Mr. Hu Chuanlin Suffers Mental Breakdown Due to Torture at Xinan Forced Labour Camp

Name: Hu Chuanlin
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Employee of Beijing International Studies University
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 30th, 2012
Most Recent Place of Detention: Beijing Xinan Forced Labour Camp
Detention City: Beijing
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, beatings, imprisonment, torture, physical restraint, interrogation, detention

Practitioner Hu Chuanlin, an employee of Beijing International Studies University, was arrested and taken to the Beijing Xinan Forced Labour Camp on October 30th, 2012. Within two weeks of arriving at Xinan Forced Labour Camp, he suffered a mental collapse from torture and inhumane treatment.

After a previous arrest, when Mr. Hu was detained at Chaoyang District Detention Centre, he wrote a letter requesting legal representation.

Below is a summary of the whole process in which several government agencies, including Beijing Police Department's 14th Division, Chaoyang District Police Branch, Chaoyang District Detention Centre, Xinan Forced Labour Camp, and Beijing Forced Labour Camp Bureau, colluded in obstructing Mr. Hu's family and lawyer from appealing for an administrative reconsideration; hiding and destroying evidence; withholding the labour camp sentencing notification from his family; extending the labour camp term; secretly transferring; and threatening and preventing the lawyer from visiting.

On November 7th, Mr. Hu's lawyer went to Xinan Forced Labour Camp and requested to see his client; however, his request was denied by the labour camp authorities. The next day, the lawyer complained to the Beijing Forced Labour Camp Bureau about the denial of visitation. The lawyer also complained in writing to Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing City People's Congress, and Beijing City Procuratorate about the labour camp's denial of visitation, using the excuse of avoiding contagious diseases.

On November 14th, the lawyer talked to Ji Guangnan of Xinan Forced Labour Camp's Executive Division and asked when a visit with his client could be arranged. On November 15th, Ji Guangnan notified the lawyer that he could go to the camp on November 16th. On the same day, the labor camp authorities coerced Mr. Hu into telephoning his mother, which was the first time he was allowed to talk to a family member. Afterward, his mother told the lawyer that Mr. Hu had indicated that he had decided not to submit the appeal for administrative reconsideration. It was obvious that the labour camp authorities had threatened and coerced Mr. Hu.

Later, according to Mr. Hu's mother, Mr. Hu talked to her on the phone for half an hour and told her, “You cannot possibly imagine what it is like in here.” His mother could feel that he was not in a normal state of mind and said he sounded extremely depressed as a result of the torture.

On November 15th, Mr. Hu's lawyer received a phone call from his local lawyer's association, and was asked about the case and told not to go to Beijing to see Mr. Hu or to defend him.

On the morning of November 16th, Mr. Hu's lawyer went to the labour camp. Ji Guangnan took the lawyer to a consultation room and told him not to talk about anything other than the case. Then a camp guard from the sixth team, where Mr. Hu was detained, told the lawyer that Mr. Hu did not want to appeal any more and thus the lawyer's visit was unnecessary. The lawyer told the guard, “I am Mr. Hu's lawyer and was retained by his family. I must be responsible to my client and see Mr. Hu in person. He has to tell me what he wants to do himself.” Realizing his lie was not successful, the guard left the room.

From 11 a.m. to 12:20 p.m., the lawyer met with Mr. Hu. The lawyer saw that he was ill and seemed to be in a trancelike state. Mr. Hu told the lawyer that he often suffered hallucinations. When the lawyer asked whether he had been beaten, tortured, or injected with drugs, Mr. Hu did not answer. At the same time, Ji Guangnan and other guards present denied any of the activities had occurred.

Ji Guangnan was present during the entire meeting. Guards from the sixth team would come in to check on them once in a while. As the visit progressed, the guards became more and more impatient. The lawyer told Mr. Hu about the illegal behaviour of the authorities, including not notifying his family, the extended detention, the labor camp term sentencing with no formal paperwork, and the secret transferring him to the labor camp. The lawyer also told Mr. Hu that he had filed two complaints against the government and showed him the complaint letters. The lawyer then told Mr. Hu about the request to see him on November 7th, which was denied by the labour camp authorities, and about the subsequent complaint filed to the Beijing Forced Labour Camp Bureau.

The lawyer brought out the appeal letter for administrative reconsideration and asked for Mr. Hu's opinion. When it appeared that Mr. Hu was going to sign the appeal, the camp guards and Ji Guangnan shouted at him, “How can you expect us to work like this?” Mr. Hu replied, “I have no complicated plan. I just hope my lawyer and I can meet freely.” The guards attempted to grab the pen from his hand. The lawyer said, “What are you doing? What are you doing? My client wants to exercise his right to appeal. What are you doing? You'd better think it over before you do anything stupid.” The camp guards and Ji Guangnan were afraid the lawyer would see through their actions and did not dare to continue.

Mr. Hu did not know that his wife was at risk of being arrested on the day he was arrested. Mr. Hu was quick to ask what happened to his wife and child. His lawyer told him that they were all fine. Mr. Hu said that when he was detained at Chaoyang Detention Centre, a police officer with the ID 034072 lied to him, saying, “We only arrested you and are not planning to arrest your wife. You can tell her to stop hiding and return home.” The lawyer said, “According to what we know, your wife saw the police vehicle at the time of your arrest and so she took off.”

Hearing this exchange, Ji Guangnan became infuriated, as his lie had been exposed. He shouted at the lawyer, “How dare you say that? We did not say anything about his wife before the interrogation.” The lawyer replied that the information was obtained from the client when the client retained the lawyer. Ji Guangnan then told them not to talk about Mr. Hu's family; he was to only discuss Mr. Hu's case.

The lawyer then asked Mr. Hu if he had received a formal labour camp sentence notification. Hu said he was shown the notification paper on October 30th but was not allowed to keep it. The lawyer questioned Ji Guangnan, “Why did you not give him the notification? This is a serious violation of the law.” Ji replied that the labour camp was not responsible for issuing the paperwork. The lawyer insisted that the issue be reported to a higher level government authority.

In the end, the guards brought the notification and gave it to Mr. Hu, who then read it to his lawyer. The lawyer wrote down the ID number of the notification. At the end of the visit, Mr. Hu and the lawyer quickly finished all the signatures and paperwork required for the appeal. The lawyer was concerned about Mr. Hu's situation and gave him his mobile phone number, telling Mr. Hu to contact him at any time. The lawyer also told Mr. Hu when he was leaving, “Your rights are to be fought for. Let's work together to fight for them.”

On November 18th, the lawyer mailed the request to reconsider Mr. Hu's labour camp sentence to the Administrative Reconsideration Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, also known as Beijing Municipal Government Office of Legislative Affairs.

Early on the morning of November 19th, Mr. Hu's aged parents went to the labour camp to visit their son. The guards waited until all other visits were done before they allowed Mr. Hu's parent to see him through a glass partition. The entire visit lasted less than 20 minutes, during which, Mr. Hu said that he had not been able to sleep well and was in a state of trance during the day. Once a guard sent for a doctor to prescribe medication for him but the doctor refused, saying that medication would only make his situation worse. Mr. Hu's health kept deteriorating and he became progressively weaker.

Within two weeks of arriving at Xinan Forced Labour on October 30th, 2012, Mr. Hu had suffered a complete mental breakdown.

Even with a lawyer present, the camp guards threatened Mr. Hu unscrupulously. People can only imagine what kind of inhumane torture Mr. Hu suffered when there was no one around to witness the evil deeds of the camp guards.

Xinan Forced Labour Camp in Beijing
Telephone: +86-10-60278377
Ma Jie, male, Director