An Extremely Evil Place- Wanjia Forced Labour Camp

A Record of the Savage Atrocities at the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province (2002-2003)

In late July 2002, the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp established an "intensive training" brigade to specifically persecute Falun Gong. The Labour Camp thus begun another round of violent persecution against Falun Dafa practitioners. Female criminals also participated in the persecution of practitioners. Several of these criminals have been "rewarded" with an reduction of their sentences because they beat practitioners.

Falun Gong practitioners receive physical punishment upon their arrival at the camp. They are forced to squat with both hands behind their back until they cannot hold it any longer and some give in by writing the "three statements" [stating that the practitioner will stop practising, 'repents' after practising and will not associate with practitioners anymore]. Sixty-year-old Ms. Li Yuhua and twenty-year-old Ms. Ma Lida had been forced to squat for 11 days (from 5:30am to 12:00am or longer) upon their arrival at the camp. Later, the policemen put them in the "Big Hang" position [where the head is bent down until it cannot go down any further, while the hands are pulled up and held up to the highest point. The hips have to point up. One is forced to keep this position unchanged for a long time. The body in this position looks like the shape of an airplane, which is how this torture is named after.] with only their toes touching the ground. As well as suffering from this torture, policemen also used electric batons to shock them and criminal inmates physically beat and kick them. Ms. Li Yuhua lost consciousness the first time she was forced to hang in the "Big Hang" position. After being taken down, she was detained with seven other Falun Dafa practitioners. They were very weak at that time. However, she was still tortured in the camp.

After Ms. Pan Xuanhua was sent to the Wanjia Labour Camp, she was subject to various kinds of torture. At present, she is being tortured severely and cannot talk or support herself while walking. Ms. Yu Guizhi has been forced into the "Big Hang" position seven times. Her face is covered with dark bruises from dried blisters.

A Falun Dafa practitioner from Harbin City lost consciousness from being forced into the Big Hang position. The policeman Wu Hongxun requestd a doctor from the police unit to check whether she was conscious. He said, "It's ok that she is still breathing, even if she dies, it's fine." He tied her to the steel chair with her head drooped over. He thought she was pretending to be unconscious so he used a rope and tied her head to the chair. Practitioner Ms. Chen Yali had conducted a hunger strike for more than a month when she was sent to the Wanjia Labour Camp for the second time, the policemen ignored her weak condition and forced her to hang in the "Big Hang" position, which led to her defecating and urinating in her pants.

There are about four policemen in each squad of the Seventh Division. Each one is cruel toward practitioners; they use handcuffs, electric batons, steel chairs and physically force Falun Dafa practitioners to wear prison clothes and name tags. They are forced to report their numbers, perform drills, and recite the labour camp rules. They are then forced to write the "Three Statements". Practitioners can be seen being cuffed to steel chairs and beaten up. From a distance, one can easily hear the sound of electric batons sizzling and crackling inside the jail cell along with the verbal abuse and interrogations from policemen. Screams from practitioners can also be heard at times.

A majority of the estimated hundred Falun Dafa practitioners who were detained at Division Seven have been violently persecuted. Many have been taken to small cells to be severely beaten. A practitioner, Ms. Zhu Chunrong, has been beaten and hung up many times. Her face is covered with bruises, and her body has been blistered from the electric batons to the extent that she can barely hold her hands to eat.

Ms. Luo Hongyan has electric shock marks all over her body. She had to be taken to the hospital because she scratched the blisters on her body, which were caused by the use of electric batons on her. However, when the policeman shocked her with electric batons, she didn't give in.

After the policemen learned that she was unmarried and single, he said shamelessly, "We have a way to treat young females." A policeman grabbed her breasts twice when she was being hung up.

Ms. Song Ruixiang was tortured in the "Big Hang" position. During which a policeman put a steel chair on her back and continuously shocked her with electric batons for four hours.

To force her to write the "Three Statements", the policemen tied Ms. Liu Xiuqing, a 65-year-old professor, onto a steel chair and poured cold water over her head down, which soaked down all over her, before they shocked her with electric batons. When the policemen forced Falun Gong practitioners to write the "Exposing and Criticising Statement," the practitioners would either refuse to write anything, or they would write statements to expose the evil persecution and clarify the facts about Falun Dafa. The policemen would often violently torture them again after this. After being forced to watch daily propaganda materials, practitioners who spoke the truth or kept silent were beaten. One policeman, Wang Enguang, monitored the practitioners with an electric baton in his hand and said, "If you don't follow what the government says, you will be in trouble!"

In mid November 2002, the labour camp received questionnaires about the result of the brainwashing from the Department of Juridical Administration. The majority of Falun Dafa practitioners made statements according to their conscience and because of this, the police exerted another round of persecution.

In the intensive training brigade, the policemen separated the Falun Dafa practitioners into two groups including incoming and outgoing group. The incoming group used violence to get signatures for the "Three Statements". The outgoing group used the method of extending the practitioners terms in the labour camp. They would also punish practitioners by forcing them to sit on small stools until midnight.

The persecution continues on a daily basis. Each place where there is not any justice is considered as an "advanced unit" and all the cruellest officers received bonuses for their efforts in persecuting practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/4/16/48499.html