Torture at Xiangfan City Labour Camp

Cases of torture from Xiangfan City Labour Camp

Zou Yuantao, male, 29-years-old, an employee in the No.609 research centre, started to practise Falun Gong at the end of November 1998. Since July 20, 1999, he has been illegally sent to and cruelly tortured in a custodial centre, mental hospital, detention centre and labour camp because of involving himself in activities such as lawfully appealling, practising and distributing some truth-clarifying Falun Gong materials, etc.

On the night of July 25, 2001, Zou Yuantao visited a practitioner's home. After being reported on by some evil person, he was illegally detained by the local police station and later forcibly sent to Xiangfan City Qilidian Labour Camp to be compelled to give up practising Falun Gong.

Zou Yuantao was so firm and strong not to give up. He did not cooperate with the evil and shouted "Falun Dafa is good." He was dragged and beaten from the 1st floor to the 3rd floor by the prisoners. A couple of prisoners took turns beating him by stamping on him, pulling his hair to have his chest meet with the knees, twisting his arms to a "Riding Airplane" position, whipping his spine with a two inch wide rubber tube, burning his toes with lit cigarettes, striking his hands and feet with a stool. He was tortured from 10am to dinnertime. Zou Yuantao had many internal injuries from the beating, which were too terrible to be seen. He was further punished to stand for lengthy periods of time and not allowed to sleep at night.

Zou Yuantao was force-fed during his two hunger strikes to protest the unlawful persecution. Five or six prisoners hauled him by his hands and feet, pressed him on the ground, pressed his feet with the stool, constrained his head and pinched his nose, pried his mouth open with a bamboo stick, and stuffed one third of a Coca Cola bottle into his mouth. Zou Yuantao almost suffocated to death. His throat was bruised severely and he started to spit blood.

On August 13, Zou Yuantao began his second hunger strike in protest. On the fifth day of his strike, he was still forced to do physical labour. He could not stand it and fell down to the ground. The group leader Wang Zhiyong and the vice director of the labour camp Zhu still did not let him go. They dragged him to burn under the scorching sun. He was then dragged back to the labour camp's cell after he almost collapsed. The director of the labour camp, Shi said, "Torturing you to death is just like trampling an ant. You have to work even during the hunger strike. It will be considered suicide when you die!" On the sixth day, Zou Yuantao did not have any strength to leave the bed, yet he was still dragged downstairs to stand in a line with other prisoners. As a result, he fainted on the ground and nobody took care of him. He was dragged back very late that day. On the seventh day, Zou Yuantao was at his last breath and his body was seriously dehydrated. The labour camp was afraid of taking responsibility for him so they asked his family to take him back home.

In order not to be persecuted, Zou Yuantao has left his home again and become destitute and is presently homeless.

Ren Chenglu (male) and Li Xianhua (female) are a couple. Both are employees of Heli Corporation, Xiangfan City. Both of them began practising Falun Gong in 1996. Ren Chenlu was unlawfully detained for two months. The security section in the company illegally detained Li Xianhua. After they were released, they were prohibited to work, were without pay, monitored for a long time, disallowed visits by outsiders and had limited freedom. They suffered financially because of this. In March 2000, Ren Chenlu was deceived and detained in the custodial centre for half a year because he did not make any guarantee to the evil force. Li Xianhua was detained for a couple of days due to practising in a park on June 2000. At the end of December 2000 and February 2001, Li Xianhua and Ren Chenlu were kidnapped from home for no reason, respectively. They were sent to and illegally detained in No 1 Custodial Centre, Xiangfan City. There has been no information about them since. Nobody takes care of their 13-year-old daughter now. She has no support for her living and study. Nobody in the company or the police station offered their help for the girl.

Yi Bosheng, male, 29-year-old, holds a bachelor degree, and is a technician of Xiangfan City No.2 Automobile Company. He was detained twice. On August 10, 2001, he was kidnapped from his company and was sent to Xiangfan City Labour Camp to give up Falun Gong. Right after he went into the labour cell, he was beaten severely. A couple of prisoners beat him in turn. They beat him to the ground, stamped his back and waist with the sturdy leather shoes, heavily treaded on his hands and feet, and pounded his chest. A stout stool was used as a tool to beat him and it even cracked.

After only a week, Yi Bosheng was beaten, and the skin on his body was mutilated. From the chest to the back, the thigh, a leg and two arms, there were over 10 bruises together. The outer side of his leg festered and was abscessed. He was turning back and forth in the bed, and it was difficult to sleep due to the extreme pain. He also coughs unceasingly.