Siping Prison Inmates Beat Practitioner to Death Under the Connivance of Prison Guards

I was detained in Siping Prison in Jilin Province. Below are accounts of my experiences during my imprisonment and in particular, the brutal assaults by inmates against Falun Gong practitioners, which sometimes resulted in death. The prison guards had full knowledge of these assaults.

Mr. Dong Fengshan, a Falun Gong practitioner from Qianguo District in Songyuan City, was sent to Siping Prison in October 2008 to undergo "transformation¹" because he persevered in practising Falun Gong. Five prison inmates, including Wen Yanfeng, Wang Guoxiang, Di Shaoquan, Han Shuang, and another unidentified inmate, beat Mr. Dong for a total of two hours, under the connivance of prison guards. They used special leather whips that made noises so loud that the whole prison could hear them. Mr. Dong was a steadfast practitioner who did not utter a word and simply silently chanted "Falun Gong is good" while being beaten. Mr. Dong was so badly injured that he died the next day.

Mr. Dong Fengshan's family is currently negotiating with prison officials to investigate the death of Mr. Dong and bring the killers to justice. Mr. Dong's family was offered a cash settlement but refused.

The five inmates involved in Mr. Dong's death are being detained in special small prison cells. However, prison guards are behind the beating of Mr. Dong. The leather whips used in the beating are regulation weapons used by the prison guards. A prison guard surnamed Yin was on duty that night.

When a Falun Gong practitioner arrives at Siping Prison, the person in charge of the cell tells the practitioner to go to the lavatory and have a "talk." The practitioner, even if he is in his 60's or 70's, gets severely beaten if he says that he will continue to practise Falun Gong, and the beating will not stop unless the practitioner says he will give up the practice.

Han Jingjun, an inmate who was in charge of a cell, and inmate Chen Chuang took practitioner Mr. Gao Weixi, aged 70, to an empty room and beat him severely. Not until Mr. Gao cried out "Help me," did they stop the beating.

In 2008, Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Li Rui, 62, was not able to walk for three months because he was severely beaten by inmates Yang Xichen, Wang Qingyuan and others.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Shao Changpu was sent to Siping Prison in April 2009. One of the "cell heads," Han Jingjun, repeatedly beat Mr. Shao in the presence of prison guards and other inmates, knowing that the prison guards condoned the beatings. Even though the practitioners were badly beaten, they were forced to do hard labour.

Currently, Siping Prison is detaining approximately ninety Falun Gong practitioners, and most of them are in the 10th Division (originally called the "Education Division"). Every practitioner is monitored by a criminal inmate. They even follow practitioners to the lavatory. The criminal inmates force practitioners, even the elderly, to do the work for them, including cleaning the cell and doing laundry, scorning and beating practitioners at will. Inmates Han Jingjun, Sun Gang, and others brutally beat practitioners Liu Xiaoyong, Qu Lian, Zhang Lizhi, and Wan Xuezhu.

Practitioners were forced by prison guards to write a so-called "thought report" stating their understanding of Falun Gong and the assignments they have completed. They were beaten if they refused to do so.

In March 2009, practitioner Wang Xuezhu was violently beaten by inmate Han Jingjun for an hour because he mentioned the names of some inmates who persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in his "thought report."

Note

1. "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.ca/mh/articles/2009/6/10/202496.html