On May 5th, 2011, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhang Su from Wuhan was taken by police to Hubei Province “Legal and Educational Centre,” which is actually a brainwashing centre. He has been detained and tortured for 173 days. He was beaten by security personnel and deprived of sleep. Unidentified drugs were put into his food in order to force him to give up practising Falun Gong.
Mr. Zhang submitted a formal complaint to the Wuhan Procuratorate against Hubei Province “Legal and Educational Centre” a few days ago. The following are the main points of his complaint.
Arrested
My name is Zhang Su, 47, and I am from Wuhan, Hubei Province. I am a tennis coach for the Yongtian Tennis Club in Wuhan. At around 8:00 a.m. on May 5th, 2011, I was attacked by a group of people near Changqinghuayuan where I live. They sprayed something to irritate my eyes and kicked and punched me. They twisted my arms behind my back and handcuffed me, then pushed me into a car which was parked by the side of the road and took me away.
When I could open my eyes, I found myself in the Changqinghuayuan Police Branch Station. I noticed police officers Cai Heng, Zhang Ning, and others from Wuhan Police Department Domestic Security Division, all of whom I had dealt with over ten years ago. They soon put me into the car again and took me to a compound next door to the Hubei Province Women's Drug Rehabilitation Centre. They took me to a room, then showed me a written decision of so-called residential surveillance. But there was no offence, no named parties, and no date on the document. Then they left the room. Others told me where I was—a brainwashing centre in Hubei Province, the so-called Hubei Province “Legal and Educational Centre,” where Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted and forced to give up their beliefs. There I was subjected to 173 days of brutal "transformation" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] tactics.
The Notorious Hubei Province Brainwashing Centre
The Hubei Province “Legal and Educational Centre” is located in Mahu Village in the Hongshan District, next door to the Hubei Province Women's Drug Rehabilitation Centre, separated only by a wall. After entering, you see a big garden. Next to the garden is a four-story building, the centre's main building. The activity room is the lobby on the first floor. There are ten rooms on either side of the lobby, where detained Falun Gong practitioners and collaborators1 live. The middle of the second floor is a conference room. On either side are ten “classrooms” and rooms for assistants. The “classrooms” are just empty rooms with a table, a stool for a Falun Gong practitioner, and two chairs for assistants. The brainwashing centre police live on the third floor, and there is a large conference room and rooms for guards on the fourth floor.
There are five distinct groups here. First are the detained Falun Gong practitioners. Second are the collaborators, who are sent by the practitioner's work unit or residential neighbourhood committee. Usually, two collaborators live with one practitioner to monitor the practitioner. The third group is made up of the assistants who specifically persecute practitioners and try to force them to renounce their beliefs. Guards who acts like security guards but without security uniforms make up the fourth group. They wear black. Their duty is to stop anyone from leaving the building without permission. The fifth group is the police. They are in charge of management and are responsible for implementing "transformation."
Strict Monitoring
Two collaborators who monitored me were from the Taibei Street Residential Neighbourhood Committee. One was called Li Hanping, a 52-year-old retired worker from Wuchang Shipyard, and another was Wang Yanwen, 43, unemployed, and who had been sent to labour camps twice. They were responsible for monitoring my activities on the first floor. They also escorted me to and from the “classroom” and the room. Usually one policeman and one collaborator escorted me each time. One collaborator brought breakfast from the cafeteria to the room. The two assistants were a man and a woman. The man was Ding Xingqiao, a 52-year-old teacher from a secondary school from Yunmeng. The woman was Xiao Yangrong. She was a 51-year-old retired worker from Shiyan. They lived on the second floor, which is devoted to "transformation." Xiao Yangrong was responsible for bringing lunch and dinner. The duties of collaborators and assistants are clearly divided. Collaborators are just responsible for monitoring, and assistants are in charge of "transformation." Collaborators are responsible for things on the first floor, while the assistants are responsible for things on the second floor. There is no communication between them. I had to get up every day at 6:00 a.m. and then wash. I had breakfast at 7:00 a.m. One collaborator went to the cafeteria to get breakfast. From 8:00 a.m. to noon I was in the "transformation" classroom on the second floor. Lunch was at noon and then the lunch break on the classroom floor until 2:00 p.m. From 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. the "transformation" continued, and dinner was at 5:00 p.m. One assistant brought dinner to the classroom, then rested until 7:00 p.m. From 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. the "transformation" continued. At 9:00 the on-duty police and a collaborator escorted me back to the room on the first floor to sleep. At night two collaborators took turns monitoring me. Falun Gong practitioners and collaborators are not allowed to go to other rooms or ask anything about the brainwashing centre.
Brainwashing
The so-called "critical 'transformation'" in the brainwashing centre is divided into three stages.
The first stage continues for about 40 days. Mainly Ding Xingqiao and Xiao Yangrong slandered Falun Gong in front of me and ordered me to give up my belief. They hit me many times with a stick wrapped in books and newspapers. They said this way no one could see I was beaten.
During the second stage, Ding Xingqiao was transferred. The new person, Huang, 61, was from Huangshi. He worked with Xiao Yangrong to continue my "transformation." They forced me to watch an “internal” video that slandered Falun Gong. They started to torture me by depriving me of sleep until I developed a serious problem. I fainted twice, and they had to stop.
During those 40 days, the several police officers threatened me multiple times. Liu Cheng, Second Squadron commander, male, 31, from Hubei Macheng, intimidated me and threatened me, saying, "If you refuse to 'transform,' we can detain you indefinitely. We will use all means to 'transform' you until you are 'transformed.'”
Police officer Peng Gang from the Second Squadron, male, 31, from Hubei Wuxue, repeatedly abused me verbally. He slandered Falun Gong and insulted my personal dignity.
Hu Moumou, the deputy captain of the First Squadron, also intimidated me. He said, “The Communist Party is a dictatorship. You will be imprisoned if you don't follow the CCP and refuse to give up your belief. If you are 'transformed,' you can go home. The law is made for the Communist Party.”
One time I heard Jiang Lili, deputy captain of the Second Squadron (female, 31, from Hubei Shiyan) savagely force feed a female Falun Gong practitioner from Wu Hanqingshan in the next classroom. She deliberately repeatedly jabbed the woman's esophagus and also hit her with electric batons. I heard the practitioner's screams and strongly protested the torture. They then closed the doors and windows to my classroom and pulled down the curtains for a month. Except for lunch and dinner time, I completely lost sense of time.
Unknown Drugs
Assistant Liu tried to brainwash me with his distorted theory, but I refused to accept it. He was enraged. At his request, the brainwashing centre used more insidious ways to damage my health. They put an unknown drug in my food and drinking water. First, they took away my hot water bottle, saying that they didn't have enough hot water bottles. So I had to drink the water I got from Yang Xiaorong. Sometimes she deliberately brought me drinks and snacks and said she was taking care of me. She also brought my food. I had strong reactions after eating these things. Sometimes I had stomach pain, sometimes gallbladder pain, sometimes headache and palpitation, had difficulty in breathing, and so on. Assistant Liu often implied that all my internal organs would gradually cease to function if I continued to resist the brainwashing.
Threatened with Imprisonment and Organ Harvesting
During this period they took away my Falun Gong books and forced me to watch the internal videos that slandered Falun Gong. I pointed out these materials were fabricated, produced just to defame Falun Gong. These news events broadcast through the media have caused great harm to society. I also pointed out that they were erroneous and could not be used as educational material.
Threatened with Imprisonment and Transfer to Detention Centre
After my arrest on May 5th, I wasn't allowed to get a haircut or shave. On July 19th they suddenly sent me to the barber. They said, “Tomorrow is July 20th, the anniversary of Falun Gong [The day the CCP began persecuting Falun Gong officially in 1999]. We will let you have a haircut and get shaved.” The next day, July 20th, Xiao Yangrong brought in a huge poster with a handwritten pledge that stated, “Zhang Su decided to give up the practice of Falun Gong and follow the CCP,” etc. They tried to hang the sign on my neck. I strongly resisted, so she hung the sign in the classroom.
Soon assistant Liu was transferred. The wife of Ding Xingqiao from Hubei Yunmeng replaced him. Every day she first read the pledge dozens of times and then verbally abused me for half an hour. Because of this, one day I refused to go to the second floor classroom. Gong Jian, head of the Education Division (male, 43, in charge of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners in the center), Liu Cheng, Peng Gang, and others guards, a total six or seven people, pushed me onto the bed, and handcuffed my hands behind my back. They hit my back and dragged me to the second floor classroom. Gong Jian and Liu Cheng forced me into the corner and beat me, slapped me, and insulted me. They threatened me, saying, “It doesn't matter whether you 'transform' or not. We want to send you to jail. You will be sentenced to ten years in prison. Neither the Wuhan police, the Procuratorate, nor the court has any control over your case. That is why are you are in the Hubei Province 'Legal and Educational Centre.' Your case has reached the provincial level."
These brutal thugs did not destroy my spirit, but my health really suffered. Around the end of August, I fainted twice in the classroom, and they had to take me to the Railway Hospital. The doctor said I needed to be hospitalized for observation, because I had stage three hypertension, another myocardial injury, and gallstones. I had lost 30 pounds since my arrest. I practised Falun Gong, and my body had been very healthy, without any disease. These problems were all caused by the poison they put in my food. They didn't let me stay in the hospital, but in order to avoid my possible sudden death, not for humanitarian reasons, they stopped trying to “transform” me and let me continue the judicial process. The second stage ended.
The third stage is the last stage. It started at the beginning of September. Due to my poor health, they reduced the intensity of persecution. They didn't continue brainwashing me on the second floor. Starting in early October, they started brainwashing me on the second floor again. In mid-October, the brainwashing stopped again.
On October 20th, Cai Hang and others from Wuhan Police Department Domestic Security Division appeared. They transferred me to the Wuhan Second Detention Centre. But the detention centre refused to take me, because I failed the physical exam. My blood pressure was 120-210 mm Hg, with heart disease. They took me to a hotel for one night. The next day they went to the detention centre again with special approval of a deputy director from Wuhan City. The director of the detention centre read the approval and said, “We can take him. But if something happens to him, we are not responsible.” They also asked, “What is 'major case Provincial HF1102?'” in which I was involved. The Domestic Security Division did not answer. So I was detained in the Wuhan Second Detention Centre.
From May 5th, 2011, to October 24th, 2011, I was detained in Hubei Province “Legal and Educational Centre,” for a total of 173 days. According to the law, residential surveillance is illegal. My health has been seriously damaged, and I want to file an appeal according to the law.
(Editor's note: On May 19th, 2012, Zhang Su was sentenced six years in prison by Wuchang District Court. He is still being held in the detention centre.)
Related article:
“Mr. Zhang Su from Wuhan Arrested and Detained for Half a Year; His Family Is Under Severe Stress” http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2012/1/10/130613.html#.UEtbPno9c6g
Note
1. "Collaborators" (former practitioners, brainwashed against Falun Gong, made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners)
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