Convicted Felons Instigated by Prison Guards to Torture Falun Gong Practitioners

(Minghui.org) At the Shandong Province Women’s Prison, most guards wouldn’t torture Falun Gong practitioners themselves, but instigated convicted felons to do the job instead. These criminals were supposed to be rehabilitated during their prison terms, but they were trained to become ruthless machines used to persecute innocent practitioners imprisoned for upholding their spiritual belief.

Inmates Actively Involved in the Persecution

The inmates who are actively involved in torturing the practitioners at Shandong Province Women’s Prison include Wang Wenli, Tang Weiwei, Li Chunling, Dong Xue, Zou Yujiao, Zhang Yaoyun, Wei Wucui, Cui Dongjun, Lu Meng, Yu Shuangshuang, Xu Miaomiao, Du Lusha, Li Xia, Pang Dianzhen, Liu Xiuqin, Jiang Ping, Cong Ping, Yang Liping, Yu Airong, Zhang Jing, Zhou Hongman, Jiang Xiaoyan, Yang Yi, Sun Lijie, Cui Zhanlan, Huang Yicui, Li Yujie, Li Wei, Liu Yuanyuan and Jia Xiulian. 

Wang Wenli, around 60, was sentenced to 10.5 years for engaging in gang activities. She often bragged that when she was a guard at the Qingdao Detention Center, she and several others tortured Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Xiao Sumin to death. After Ms. Xiao died, the guards took her to the Haici Hospital and put a ventilator on her. They then informed her family and claimed that she contracted an acute disease and the resuscitation failed to rescue her. Due to her background, Wang is often ordered to beat the practitioners and has injured many. 

Li Chunling was a deputy mayor of Weifang and is serving seven years for bribery. After she was taken to the prison, she was trained for two years on how to torture and brainwash the practitioners. She was appointed as the head of the cell and then given the title of “Head of Transformation Team,” when the previous leader Fu Guiying was released in September 2018.

Tang Weiwei was sentenced to 19 years for involvement in fraud. She is tall and has a strong build. She gained much experience in torturing the practitioners and took over the baton of “Head of Transformation Team” in February 2020. 

Jiang Ping was the mistress of a high-ranking official. In order to get a term reduction for her 14-year sentence, she actively tortured the practitioners and was promoted as “Discipline Chief” in 2019. 

Common Torture of the Practitioners

Most of the practitioners who refused to write statements to renounce Falun Gong were brought to a dark room and forced to do a side split, regardless of their ages or physical conditions. The inmates locked the practitioners’ feet between the legs of small stools and then sat on the stools. Most practitioners suffered extensive sweating and passed out due to the pain. The inmates would relax the practitioners’ legs a bit and asked them to do the splits again moments later. They repeated the torture, until the practitioner could no longer bear it and agreed to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong against their will. 

In another torture, the inmates pressed the practitioner with her stomach against the ground and pulled her arms up from her back. Tang Weiwei stabbed the practitioners’ fingers with the tips of a pen, causing their fingers to bleed. Then she forced the practitioners to hold the pen and write words to slander Falun Gong and its founder. Practitioners Ms. Wang Hua, Ms. Li Aihua, Ms. Sui Ying, Ms. Jiang Shue, Ms. Wu Jianping, and Ms. Guo Xiuqing’s arms became severely swollen after this torture. Several of them had persistent pain in their arms for over a year.

When the physical torture failed to convert the practitioners, the inmates also added toxic drugs to their food, causing them to have muscle weakness, slow reaction, and mental disorder.

Practitioners Who Were Tortured

Ms. Xu Youfang

Because Ms. Xu Youfang, a Weifang resident in her 60s, shouted “Falun Dafa is good” in 2018, Wang Wenli grabbed her by the hair and dragged her on the ground, while saying, “I don’t believe I can’t straighten you out.” Wang also called other inmates to take Ms. Xu to the hospital for force feeding, threatening to break her neck. 

Ms. Li Zuping

Ms. Li Zuping, in her 40s and also from Weifang, suffered rounds of torture by Wang Wenli, Tang Weiwei and Jiang Ping. When she was taken to the hospital for force feeding, inmates Nie Junqing, Tang and Li Xia tied her in the bed. They next put small pieces of steamed buns into her mouth and used a spoon to forcibly push the food down. They also hit her teeth, tongue, and throat with the spoon. Meanwhile, they beat and pinched her, as well as verbally abused her.

When Ms. Li remained unyielding in spite of the torture, the guards held her in the bathroom without surveillance cameras and ordered Jiang Ping and Wang Wenli to beat her. Every day, they hit her head with shoes, slapped her in the face, and pulled her hair. They also forced her to stand with her legs together and struck her calves with sticks when she moved even slightly. Sometimes they would suddenly stomp on her calf from behind and knock her over. 

The inmates also denied Ms. Li use of the restroom and forced her to relieve herself in her pants. 

While beating her, Wang Wenli shouted, “Don’t think you can get out of here alive if you don’t transform. No one would bear any responsibility if you Falun Gong are beaten to death. We would actually be rewarded.” 

The inmates later added toxic drugs to Ms. Li’s food, which made her dizzy and weak. After she was forced to renounce Falun Gong against her will, she was taken back to the cell.

Ms. Li Hezhen

Ms. Li Hezhen, a Tai’an City resident in her 50s, was often dragged to the restroom by Cui Lili and Xiao Ling and beaten there, as she refused to renounce Falun Gong. The inmates on guard outside also threatened her, saying, “It’s already a light punishment in beating you. If you still don’t listen to us, we will lock you up in the dark room.”

Ms. Li’s legs became terribly swollen. Inmate Li Chunling denied her medical treatment and also instructed other inmates to hit her injuries. She was also forced to stand for long hours and not allowed to rest, no matter how badly her legs hurt. Even after her legs were oozing pus, Li didn’t let her tell anyone about it. 

Li often held Ms. Li in the restroom and ordered the inmates in the cell to take turns slapping her in the face, kicking her leg, and verbally abusing her. 

With no other channel to seek treatment, Ms. Li rushed to the nurse when the latter came and showed her her legs in front of others (so that the nurse would have to do something). Only then did the guards take her to the hospital. Yet they claimed she had taken a fall herself while bathing. She stayed in the hospital for two months. When she was released from the prison, her calves were still a dark color and she couldn’t squat due to the pain.

Ms. Wu Xiaocui

Ms. Wu Xiaocui, in her 50s and a Jiaozhou resident, was also dragged to the restroom and beaten on the head by Cui Lili and Xiao Ling. Several other inmates, including Cui Zhanlan, Yang Jie, Huang Yicui, and Wang Chunhua stood on guard outside. They laughed at her, “If your mind isn’t clear, we have to beat you. They should beat you even harder.”

Ms. Zhang Xiumei

Ms. Zhang Xiumei, a Pingdu resident in her 70s, often made mistakes while she was forced to copy statements slandering Falun Gong due to her low education. Even if she wrote one word wrong, Cui Lili would order her to restart from the very beginning. After the lights in the cells went off at 10: 30 p.m., Ms. Zhang had to take a chair and copy the statements, under the light in the hallway. She barely went to bed before 3 a.m. and then had to get up at 6 a.m. During the day, the inmates forced her to stand without sitting for a minute. When she dozed off due to severe sleep deprivation, the inmates beat her and stomped on her feet.

Ms. Li Jianmei

Ms. Li Jianmei suffered severe pain in her back and legs after being tortured by Fu Guiying. After a large lump grew on her thigh, Jiang Ping didn’t allow her to seek medical treatment. Ms. Li groaned in pain every night and couldn’t fall asleep. When Jiang finally reported it to the guards and took her to see a doctor, her thigh was badly swollen and the lump had begun to ooze pus. 

Ms. Zhao Yuhong

Ms. Zhao Yuhong, of Zhaoyuan City, was often beaten by Tang Weiwei, Zou Yujiao, Dong Xue and Zhang Yaoyun. Dong once knocked her down and stomped on her. She didn’t stop until she became exhausted.

Ms. Zhao rolled over due to the pain and was unable to get up. The checkup at the hospital revealed that three of her ribs were broken. Instead of punishing Dong, the prison prohibited Ms. Zhao’s family from filing a complaint against her.

Ms. Wang Xiuping

As Ms. Wang Xiuping refused to renounce Falun Gong, Zou Yujiao kept her in the dark room, beat and verbally abused her. Zou didn’t allow Ms. Wang to use the restroom. After she was forced to relieve herself in her pants, Zou also barred her from changing her pants or washing herself. She then blamed her for causing the foul smell in the room.

Ms. Song Yun

Ms. Song Yun, of Qingdao City, was bruised all over her body from the beating by Tang Weiwei and Zhang Yaoyun. They also pulled out handfuls of her hair. Cui Dongjun monitored Ms. Song around the clock and put toxic drugs into her food. She became unresponsive and often appeared to be frightened. Her body also involuntarily shook.

When Cui and Lu Meng put some unknown drugs into Ms. Song and Ms. Zhao Yuhong’s food, they said, “Alright, after they eat this, they would be obedient.” 

Cui also said to a convicted murderer named Zhou Hongman, “I didn’t take the drug seriously before. It’s so much more effective than I thought. When we took showers, I saw that Lu Xueqin’s (a practitioner from Qingdao) skin below her chest had all turned dark. She had the drug a long time ago and the symptom is still so obvious now.”

Related reports:

The Mental Exploitation of Falun Gong Practitioners at Shandong Province Women’s Prison

Falun Gong Practitioners Drugged in Shandong Women’s Prison for Practicing Their Faith

Torture Methods Used in Shandong Province Women’s Prison to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners

Shandong Women’s Prison Instigates Inmates to Torture Falun Gong Practitioners