"610 Office" Cruelly Tortures Dafa Practitioners Using Snakes and Scorpions

The following is a report of the unbelievably cruel torture methods used against Dafa practitioners by "610" officials in Linqi City, Shandong Province.

Between July and August of 2000, policemen in Linqi City's "610 Office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] abducted and illegally detained several Dafa practitioners in an old apartment building inside the Veneer Market on Beiyuan Road. In the past, corrupt policemen regularly used this location to detain and severely torture Dafa practitioners, not releasing them until they paid a fine of 2,000 Yuan [the average monthly income in China is about 500 Yuan] and signed the "guarantee statements" promising to give up practising Falun Dafa. This time however, the "610" officials transferred four Dafa practitioners who had been previously detained several times but refused to give up practising Dafa to Linqi City's Lanshan Office of Family Planning. The names of these four practitioners are:
Peng Chengxu (a 64-year-old male,) Sun Maolan (53-year-old female,) Zhao Fuqing (a 38-year-old female,) and Zhao Fumin (a 38-year-old female.)

The "610" officials then hired 28 thugs to personally torture these four Dafa practitioners. During the first 10 days, the thugs forced the practitioners to stand for 24 hours a day and watch propaganda videotapes defaming Falun Gong. The practitioners were not allowed to sleep nor close their eyes during these 10 days. Any practitioner that closed his or her eyes was beaten terribly until the thugs got tired.

Sometimes the hired thugs would force the practitioners to stand still for an entire day. At other times they would place a small table over the practitioner's head, on top of which they would place a stool. A bowl of water was then put on the stool. Practitioners were ordered to stand with both arms outstretched to each side for several hours while balancing the table, stool and water bowl on top of their head. Any practitioner that couldn't hold the position or spilled the water was brutally beaten. Each day the "610" officials used different heinous ways to torture the practitioners. They also directed the thugs to stab the practitioners' hands and fingers with steel needles. The thugs also tortured practitioners using harsh military techniques. While claiming that even soldiers could only endure such torture techniques for no more than 15 minutes, they forced the four Dafa practitioners to endure these tortures for more than two hours at a time. Any practitioner who failed to endure the tortures was brutally kicked. Even when the practitioners were finally allowed to sleep at night, they had to lay on a wet cement floor with a high-speed fan blowing constantly to make it unbearably cold.

To further intensify the torture, the head of the local "610 Office" ordered the thugs to purchase a snake and keep it unfed in a basket. After several days, the thugs placed the basket near Dafa practitioner Mr. Peng and removed the cover. The snake was so desperate at being confined and unfed that it sprung out of the basket and bit Mr. Peng on the neck, leaving its tooth lodged underneath his skin. In addition to this cruelty, the hired thugs also purchased scorpions and poisonous toads and released them into the room to sting and frighten the practitioners. In the end, all four of the practitioners received bite and sting marks on their bodies and had difficulty moving around. Afraid that they would die from the poisonous bites while in custody, the "610" officials finally released the four practitioners. However, as Mr. Peng began to recover at home, he was once again sent to a forced labour camp so as to continue being persecuted.

What I have just summarised is only the tip of the iceberg regarding the extent of the cruel torture that Dafa practitioners in Linqin City have suffered at the hands of the "610" officials. It is said that there are even far more serious cases than this one. Practitioners who told me about this case were reluctant to elaborate further because the incidents of torture were so terrible. More information will be made available pending further investigation.

The "610" officials and the vicious thugs they hired to torture Dafa practitioners are indeed unbelievably cruel. I strongly implore the people and governments from all around the world who have a sense of justice to demand that Jiang's regime immediately cease these crimes against humanity.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/4/9/48007.html