Huludao City Business Owner Tortured to Disfigurement

Mr. Zhao Lianxin is in his thirties and is a business owner from Huludao City, Liaoning Province. Mr. Lianxin began practising Falun Gong in January of 1999. Since the persecution began in China, Mr. Zhao Lianxin has maintained his belief in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. As a consequence, his home has been ransacked many times, and he has been illegally detained and inhumanely tortured. Both his body and mind have been damaged.

In October of 1999, policeman Zang Guoguang from the Gangtun Town Police Station, along with other policemen, illegally broke into Mr. Zhao Lianxin's home and took him away for 15 days. They extorted 2,000 Yuan [Yuan is the Chinese currency. The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan] from him. In late November 1999, acting within his rights as a Chinese citizen, Mr. Zhao Lianxin went to Beijing to appeal. He was again illegally detained for 15 days, then moved to another detention centre and held for an additional 15 days. The policemen threatened Mr. Zhao's family members and extorted another 2,000 Yuan from them.

In March of 2000, Zhang, the head of the Political Security Section of Lianshan, Huludao City, Liu Xingcheng, and ten other policemen broke into Mr. Zhao's home. They seized a Santana sedan, a tape recorder, tapes, and other articles. They abducted Mr. Zhao from his home and illegally held him in detention for one month. The police extorted 20,000 Yuan from him before returning his car. On April 25, 2000 he went to Beijing to appeal again, but he was again illegally detained for one month. Policeman Liu Xingcheng extorted 10,000 Yuan from Mr. Zhao's family members and said to them, "I will make you dirt poor." On June 8, 2000, many policemen, including Zang Guoguang, forcibly dragged Mr. Zhao from his home, and detained him in Huludao City for 15 days. Policeman Liu Xingcheng tried to extort 50,000 Yuan, but he didn't succeed due to resistance from Mr. Zhao's family members. On June 23, 2000, they sentenced Mr. Zhao Lianxin to one year of forced labour.

During the period of detention in the labour camp, Mr. Zhao didn't give up his belief, and continued to practise the exercises. He was thrown into a strict control chamber, which is used against steadfast Falun Dafa practitioners. Four guards took turns watching him; he was forced to sit on the cement floor for the whole day and was not allowed to move. As soon as he didn't cooperate with them, they would punch and kick him. Mr. Zhao was often beaten. This situation lasted for three months, but he didn't give in. He went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution and demanded an unconditional release. When he became extremely weak, the police took him to the Huludao City Xinqu Hospital to inject him with drugs, and force-fed him in a violent manner. They tried to force him to say that he would give up the practice. He courageously held his ground. The police then shocked him with electric batons. As a result, there were bruises all over his face, neck and on the rest of his body. In the strict control chamber, Liu Guohua, Wang Shengli, Zhang Fusheng and ten other policemen forced Mr. Zhao and other firm Falun Dafa practitioners to watch anti-Dafa propaganda videos. The practitioners refused to watch, so the police conducted inhumane torture on each of them, one by one. Mr. Zhao was the first to be dragged out of the chamber. Four or five policemen stood on him to keep him from moving, and used the sole of a shoe to slap his face. Liu Guohua and other policemen then used electric batons to shock Mr. Zhao's back. Mr. Zhao's shirt was soaked in blood after a while. The police removed his pants and shocked his genitals using the electric batons. Then they forced the electric baton into his rectum. He was tortured to the point of hovering between life and death. The police poured water on him and continued to shock him. He felt as if his head was going to explode. Bruises were all over his head; his eye sockets swelled up to the point that not even a thin slit could be seen. He was horribly disfigured. Six Falun Gong practitioners, including Mr. Zhao, were all tortured to an extreme degree. After the torture, they were handcuffed together and had to sleep on the cement floor. The next day, led by Liu Guohua, several policemen punched and kicked the practitioners one by one. They grabbed their hair and slammed their heads against the ground. Then they shocked the practitioners with electric batons. This inhumane torture lasted for four days. However, no matter how inhumanely the police hurt the practitioners, Mr. Zhao and the other practitioners' firm hearts could not be shaken.

After almost one year, the police transferred Mr. Zhao to Jinzhou Labour Camp. Mr. Zhao went on a hunger strike to protest. He refused to wear prison garb and demanded an unconditional release. He was beaten up and force-fed many times. The police assigned six guards to watch him. Some of the guards held his hands and feet down, and some sat on his legs and kept him in one position. This brutal torture lasted for more than four months. They often assaulted, humiliated, swore at him, and burned his arm with cigarettes. They even jabbed Mr. Zhao's eyes with their fingers, and threw punches to his ribs, causing him great pain.

At the end of the one-year sentence, the labour camp wouldn't release him. Instead, they extended his term. In September 2001, according to the camp's regulations, they were to release him unconditionally. However, the Huludao City Labour Camp deliberately delayed the release and wouldn't release him until they had extorted 10,000 Yuan from Mr. Zhao's family members. The extortion included a mobile phone for Yao Chuang, the Vice Director of the Huludao City Labour Camp, and 5,000 Yuan for Liu Guohua, the Division Head.

When Mr. Zhao was released from the camp, he had been persecuted to a point where he was very emaciated. His eyes were sunken back in their sockets.

However, the persecution wasn't over. In order to avoid the local police's groundless harassment, Mr. Zhao and his family had to leave their home. On the evening of Feb. 3, 2002, Mr. Zhao and his wife went to the market of their hometown, Gangtun Town, to hang a banner saying "Falun Dafa is good." They were illegally arrested by Gangtun policemen Liu Zhejiang and Chen Silong, and taken to the police station. Wang Aimin, the director of the police station seized 171 Yuan and a bankbook for 5,000 Yuan from them. Mr. Zhao didn't cooperate with them, and he suffered brutal beatings. He told them sternly, "Beating people is illegal." The director, Wang Aimin roared, "I know it. Go sue me if you dare!" Then they forcibly sent Mr. Zhao into Huludao Detention Centre. Mr. Zhao went on a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention. On the fourth day, the police tortured him by stepping on his legs and arms, and violently force-feeding him. They took turns whipping him with a white plastic tube about 80 cm long and 1 inch in diameter. They also cuffed him to a metal chair. Later, when the police found that these had little effect, they directed several criminals to force open his mouth using metal sticks, rulers or other hard objects. His teeth became loose and started bleeding, and his cheeks swelled up to a frightening degree. Such brutal force-feeding went on for twenty days. In the end the police did not achieve their goal and had to release him.

Because of the misguided and insane persecution, Mr. Zhao and his family changed their living arrangements three times. At 3 a.m. on July 28, 2002, several police went to Mr. Zhao's location, broke the lock and door, arrested Mr. Zhao Lianxin and Mr. Zhao Liang and sent them to the Lianshan Police Station to detain them. Because Mr. Zhao did not cooperate with the authorities, he was beaten by the police to the point where his mouth and nose were bleeding. That evening they were both sent to the city detention centre, where they went on a hunger and water strike to protest the persecution. Five days later, they were sent to the county hospital for emergency treatment. After eleven days, both were released.

On September 13, 2002, when Mr. Zhao was distributing truth-clarifying materials on the street, several policemen arrested him again and took him to the Lianshan Police Station. Later, they transferred him to Gangtun Police Station in his hometown. Wang Aimin, the director of the police station tried to send him to the city detention centre three times, but was refused each time because Mr. Zhao's body was full of cuts and bruises. These signs of abuse could be found on his forehead, arms, waist, and many other places. There were injuries everywhere, untreated and exposed. After the police station detained him for one day and night, they had to release him unconditionally.

The responsible units:

The Political Security Section of Lianshan District, Huludao City: 86-429-2160442
The Huludao City Labour Camp: 86-429-135626
The Gangtun Town Police Station, Lianshan District: 86-429-4131376
The Lianshan Street Police Station, Lianshan District: 86-429-2603285

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/5/6/49737.html