The Severe Torture I Suffered in the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp (Photos)

By Liu Hongwei from Jilin City, Jilin Province

On December 24, because very few practitioners were willing to give up their beliefs, Jilin Province made arrangements across the board for all illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners to be moved. All steadfast practitioners detained in the Tonghua, Baishan and Liaoyuan Forced Labour Camps were transferred at the same time to Changchun City's Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp in Jilin Province.

When the practitioners arrived at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp on the afternoon of December 24, 2001, they saw a row of prison guards, all in helmets and with military belts tied around their waists. The practitioners discovered why later. In order to effectively cope with these practitioners from the three labour camps, the deputy Party secretary of the province Lin Yanzhi had personally issued an order to torture those practitioners who remained steadfast.

We witnessed a scene of uncontrolled violence right then and there. The prison guards gathered all the practitioners and body-searched them. If they found some of Teacher's articles, the practitioners who were carrying them would be cruelly beaten. The sounds of the beatings and the verbal abuse could be heard from far away. After being body- searched, the practitioners who had come from the three other labour camps were sent to different divisions. I was sent to Division 1.

(Re-enactments)
Liu Hongwei demonstrates how the criminals in the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp beat him into unconsciousness.

As I entered Division 1, the criminal leader and several other criminals rushed me and kicked and hit me. They also wanted to punish me further by forcing me to do "body folding(1)." I refused to submit to them and firmly resisted their abuse. A criminal then grabbed up a bed board and smacked it against my back. They only stopped beating me when I fainted. When I regained consciousness, the prison guard Li Jun saw that nothing serious had happened to me, so he snuck off, pretending he didn't know anything. Afterwards, I found out that the transferred practitioners from Tonghua, Liaoyuan and Baishan were all subjected to varying degrees of torture.

(Re-enactment)
Liu Hongwei demonstrates the "Sitting Board (2)," a torture that he was subjected to every day in the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp

The persecution continued. Prison guard Li Jun ordered the criminals to move the mattresses away. Except for meal times, practitioners were forced to sit on the bed boards in the same posture from 3:00 a.m. until midnight. If anyone moved even slightly, he or she would be beaten mercilessly. I sat there for three days in a row. Criminal Zhou Weichun also forced the practitioners to smoke. When he came to me, I firmly resisted and was therefore beaten severely. Criminal Zhao Zhu smacked me in the throat with his palm, and I had difficulty talking.

On January 12, 2002, the new brainwashing centre for the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp was built. All the practitioners were moved into the new building, where I was assigned to the newly organized Division 3. The perpetrators in the prison's new building intensified the abuse and torment against practitioners, particularly after March 5, 2002. On that date, practitioners in Changchun had tapped into the cable TV network to show a video programme explaining the truth of the staged Tiananmen Self-immolation Incident. Countless people who had been deceived by the government's lies and propaganda were able to learn the truth about Falun Dafa. Jiang Zemin [ex-leader of Communist Party] was furious, and he pinpointed Jilin as the key province. Beginning on April 6, 2002, Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp undertook a "hundred-day fortification fight." Wan Yanwei, the labour camp chief, gave a speech to mobilize all the employees in the camp. The atmosphere was just like during the Cultural Revolution. Slogans were posted in hallways, which echoed with curses. The prison guards instructed the criminals to mercilessly beat the practitioners. The prison guards themselves also participated in the abuse. During that time, the sounds of shocks from electric batons, beatings, cursing, and sad, shrill cries filled the whole building.

(Re-enactment)

Liu Hongwei demonstrates how guard Li Jun mercilessly beat him with an electric baton and the handle of a pickaxe in Division 3

Since my transfer to the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp, my whole body was covered with scabies. I could not even keep up with the group when walking. In the morning on April 6, 2002, I was led to the prison guardroom. As soon as I got there, prison guard Li Jun asked if I had decided to abandon Falun Gong. I told him that I would not give up my faith even if I had to die for it. At that moment, I felt more pressure and fear than I had ever felt before. Four prison guards grabbed me, cuffed my hands behind my back, and kicked me to the ground. Then they used electric batons to shock me. Yet, Li Jun thought that still wasn't enough. He went to Division 2 and borrowed a pickaxe handle from prison guard Liu Xiaoyu. Seeing that I would not give in, they shocked me with electric batons and, at the same time, used the pickaxe handle to hit me extremely hard. After more than 20 minutes, unable to stand the torture any more, I wrote the "Three Statements." One prison guard read them, then tore them into pieces and said that they were not a "written repentance" and that I would have to rewrite them. I was so completely disheartened that I wrote the "Three Statements" again. All I wrote, however, was that I still had "selfishness" in my personal cultivation. The prison guard did not force me to write another statement. A few days later my mind cleared. How could one be a human being and not follow "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance"? Life would become meaningless for that person.

A few days later, Division Chief Chen Lihui saw me and asked, "How do you feel?" I replied, "I was forced to write those 'Three Statements.' They are invalid." After that, I refuted all of the so-called statements of repentance that I had written. The prison guards then treated me as one of the steadfast practitioners again and put me on the "strict management" team. In the cafeteria at mealtimes, I could see some practitioners who had been subjected to torture. Because the whole labour camp carried out their actions in unison, all of the unyielding practitioners had suffered from savage abuse, mistreatment and torment. In each division there were several practitioners who had been beaten so mercilessly that they were unable to walk. Some practitioners had to be held up by two other people, or several people supported the arms of one practitioner. Some practitioners' heads were bandaged; still other practitioners' legs were fractured from the beatings. After going through this unforgettable lesson, my belief in Dafa was strengthened.

(Re-enactment)
In Division 3, prison guard Li Jun and other guards shocked Liu Hongwei inside his rectum. These same abusers also used rope and a wooden club about 2 meters (6 feet) long to tie practitioners' hands and feet together to torture them. (The person being torture is not Liu Hongwei)

Right after Chinese National Day on October 1 and prior to the 16th National People's Congress, the prison guards assembled their strength again to start another round of frenzied abuse and mistreatment. The Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp started their second "fortification fight." Some practitioners gave in to the pressure to write the Three Statements. During this period, I once singled out the class prison guard Wang Hexing, telling him of my determination to safeguard Falun Dafa. I was then abducted to the prison guards' room. Prison guard Li Jun said that my term was almost over, and that I should write the statement of repentance so that I could go home!

Faced with the evil persecution once more, I remained calm. I told them that it was impossible for me to write a repentance statement. Several prison guards ran over and tied my hands and feet together onto a long bamboo pole. I could not move. Then they used an electric baton to shock me on my rectum. Compared with the torment I suffered on April 6, this was more severe; however, I did not feel tense. The whole time, I kept looking into the prison guards' eyes. Then prison guard Wang came to ask me, "What is Falun Gong?" I said, "It is the orthodox law." He asked, "What do you think of Falun Gong?" I replied, "It is more important than my life." Hearing this, he said that since I had said that, why didn't I say it loudly? Immediately I shouted, "Falun Dafa is more important than my life!" After they heard this, they beat me again, and then found two criminals to get ready to carry me back. By then I had lost consciousness. Several criminals hauled me back.

(re-enactment)

Liu Hongwei demonstrates how in Division 3 he and other steadfast practitioners were forced to "Sit on Small Stools."

After going back to Division 3, division chief Chen Lihui used another method to torment practitioners. He didn't allow us to sleep. For three days and nights we had to "Sit on Small Stools" with our backs straight, hands on our knees. We had to keep the same posture at all times. If someone made the slightest move, he or she would be severely beaten. During those three days and nights, we only slept for about four hours. Realizing the direness of this situation, I located some prison guards on my own and pointed out the seriousness of these abuses to them. At the same time, I told them with compassion that no matter what one does, he or she is ultimately responsible for his or her life forever. They also were afraid that if they pushed too hard, more issues would come up. Hence, they reduced the number of hours we had to sit. We had to sit from 5:30 a.m. until 12:00 midnight. We sat like this, every day, for nearly two months. The "fortification fight" was then called off.

In December 2002 the prison guards started the so-called "third fortification fight." This time they gathered all the steadfast practitioners. The labour camp chief, Wang Yanwei, came and made a speech. Unlike the two previous efforts, this campaign was all in the form of "teaching." This time around, when they set up classes and started to brainwash us. Before going to the classes, the division chief of all the prison guards Chen Lihui told me, "If you do not reform, you will never leave through this door." At that moment I thought that it certainly wasn't up to him. Originally my jail term should have expired in early October, but the prison guards extended my term by over 50 days.

On December 11, 2002, I walked out of Changchun City's Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp and once again started to clarify the truth about Falun Gong.

This is what happened to me because of Jiang Zemin's ruling that, "Killing a practitioner is nothing and will be called as suicide." My story is only one of many. In China, many more have suffered even more severely. Changchun City's Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp enforcers alone have the deaths of 18 practitioners on their hands. Many more are still suffering from unbelievably savage torture.

I hope that all kind-hearted people will find out about these atrocities and the wickedness of this persecution so that they will no longer be deceived by Jiang Zemin's lies.

Notes:

(1) "Body-folding" requires the person to stand with both legs straight and close, bending the head down as far as it will go toward the feet in front of the knees. The fingers point to the ground and the head is upside down. The victim is forced to keep this position for 17 to 18 hours a day except when eating, sleeping and using the toilet.

(2) "Sitting Board" requires the person to put both hands in his or her lap and sit on a bench 18 hours per day with a straight back. Use of the toilet is limited. Because of the long hours spent sitting on hard benches, practitioners' buttocks develop large, painful sores. Practitioners cannot even urinate normally because of the pain. There is seldom proper ventilation or sunlight, and practitioners locked up for a long time often contract scabies, which are unbearably itchy and painful.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/9/23/84843.html