Despite a New "Mental Health Law," Falun Gong Practitioners Still Illegally Held in Mental Hospitals in China

The first “Mental Health Law” in China was formally implemented on May 1, 2013. For the first time, the Chinese Communist regime has clarified the definition of “involuntary treatment,” as well as associated criteria and procedures.

The deputy director of Beijing University No. 6 Hospital, who participated in creating the law, has said numerous times, "The Mental Health Law is supposed to prevent people who are mentally fit from being diagnosed with mental disorders by establishing strict criteria and procedures; the law also defines legal responsibility and punishment for violation of the diagnostic criteria for mental disorder and for treating people who are not mentally ill as mentally ill."

Smokescreen
While the regime is touting the Mental Health Law, Falun Gong practitioners are still being persecuted in its mental hospitals. The new mental health law is thought by many to be a bluff by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to quell suspicion of wrongdoing. Throughout its history, the CCP has frequently made positive statements while actually committing outrageous crimes behind the scenes. This latest smokescreen is no exception.

Mr. Li Yong Held in a Mental Hospital for 12 Years
Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Liu Yong, 42, was employed at Handan Iron and Steel. After the CCP started to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, he went to Beijing to appeal for justice and was illegally sentenced to forced labor. In June 2001, deceived by the rampant lies told by the CCP, his mother cooperated with the leadership of Handan Iron and Steel and sent her own mentally healthy son to Baoding Mental Hospital. Mr. Liu was only 30, a healthy young man at the time. Simply because he refused to give up his belief, he has been confined in a living hell for the last 12 years.

Like forced labour camps and prisons all over China, the Baoding Mental Hospital cooperated with the CCP to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. According to incomplete statistics, at least 24 Falun Gong practitioners have died in that hospital.

When Liu Yong was first sent there, he was forced daily to take drugs that damage the central nervous system. Each time he had to open his mouth so the staff could make sure he had swallowed the drug. Doctors used to say to him, “We know you have no mental illness, but we are forced to do this. We have to do it.” The hospital also injected him with unknown drugs that caused him extreme pain, and he almost died. Even when he was barely conscious, he still held on to his belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. With this firm belief he survived.

Because the hospital officials knew that Mr. Liu was completely normal, they assigned him chores. Twice when he went to dump the trash, he tried to escape, but without success. The second time he was stopped and caught on a long distance bus. Since then he has been completely confined and is not even allowed to step out into the corridor. Every day he is forced to clean, including the toilets. Liu Yong firmly adheres to the principles of Falun Dafa, saying, “No matter where I am, I will let people know that Falun Dafa is good!”

Because the hospital is worried that their treatment of Mr. Liu might get out, they do not allow him to have pen and paper, or to write or call anyone. He has been deprived of all visits from relatives and friends, who are not allowed even to have a glimpse of him from a distance. He is totally isolated from the outside world. Relatives and friends who care about him have called, but the hospital never allows Liu Yong to talk on the phone. Living in this dark den for 12 years now, one can hardly imagine how he has survived.

This practice of depriving people of their personal freedom and locking them up in mental hospitals for coercive treatment for no reason is now technically illegal. The Mental Health Law has strict criteria for involuntary treatment, which include two compulsory factors. The person must have caused harm to himself or others, and he/she must have a serious mental disorder. Liu Yong strives to be a good person by following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He has caused no harm to anyone, and has no mental disorders. He is a healthy man. Clearly, Baoding Mental Hospital should immediately release him unconditionally.

During the past 14 years, in Handan City alone, many Falun Gong practitioners were “diagnosed” as having “mental illness.”

Mr. Yang Baochun
Practitioner Mr. Yang Baochun worked at the Jinhang Flannel Factory in Handan. He went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong in September 1999 and was unlawfully arrested and sent to a labour camp for two years. He was tortured so brutally that his right leg had to be amputated. In order to shirk responsibility, the labour camp sent him to Ankang Psychiatric Hospital in Handan.

Wang Yubi, the head of the hospital, ordered nurse Feng Yongcai to secretly add a drug to Mr. Yang's food so that he would turn into a “mental patient.” Mr. Yang experienced severe side effects from the strong substance. He drooled constantly and could no longer speak properly. His tongue became stiff and he experienced overall weakness. He was kept in the mental institution for four years.

In late 2005, in order to prevent him from seeking justice, factory leaders sent him to Yongkang Psychiatric Hospital, where he was subjected to inhuman treatment. In 2008, even though he only had one leg, he managed to escape and went home, but the hospital took him back by force. By 2009, his family members found that he had suffered a complete mental collapse as a result of what was done to him in the hospital.

Justice Will Prevail
The implementation of the “Mental Health Law” appears to be another trick created by the CCP to deceive the public. The fact that Liu Yong and other Falun Gong practitioners are still incarcerated in psychiatric hospitals is sufficient evidence. This new law makes it clear that it is a violation of the law and a criminal act for the CCP to use psychiatric hospitals to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. All those involved, including the doctors and nurses, should release all unlawfully detained Falun Gong practitioners and compensate them for their suffering.

Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa in the Buddha School. Those involved in persecuting innocent Falun Gong practitioners are committing intolerable crimes, and those crimes are being recorded. The world is paying attention, and justice--for Liu Yong and all the other victims--will surely be served.