The Four Stages of Persecution Implemented by Henan Province Number Three Forced Labour Camp

Because I distributed flyers, which explained the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong, I was sent to the Number Three Forced Labour Camp in Xuchang City, Henan Province. While at the camp, I witnessed the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners first hand.

In May, 2003, the forced labour camp authorities organized a campaign of persecution targeting Falun Gong practitioners which they called the "spring thunder operation". Accompanied by police and led by Yan Zhenye, the director of the forced labour camp, the camp personnel carried out this brutal campaign which consisted of committing acts of torture against Falun Gong practitioners in order to force them to renounce their belief. These practitioners were subjected to devastating psychological torture and forced brainwashing. In the process, Falun Gong practitioners were subjected to extensive torture. The new leader of the Third Brigade (the Brigade specializing in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners) was the former section head of the Education Section, Shi Baolong. He was the main criminal responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the No. 3 Forced Labour Camp, Henan province.

After the labour camp's persecution campaign commenced, the practitioners were deceived, threatened, tortured, and soon after, subjected to intense forced brainwashing. The police involved in this torture and persecution included: the leader, Director of the forced labour camp, Yan Zhenye, and subordinates, Shi Baolong, Jia Zigang, Shen Jianwei, Zhao Zhimin, and Liu Tianxun; who were all policemen transferred from the various sections of the Third Brigade. The implements and method of torture included: handcuffs, electric batons, vulcanized rubber rods, nylon ropes, steel benches, leather belts, and a torture position known as "roasting the goat" [a cruel method of torture] etc.

The four stages of persecution implemented by implemented by the Number Three Forced Labour Camp authorities against Falun Gong practitioners are as follows:

In stage number one, Falun Gong practitioners were forced to listen to recorded propaganda messages containing extremely obscene language. Then the practitioners were made to repeat what they heard. [Note: Falun Gong practitioners cultivate a high moral standard so tactics such as these attempt to force practitioners to say and do things unbecoming to a cultivator of a spiritual path. Thus begins the brainwashing process with the ultimate goal of attempting to force practitioners to give up their belief] Each practitioner was guarded by a policeman and two criminal inmates of the forced labour camp who carried out the persecution against the practitioner. The inmates consisted of drug addicts, thieves and robbers. They carried out the torture of the Falun Gong practitioners in order to obtain their sentences reduced. All the Falun Gong practitioners at the Third Brigade were guarded by the criminal inmates of the forced labour camp.

In stage two, the persecutors utilized the tactic of having several people take turns torturing a Falun Gong practitioner in order to exhaust him both physically and mentally. Sleep deprivation was also involved. Several persons took turns attempting to deceive, intimidate, threaten, and abuse Falun Gong practitioners. They also demonized Falun Dafa, and slandered the Teacher of Falun Dafa.

In stage three, police officers utilized all sorts of torture to persecute them torture: In respect to steadfast Dafa practitioners who refused to abandon the belief of "Zhen, Shan, Ren" (Truthfulness, Compassion. Forbearance),. They used electric batons to shock the practitioners on the neck, armpits, genital areas, and burned the skin till it was charred. In many places on the body, the blisters were as large as eggs. They tied the practitioners to chairs where they would be unable to move for many days, in hopes of having forcing them to renounce their belief. Practitioners were tightly restrained by nylon ropes with both hands tied behind their backs and the arms lifted upwards. The pain was excruciating. The faces of the practitioners grimaced in severe pain and they were screaming with all their might. After about twenty minutes or so, their arms were loosened for a while then torture repeated. Such torture could continue seven to eight times and could cause severe injury to shoulder ligaments.

In the torture known as, "Roasting the Goat,"both the arms and legs of a Dafa practitioner were tightly tied together and they were suspended from a long pole that was lifted on both ends and hung high in the air. The practitioner was left bound and hanging in that position for several days. At the same time, the practitioner was shocked with an electric baton all over their body. Dafa practitioner Ms. Yue Caiyun was tortured with the "roasting the goat" position for three days during the "spring thunder operation." Other Dafa practitioners were all tortured until they became disabled. Several months later, they were still unable to properly hold on to their rice bowls as they ate. Some of the Dafa practitioners were beaten till their bodies were covered with wounds. This camp was touted as having achieved the highest rate of having practitioners renounce their belief and being the "model of the forced labour camp system", and was also honored as the "Henan Province civilized-minded unit".

In stage four, the labour camp authorities utilized intensified forced brainwashing sessions which relied upon repeated screenings of fabricated videos broadcasting propaganda and lies against Falun Dafa. After each viewing, practitioners were individually requires to write their understanding of the video and submit it to the authorities. At the conclusion of the intensified brainwashing session, a further session of intensive brainwashing was conducted using the same methods as employed previously. The purpose was to intensify and instill the same preposterous lies against Falun Dafa The secondary purpose was to determine whether the first session achieved its goal, and to proceed accordingly.

Dafa practitioner Mr. Pang Liang, 31 years old, was originally a policeman in the Fire Protection, Intermediate Division, Jiyuan City. While in that Division, he refused to abandon his belief in the Falun Dafa principles of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance and in retaliation he was transferred to civilian duties at the Industry and Commerce Department at Kai Feng City. Later, because he distributed Falun Gong flyers explaining the facts of the persecution, he was sentenced in January, 2003, to three years in a forced labour camp. He was detained at the Number Three Forced Labour Camp, Henan Province. During the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) of 2003, when the Works Committee member Xu Changguan visited the Camp to extend his salutations, Pang Liang shouted "Falun Dafa is good" during the ceremony. He was severely beaten, and hung up seven times, for forty-five minutes each time, until his right arm became disabled. His sentence was extended by four more months.

Dafa practitioner Mr. Li Jinke, 37 years old, and staff member of the People's Hospital, Tang He County, was sent to the Number Three Forced Labour Camp for a second time in February, 2003, to serve a three year sentence. He started a hunger strike in protest upon entering the camp. In 2003, he went on hunger strikes on five occasions, the longest being for two months. The police savagely force fed him daily. On many occasions he shouted "Falun Gong is good", "Falun Dafa is good" and was subjected to long periods of beatings by the police. He was also hung up by a rope and shocked with the electric baton inside his mouth, and totured with other means. The police also instigated the criminal inmates to torture him. He was severely devastated, both mentally and physically, with scars all over his body.

Dafa practitioner Wang Yukun, 50 years old, from Anyang City. The police instigated seven or eight criminal inmates to severely beat him up. His left thigh bone was broken in half. After he was discharged in November, 2003, he was still unable to walk.

Dafa practitioner Wang Tiezhuang, 54 years old, originally the head of the Industry and Commerce Department, Nan Yang City. In 2002, he was sent to the Number Three Forced Labour Camp. Because he was steadfast in his belief, he suffered all sorts of torture and insults. The police directed criminal inmates to torture him and they complied by forcibly inserting a toothbrush in and out of his anus to cause him pain, and then humiliating him by forcing him to use the toothbrush to brush his teeth. The sadistic measures adopted by the inmates at the police direction were brutal, obscene, perverted, and beyond description.

The people responsible for directing and committing these crimes were most frightened of public exposure and thus used all means to block news from leaking out of the forced labour camp. Falun Gong practitioners were forbidden to have contact with anyone from the outside. They were not allowed to talk to anyone and the above described persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners at the Number Three Forced Labour Camp only represents a small portion of the facts that could get past the information blockade. The breadth and depth of the entire persecution against Dafa practitioners at the labour camp is still under investigation. We appeal to righteous people from all over the world to speak out to end this brutal persecution of Dafa practitioners in China.

List of villains at the Number Three Forced Labour Camp, Henan Province:

Director of Forced Labour Camp: Yan Zhenye

Deputy Director of Forced Labour Camp: Qu Shuangcai

Policemen: Shi Baolong, Li Xinjie, Jia Zigang. Shen Jianwei, Zhao Zhimin and Liu Tianxun.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/2/14/67421.html