Practitioner Brutally Tortured at Chishan Jail For Refusing to Wear Prison Uniform

Mr. Zeng Haiqi and other Dafa practitioners detained at Chishan Jail, Hunan Province refused to wear prison uniforms and to squat when ordered by guards. In retaliation, they were brutally persecuted by the guards and the criminal inmates. Regardless, they stood firm and did not waver in their belief and determination to practise Falun Gong. More details of the situation follow:

In the evening of May 5, 2004, at about 8 p.m., Zi Wei, the Assistant Director of the jail, had brought guards from the Special Police Squad to wait at the entrance. Dafa practitioner Mr. Zeng Haiqi refused to line up, be counted and to squat down. The guards of the Special Police Squad advanced to beat and kick him immediately, and then dragged him back to the prisoner line-up to stand at attention. However, when the prisoners again started roll call and Mr. Zeng's turn came, he stood up, did not squat and also did not call out his number. The guards got even angrier. Mr. Zeng was again brutally beaten to the point where he fell to the ground and could no longer stand up. Zi Wei demanded that two of the other prisoners hold Mr. Zeng up and the roll call began again. Mr. Zeng still refused to call out his number. Zi Wei shouted: "One of the prisoners is not afraid of death. Take out the high-voltage electric batons." The guards fetched a long black electric baton. He struck Mr. Zeng with the baton, and the initial jolt knocked him to the ground. The guards continued to discharge the electric baton on his head and all over his body, with sparks flying everywhere. This went on for more than ten minutes. Zi Wei demanded that more electric batons should be charged.

Ever since Mr. Zeng refused to participate in roll call and to squat, Zi Wei brought the Special Police Squad to beat him at the entrance every day. One night, around May 20, when it was time to go home, the Special Police Squad stopped the first regular bus bearing prisoners from the brigade located upstairs in the prison building. When they saw that Mr. Zeng still did not wear the prison uniform and still did not respond to roll call and squat down, they took him to the Special Police Squad office. When their efforts at intimidation showed no effect, Guo Xiaohan and some other guards stripped off Mr. Zeng's shirt and tied him with a long, thin rope, constricting his blood flow and causing his body to swell up. "Wear (the prison uniform) or not?" asked Guo Xiaohai and the others, while they shocked his whole body with high-voltage electric batons. The smell of burning skin and flesh soon filled the room. Mr. Zeng Haiqi was bound tightly and could not move, but he felt how the high voltage shocked his muscles, bone and internal organs. In his heart, he recited silently and constantly: "I am a Dafa practitioner!" Usually, the guards will shock prisoners with electric batons only for a few minutes at a time because the prisoners cannot bear being shocked for more than ten minutes at most. Guo Xiaohan and his accomplices shocked Mr. Zeng continuously for more than an hour, but he still would not yield. The Special Police Squad had no choice than to send him back to the dormitory of the Fifth Division.

When the warden of the prison, Zi Wei, found out about it, he praised the Special Police Squad for their "excellent style" and for "daring to confront the hard cases with toughness." Meanwhile he criticized the cadres of the Fifth Prison Division, and reprimanded Yan Xiaoming, Li Feiwen and He Yong for not suppressing Falun Gong more effectively, deducting their bonuses for that month. He demanded that the whole staff of the Fifth Prison Division should devote one quarter of their efforts to handle Mr. Zeng Haiqi.

Yan Xiaoming called a special meeting and scolded He Yong angrily. Someone proposed during the meeting: "To keep things simple, we should just keep Mr. Zeng in a prison room to do janitorial work. This way, there won't be any more trouble." Li Feiwei disagreed and said: "We have to make him succumb. I just do not believe we cannot handle him. Even if we have to kill him, we can then put the prison uniform on him to send him to the crematory!"

Under this kind of pressure, He Yong decided to use extreme forms of torture. He hung Mr. Zeng from the window of the workshop, only allowing the tips of his toes to touch the ground. From early in the morning to 11 p.m., Mr. Zeng hung there for more than 16 hours every day. At night, when he was allowed to lie down, his hands were inserted into a metal rack above his head and shackled tightly. Mr. Zeng suffered incredible torments day and night. In protest, he went on a hunger strike and refused to drink water, but He Yong force-fed him once every three days. Later on, He Yong changed the method of torture. He shackled Mr. Zeng to the cement electricity pole outside the workshop. The bottom of the pole was as thick as a tree trunk. He Yong forced Mr. Zeng to sit on the ground and circle the pole with his arms and legs. However, Mr. Zeng still was not able to reach around the pole, so He Yong exerted all his strength to pull on Mr. Zeng's hands and feet, shackled the left hand and the right foot together with metal handcuffs, and then crossed the shackles from the right hand to the left foot. Mr. Zeng's head and face were pressed tightly against the pole. At that time, the weather was very hot and he only wore a vest and pants. The wounds on his hands and feet drew many flies.

When He Yong realized that Mr. Zeng Haiqi got used to the torture, he changed methods again, forcing Mr. Zeng to "carry a sword on the back". In this method, the left hand is pulled behind the back, the right hand is pulled down from over the shoulder and both hands are pulled together and shackled across the back. Mr. Zeng was forced to lie on the ground the whole day. His hands and feet were swollen and the wounds ran with pus and festered. Even the other prisoners condemned He Yong and Zi Wei for being so brutal. Some prisoners stopped to watch for a while, and unexpectedly bowed to Mr. Zeng in respect.

Later, Mr. Zeng Haiqi was once again hung from the window frame with only the tips of his toes reaching the ground for 15 to 16 hours per day, but he still kept a smile on his face. One time, He Yong noticed that both of Mr. Zeng's hands by which he was hung on the window trembled constantly. He asked Wang Jianfan, who was in charge of watching Mr. Zen, "What is he doing?" Wang said, "Both of his hands have become numb and he has not been able to hold his chopsticks firmly at mealtimes for the last two days." After he heard this, He Yong still would not release Mr. Zen, but coldly applied a high-voltage electric baton to Mr. Zeng's arm to test if he showed a response.

The next day, He Yong tied Mr. Zeng Haiqi to a brick wall across from the gate of the workshop. Mr. Zeng's back leaned against the wall and his two feet could touch the ground. However, it was the middle of June and temperatures reached up to 40o C (104o F) every day. In June, July and August of 2003, it was always hot and temperatures exceeded their historic records. The red brick wall faces west into the sun. From noon to dusk, the temperature of the wall surface reached 50o C (122o F). The two prisoners in charge of watching him hid in the faraway shadows. Lu Songming checked on him at mealtime every day but managed to stay for only 1-2 minutes before being driven away by the prisoners watching Mr. Zen.

Several days later, the wounds on Mr. Zeng's hands and feet had healed completely. The shackles, beatings, high-voltage electroshocks and the cruel hot weather failed to shake his faith or have an effect him. Currently, Mr. Zeng is still in the strictly monitored squad that the prisoners call the "meat grinder". His situation is still cause for great concern.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/6/6/76399.html