The Wanjia Forced Labour Camp in the western suburbs of Harbin City directly reports to the Chinese Public Security Ministry. It is one of the locations currently being utilised by the Jiang regime to torture Falun Gong practitioners into recanting their belief. The camp began to illegally detain practitioners near the end of 1999. At this time, the authorities of this so called "ministry level" labour camp jailed practitioners in cells without beds, forcing them to sleep on the concrete floors. Later, the practitioners were instructed to cut wood and construct beds. The beds were covered with wet grass and snow. Shortly thereafter, the people began to suffer from scabies. They were also not permitted to shower.
By January 2001, the authorities had already illegally jailed over four hundred Falun Gong practitioners in the camp. Jailers were brought in from other labour camps and prisons throughout Harbin City, forming twelve teams. Some of the buildings formerly used to detain male prisoners were shabby, rat infested one-story buildings. Some people's faces were bitten at night. These buildings had no toilet facilities and the windows and doors were worn out. Zhang Bo, a vicious policewoman, took a leadership role in persecuting practitioners.
1. Group Torture:
Before practising Falun Dafa, Ms. Bai Lixia suffered from breast cancer. She went into remission after starting the practice. Ms. Lixia was sentenced to forced labour because she appealed to the central government. The cells in Wanjia were hot and humid in the summertime, and the police forbade her from practising exercises. She was forced to eat soup made of rotting vegetables on a daily basis. A guard named Meng Xiangzhi drastically increased her share of hard labour. As a result, Bai Lixia's health deteriorated rapidly. There were open pustules covering her body. In January 2001, Bai was transferred to group 12, where the environment was even worse. Eventually she was unable to take care of herself. She could neither eat nor drink, and passed black urine. Seeing Bai in grave danger and not wanting to accept responsibility, the camp authorities let her family members take her home. She had been illegally detained for more than one year.
Prior to practising Falun Dafa, Ms. Cao Yingchun suffered from muscle weakness.
She recovered fully after starting the practice. When the Jiang regime attempted to defame Falun Gong and Master Li Hongzhi, she went to Beijing to appeal and clarify the true situation. Instead of hearing her appeal, the regime illegally sentenced her to three years in a forced labour camp. In Wanjia, she was not permitted to continue practising the exercises, and her illness returned. She became weak again. Eventually, she had trouble breathing and could no longer speak. The camp authorities wanted to release her when she could no longer eat on her own, but the local police station refused to take her, so she was sent home to die. At home she started to read the books and do the exercises again, and recovered her health. Discovering that she was healthy again, a local policeman moved into her house to prevent her from travelling to Beijing to appeal again. As her human rights were severely violated, Cao went to Beijing anyway and was arrested on seven different occasions. When imprisoned in the Wanjia Hospital, she was beaten and cursed at by criminal offenders. In August 2001, she held a hunger strike. She wanted to support those who almost died from an incident of severe torture conducted in the camp on June 20. The hospital started to force-feed her; the method used was a form of torture as well. She became weak and fell down, suffering a serious injury. She could no longer care for herself. The camp released her because they were afraid she would die and didn't want to take responsibility for her death.
Zhang Bo, a guard in the camp tried different methods in an attempt to force practitioners to recant their faith. She frequently moved practitioners from cell to cell. Each practitioner was closely watched by several "Collaborators" [Former Falun Gong practitioners who have stopped practising due to brainwashing and torture and now assist in the persecution of Falun Gong.] or criminals who partnered with the wardens to brainwash practitioners. The practitioners were constantly exposed to defamatory materials about Falun Gong, were not allowed to sleep, and were often barred from using the toilet. Zhang Bo attempted to use practitioners' family members to pressure them into recanting their beliefs. She also targeted a young practitioner through rumours and humiliation. Though she saw an easy target, her tactics did not work. Since the mental pressure didn't work, the police instigated the collaborators and criminals to hang practitioners Sun Jie, Du Jing, Li Yuxia, and others from the ceiling with their arms bound behind their backs. The police threatened to leave them hanging until they promised to write a statement guaranteeing that they would renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Yang Xiuli was physically exhausted and in poor condition. The prison guards prevented her from sleeping, and the abusers yelled at her, "We'll give you two choices: either curse Falun Dafa or let your family members collect your corpse." However Yang still refused to cooperate, and held to her beliefs.
On several occasions, Zhang Bo ordered inmates to search practitioners several times a day. They even searched their underwear, and didn't treat them with human dignity. On May 13, 2000, the practitioners practised the exercises and the police beat them badly, then forced them into undersised cells. On the same day, at Zhang Bo's orders, the criminals removed food, bowls, daily necessities, bras, bed covers, chopsticks, and underclothes from the practitioners' cells. Many items were thrown out a window. The guards wanted results, so they instigated the inmates to lock practitioners Ms. Wang Fang, Zuo Xiuyun, and others to a radiator. The practitioners were not permitted to stand or sit. Wang Fang felt dizzy, nauseated, and was sweating, but she was not released until she became unconscious. Even sitting straight with legs crossed would result in reprimand and intervention from imprisoned criminals or guards.
Shi Yingbai, a vicious policeman, always checked the female and small cells from the control room at night. One time, in a meeting, practitioner Chi Yumei made a calm expression that indicated a differing opinion. As a result Shi Yingbai beat her face and mouth with a baton over seventy times. The guards would not allow the practitioners to buy anything from the grocery store in the camp and wouldn't permit family members to visit the practitioners. They were kept just outside the gate. Sometimes the practitioners were not allowed to write letters for up to four months. Checking all of the outgoing and incoming letters, the police proscribed the rights of communication and privacy, which are protected by the constitution.
On February 4, 2001, the local TV station went to practitioners' homes to create propaganda films against Falun Gong. Practitioners were forced to do heavy labour and if they complained the slightest bit, they were locked into undersized cells. The undersized cells are extremely uncomfortable without room to fully stand or sit. The guards made practitioners that had contracted scabies knit apparel for babies. Apart from mistreating practitioners, the police also extorted money from the criminal offenders by pocketing their daily necessities or salary, and assigning overtime labour. They were mainly forced to make dental hygiene products. However, among those criminals, some were suffering from open wounds or venereal disease. Due to the extremely bad sanitary conditions in Wanjia, the prisoners had few opportunities to shower. They had to share a bed or sleep on the ground, and some of them were locked in humid, undersized cells for long periods of time. Most of the prisoners had open wounds or sores. The long-term mistreatment caused Li Yuxia, Tan Guizhen, and four other practitioners to behave irrationally.
2. The torture in undersized cells:
At least two hundred practitioners were locked in undersized cells from early in the morning until late at night. Over one hundred were physically tortured directly by police. On April 20, 2000, because of practising exercises outside at break time, the practitioners suffered beatings by policemen and female inmates. Later, the abusers searched the cells and the practitioners for Teacher's articles. The policemen forced to the ground those who refused to cooperate. On April 26, when the camp was in darkness, policemen with electric batons in hand went into group 7. Two male policemen would gang up on one female practitioner. They dragged Zhong Hong, Wu Jiyang, Pan Xuanhua, and others into the undersized cells in group 9. It was the first time that the camp locked females into undersized cells, which were about 2 meters (6.5 feet) in length and height, 1.5 meters (5 feet) in width and completely isolated from light. The prisoners in undersized cells were not allowed to wash, change underclothes, or speak. They were given only two meals per day, consisting of two or three sips of gruel. They became weak from the undernourishment. The police gave them neither water or bed covers. Wang Siguang, a vicious policeman, opened the windows during the freezing winter weather.
For three days and two nights Zhang Hong was locked in an undersized cell, which was the smallest cell available. It was only 1.5 meters in length, less then 0.5 meters in width and about 1.4 meters in height. She could neither stand nor lie down and almost suffocated.
Wu Jiyang is a female practitioner who recovered from thyroid gland cancer through practising Falun Gong. The police took her cotton clothes off and strapped her to a metal chair in the lobby for ten days and nine nights.
Ms. Pan Xuanhua, a fifty-six year old female practitioner, previously suffered from serious diseases including nasal cancer and liver ascites. The female police officers beat the aged woman badly and almost killed her, then strapped her to a metal chair for seven days and nights.
Wu Jiyang and Pan Xuanhua had swollen ankles that were as big as their thighs. The camp authorities were worried that they would die, so the police unlocked them from the metal chairs, but still jailed Pan in a small cell for forty-five days and Wu and Zhang for thirty-eight days. After coming out of the undersized cells, they were so much thinner that the others didn't recognise them.
From June 15 through the end of August, it was intensely hot outside. The guards put practitioner Wang Fang, Gao Shuyan, and Pan Xuanhua in undersized cells where the temperature was over forty degrees Celsius (one hundred four degrees Fahrenheit). This caused intense suffering.
On August 10, 2000, the guards intended to make practitioners who refused to give up their beliefs, listen to material slandering Teacher and Falun Dafa. As Pan Xuanhua and others raised an objection, the guards sealed their mouths with tape, and locked Pan Xuanhua, Zhang Hong, Zuo Xiuyun, Wang Fang, Yang Xiuli, and another practitioner in undersized cells. At that time Zuo and Wang were suffering from open wounds, so the Wanjia Hospital invented a kind of "medical treatment." The chief of staff, Ning Shaohui, had four male inmates drag Zuo and Wang out of the cells, then cut their pustules using scalpels with no disinfection or anesthesia. The screaming was intense. After the torture, the abusers sent them back to the small cells again. The policemen forced Pan Xuanhua, Zhang Hong, and Yang Xiuli to stand in small cells, but three days later they assumed it was not tough enough. So, they handcuffed the three women from behind and locked them back to back, making them stand together with their arms unmovable. If they moved, the handcuffs would get tighter and bury into the flesh. Their wrists were raw from being bound. One week later, seeing that the practitioners still refused to yield, the wicked officer Wu Jinying instigated the male inmates to lock them to the gate. Standing for fifteen hours everyday, the practitioners' legs became seriously swollen. In addition, the perpetrators tortured the practitioners using high decibel noise to damage their hearing.
On October 26, the camp authorities transferred the practitioners into the small cells in group 7, which were specially built for torturing Falun Gong practitioners. The jail was in a one-story warehouse, included eighteen cells, each of which was less then three square meters (about thirty-five square feet). It was very humid in the summer and in the winter frost formed on the walls and water pooled on the ground. The paint on the heating radiator was irritating and made it hard to breathe. When locking the practitioners in the small cells, policeman Zhang Li threatened, "this is different from the small cells in group 9. I assure you that you will have to crawl out in fifteen days." During this period, Wang Zhonghua, a vicious officer, tried to coerce practitioner Han Shaoqin to write a "guarantee" to stop practising Falun Gong, but Ms. Han refused to do so. So Wang ordered some collaborators to hang her up by binding her arms from behind, causing her head to ache and making her vomit. Han was jailed in a small cell for two months.
On February 13, 2001, it was the Spring Festival period. On this traditional Chinese holiday, the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp launched another round of persecution against Falun Gong. About one hundred policemen dragged practitioners into small cells. After beating them, the police tortured them with instruments and sealed their mouths so they could not cry out. Liu Dongyun said, "The police should not beat people!" Officer Shi Baiying pulled her hair in response, and dragged her across the floor. The abusers swarmed forward and beat her almost unconscious before throwing her into a cell and forcing her to stand still. The police had Pan Xuanhua's face beaten and distorted, making her feel numb on the back of the head for a few days. But it wasn't over yet, as the police strapped her to a metal chair and beat her badly again, forcing her to stay in the chair for eight days and eight nights. Wu Jiyang suffered with broken pustules, constantly bleeding, that made her feel cold and itchy. Even under these extreme physical conditions, the police still handcuffed her to the door and made her stand there. Because the small cell was cold and humid, Wu was in a state of unconsciousness with her buttocks covered with pustules. However, the police strapped her into a metal chair for three days and two nights until she fell unconscious two more times. Finally, she was sent to a hospital. Right after this, the abusers had the practitioners in group 12 moved out, and dragged twenty or more of them by their hair into small cells for seven day's of punishment and standing. Among the practitioners jailed there, two or three were locked in a cell less than three-square meters (about thirty-five square feet) in size. Practitioner Du Jing was beaten four times within an hour because she practised the sitting meditation. Sun Jingkui was shifted back to the group after becoming unconscious during several hours in a small cell. Being tired and hungry, she was unable to keep standing. The guards didn't allow her to sit down until she fell on the ground. Using batons or fists, the police also beat the rest of the practitioners in group 12 so hard that they were sweating under the temperature of -37 degrees Celsius in the freezing winter. They dragged the practitioners by their hair and hit their heads against a wall. Some of the practitioners were pushed into the yard and made to stand still and suffer from the freezing cold, while others were hung by their arms in the male prisoners' groups.
Twenty-year-old female practitioner Zhang Hong was the one who suffered the longest imprisonment in a small cell, a total of twelve months, more than half of her 22-month term. Her term was extended for four months. She was also locked in the dungeon for three days and four nights. Pan Xuanhua was locked in a small cell a total of six times. Both Zhang and Pan were handcuffed to the door for over fifteen hours every day, kept this way for thirty-five days with little to eat, and imprisoned for four months and twenty days in small cells. Tan Guizhen was locked to a metal chair for fifteen days and nights. Wu Jiyang was strapped to a metal chair for ten days and nine nights. The practitioners that were locked to metal chairs for fifteen hours everyday for one month included Zhang Hong, Guo Hongyu, Tan Guizhen, Li Lan, Lin Xiuru, and others.
Committing numerous criminal acts of torture, the guards and police have used all means against those compassionate practitioners. This exposes the true face of the "People's Police" of Jiang's regime.
3. Force-feeding
As the Falun Gong practitioner's human rights were being deprived, they held hunger strikes several times over the last two years. However, the camp authorities then launched an even more brutal persecution against the practitioners.
In December 1999, Harbin City was in midst of a chilling winter. After a seven-day hunger strike, the police dragged the practitioners to the yard and forced them to sweep snow, or run. One practitioner was too weak to run at a fast pace, so the police ordered inmates to drag her around the yard, then beat and kick her. They also removed her coat so that she would suffer from the freezing cold. The camp leaders instigated four or five inmates to hold the practitioners in chairs for force-feeding, after which some victims were bleeding from the nose or mouth. Those who refused to cooperate would be beaten and kicked by prisoners or male wardens.
On April 3, 2001, one hundred or more practitioners held hunger strikes for unconditional release. The longest one held was Han Shaoqin, lasting thirty-three days. During that period the inmates beat her black and blue. The police head Shi Yingbai claimed, "I won't send you back home until you are breathing your last breath." He commanded the policemen and male prisoners to beat those who refused to take the force-feeding. Shao Ying, a delicate female didn't protest the force-feeding, but the wicked jail doctor beat her and threatened her, "I am going to beat your breasts." On one occasion a male doctor asked her, "Will you eat or not?" Upon hearing "No" he moved the tube in and out four times. Gao Shuyan, Wu Jiyang, Zuo Xiuyun, and Shao Ying had already lost blood and had weak pulses, but those inhumane people still forced them to take injections for up to ten days with seven injections each time. The successive injections resulted in an allergic reaction that made the victims feel extremely itchy. They washed force-feeding tubes in the washbasin that was used for washing someone's scabrous feet. The doctors also used tubes stained with blood for force-feeding with black powdered milk, causing many people to have diarrhea. Upon hearing the report, the chief of staff Hao replied, "Why did you refuse to eat? We don't want to torture you like this." Gao Shuyan only weighed about twenty-five kilograms (fifty-five pounds) and her body twitched after being force-fed. Wu Jiyang was not released until she was on her last breath.
In the middle of May 2001, Zhang Hong, Tan Guizhen, Jiang Yuhui, Li Juling, and Yan Chunling in group 12 went on a hunger strike to protest the imprisonment term being extended and demanded an unconditional release. Lead by Shi Baiying, about one hundred policemen rushed into the building. The practitioners refused to cooperate in the chaos. Zhang Hong, without eating for several days, was eventually locked into a small cell with a male group. Seeing so many policemen in black uniforms in the yard, the practitioners in the dining hall tried to rush out to help the others. The police blocked the door and fiercely beat the practitioners, making a mess inside. Finally the camp authorities dispersed the practitioners into male prisoners' sleeping rooms. Each team consisting of seven or eight practitioners was closely watched by male guards and inmates. At the time, the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp started to brainwash the female practitioners in male prisoners' cells.
Policewoman Li Jihong tried to extend the practitioners' terms, but Zhang Hong and others refused to sign. Li Jihong called two policemen, Li Min and Liu Chungang, to hit Zhang Hong on her face with a pair of shoes, while two male prisoners held her arms. Then they sent her back to the small cell and locked her onto a metal chair. On June 20, Zhang Hong refused to write the "guarantee." A vicious cop named Zhang took her to the male warden's office and ordered several male prisoners to hang her up in different ways and brutally beat her. Chang, one of the abusers, was tired and sweating, so he shamelessly took off his shirt and held Zhang Hong to the ground. Chang bound her arms from behind and then shackled her to the heating radiator.
The female practitioners in the male prisoners' groups were not allowed to wash. Some of them were forbidden to sleep for three days, and sometimes up to twenty days. Some of them were locked in metal chairs. They couldn't even use the toilet. The police abused the practitioners in different ways. Two examples are, administering electric shocks while standing in water, and hanging the practitioners from the ceiling with their hands bound from behind. Some victims were incontinent and their legs were seriously swollen. Unless they signed a "guarantee" to renounce their belief in Falun Gong, the camp authorities kept them jailed in the male prisoners' cells.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/4/7/47885.html
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