The Notorious First Division of Changchun City Police Department

In February and March 2003, officers from the Changchun City Police Department conducted a massive search and arrest effort for Falun Gong practitioners throughout the city. As a result, all the detention centres, custodial centres and drug rehabilitation centres in the city were full of Falun Gong practitioners. The Changchun City No.3 Detention Centre alone had over 70 practitioners illegally detained there.

Among the illegally detained practitioners, many were arrested for the first time. The police sent all practitioners over 50 years old to the National Security Team of Changchun City Police Department, which was previously called the First Division of Changchun City Police Department, where they tortured them with extremely malicious means, such as "big hang up", shocking with electric batons, beating, kicking, "tiger bench", and burning the face with cigarettes. Practitioners who refused to write the so-called "three statements" or "five statements" to renounce their belief in Falun Gong were all sent to forced labour camps or brainwashing centres. Those who were seriously tortured were sent to labour camp hospitals and mental hospitals.

Dafa practitioner Zhang Yuping was tortured until paralysed and it is unknown if she is still alive

Zhang Yuping was illegally arrested while she was taking her child to play outside. The police heartlessly ignored the three year old child on the street, and sent Zhang Yuping directly to the First Division of Changchun City Police Department. They tortured her for over 30 hours with methods such as whipping and using the "tiger bench," which led to her lower body becoming paralysed. On March 9, they sent her to room 307 of the No.3 Detention Centre. She was unable to relieve herself, and staged a hunger strike to protest and requested her unconditional release. The police force-fed her, pricked her lips, fingertips and face with needles, and applied an unknown medicine to her lips that turned her whole mouth rotten. When being carried away on March 22, Zhang Yuping did not have any sense of feeling. It was said that she was sent to a labour camp hospital, and whether she is alive is unknown.

Dafa practitioner Li Dongmei who was detained in the First Division of Changchun City Police Department was tortured with such methods as "big hang up" and "tiger bench" which caused her to be paralysed for a week.

Dafa practitioner Wang Liping's hands and feet were cuffed together, which caused her unable to raise her lower back and head. She was locked up in a small cell for four days and given no meals. She was denied use of the toilet to relieve herself.

Arresting Dafa practitioners becomes policemen's way of making money; practitioners' family members are detained as hostages for the police to extort

According to related news, in February and March 2003, Li Shichang from the First Division, Chief Zhao of Chaoyang District Police Department and Wang Qinghong from National Security Team of that Department, led a big group of policemen and arrested 40 Falun Gong practitioners from Chaoyang District. The policemen took this chance to wantonly take the properties of Falun Gong practitioners, and extort money from practitioners' relatives. In order to prevent practitioners from suffering torture and illegal detention, some relatives submitted to being extorted out of tens of thousands of Yuan. Some policeman told one of the family members in public, that as long as 30,000 Yuan [500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China] was paid, the practitioner would be released. Up until now the investigation shows that approximately more than ten practitioners had been extorted out of over ludicrous sums of 10,000 Yuan each.

1. Big hang up

There are two kinds of such torture. (1) With both hands cuffed behind the back and toes barely touching the ground, one is hung from above by the ropes. (2) Each limb is cuffed to one of two beds, and then the beds are forced apart.

2. Tiger Bench

Practitioners are forced to sit on a small steel bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead. They are not allowed to turn their heads, close their eyes, talk to anyone or move at all. Several inmates are assigned to watch over the practitioners and force them to remain motionless while sitting on the bench. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioners' lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse.

3. Locking up in a small cell

The detainee is locked up alone in a very small cell. The guards handcuff practitioners on their back in a position such that they can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and no sunshine comes in. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the cell. Only half of a regular meal rations are served to detainees locked up in small cells during the daytime. During the night rats are running around. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/6/8/51869.html