciary agency that oversees public security and judiciary branches. The center changed its name to “Care Center” in 2019, but the persecution continues inside.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The “care center” has two buildings with two floors each. There are five rooms in each building with three beds in a room. The staff members sleep on both sides of each room and monitor the detainees on a 12-hour shift. Its lecturers’ dormitory and offices are on the second floor and the first floor consists of offices and five to six classrooms, which are often used to brainwash and torture the detainees.
After Falun Gong practitioners are arrested and taken there, the police verbally inform their families that they are attending a class. Once at the brainwashing center, the practitioners not only lose their freedom, but also face various tortures for upholding their faith. The length of detention depends on how steadfast they are. According to a staff member, the longest time a person was ever held there was three years.
Practitioners who refused to transform at the various brainwashing centers in Guangxi Province would be sent to the “care center” for further persecution. At least two staff members are assigned to monitor each practitioner and follow them around the clock. The practitioners are not allowed to leave their rooms except to attend brainwashing sessions. The staff members bring the food into the room during meal times. Practitioners have to report and get permission before they can use the restroom. The practitioners aren’t allowed to talk to anyone, or they are reprimanded. For newcomers, the center often arranges intense brainwashing sessions, sometimes the entire evening.
Torture Methods Used in the Care Center
1. Sleep Deprivation
Detainees are deprived of sleep and monitored by several people. They are reprimanded and shoved if they close their eyes. This torture usually lasts for several days until the person is in a daze.
2. Denied Restroom Use
Detainees are not allowed to use the restroom and could only relieve themselves in their pants. Their pants were tied up at their ankles. If the urine leaks out to the floor, they would be forced to wipe the floor with their own clothes. Their legs and buttocks often festered and infected after being soaked in urine for long hours.
3. Starvation
Detainees are not allowed to eat but are force-fed soup once or twice a day. The soup is not filling and causes them to have frequent urination.
4. Sitting on a Small Stool for Long Hours
Detainees are forced to sit on a small stool every day, except during meal times, and not allowed to move. Those who refuse to be transformed are tortured this way for a long period of time. This torture causes the whole body to become weak, joints stiff, and slow in reactions.
These few torture methods are often used simultaneously. There might be more torture methods not disclosed yet. Some Falun Gong practitioners had mental breakdowns as a result of long-term torture.
Though there is a basketball court and entertainment room, only staff members are allowed to use them. The food provided to the detainees is very poor. Although there are surveillance cameras installed everywhere in the caring center, the staff members still torture the detainees openly.
Persecution Case: Engineer Became Emaciated After Being Detained in Care Center
Ms. Deng Rongfang, 63, is a former engineer of the port authority in Fangchenggang City, Guangxi Province. She was arrested around January 2021 and sent to Qinzhou Care Center. She was sentenced to 7.5 years at a make-shift courtroom in one of the rooms in July 2021. The next day, she was transferred to Nanning Women’s Prison.
While still held at the caring center, Ms. Deng went on a hunger strike and refused to be transformed. While locked in the room, she was monitored 24 hours by four staff members and force-fed liquid food every day. Due to malnutrition, Ms. Deng was emaciated and her face was yellowish. The torture lasted until she left the caring center.
Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Deng has been repeatedly persecuted for practicing Falun Gong, which she credits for curing her hepatitis B, gastritis, and other ailments.
Ms. Deng went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in October 1999. After three months at the Fangchenggang City Detention Center, she was given one year at the Guangxi Women’s Forced Labor Camp. She was also fired by her workplace.
Ms. Deng was arrested again in September 2001 by agents of 610 Office and held at the Fangchenggang City Brainwashing Center. As she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was transferred to the detention center and given another three years at Guangxi Women’s Forced Labor Camp.
The police arrested Ms. Deng again in October 2007, accusing her of making informational materials about Falun Gong. She was first held at the Nanning City No. 2 Detention Center and then transferred to the Nanning City Brainwashing Center, before being given the 1.5-year labor camp term. When her term expired, the authorities also held her in the brainwashing center for three months.
Ms. Deng’s next arrest was in November 2012. She was given two years at the labor camp after being forced to attend an eight-day brainwashing session in a hotel. She was then taken to Guangxi Women’s Forced Labor Camp and later given two years of forced labor.
The labor camp authorities also held a brainwashing session and tried to force her to renounce Falun Gong. When the labor camp system was abolished by the communist regime in 2013 due to international scrutiny, the authorities transferred Ms. Deng to the Legal Education Center in Beihai City to finish serving her term.
In July 2020, Ms. Deng was arrested in Nanning City and taken back to Fangchenggang City. She was detained for five days.
Related report:
Once Incarcerated for 8.5 Years, Guangxi Woman Secretly Sentenced to Another 7.5 Years
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