Brutal Persecution of Falun Dafa Practitioners in Harbin City Women's Prison

Yang Hua, the former head of Division Nine of the Harbin City Women's Prison, Helongjiang Province, persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners from September 4 to December 12, 2002. She forced them to walk continuously in lines outdoors from 7:00 a.m. to noon and 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. The weather was very cold.

Ms. Guo Songmei was held in a "confinement cell" for over a month. A "confinement cell" is about 8 by 8 feet with no windows. There is a wooden plank in the centre of the cell surrounded by about 3 feet of floor space. There are two metal rings on the plank. Practitioners are laid on the plank with both hands tied to the rings 24 hour a day. They are not allowed to brush their teeth. The cells are dark, damp, and bitterly cold. They have to sleep without blankets. Ms. Guo Songmei was subjected to brainwashing for 2 months and 22 days, and due to the repeated torture she became very thin. After a doctor diagnosed her with tuberculosis, she was transferred to the division for ill prisoners. She showed no improvement after one month and was released for medical treatment. She passed away on May 8, 2003 (see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/10/29/41762.html).

In January 2003, Zheng Jie was appointed as the head of Division Nine. The vice head is Yan Yuhua. On March 22, practitioner Dong Lingui was punished for entering the office without reporting. The punishment was to be detained in a confinement cell. When other practitioners demanded her return, the division head made them all stand outside for a whole day for resisting forced labor. The next day they were forced to sit in their prison cells. Later, the guards directed other inmates to remove the stools from practitioners' cells, so they had to sit on the stone floor.

On April 17, 2003, Zheng Jie forced practitioner Sun Fengling to do hard labour. She refused, so inmates Hou Guiqin and Guo Ying were incited to beat her. They tied her arms painfully behind her back with a thin rope. Hou Guiqin stomped on her chest and made her breathless for a long period of time. Later, she was forced to squat in a corner until late in the evening. The next day, when the head of Division Two came to fetch her, she refused to go and was dragged forcibly to the stairs. Other practitioners were trying to protect her from being taken away and demanded that the perpetrator be punished. Zheng Jie said ferociously, "In a moment, you will know the consequences!" A few minutes later, two male police officers came in. One of them was Gao Feng, the head of the prison's political division. They immediately began to beat the practitioners violently. A special group of 20 inmates who had been organized just to persecute Falun Gong practitioners also came in. The most vicious members of this group were Hou Guiqin, Guo Ying, Shi Qinghua, Zhao Xueling, and Wang Dan. They separated the practitioners and violently beat them. Inmate Wang Dan dragged Sun Fengling from the second floor down to the ground floor by the leg of her trousers, with her head striking the ground all along the way. Inmates Hou Guiqin, Guo Ying, and Shi Qinghua beat Jiang Minshan for quite a while, then tied her up with thin rope and left her at the gate of the stairs. Later, practitioners Liu Kun, Yang Baozhu, and Jiang Minshan were also placed in confinement cells. Feng Haibo was also placed in a confinement cell for resisting the forced hard labour.

Inmate Hou Guiqin was praised for beating practitioners. Police forbade practitioners from writing letters or contacting their family members. They were not allowed to buy food to eat, or possess pen or paper. Because the criminal offenders' pens and paper were also taken away, the criminals hated Dafa practitioners. Dafa practitioners were not allowed to talk to each other. Criminal offenders were assigned to watch them. Five people formed a group, with one practitioner and four inmates. Practitioners' meals were only half the portion of the other inmates. Eighteen practitioners were forced to sit on the ice-cold stone floor without mats from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. On July 16, they refused to do hard labour. For this, they were forced to sit until 10:30 p.m.

Inmates Hou Guiqin and Guo Ying viewed beatings as pleasant entertainment. They enjoyed watching practitioners Wu Xiuhong, Wei Zhongling, and Wang Lili being beaten. The three practitioners' arms were tied, their cheeks were swollen and red from the beatings, and they were forced to squat in a corner.

Whenever a practitioner was sent in, she would be asked if she agreed to do camp work. If she refused, she would be beaten. When practitioner Song Yujie came in, she was struck on the face more than 20 times with a shoe. Cui Jinglian was tortured first, and her cheeks were beaten until they were swollen and red. Wang Jinfan was detained in a confinement cell for more than a month. In the confinement cells, practitioners were given only porridge twice a day. New inmates were first assigned to the collective training division, and only one bowl of food was given at each meal. Their hands were cuffed behind their backs to the ground rings for 24 hours a day and were released for only a few minutes at mealtime and to use the bathroom. They were not allowed to brush their teeth.

When practitioner Wang Jinfan from Division Nine was released from her confinement cell, her legs had been tortured so severely that she was crippled. She could not stand on her own even when supported by two inmates. Despite this, she was again forced to squat for one day and one night when she did not say "report to officer" when entering the office. Later, inmate Guo Ying watched her so she would not come into contact with other people. She was forced to sit in a small, enclosed area in a corner.

On August 20, 2003, inmate Hou Guiqin found a copy of the Teacher's writings on practitioner Shi Lijun. Hou immediately dragged her downstairs and wanted to beat her. At this moment, practitioners Zhang Juan (pseudonym) and Cai Mi sat down to to a meditation. All three of them were sent to confinement cells for 10 days. At that time, the confinement cells were dark and damp and the roofs leaked. Dressed only in white short sleeves, they all shivered from the cold. They were allowed only two meals a day and were handcuffed. They were allowed to sleep after 10:00 p.m. but without blankets.

The prison established a "Violence Prevention Team" in order to deal with Falun Gong. Actually, this was a team that used violence against Falun Gong practitioners. Wearing helmets and carrying electric batons, they went to every division to torture practitioners. On September 8 and 9, the political division of the prison, the investigation division, the police of Division Eight, and some strong inmates working in the kitchen brought practitioners to the male prison and tortured them there for refusing to do the forced labour. They forced the practitioners to sit on the floor, but the practitioners resisted doing so. Disco music was played through loudspeakers at the loudest volume to disturb them. They suspended practitioners so that their feet were off the ground. They whipped the practitioners with white plastic hoses so brutally it was as if they wanted to beat them to death. The police and inmates then formed a tight circle around the practitioners and made them run inside it. Whoever ran slowly was shocked with electric batons. At 6:00 in morning, practitioners were forced to jump outside without breakfast. They were forced to jump forward with their hands crossed behind them and their upper body bent over. Some practitioners were beaten so brutally that they became crippled. Some practitioners' cheeks were shocked until they were purple. Some had to go out with crutches, and some were dragged outside. They were tortured everyday from 8:40 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for 7 straight days with no break, not even for holidays. Later, this torture was also used in the collective training division. In the end, wherever the practitioners refused to work, they would be sent to the "Violence Prevention Team." On September 30, four practitioners from Division Nine, were sent to the Violence Prevention Team. They were not allowed to have contact with anyone when they returned in the afternoon from their session with the "Team," and were forced to stand in the office for the entire night. Six inmates, including Hou Guiqin, Guo Ying, and Qin Jing, watched them. Whoever sat down would be beaten.

One practitioner from Division Five was hung upside down in a confinement cell from September 22 to 30, eight days at the time of this writing.

Practitioner Yu Yumei was re-tried after three months in the prison. Her eyes were covered as she left the prison. She was brought to an isolated location. The room was crowded with implements of torture, and only one bed was in the room. There were many such rooms, and many practitioners were detained there. One male practitioner's testicle was ruptured from the torture. Male practitioner Wang Yongcheng was beaten to death there. Despite Yu Yumei's high blood pressure, she was tortured there for 10 days and 10 nights in cuffs and shackles, and she was not allowed to sleep. Two male guards watched her whenever she used the bathroom. The National Security Brigade of the Harbin City Police Bureau, Heilongjiang Province is responsible.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/11/18/60810.html