Director Lies about Conditions in Yichuan Labour Camp

Some of the Many Cases including Deaths Reveal Brutal Torture of Falun Dafa Practitioners in the Yichun Labour Camp, Heilongjiang Province

By a persecuted Falun Dafa practitioner

In March 2001, Mr. Zhao, the Director of the Yichun Labour Camp was interviewed by some media reporters and it was reported that everything in the camp was excellent. However what was revealed was not the truth. At that time I was one of practitioners detained in the camp. I would like to reveal to all kind people the truth as to how we were actually treated inside the camp.

At the beginning in order to force us to give up our belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance," officers ordered us daily to do very heavy jobs (such as carrying cement powder bags and bricks) from the very early morning to the late night. When other inmates felt tired, they could take a break, but practitioners were not allowed. Some of us had blisters on our hands which later broke and bled, but we were still forced to continue. Each time we had to carry 8 bricks, no matter if you were a young or old person. One old practitioner really could not carry 8 bricks, so he tried to carry 6 bricks. The vice-director Mr. Yang found this out and shouted at him and ordered him to carry 8 bricks, saying no exception! The old man tried to explain the reason, but his attempt was met with a severe beating.

After a period, however the officers began to realize that the heavy labour could not shake practitioners' minds at all therefore they tried other methods to further persecute us. The Yichun Labour Camp has four brigades, three are numbered from the No. 1 to No. 3, and the other is a special "training" brigade. Every brigade had several practitioners, totalling more than 20 at that time. Officers organized the toughest thug inmates in each brigade into a special group to maltreat practitioners. Vice-director Yang told the thugs "Beat them for me, heavily! If something happens I can cover you. If you can force them to give up, I can reduce your sentence." At this the inmates understood what was expected and they started to beat the practitioners cruelly without any consideration. They tried different ways to torture us everyday. Many of us have no areas on our bodies that have not been beaten. Camp officers did not interfere with the beatings but helped those bullies sometimes. Below are a few examples of the persecutions.

(1) Mr. Wang Zhiqian, 57, was the head of the volunteer assistants for a Falun Gong exercise site at the Forest Bureau in Yichun City, before he was arrested. In late June 2000, several officers took him into a soundproofed room. Mr. Liu, the chair of the Education department, told Wang, "You are the assistant head, so you can affect others. If you can give up, others will be influenced to give up easily. So, you have to write guarantees to give up Falun Gong!" Wang said, "This is impossible. I will never give up my belief in practicing Falun Gong." Then he told them how he had benefited through the practice and he also clarified some of the defamation against Falun Gong. Liu said, "I know what you have said is true. But you still have to write the guarantee, no matter if you would like or not. See these handcuffs? If you refuse to write, then we will cuff you and hang you up." Wang replied peacefully, "I still refuse to write this statement." Thus, those officers cuffed his hands and hang him up to the ceiling allowing only the tips of his toes to touch the ground. Wang was hung there more than 9 hours and could not bear the extreme pain and eventually passed out.

Those ruffian officers saw that Wang was unconscious and then they took him down and poured cold water over his head. When he revived, Liu spluttered, "Are you going to write the guarantee now?" Wang just simply replied, "No." Since it was very late already that day, he was sent back to his cell. The next day, he was taken to the soundproofed room again. He was asked, "Write it. Otherwise we will hang you up again. Hang you up everyday until you write it." Wang replied clearly it was impossible for him to write that guarantee. Therefore, he was hung up again. This time he suffered about 8 hours before he passed out. In this same way, he was hung up later and passed out a third time. Since those evil officers did not get what they wanted, they put Wang into an iron cage. Everyday he was given only two bowls of corn soup that was mostly water and little nutrient. Wang was detained in that cage for more than 20 days.

(2) Mr. Wang Xinchun was forced by those ruffian inmates to hold a standing position for 5 days and nights constantly because he refused to study some material that slanders Falun Dafa and refused to write guarantees to give up Falun Gong. During that period, he was not allowed to sleep, nor take a break. He was fed only two bowls of corn soup per day. However, Mr. Wang passed through the five-day "punishment" and did not give up. Then officers directed those ruffians to torture him cruelly, until he lost consciousness.

(3) One day in late July 2000, practitioner, Mr. Chen Guicai and Mr. Wang Jibin were respectively taken to the No. 2 Brigade captain Zhang Yong's office. They were told by Zhang that they had to write, within that day, a statement of repentance and a guarantee of giving up Falun Gong. Since they refused to write anything, Zhang instructed two inmates to fasten their hands and feet tightly onto chairs and then several plastic bags were placed over their heads and tied tightly around their necks. They were suffocated for a long time until they were almost passing out, then and only then, were they allowed to breath. Before they could even take a breath, the plastic bags were tied up again. They were tortured in this way repeatedly for a long time. This kind of torture is hard to control and it can make a person become unconscious easily. More than ten practitioners in the labour camp suffered from this kind of torture.

(4) In late October 2000, more than ten practitioners were brutally beaten up by officers because they insisted on practising Falun Gong and had signed their names to some clarification material for Falun Dafa. The incident was personally directed by the top two leaders (Zhang and Yang) of the camp. Every practitioner was handcuffed behind his back with feet tied and forcibly held on the ground. Two officers stepped on each practitioner and beat them heavily. Then the practitioners were dragged into a torturing hall to be hung up high to the ceiling with their hands cuffed and without touching the ground at all. These practitioners were tortured extremely cruelly.

One of the practitioners, Mr. Zhou Shuzhang was cuffed to an extremely hot steam pipe on the ceiling resulting in one of his hand muscles being severely burnt almost as though cooked. The handcuff cut into his wrist muscle so deeply that his blood was streaming down. In addition, some officers constantly commanded some thug inmates to punch or kick upward on him heavily causing him to swing while in that excruiating position. That was intolerably cruel. Still, Director Yang even spit on him, saying "I Tell you, Zhou Shuzhang, I am intending to make you paralyzed today! I don't care about being punished by the law, since I just want to see if you still dare to continue your practice." What a monstrous display!

(5) Mr. Lu Chenglin, 39, was beaten by Police officers many times for continuing his practice. To appeal for fair treatment, he carried on a hunger strike in early February 2001. Then he was tortured and fed forcibly and eventually suffocated to death during a forcible feeding.

The above are just a few of many true cases revealing that Falun Dafa practitioners have been brutally tortured in the Yichun Labour Camp. We hereby appeal that all policemen and law authorities please do not listen to evil instructions. Stop persecuting Dafa practitioners. Falun Dafa is a righteous belief and it teaches people to promote kindness. All Dafa practitioners believe in "Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance" and Falun Dafa teaches them to be good people. They should not be mistreated. Wake up, all people. Don't partake in such evil killing of innocent people.

Source:http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/10/8/14505.html