Older Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Wang Yuhuan Tortured to Death Following Massive May 9 Arrest in Changchun

Ms. Wang Yuhuan, a Falun Gong practitioner from Changchun City, Jilin Province was arrested along with many other fellow practitioners on May 9th, 2007. The police informed her family of her death in the evening of October 9th.

Wang Yuhuan had passed away at Changchun City Central Hospital two weeks before the police notice on September 24th.

Wang Yuhuan was a kind woman in her 60s who did not have much education. She was arrested a dozen times by the Changchun police over the past eight years. She was once tortured on the Tiger Bench¹ for three days and two nights, until her anklebones were exposed from the constant grinding of the shackles and the tendons in her arms were torn through repeated beatings. The police shocked her face with electric batons, burned her eyes with cigarettes, and stabbed her ears with bamboo sticks, causing injuries all over her body. She and some other women Falun Gong practitioners were stripped naked and tied to wooden boards with their arms and legs spread out for 26 days, during which male guards and inmates humiliated and insulted them.

Officials from the Jilin Province Public Security Department, Changchun City Police Department and Erdao District Police Department launched a large-scale assault against Falun Gong practitioners who were holding an experience-sharing conference on May 9th, 2007. They arrested 38 practitioners, including Wang Yuhuan and Feng Liping, and searched various districts within the city. They ransacked many homes and arrested other practitioners. It is estimated that around 70 practitioners were arrested, and many others went into exile to avoid further persecution.

The practitioners were taken to six police departments in Erdao District, Changchun City: Dongsheng Road Police Station, Heshun Police Department, Jilin Street Police Station, Dongzhan Police Department, and Rongguang Road Police Station. More than 50 practitioners were taken to the No 3 Detention Centre at 8:30 p.m. on May 12th. Practitioner Feng Liping suffered serious injuries on one arm due to beatings; he can move his arm only within a very limited range. He is currently held at the police hospital, and his mother is being forced to pay 300 yuan² a month. Feng Liping was once taken to a secret base to be brutally tortured. It is unknown who is responsible for the arrest and torture, but the Changchun City National Security Bureau is likely the culprit.

Below is Wang Yuhuan's own account of the gross abuse she suffered, provided in 2005.

"It is hard to believe such atrocities can happen if you have not seen it yourself. In the forced labour camp, the guards sold our bed to other inmates for 2,000 yuan per bed per month. In a big room, the beds are on a very long and wide bench, and all the inmates sleep on the bench parallel to each other. Each bed is a section on the big bed with enough room for one person to sleep. There were many more inmates and practitioners than the number of beds available. Inmates who bought a bed could lie down facing up; others have to be on their sides, tightly packed against each other when sleeping. Those who bought beds were allowed to beat practitioners. When more inmates bought beds, less room was left for practitioners, and they were packed against each other even more tightly. In August 2000, I was sent to Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp, where I had to work for 18 hours a day, making products for export. The guards tried to "reform³" me. They forced me to write reports about what was on my mind. When I refused, they ordered inmates to beat me. Guard Sun Mingyan from the No. 6 Group sat on my head and tortured me with an electric baton, burning the skin on my face and scalp. Sun also beat my face and body. I was badly injured and had swelling all over my body. Around December 2000, I was transferred to the No. 2 Group, where guards forced me to move electric generators, which is hard physical labour and injured my muscles. By November 2001,when I was released, I still could not hold a bowl because of the injuries I suffered. Before releasing me, staff from the 610 Office⁴ made me pay 2,000 yuan.

The 610 Office ordered a massive manhunt in Changchun City on March 5th, 2002 because practitioners tapped into the cable TV network and broadcast videos exposing the persecution. The persecutors arrested about 5,000 practitioners. Each cell in the detention centres held over 50 practitioners -- even the toilets were used to detain practitioners. On March 11th, 2002, police from the No. 1 Division of Changchun City police arrested me and put me inside an iron cage in a police station near Caishenmiao, Nanguan District. The iron cage was about 1.3 metre high (about 4 feet), so I could not stand up straight. On the evening of March 12th, 2002, policemen Gao Peng and Zhang Heng interrogated me. They handcuffed my hands behind my back and covered my head and neck with a canvas bag. The bag opening was tied with a rope tightly around my neck. I could not see, and breathing became difficult. Then they tied me up tightly and threw me into the trunk of a car. I was driven to a place in the mountains near Jingyuetan. It was a place designated for torturing practitioners, and where many practitioners were tortured to death. Mr. Liu Haibo, a practitioner and a college graduate, was tortured to death at that place. They stripped off all his clothes and forced him to kneel. Then the guards inserted an extra-long electric baton deeply into his anus, shocking his internal organs and killing him.

Mr. Liu Yi, a doctor who worked in Luyuan District Hospital, was also tortured to death there. As far as I know, twenty-three practitioners were tortured to death here. I know the names of many of them. They were buried in a big pit nearby. A pretty female practitioner, Ms. Xiang Min, told me after she was carried back to the detention centre that the guards sexually assaulted her while shocking her. Nearly 30 practitioners were tortured to death after the massive manhunt in Changchun City."

2. Tied Up Naked in Bed and Humiliated for Over Two Months

Wang Yuhuan said: "Police took me to this mountain. After more than two hours of driving the car stopped. Several police officers pulled me along and kept beating me. I just staggered along. I was continuously thrown against a tree and the police told me frequently that they would kill me today. After more than ten minutes of walking, we entered a building and then walked for a little until we reached a room. The police took the canvas bag off my head and said: "Prepare yourself to die today, nobody walks out of here!" I was in a small room of about six square metres. There was a small table, which held three long electric batons with claws, a rope and a bed. The bed was for police to rest, but they still continued to curse at us when they were tired from the beatings. There was also a tiger bench, and policemen were getting things ready to torture practitioners.

Then, several policemen pressed me down on the tiger bench, cuffed my hands and tied them behind my back. Then they put my arms on the back of the tiger bench, my chest and abdomen were tightly fixed by two steel clubs that crossed the bench, and my feet were held rigid by two big steel hoops. Then police began to brutally torture me, repeating the torture every five minutes. Every time, they pulled my arms forwards and backwards, and I heard the sound of my bones and tendons cracking. I almost fainted from the excruciating pain. The floor was wet from my sweat and tears. They pressed my head towards the hip, because steel clubs fixed my chest and abdomen to the bench, and I felt as if my neck was going to break. I felt excruciating pain in my chest and abdomen because of the steel clubs holding me in place. I constantly felt as if I was going to suffocate. They also tied a rope to the hoops that were fixed to my ankles and pulled the hoops, causing unbearable pain to my ankles. At the same time, other police officers pressed my head down towards the hip. The pain made me tremble violently.

This cruel torture was repeated every five minutes. My sweat, tears and blood soaked my hair and clothes and the unbearable suffering caused me to faint over and over again. They poured cold and boiling water on me to bring me to. The hot water burned my already injured skin.

After they tortured me with the tiger bench method for over four hours, I was close to death. They put a metal bucket on my head. Seven police officers smoked three cigarettes each and blew the smoke into the bucket for more than an hour. I choked and fainted many times. They again brought me to with cold water. Before I was completely clear-headed, they burned my eyelids with cigarettes butts. The pain was indescribable. I struggled and moved. After they were bored with this torture, they punched me in the head and face. My nose and mouth bled. I lost two of my front teeth, and my face was swollen, turning purple-black. They also perforated my eardrums with thin bamboo sticks. I was deaf for half a month. They went to sleep at 2 a.m., as they were tired from torturing me.

During the 17-day detention in March 2002, I was taken to this torture place three times. Each time the torture was worse than before. During the final two times, they took me at midnight from the cell. Every time seven to eight police officers came to my cell to take me to the place of torture. They took me back to the cell when I was near death. As the police didn't want others to see my injuries and blood from the torture, they dressed me in a very thick sweater and trousers, but the blood soaked through the clothes. Then the police dressed me with thicker clothes, but the blood still soaked through. Due to the terrible atmosphere and worries about fellow practitioners, many practitioners could not sleep at night. The practitioners who were on the blacklist of the 610 Office were "interrogated" daily. We were tied up and a plastic bag was placed over our heads. Our hands were tied behind the back before the police put us in a car. They drove to the mountain, where we were tortured.

After I was tortured, my health condition was precarious. No. 3 Detention Centre was deceived into accepting me the following day. I was taken to the provincial hospital and Military No. 3 hospital for a check-up. The doctor said that my entire body was injured. In the afternoon, Guo Shuaishuai and I were taken to the prison hospital for further persecution. As soon as we entered the hospital, they tied us to a bed and injected unknown drugs into us. My legs are still numb. I have no feelings when they are pinched and my feet are always cold. Guo Shuaishuai was force-fed for over two months without the tubes being taken out between sessions. She was in unbearable pain. Dafa practitioner Jiang Yong, who had been arrested at the same time, died from the torture in June or July. Jiang Yong was injected with an unknown drug. Daily they took a large blood sample. Jiang Yong became extremely weak and emaciated, and she died from the brutal force-feeding. We saw with our own eyes the inhuman process of a person being tortured to death! Guo Shuaishuai felt that the force-feeding was too painful, so she swallowed the rubber tube, which was 1.5 metres long. The stomach pain made her roll on the bed, and the prison doctor was afraid that Guo Shuaishuai would give evidence to the outside. Thus, they tormented her even more cruelly.

The police and male prisoners looked at our naked bodies daily and tortured us unmercifully. One of the prison doctors touched Guo Shuaishuai's private areas, although she was suffering terribly. Guo Shuaishuai swallowed a small spoon, so the doctor operated to remove it. He made an incision from the chest to below the abdomen and took out the spoon. They stitched up the incision and sent her home, because she was at death's door. Guo Shuaishuai's body and mind have still not recovered.

Zhao Xiaoqin, who entered the prison hospital with me, fainted from the beating by 610 Office staff. They threw her down the stairs. She still can't talk and became demented. There was a big lump the size of a bowl on her head and her left arm was broken. After she was thrown down the stairs, she was taken to the prison hospital for further persecution. In the hospital, the doctor put a cast on her arm. This cast was not removed or cleaned during the entire summer. Her arm began to fester, and there were maggots on her arm. She became mentally disturbed and only laughed and cried without reason. I witnessed many inhuman atrocities. All of the women were tied to a hard board naked, with the limbs separated widely, for 26 days. We suffered unbelievable humiliation by the police, prison doctors and male prisoners!

Because I refused to give up Falun Gong, they decided to send me to the No. 3 Detention Centre. However, the detention centre refused to accept me, because they felt that I was near death. The police did not know what to do. They punched and kicked me, hung me from an iron door in the detention centre for five to six hours, and then took me to the prison hospital for persecution. After I returned to the hospital, I went on a 50-day hunger strike. The doctor opened up a vein with a knife, knotted one side of the blood vessel and tied it off. He put a needle into the other side, so blood poured on the ground and bed. My legs were badly swollen, and my feet started to become gangrened. The prison doctor said that my left leg was doomed. I was injected with over ten bottles of unknown fluid daily and nobody took care of me. I relieved myself in the bed and my body was soaked in urine for dozens of days. The suffering was indescribable. When they gave me milk fluid intravenously, because I was on hunger strike they had problems with my blood vessels. The surgeon shook the transfusion tube in his hand a few times, and then forced it into the blood vessel. The pain was excruciating and I fainted several times."

Phone numbers of individuals and work units responsible for persecution:

No 3 Detention Centre in Changchun City: located in Sheling Town, Shuangyang District, 011-86-431-4162709 (main switchboard)

Gao Yi: head of the detention centre, 011-86-431-4162709 ext. 8041, 011-86-431-4162701 (office)
Wei: head of the detention centre: 011-86-431-4162701 (office), 011-86-13804466391 (mobile), 011-86-431-8710519 (home)
Wang Jiachen: political secretary, 011-86-431-4162709 ext. 8042, 011-86-13009000080 (mobile), 011-86-431-5652688 (home)
Li Xiandong: head of Health and Safety Section
Watchdog Hotline at No 3 Detention Centre: 011-86-431-2072614

Erdao District government in Changchun City: 011-86-431-4643181
Party secretary: 011-86-431-4647383
Dang Hongyan: head of 610 Office, 011-86-431-6161508 (home)
Wang Liguo: Party secretary at "610 Office", 011-86-431-4657810
Jiang Xiaojun: "610 Office"

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

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

3. "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")

4. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/10/11/164264.html