Entering the gate of the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp in the city of Harbin means a series of harsh trials and tribulations for Falun Gong practitioners. The first is being forced, under the pressure of torture, to write the so-called "Three Statements." The forced labour camp uses a large group of guards to facilitate the torture of Falun Gong practitioners. They go through various tortures, such as the "big hang up," electric shock, being tied up and hung up, being forced to squat, etc. During the past five years, some Falun Gong practitioners were tortured to the point of mental collapse, some became disabled, and some were tortured to death.
I. Corporal Persecution
1. Violent Assaults
On August 27, 2002, the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp assigned a large contingent of aggressive guards to a group of women Falun Gong practitioners. The guards used violence to force the practitioners to wear labels and put on prison uniforms, for the purpose of being "reformed." Upon not complying with their demands, practitioners were one by one taken to a small cell and cruelly tortured. From that point on another round of full-scale, cruel persecution toward Falun Gong practitioners by the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp began, following the tragedy on June 20, 2001, during which three practitioners were tortured to death.
I saw with my own eyes a young female college student hung by her handcuffs in a small cell. Her arms were handcuffed behind her body and then suspended from the metal window bars of the small cell. Guards Chu and Jin (from the Tenth Division) also hung me up in a small cell. I clarified the truth to them, telling them not do that for their own sake, but they wouldn't listen. The two guards slapped my face while hanging me up. They didn't allow me to speak and fetched some tape to seal my mouth. They soaked the female college student with cold water, tied her to a metal chair, handcuffed her, and shocked her with electric batons. When she was sent back to her group at night, her breath was weak and she could not move.
We had a female practitioner in our group who was close to seventy years old. The guards used electric batons to beat her head, and didn't stop until her blood pressure went up to 200 mmHg. The Sixth Class of the Seventh Division is a "strict supervision class." The guards there were rewarded for their persecution of Falun Gong. In 2003, they were each promoted. An older practitioner with the last name of Cui from the Sixth Class was beaten by them with electric batons. There were wounds from electric torture all over her body and face. Two young female practitioners who refused to write the "Three Statements" were taken out with their outer garment removed. They were then soaked with cold water, tied to metal chairs, handcuffed, and left in front of the window of the second floor corridor in the building of the Seventh Division. The guards left the window open and left the practitioners there, not allowing them to move. It was late autumn, and cold wind blew in, making them shiver until their bodies were almost frozen. Every one of the practitioners felt that our lives were in great danger. So we talked to the guards, asking that they stop the persecution. Zhang Guohua, head of the Tenth Division (male) said fiercely, "Big deal if someone died! I worry more about the death of a chicken than the death of a Falun Gong practitioner!"
The Intensive Training Division of the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp consistently uses torture to brainwash practitioners. Determined Falun Gong practitioners and newcomer practitioners are all sent there. If they don't cooperate, they are subjected to tortures such as sitting on a metal chair, "the big hang up," being shocked and beaten with electric batons, sleep deprivation, and forced squatting. Guards join four bunk beds together with two on top and two on bottom. Then they make a Falun Gong practitioner stretch out his two arms, which will be cuffed to the legs of the upper two bunk beds. After that they fiercely pull the four beds in opposite directions, causing the person to become suspended in the air immediately, similar to an ancient Chinese torture called "five horses tearing apart the body." At this time, the two handcuffs will cut into the flesh, causing the two hands to become dark purple. They call this kind of torture "The Big Hang Up." At the beginning of 2002, the head of the Intensive Training Division Zhao Yuqing (male) ordered practitioners to take a written test as a way to help "reform" them. Almost all of the practitioners from the Intensive Training Division on the third floor answered, "Falun Dafa is an upright practice. Li Hongzhi is my Teacher! It is wrong for the government to slander Falun Gong!" Upon seeing this situation Zhao pulled some practitioners out to go through the "Big Hang Up," and ordered the rest of the practitioners to do forced squatting. Guard Yao Fuchang was the deputy head of the Intensive Training Division. Since practitioner Song Yingjie wouldn't recite the Dafa-defaming oath, he savagely pushed an electric baton into Song's mouth, causing her head to suddenly swell and her face to deform. When an inspector sent from government authorities came to check the "reformation" progress, Dai Rui, a student from the Heilongjiang University, was taken out to have a conversation. Dai Rui refused to say that she had given up Falun Gong. After the inspector left, Zhao Yuqing and Yao Fuchang cruelly tortured her and forced her to squat around the clock for three days.
In November 2003, the forced labour camp formed a "strict supervision class," and several times a day forced practitioners to recite the so-called "rules" that were arbitrarily made up by them, and to discuss test questions after watching the slanderous videos. Practitioner Yu Anran didn't recite the rules and didn't answer the test questions, so she was forced to sit on a metal chair for seventeen days, during which time she was monitored by Xu Fengping, who didn't allow her to sleep or use the toilet, causing her to often wet her pants. Xu Fengping beat and swore at Yu Anran at will, and Zhao Yuqing often shocked her with electric batons. One time when Yu Anran firmly answered that she was a Dafa practitioner, she was beaten and shocked by Zhao Yuqing with an electric baton for an hour. Yu Anran's neck had a big blister. Her entire back was full of purple spots and her legs and knees were so swollen that she couldn't stand up. Practitioner Li Lan was sentenced to three years of forced labour in November 2000. Since she didn't conform to the guards' requests, she was thrown into a small cell and tied to a metal chair for three months, during which time she was often subjected to torture, was not allowed to eat, use the toilet, or wash her clothes. Since she refused to be reformed, guards shoved dirty underpants into her mouth, almost suffocating her. Pharmacist Zhang Hong from the Harbin Fourth Hospital was sent to the Intensive Training Division on July 22, 2004. She was tortured to death on July 30, merely nine days later. They tortured her with the "Big Hang Up," force-fed her, and tied her down on a bare bed. Her corpse was sent to the 211 Hospital. Her family members were suspicious, requested to have an autopsy performed, and they filed a case. Wanjia and the law enforcement department ordered an immediate cremation and didn't allow any delay. Her family members looked everywhere for help to obtain the autopsy. One person said, "Upon hearing it's Falun Gong, who dares to do the autopsy for you?"
2. Deprivation of the Most Basic Human Rights
Any person has the right to life. Eating, drinking and using the toilet are a person's fundamental physiological requirements, and are also his basic rights. But the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp, especially the Intensive Training Division on the third floor, viciously takes away the practitioners' basic human rights.
During the period of severe punishment, one gets up at 4:50 a.m. and goes to bed at midnight. During this time, other than three meals, no drinking, eating, or even blinking is allowed. One practitioner was immediately dragged to the front, handcuffed behind the back, and forced to squat just because the practitioner scratched the scabies on a hand one time. One time a practitioner got hungry during the evening and took a bite of a cracker. This was discovered and the practitioner was forced to squat for half the evening.
Every twenty four hours only two trips to the toilet are allowed, at 5:00 a.m. and at 9:00 p.m., and only about ten minutes is allowed for washing and using the toilet. More than thirty people are packed together in a ten square meter room that houses the toilet and wash basin. During the process guards continually verbally abuse the practitioners. Moreover, to prevent practitioners from using the toilet during the night, Zhao Yuqing had the commode removed.
Washing clothes or taking a shower is not allowed. Female practitioners are not allowed to use the bathroom or change their pads during their menstrual period. One practitioner did a little washing during the group bathroom time in the morning, and was discovered. After returning to her group, she was dragged to the front and forced to squat as punishment. By May 1, they had not been allowed to change clothes or take showers for almost a month. Speaking of taking showers, no matter what season it is, cold water is always used at Wanjia, and only about ten minutes is allowed.
3. Slave Labour
The daily manual labour quotas required of Falun Gong practitioners at the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp can't possibly be finished before bedtime. The head of the Seventh Division Zhang Bo (female) overloaded the practitioners with large amounts of labour to create revenue. The work includes making car seat cushions, gluing fake eyebrows, patching linens, and gluing slippers. The glue produced strong fumes that almost suffocated people after long periods of exposure. Practitioner Zhao Fengyun was forced to do manual labour every day for ten to fifteen hours or more. The Twelfth Division helped a printing house process books (The Guoxin Printing House; Owner's last name is Yu). All of the books produced were pirated copies. Most of them were textbooks and learning guides from elementary school level all the way to the university level. The machines used were very primitive. One of the machines, the JBE3-50, used a glue tool that was overpowering and irritating, and caused a lot of people to have headaches and feel sick. It was such an adverse slave labour environment that Zhao Fengyun had a sudden heart attack and passed away. The labour tasks at the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp are very strenuous. Regardless of age, people are treated the same way. As long as the tasks were not finished, torture was always used as punishment. After the practitioners from the Intensive Training Division on the third floor came back from farm work, everyone would be very tired, and would have no strength to even eat. They were then forced to sit on small plastic stools to go through the "severe punishment."
II. Attacking the Mind
The Wanjia Forced Labour Camp not only tortures the Falun Gong practitioners' physically, it also spreads large amounts of harmful mental poison. Defamatory videos, recordings, and TV programmes were played all day long, in a vain attempt to "reform" the practitioners. The camp also forces practitioners to discuss their thoughts after watching or listening to the programs. If what is talked about does not meet the guards' requirements, cruel torture is used. The so-called "oath," aimed at defaming Falun Gong and written by guard Zhao Yuqing, was an item that practitioners were forced to recite. Anyone who didn't recite it or didn't recite it loudly enough were dragged out and tortured. A practitioner mentioned the three practitioners who had been tortured to death in the "6.20 Tragedy." But Zhao Yuqin answered, "The powers above (referring to the Party Central Committee) sent people here to investigate. Not only did we not have trouble, but our camp director (referring to Lu Zhenshan) was even praised." Even more vicious was that guards placed a picture of the founder of Falun Gong on the ground and forced the family members of practitioners to step on it. After that they had to badmouth the founder, or they would not be allowed to see the practitioners.
III. Economic Exploitation
The brooms, mops, and buckets used by every practitioner at the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp were all bought by the practitioners themselves using their own money. Additionally, if a practitioner was responsible for the tidiness of the whole building, she would have to use her own money to buy cleaning supplies, including rubber gloves. Many practitioners didn't have any income at all. Especially during the SARS period from March to July, 2003 when no visiting was allowed, Zhao Yuqing, who was on the third floor, forced practitioners to donate money. The justification according to Zhao was that the labour camp's tape recorder was broken and they needed money to repair it. After that there were several more forced donations. Some practitioners argued that these fees were unreasonable and refused to pay. But if someone didn't pay, he would punish her by various means. The Twelfth Division asked practitioners to fill out forms and sign their names. The forms stated how much stipend and toilet paper, etc. was distributed each month. All of this was faked. Some guards at the Seventh Division asked for ten yuan when lending their mobile phones to practitioners for a phone call. Some guards bought daily items for practitioners but didn't give the change back to them.
Walking into the gate of the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp, one can clearly see the huge banners saying "Our Image Is Weightier Than Mount Tai" and "Treating the Practitioners Like Doctors Treating Patients, Like Mothers Treating Kids, Like Teachers Treating Students." But what we experienced was totally inhuman persecution and the deprivation of the most basic human rights. What we faced every day was non-stop torture and slave labour. Lu Zhenshan, director of the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp, and his guards have their hands stained with the blood of Falun Gong practitioners.
We want to call on kind-hearted people all over the world to uphold justice and give a helping hand to Falun Gong practitioners in China, to stop the evil acts of the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp and those of all organizations and departments that persecute Falun Gong. Restore the reputation of Dafa! Return to the Falun Gong practitioners their freedom of belief and most basic human rights!
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/12/1/90404.html
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