Tai Hao Brutally Tortured, His Condition Critical

Mr. Tai Hao is a Korean Falun Gong practitioner in Yanji City, Jilin Province, who has been detained for nine months. He is very weak and has difficulty eating, and was recently sent to Yanji Hospital for emergency treatment. Police officers intimidated his family and extorted about 2000 yuan¹ for the cost of treating him. According to the law, the supervising departments and personnel should bear the responsibility for paying for Mr. Tai Hao's treatment while he is in custody.

Arrested and Tortured After Installing Satellite Receiver

On April 17th, 2012, Tai Hao and his mother Jin Shunshan, as well as Li Qiyu and another practitioner, went out of town to install a New Tang Dynasty Satellite TV receiver [a TV company that broadcasts programmes exposing the persecution of Falun Gong]. When they went to a bus station to go home, they were arrested by the Yanji police, who knew their whereabouts by monitoring their mobile phones.

The practitioners were sent to a room that was especially designed for interrogation by torture. There is a device for electric torture. It covers a victim's head and adjusts an electric current to intensify the victim's suffering.

Such a device can cause the victim's organs to bleed when it is operated under a large amount of current. The victim seems to be hammered by a heavy hammer or shocked as if by loud thunder. The extent of suffering is beyond words. In a light case, the victim would bleed under the skin and the blood clots which form under skin would not disperse for a long time. Tai Hao, in his 30s, was badly tortured. He screamed incessantly, and even the police who took turns torturing Mr. Tai felt very stressed.

The police are often divided into groups and take turns torturing Falun Gong practitioners around the clock. Many hatchet men in charge of torture felt exhausted. The police would get guaranteed bonuses for torturing practitioners.

Two elderly women, Ms. Li Qiyu and Ms. Jin Shunshan were also tortured. Their breathing stopped several times, and they were sent to a hospital for emergency treatment. The police worried that they might die and emergency treatment required a large amount of money. The police released Ms. Li Qiyu first. The Korean director of the Yanji Police Department in charge of their cases said that Jin Shunshan was a “leader” of Falun Gong practitioners, and ordered them not to release her.

Ms. Jin Shunshan was sent to a brainwashing class. When the class was over, she was carried to a detention center. In the detention center, Ms. Jin was on the verge of death. Those in charge of watching her were scared. They cried and begged her not to die. It was the higher authorities who would not release her.

After going through so many tortures, Ms. Jin Shunshan was finally released. Before she was released, the police gave her all of her son Tai Hao's clothes, even including underwear and socks. At that time, she was not clearheaded and did not ask why they asked her to take all of her son's clothes.

The Procuratorate blocks a human rights attorney from getting involved

The practitioners' families visited various offices to rescue them. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) personnel told them to hire attorneys to go to the Procuratorate and get involved in the legal procedure. Tai Hao's family hired a local attorney; however, for some reason, the attorney broke the contract. Then they managed to hire a human rights attorney from another city. But when they went to the Yanji Procuratorate and followed the appropriate protocol, the Procuratorate said they had already appointed an attorney for Tai Hao and rejected the attorney Tai Hao's family had hired.

The human rights attorney argued on the basis of the law. The court personnel told them they definitely could not allow the human rights attorney to be involved; otherwise, Tai Hao's family could sue them. The attorney went to the relevant department of the Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture Procuratorate and filed a complaint, requesting the Prefecture Procuratorate to correct the illegal action of the Yanji Procuratorate. The relevant law-enforcement personnel first said it would be resolved soon and asked the attorney to wait for further notification. Afterward, there was no result at all, and they did not answer the attorney's phone calls.

The Yanji Court Suddenly Has a Secret Session

On the morning of January 5th, 2013, the Yanji Court convened at the detention centre and held a secret session to try Mr. Tai Hao, Ms. Rui Kerong, Mr. Liu Chunli, Mr. Piao Wenzhe, Mr. Gao Changsuo and other practitioners. The court personnel deceived the practitioners' families and directly brought them to the detention centre.

The practitioners' families first received notification requiring them to go to the court to answer some questions; however, they were directly taken to the detention centre for the trial. Only one or two family members were there for each practitioner. Many other family members were not notified at all. The trial was carefully arranged and many police were dispatched.

The court did not allow the practitioners or their family members to offer a defence. It was just a formality. The family members were told that the decision would be announced later.

Most of the practitioners on trial were detained and tortured many times. As a result of both physical and mental persecution, they had urgent physical or mental problems to different degrees. It was said that Ms. Rui Kerong had suddenly fainted. When Mr. Gao Changsuo was detained in a forced labour camp previously, he had very high blood pressure and a doctor diagnosed that he was on the verge of death. Mr. Gao was released on bail for medical treatment. Mr. Liu Chunli and Mr. Piao Wenzhe were also detained and tortured many times. They are very weak and in an urgent situation.

Since Mr. Tai was arrested on April 17th, 2012, he was tortured physically and mentally. He has been detained in the Yanji Detention Centre for nine months. His heath has deteriorated, and recently he was sent to Yanji Hospital for emergency treatment.

Ms. Rui Keromg, in her 50s, has been persecuted many times. Currently, she is critically ill. On June 5th, 2012, around 8 a.m., Zheng Zhezhu, Li Chengzhe and other domestic security officers went to her home. They persuaded her to come to the domestic security division by claiming that she needed to finish some documents related to being released on bail last year. On that afternoon, Ms. Rui was transferred to the Yanji Detention Centre, allegedly because she had delivered Falun Gong informational materials to other practitioners and installed satellite receivers for New Tang Dynasty TV.

Persecutors:

Cao Songnan, Dean of the Yanji Court: +86-433-2586301, +86-13944705561(Mobile)
Zheng Zhezhu from the Yanji Domestic Security Division (in charge of arresting Falun Gong practitioners): +86-18043302188

Note

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