| Published: Saturday 13th October 2007 |
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The Benxi City Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province is located in the Weiningying area. In the labour camp's white buildings many incidents of torture and massacre that would shock the world have taken place.
On July 20th, 1999, Jiang Zemin's, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] group of gangsters started persecuting Falun Gong. Since then, up to two thousand practitioners from Dandong City, Yingko City, Panjin City, Benxi City and Hengren City have been incarcerated at this labour camp. Several people have died there or suffered mental breakdowns due to mistreatment.
Labour camp head Liu Shaoshi, 54, always uses his hypocritical side to lure, confound and deceive Falun Gong practitioners and their families. He uses a lot of tricks to entrap people in his villainous schemes.
Deputy head Zheng Tao brainwashes and intimidates practitioners, threatening to prolong their terms, and creates unreasonable difficulties for practitioners.
Deputy head Guo Tieying is known for intimidating and terrifying people. He makes lewd and degrading comments and always curses Falun Gong and its founder in front of the practitioners. Guo's words scared one practitioner's five-year-old child during a camp visit, making the child cry.
Guard Su Zhengwei deceives people with his guile and subtle lies.
Guard Yu Huibo closely follows the persecution orders from superiors, and his tricks are extremely evil. He often ridicules the practitioners and makes difficulties for them. His stock-in-trade is to order collaborators1 to denounce Falun Gong practitioners. One time when he was persecuting practitioner Mr. Gao Dong who was on a hunger strike, he dragged the feeding tube in and out of Mr. Gao's throat several times to torture him. He also used a large food injector to push air into Mr. Gao's stomach, and mixed a large quantity of salt into his liquid food to cause stomach pain and dehydration.
This labour camp officials use the slogan "education, influence, save." They adopt all kinds of chicanery to carry out "reform2" attempts. When newly detained practitioners arrive, they get a warm welcome from the guards. At first these guards pretend to be friendly, provide good accommodations, talk kindly and find out everyone's circumstances. At the same time they are implementing massive brainwashing. They talk to the practitioners every morning even before breakfast, one after another. After the labour camp head comes, the director follows and then the team leader. Meanwhile they play slanderous videos to attack Falun Gong and it's founder, and play Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-praising propaganda. They won't permit practitioners' minds to be quiet for a second. Even though there are cameras in the hall to monitor practitioners, one or two people still follow every newly arrived practitioner, no matter where they go, including the toilet.
If these techniques don't work, they start terrorising the practitioner. For example, they prolong one's term for refusing to "reform," do homework, to answer their questions, or to recite the camp rules. They also threaten to transfer those who don't cooperate to the Guanshanzi Forced Labour Camp or Dabei Prison, and make other threats.
If the above still doesn't work, they use sleep deprivation. They set up several groups, who talk to the practitioner in rotation for several days and nights. If the practitioner starts to nod off, they shake him, and they won't let him get even a little sleep. They say, "Since you area a practitioner, then we'll let you sit in double-lotus position." They then force him to sit in the double lotus posture and bind his legs with ropes. If he refuses to"reform," they won't untie him. The evildoers kept Dandong practitioner Mr. Song Jiwei's legs bound for about an hour. The pain nearly made him lose consciousness. Sixty year-old practitioner Wang Bingling from Dandong City was tortured to near death with the same cruel method. The guards have tortured and humiliated dozens of practitioners this way.
Even more abusive however, was the torture that the camp officials commonly administer to Falun Gong practitioners, called the "stretching bed."
The "stretching bed" involves putting two single beds together and handcuffing or tying a practitioner's hands on the four corners of the two beds. (They had previously used handcuffs for this, but after the handcuffs severely cut practitioner Wang Xuefei's hands and traumatised him, the guards began using ropes to prevent this visible injury from happening.) After they tie a practitioner, they move the two beds in opposite directions. For steadfast practitioners they add some bricks between the two beds. Each brick added causes severe pain and injury. This torture method is very similar to the ancient torture method called "five horses splitting a body," also called "split by carts."
Once one victim is tied to the "stretching bed," he is unable to move his hands and legs. The beds can be moved around, pulled and dragged. Being tortured this way causes immediate and severe pain all over the practitioners' bodies. Some practitioners were tortured to the verge of death with this technique. Their muscles were torn and their bones were broken. Some practitioners were tortured to the point of suffering a mental collapse, and some were paralysed.
On December 10th, 2006, labour camp head Liu Shaoshi ordered guards Guo Tieying, Yu Huipo, and Guo Baogang to tie practitioner Mr. Wang Yuzhu to the "stretching bed" for two hours with two 50 jin (55 lb.) bags of rice on each of his legs. Mr. Wang said, "I will firmly practise Falun Gong, your forced 'reform' won't be a success." Head Liu Zhaoshi said, "If I had the authority, the Falun Gong practitioners would be all buried alive!"
Benxi City practitioner Mr. Fu Xiaodong, 36, a former employee at the Benxi City Credit Union, was arrested three times for practising Falun Gong and was dismissed from his job. He was arrested three times. Guards tied him to the "stretching bed" twice during his first forced labour camp incarceration in 2002. The first time was for four days and nights, and the second time was for ten days and nights. They detained him again in October 2006 because he was steadfast in his practice of Falun Gong. He was transferred to the Benxi City Forced Labour Camp in May 2007 to be subjected to further persecution there.
The labour camp's political commissar Chen Zhongwei and management section head Meng Lixin ordered inmates Zhang Xiaowei, Wang Xiangguang, and Xie Dawei to use the "stretching bed" to torture Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Liang Yuncheng, who is from Fengchen City. The first time he was stretched for 14 days, and the second time he was stretched for 29 days. In a short span of a few months Mr. Liang was tortured and had become extremely weak, his weight dropped from 97 kg (214 lbs.) to 55 kg (121 lbs.).
Mr. Sun Tiechun has been tortured on the "stretching bed" three times, once each in September 2004, June 2004 and July 2004, and he was stretched for 15 or 16 days each time. One time he was force-fed some unknown drugs after which he felt dizzy and lost consciousness, and his hands became deformed. Mr. Li Guangwen was tortured for 20 days and lost consciousness. When the persecutors let him down from the bed, they kicked him ruthlessly while he could not even move.
The persecution incidents of Falun Gong practitioners in the Benxin Forced Labour Camp are too numerous to record.
Fengcheng City practitioner Mr. Liu Chengguo has been tied to a single bed for about four days for holding a hunger strike. He was closely watched and the guards often cruelly beat him and viciously cursed him. Mr. Liu didn't go out for morning physical training once and ended up with a vicious beating from guard Ding Huibo, and was sent to a small cell for two weeks. Another time, labour camp head Liu Shaoshi was giving a "lecture." Mr. Liu Chengguo was standing in the back of the room. One guard ordered him go to the front, but he refused. The guard then started beating him while labour camp head Liu Shaoshi was watching on the sidelines. As long as Mr. Liu Chengguo is not "reformed" the evildoers won't stop to pick a quarrel with someone else. They focus on forcing him to "reform."
Tieling City practitioner Mr. Xin Shuren was abused so severely that he became skeleton-like, and could neither walk nor take care of himself. He should have been released on February 14th, 2007, but because he had not "reformed" the persecutors added three months to his term.
Practitioner Mr. Jiang Hulin was physically abused and mentally tormented by guards Ding Huibo and Guo Tieying as well as the "collaborators" Wang Yongsheng and Liu Shiwu. They locked him in a small cell on the first floor for 30 days. They subjected him to corporal punishment and sleep deprivation. Wang Yongsheng even used a sharp knife to force Mr. Jiang to keep his eyes open. Mr. Jiang ended up suffering a mental collapse, however the guards later claimed that there was a history of mental problems in his family.
Practitioner Mr. Shi Yanchang was so severely abused that he became almost blind. He was released after he had been tortured to the brink of death, and he died not long after his release.
Practitioner Mr. Gao Dong, an oil field technician from Panjin City, suffered a mental collapse after seven months of abuse and mistreatment.
Practitioner Mr. Sun Baoying from the Benxi City Drama Troupe suffered a mental collapse after being subjected to about six months of abuse and mistreatment.
We must not let these crimes continue!
Note
1. "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.
2. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/8/29/161704.html
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