On February 27, 2004, fifty year old Ms. Zhao Fengyun, died after enduring long periods of physical and mental torture at Wanjia Forced Labour Camp. The following report was compiled from the personal experiences and eyewitness accounts of Falun Dafa practitioners held in the 12th team of the labour camp.
Zhao Fengyun had been jailed at the camp since July 2002. Wanjia Forced Labour Camp uses physical torture methods on practitioners in trying to force them to give up their belief.
Most practitioners were tortured with the "Big Hang Up". This is when one hand of a practitioner is cuffed to one bunk bed and the other hand to another bed, and the two beds are pulled in the opposite directions, causing one to suffer extreme pain as the body is stretched until it can longer be pulled further apart, and both of the practitioner's feet are lifted from the ground. It is extremely painful and most people cannot endure it for longer than a few minutes. At this point, jail guards would use electric batons to hit the practitioner's face, hands, body, and feet. A person's finger tips and inner soles of the feet are the most painful spots. For older practitioners and people with heart problems, the police would ask the doctor to stand by and be ready for emergency treatment if something happened during the torture. The police torture practitioners like this in attempts to have them agree to write "Three Statements."(1)
Zhao Fengyun had severe heart problems, so the police guards did not dare to use that torture on her. However, they forced her to squat in "the shape of an airplane"(2) for long periods of time. This is also extremely painful. After a few minutes, one feels dizzy and the legs are numb and painful. She was forced to squat in this position for 24 hours. She was forced to sit on a small stool and forbidden to sleep or close her eyes.
The jail guards use many means to torture Falun Dafa practitioners physically and mentally. Practitioners are forced to write "revelation statements" and watch slanderous videos about Falun Dafa. If anyone dares to not listen, they will be tortured with electric batons. This is the kind of torture that Falun Dafa practitioners go through. Zhao Fengyun was one of the practitioners who endured this kind of treatment for more than a year.
On December 3, 2003, Zhao Fengyun was placed in team 12 again and forced to do intensive labour. She worked from 6 am to 9 or 10 pm. Besides having time for three meals (one hour altogether), being allowed to go to the toilet three times and calisthenics during morning and midday, she had to keep working. Everyday there was a set amount of jobs to finish. If she could not finish, she would be forced to work until she was finished.
Later, team 12 started to undertake book printing for a printing factory. All the books were pirated versions. The machines used to print the books were extremely outdated. There was a machine, JBE3-50, that emitted a very strong and toxic smell of glue. The factory was very cold, but it was worse when the windows were open for ventilation. When the factory aired out, practitioners' eyes would water and the smell was choking. After a while one would feel dizzy and sick. They often tried to rush us, and we frequently had to work past 10 pm. During that time, everyone's health was severely affected.
Under these conditions, Zhao Fengyun suddenly had a heart attack and passed away. It was caused by the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp's cruel mental and physical torture, excessive labour, lack of nutrition and the toxic fumes in the factory.
Details of her death: at around 5 pm on February 27, 2004, while working at the team 12 factory, Zhao Fengyun suddenly had a heart attack. She felt dizzy and nauseous, and wanted to go to the toilet. Someone told the guard. The guard did not pay attention and simply came in to check twice. When everyone helped Zhao Fengyun to the toilet, she could no longer move. The warden saw this and called the doctor. Later the head of the team, Guo Qiuli, walked onto the factory floor. After she saw that Zhao Fengyun had had a heart attack, she didn't say anything and walked right back out. After a while, she came back with a few tablets of medicine. After a big effort, she managed to force one tablet into her mouth. At the time, Zhao Fengyun was sitting in a chair with two to three people next to her. Her whole body suddenly collapsed and she fell backwards. One practitioner tried, but could not find any pulse. Later the doctor arrived after 30 minutes and gave her emergency treatment. After a few minutes, another doctor arrived and continued to try to revive her. According to everyone's observation, Zhao Fengyun's heart had already stopped. Team leader Guo Qiuli saw this and quickly told everyone to pack up. At around 7 pm, warden Qu Yan came to pack up Zhao Fengyun's belongings and said it was for her use while staying in the hospital. The fact that she had died was already out, so it was an obvious ruse.
The next morning, on the way to the cafeteria, the Falun Dafa practitioners from the labour camp were calling out "Falun Dafa is good." After this cry, which had been suppressed by the labour camp for a long time, many practitioners burst into tears. For the entire day, the practitioners who had not given up their belief were crying silently. No one ate. The practitioners went on a hunger strike for two days in protest against everything we had endured.
A few practitioners talked with the jail team leader and expressed that Zhao Fengyun's death was a result of excessive labour and abuse. The jail guard could no longer deny that Zhao Fengyun had died but still claimed that being forced to work 15 hours a day was legal, and said that everything at the labour camp was legal. In reality, there is a law forbidding prisoners in labour camps from working more than six hours per day. The Legal and Judicial Bureau says in section 21, subsection 51 that "The equipment used to confine labour camp detainees are limited to hand cuffs, it is strictly forbidden for prisoners to be handcuffed behind the back, have their hands and feet shackled together, and to be bound to a stationary object." There are also regulations against physical and mental abuse of labour camp detainees. Furthermore, Falun Gong practitioners should not be detained in labour camps in the first place. We only want to practisde our beliefs in "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" and to be good people. Is that a crime?! Why are we jailed at the labour camp?
The labour camp had to announce that Zhao Fengyun died at 6:30 pm on February 27, 2004. The labour camp police tried to seal off the news. They even separated team 12's meal times so that the news would not spread to other teams.
The main perpetrators who have been inflicting torture on Falun Dafa practitioners are jail guards Zhao Yuqing and Yao Fuchang. The guards at Wanjia Re-education Labour Camp have violated the law when it comes to Falun Gong practitioners too many crimes.
(1): Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write these as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the "610 Office," the three statements consist of a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practise Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.
(2): In this torture, the head is bent down until it cannot go down any further, while the hands are pulled up and held up to the highest point. The hips have to point up. One is forced to keep this position unchanged for a long time. The body in this position looks like the shape of an airplane, which is how this torture is named.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/3/31/71309.html
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