My Two Years and Seven Months in Harbin Qianjin Forced Labour Camp

Name: Gao Guofeng
Gender: Female
Age: 55
Address: Shuangchuang City, Heilongjiang Province
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 11th, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Harbin Qianjin Detention Centre
City: Harbin
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hanging up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, physical restraint, detention

Ms. Gao Guofeng, a Falun Gong practitioner from Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province, was detained in the Harbin Qianjin Forced Labour Camp for two years because she wore a shirt that had three words--Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance--printed on it. While being detained, she was cruelly persecuted. Her life has been in danger twice. Ms. Gao Guofeng told her experience as follows.

Sentenced to two years of forced labour for wearing a Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance shirt

On September 11th, 2007, Dong Huiqun, commander of the Shuangcheng City Domestic Security Division, ordered four officers from Dongfeng Police Station to have me take off my shirt that had "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" printed on it. I refused to take it off. They immediately gathered many policemen to the site. Xiao Jitian, deputy superintendent of the Dongfeng Police Station, dragged me into the car and took me to the Shuangcheng Detention Centre. The local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) agents sentenced me to two years of forced labour without following any legal procedures. I was detained in the Shuangcheng Detention Centre for half a month and later taken to the Harbin Qianjin Forced Labour Camp.

Suffering inhumane torture in Harbin Qianjin Forced Labour Camp

1. Physical and Spiritual Torture

On September 29th, 2007, officials in the Harbin Qianjin Forced Labour Camp organised a party, which was used to brainwash Falun Gong practitioners. They forced us to sing songs that praised the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As I sat in the front row, I picked up the microphone and shouted, "Falun Gong is good!" Huo Shuping, Sui Xuemei and several other jail guards rushed up and kicked and punched me. They grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled me out of the hall. I was beaten black and blue all over my face and then detained in a small, isolated room. I was tortured by being hung-up. They handcuffed me and hung me up, both of my arms stretched to the limit. I was not allowed to move or close my eyes. After a long time, my arms felt sore and the handcuffs dug into my flesh. The guards changed my position once every two hours. Moreover, they pushed me back and forth, causing extreme pain. I was sweating all over. As the handcuffs dug into my flesh, my hands looked like a purple radish. I fainted several times. They tortured me like this for 13 days.

After I was released from the small isolated cell, I was handcuffed to a bed rail of an upper bunk. I was not allowed to eat or use the restroom. Whenever I moved a little or closed my eyes for a second, they would grab my hair and pull it as hard as they could. I was hung up with one hand connected to the bed rail, so when the jail guards kicked me like kicking a ball, I swayed back and forth. Guard Zhang Aihui instigated two detainees to intimidate me with a water gun, shock me with electric batons, stab me with toothpicks, and hit me with clothes and books until the books broke into pieces. I remember that on the 12th day of continuous torture, the guards ordered two detainees--Liang Xiao and Li Yingjie--to hang me up again. They handcuffed my hands behind my back to an upper bunk and then connected them to the iron rail, with the bed pole just against my back. I was in such extreme pain that I fainted. After I was awakened, guard Wu Baoyun stomped on my feet, whipped my hands and ears with hard plastic, and dazzled my eyes with light. Zhou Yingfan clenched his fists and punched me. I felt drowsy and my gums began to bleed. I was forced to sit on a small stool all those days. They forced me to write the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong.

2. Force-Fed Until I Almost Suffocated

One day, they carried a basin of water, a towel, and a roll of toilet paper and walked straight up to me. They pulled me out of the metal cage while saying, "We are saving you." Then some of them held my arms and some grabbed my hair and pulled my head back. Doctor Wang held in his hand a plastic tube. It was two feet long and had a cap on the other end. He inserted the tube into my nostril. My nose started bleeding immediately. He joked, "Well, that didn't work. Let me try again." Then he jammed the tube into the other nostril though it didn't go through. He didn't insert the tube into my oesophagus, but into my windpipe. They just inserted it randomly--oesophagus, windpipe, wherever. In a few minutes I was out of breath. Someone checked my pulse. When they found that I was not all right, they pulled the tube out. Blood ran out of my nostrils. They started wiping up the blood. I was aware that they had prepared the water and towel to eliminate the evidence. In the following several days, I spat up a lot of coagulated blood. I was force-fed like this twice.

I practised Falun Gong and tried to be a good person. I did nothing wrong. I didn't commit any crime, so I refused to wear the prison clothes. Guard Zhou Yingfan ordered several detainees to force me to wear the prison clothes. They held onto my head until I was out of breath.

One time some officials came to inspect the Harbin Qianjin Forced Labour Camp. The police were afraid that I would shout "Falun Gong is good," so they took me to a room without monitoring equipment. They ordered me to sit on a small stool and sealed my mouth with tape. The two people pulled my arms with full strength in opposite directions while one person sat on me.

If I did the Falun Gong exercises or sat in meditation, Huo Shuping would use a hard-soled shoe to whip my head and face and handcuff me to the bed. They often took me to a unmonitored room or washroom and gave me a severe beating. Wang Benying stuck socks into my mouth. She tore my clothes into pieces and made them into thick ropes, then tied me up.

I didn't commit any crime, so I refused to do the hard labour. Huo Shuping, the commander in Group 2, detained me in a unmonitored room. She handcuffed me to a bed rail and ordered detainee Li Yingjie to put pepper in my nose and eyes and to pour it into my mouth. I was miserable.

After being taken to the labour camp in September 2007, I was tortured by being hung up and deprived of sleep. The cruel torture made me, a formerly healthy person, almost handicapped, barely able to take care of myself. I was fatigued, injured all over, and often trembled. I couldn't speak clearly. My life was in danger twice while being detained in the labour camp.

My experience is only one of many in the Harbin Qianjin Forced Labour Camp where Falun Gong practitioners are seriously persecuted.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/10/5/230589.html