Practitioner Mr. Yu Zonghai Disabled with Eye Injury Due to Slave Labour at Mudanjiang Prison

Mr. Yu Zonghai is a former art assistant at Mudanjiang City Library. He had achieved a healthy and fit body through practising cultivation in Falun Gong.

On November 12th, 2001, Mr. Yu was arrested by officers from the Gonghe Police Station of the Xi'an Police Department in Mudanjiang City. That same day the police had interrogated and tortured 11 arrested practitioners. When their goals were not achieved, the police used the most cruel means to torture practitioners. Mr. Yu was brutally beaten, and the police poured mustard oil into his mouth and nose.

Later, Mr. Yu was sentenced to a heavy prison term of 12 years. He was imprisoned at the No. 6 Ward of Mudanjiang Prison for persecution. In late October 2004, the prison police personally embezzled Mr. Yu's money that was mailed in by Yu's family. Mr. Yu was unable to obtain the money even after several attempts, so he wrote to the prison warden. The letter, however, somehow got into the hands of the guards. The prison guards instigated prisoners to beat Mr. Yu until he had a bloody mouth and nose. Nevertheless he was still forced to continue doing forced labour.

In late August 2006, Mr. Yu's left eye was injured while he was working in the machine room. His tear gland was cut. If not restored in time by surgery, he would suffer from watery eyes. If his tear gland was removed, it would cause 'dry eye syndrome,' which is even worse than producing lots of tears. If the operation affected the cornea, it would result in eventual blindness. The prison hospital suggested that he be treated in an outside hospital. However, the guards from the No. 6 Ward demanded money from his family, otherwise they would not allow him to get outside treatment. The prison guards said, "If his family does not pay, we don't care if he goes blind." Mr. Yu's brother-in-law paid the money, and he was allowed to undergo an operation at the Police Hospital of Mudanjiang City. However, too much time had passed, and the chances of a successful surgery were low.

Because Mr. Yu was injured while performing labour in the prison, the prison should have been responsible for his treatment. The Government's "Rules for Workers' Injury Insurance," item 14, clearly specifies that "among the following situations it should be regarded as work injury: 1) During working hours and in the working facility, injury caused by reasons related to work." Mudanjiang Prison refused to treat him and missed the best time for the operation, thus causing Mr. Yu's eye to become damaged and teary.

Mudanjiang Prison is nicknamed the "death concentration camp." It is a relatively small facility of less than 35,000 square metres, yet more than 4800 prisoners are imprisoned there. The medical and sanitation facilities are extremely bad. The guards force prisoners to labour over 11 hours daily, including holidays and weekends. In order to achieve economic goals, the prison allocates prisoners to each ward chief, and makes each ward chief responsible for submitting a predetermined profit to the prison. Each ward chief is pressured into achieving the assigned economic profit, and also making some income for himself. This way, without any constraints, they try to extract the maximum amount of labour from the prisoners and yet don't pay them a cent of compensation. The Party also assigns operation of the prison's meal hall to the prison guards, contracting those responsible to submit a profit of 1.5 million yuan¹ annually.

The "sanitary" chopsticks produced by Mudanjiang Prison are not only supplied to the city, but are also exported to Japan. These products take with them severe virus and bacteria contamination. The prisoners often do not wash their faces for 10 to 20 days. They labour daily for up to 12 hours, and if they don't manage to achieve the assigned quotas, they are punished and made to sit after the work hours. Such intensive labour often causes some prisoners to miss their time for washing, brushing, and bathing. Prisoners with health problems are cursed and beaten by the guards. Information about these matters is strictly confidential within the prison. Anyone who leaks this information to the outside is subject to brutal beatings by the police and prisoners.

In 2004, one prisoner wrote on a small piece of paper about the virus and bacteria contamination of the sanitary chopsticks and tried to bury it in the chopsticks to reveal the truth to the buyers. When the examiner discovered it and found out who did it, the guards beat that prisoner with electric batons and wooden clubs until he was almost dead. He was carried to the hospital and left there without any treatment. Several days later he died. When his family came to visit, the prison did not allow them to see him, nor were they told of his death.

Prison operator: 86-453-6404715
Operator for internal phones: 8000
Prison warden Chen Shougang: 86-453-6404715, 8000 ext. 8388, 86-13904676888 (Mobile)
Political head: 86-453-6404715, 8000 ext. 8388, 86-13904835888(Mobile)86-13904935558 (Mobile)
Political Office director Sun Jiujie: 86-453-6404715, 8000 ext. 8298
Discipline Office secretary Li Bin: 86-453-6404715, 8000 ext. 8398

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/15/137885.html