Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Wang Jinbo is in his 40s and is a loan manager at the Construction Bank in Yitong County, Jilin Province. On August 26, 2002, police officers arrested Mr. Wang at his workplace because he practises Falun Gong. He was sentenced to three years of forced labour. On October 18, 2002, Mr. Wang was sent to the Chaoyanggou Labour Camp in Changchun City, where he suffered inhuman torture and cruel persecution.
1. The savage beatings and physical punishment at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp
On October 18, 2002, Mr. Wang Jinbo was sent to Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp in Changchun City. Three officers from the Yitong County Police Department waged a "Conquering Battle" using ruthless methods to force Dafa practitioners to give up practising Falun Gong.
The officers from the Yitong County Police Department told the staff in the labour camp that Mr. Wang was very steadfast and wouldn't sign any document renouncing Falun Gong. After the police left, a guard in the labour camp pushed Mr. Wang into a small conference room where four policemen and the head of the division, Zhu Dechun, gave orders; They forced Mr. Wang to bow and asked him whether he still wanted to practise Falun Gong. Mr. Wang replied, "Yes." Then all three of them beat him brutally. He Jianxin used an electric baton to shock Mr. Wang's neck and head. Lu Zhanlin used a leather belt to flog Mr. Wang's back, buttocks and thighs. Jiang Zhongcai used a finger-wide, hard plastic club over two feet long with screws on it (they called this the "little white dragon" and it can cause excruciating pain) to hit his palm. Mr. Wang asked them sternly, "Why are you beating me for no reason?" Jiang Zhongcai's responded, "This is 'education'; otherwise, how can we reform you?" They questioned him while beating, "Will you still practise?" Mr. Wang said, "Yes! I will practise Falun Gong even if you beat me to death!"
They beat harder and harder. After the beating, which lasted for half an hour, Mr. Wang felt pain all over his body. He was on the ground, immobilized. They ordered Mr. Wang to get up, but he could not. They continued with kicks and electric shocks. At lunchtime Mr. Wang could no longer walk. Zhu Dechun told Jiang Zhongcai to get two criminal inmates to help bring Mr. Wang to the cafeteria.
After leaving the cafeteria, Mr. Wang was sent to a big room for newcomers. As soon as he entered the room, a group of criminal inmates, incited by the police, took away everything he had brought with him. Some tore his quilt apart and threw it onto the floor. Some forcibly stripped off his clothes, tore them up and then made him put on the ruined clothes. Then they shaved his head and ordered him to squat in a corner. When he refused, the criminal inmates jumped on him. They kicked and beat him until he fell down and could not move. The most violent of them was Zheng Weimin. The guards chose him especially because of his viciousness.
After a while they saw that Mr. Wang had recovered a little and asked him, "Why did you come here?" Mr. Wang replied, "Because I practise Falun Gong." Zheng Weimin slapped him on the face. Mr. Wang asked, "Why did you slap me?" He replied, "Don't say it's because you practise Falun Gong. You came in because you disturbed the social order." Mr. Wang explained, "I didn't. I was arrested when I was at work, doing my usual job." He slapped Mr. Wang hard several times. Mr. Wang became dizzy and had ringing in his ears. He nevertheless insisted, "I didn't disturb the social order. That is how they framed me!" The criminal inmates kept on beating and kicking him.
As they saw that there was no hope that Mr. Wang would admit his "fault," the inmates left to ask for instructions from guard Jiang Zhongcai. After their return, they pulled Mr. Wang into the toilet, took off all his clothes and turned on several shower sprays. Then, more than ten criminals poured several barrels (one metre in diameter, 1.2 metres high) of cold water on Mr. Wang while two criminals forced Mr. Wang to stay still. Shortly after that, Mr. Wang was freezing and kept shivering. As they still couldn't force Mr. Wang to "admit his fault," they kept increasing the water volume for another hour.
Mr. Wang lost control of his bowels and bladder, lay paralysed on the ground and kept shivering. They kicked him and ordered him to get up. Several of them dragged him up, continued to pour water on him and didn't stop until it was hard for him to breathe and he could not move at all. Then, Wang Jinbo was carried to the cell opposite the toilet. He was able to recover a little in the warm environment for a while. After Mr. Wang put on his clothes, he was carried to the big classroom. They ordered him to run around. Wang Jinbo said, "I am too weak to run." Zheng Weimin slapped him several times again. They brought a small stool and ordered Mr. Wang to sit on it. Wang Jinbo shivered continuously. By late in the evening he still hadn't recovered.
Because of the brutal beating and the torture, Mr. Wang had bruises all over his body. His back and chest ached severely. He could not walk on his own and could not move his body during sleep. His face was swollen from the beating. His ears were ringing and he felt dizzy. His thinking ability and his memory had deteriorated. His heart beat rapidly and he was in agony.
Almost all the Dafa practitioners who were detained at the Chaoyanggou Labour Camp were grossly abused to the point of being disabled or badly injured.
In the newcomer session of the Fifth Division, one kind of brutal physical punishment that lasts for a long time consists of sitting on a small stool. From 4:30 a.m. when the practitioners get up, until 9:00 p.m., the victim has to sit on a stool except for going to the toilet, eating and sometimes performing labour. If the criminal inmate on duty or the guard is not pleased, the punishment will be prolonged.
All practitioners who refused to be "reformed" had to sit on a small stool. Everyone had to sit on a plastic stool 20cm in length, height and width (an eight-inch cube). When sitting on a small stool, the rows and columns of victims were strictly aligned; their backs had to be straight; their chests had to be straight and their heads were raised up. The victims had to look straight ahead; their lower legs had to be straight and touch the lower back of the person in front of them, and their hands had to be on their knees. It was so crowded there that there was no room around any person. The whole body had to be immobile. If the practitioners didn't follow orders, the guard or criminal inmate on duty would swear at them. "Light" punishment consisted of kicking and beating. Heavy punishment consisted of beating with a club and flogging with a belt. If a guard was on duty, he might even shock the practitioner with an electric baton.
Because this stool is so low, the two bones in the buttock hit the stool square on. These two bones carry the whole weight of the body. As time passes, the pain is unbearable. Usually, after two days, even wearing a heavy cotton coat in the winter, the flesh became torn. The torture is even much worse in the summer. Because the victim cannot move at all, after a while the whole body, particularly the legs and feet, become paralysed. In the Chaoyanggou Labour Camp, many practitioners' legs and feet became numb and they could not easily move. This was directly related to the torture method, "sitting on a small stool."
Sometimes Mr. Wang moved or his back was not erect. As a result, the criminal inmate on duty beat and kicked him many times. Zheng Weimin was the worst. (Normally the guards chose a criminal to be on duty who had a strong build, and who was vicious and prone to violence. They also hired people from outside the labour camp to perform this function.)
Practitioner Yu Xianjiang was old and could not meet the requirements for "sitting on a stool." Guards shocked him with an electric baton. During the sitting on the stool period of one to two hours in the morning every day, the criminal on duty would lead the reading of "The Regulation for Detainees in Labour Camp," "Five Musts," "Ten Must Nots" and other regulations. The guards also ordered criminals on duty to read articles that slandered Falun Dafa, in order to poison people's minds.
In the labour camp, the police and other people beat the practitioners to the point of having bruises all over their bodies. They all had difficulty walking. Some were even disabled and could no longer walk at all, but they were still forced to perform heavy labour, such as carrying soil and vegetables. After Wang Jinbo was beaten, he had bruises all over his body and had difficulty walking, yet he was still forced to carry soil. Mr. Wang told them, "I am injured and cannot do it." Because of this, he was slapped on the face several times.
The police officer Mao Chen forced practitioners to have a photo taken and charged them 10 yuan (1); outside the labour camp it only costs two yuan. Mao Chen demanded that Mr. Wang pay 100 yuan to buy a "bedding set," when actually it only cost 30 to 40 yuan per set. Mr. Wang said, "I have a quilt. I have no need to buy one." He replied, "You have to buy one. It is not for your use but is simply to be shown to supervisors who come to inspect our work. Everybody has to pay 100 yuan." Actually, he was extorting money. The detained practitioners did not actually get these quilts, even though they paid the money.
The newcomer session had more than one hundred people. It would get extremely crowded in the toilet and washroom. If any of the practitioners was a little slow or had a brief chat, the criminal on duty would beat and swear at them. In the evening, all newcomers had to sleep in a large room, with two persons sharing one bed.
At least one criminal inmate is assigned to each practitioner, to monitor his words and actions. That inmate has to be with the practitioner every minute, even when the practitioner goes to the toilet. Practitioners could not talk to each other, but other criminals could chat at will. They even exchanged strategies on methods of committing crimes and plotting new crimes. The guards do not care about these things at all and turn a blind eye to them. In fact, they trust these criminals and make use of them. Guard Jiang Zhongcai once said, "Criminals are the guards' teachers. Guards can learn a lot from criminals."
2. Coercive reformation and intensified slave labor in the Fourth Division
On November 5, 2002, Mr. Wang Jinbo was sent to the Fourth Division. On December 6, 2002, the labour camp waged the third "Conquering Battle" that lasted from December 6 to December 31. All practitioners who persisted in practising Falun Dafa were summoned to the Fourth Division's big "classroom" for concentrated forced brainwashing. Then, each division took practitioners back one by one for further "Conquering."
The guards violently beat and otherwise physically abused each practitioner that was taken back. For example, they twice shocked practitioner Mr. Li Yongfu in the Fourth Division because he persisted in practising the Falun Gong exercises. He suffered tremendously, both physically and spiritually.
The police beat practitioner Mr. Cui Guorong in the Fourth Division with a metal baton, from his heels to his back, because he claimed the "guarantee statement" (2) he had preciously signed was annulled and he would continue practising Falun Gong. The baton was even bent during the beating. Guard Zhao Jianping dragged Mr. Cui to his sleeping room, put his head into the bed frame, handcuffed both of his hands and ordered other guards and criminals to beat him fiercely at will. Mr. Cui could not move. Then from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Zhao Jianping used a hammer to beat Mr. Cui's back. When sending him back to the cell, the police told the criminal inmates, "Make him sit on the stool; keep an eye on him; don't let him sleep! Be strict!"
When people saw that Mr. Cui was being carried back, they could see that he had bruises all over his body. His face and head were swollen. There were large bumps on his face and his head.
The Fourth Division forced the inmates to work in the brick factory. The work there was dirty and heavy. One had to spend the whole day in the dust. Inmates were not allowed to have any rest time. Even if they paused on moving the vehicle, the guards and labour team leaders would beat and scold them. The inmates had to spend the whole day doing this heavy work and were constantly threatened. Under the burning sun in particular, their skin was uncomfortable from the sweat and cracked from the heat. The labour camp used this kind of work overload to torture practitioners. All of the dirty and heavy work was assigned to practitioners. After a day of this work, one is not able to move. After a whole summer of this intensified work overload, everyone lost a lot of weight; they swayed while walking and felt very weak.
Chaoyanggou Labour Camp has 1,200 mu [198 acres] of farm fields. Dafa practitioners were forced to participate in each aspect of fieldwork. Even the elderly, the disabled and the sick practitioners were not exempt. They all had to work hard and had no rest at all. If they slowed down, they were beaten. In the spring, the weeds have to be burned before the land is cultivated. It is quite smoky when the burning is going on. Even though there was smoke and fire ahead, the practitioners had to move forward and were not allowed to stop or go around the fire and smoke. In March 2003, under such pressure, Mr. Wang Jinbo's cotton coat was burned during the weed burning and his hands were burned to the point of having blisters on them. In the summer, practitioners had to pull weeds; the guards and labour team leaders used clubs to force them to work quickly and to keep moving. Those who lagged behind were kicked and beaten with clubs.
In June 2003, practitioner Mr. Liu Xiaohui lagged behind because of scabies on his hands. Police officers kicked him. At that time, Wang Jinbo felt numb and had pain in his hands and feet. He could not sleep at night and felt lethargic, but they still forced him to shovel earth. Mr. Wang was out of breath after just a little shovelling and lagged behind. The policeman Zhao Jianping slapped him twice on his face. Mr. Wang was already very tired. After the slaps, he had difficulty catching his breath for a while. Zhao Jianping ordered Mr. Wang to pull up the weeds by hand. Weeding by hand requires strength and one cannot keep one's back straight. Mr. Wang was always short of breath because of the hard labour.
The meal in the labour camp was often a steamed bun with half a bowl of vegetable soup. All people who performed slave labour had to go through the day in hunger and weariness. In autumn, harvesting corn meant more heavy work. Lagging behind resulted in verbal abuse or beating. Light punishment would be kicking and beating, while heavy punishment would be beating with a club. When harvesting corn, the practitioners were not allowed to straighten their back or sit on the ground, but had to bend over the whole time. After a long time, the lower back and legs would feel sore. In winter, there is the heavy work of shelling corn.
The meal in the Chaoyanggou Labour Camp was always cabbage soup or radish soup. In the winter in particular, there was only soup cooked with frozen cabbage. The smell would make the prisoners gag. There were always mosquitoes, ladybugs, flies or dirt in the soup. The frozen cabbage was the only meal they had from October, when winter began, until a little before May 1 of the following year. Some people even had food poisoning from the terrible food. In the middle of April 2003, all detained persons in the Fourth Division experienced stomach pain at the same time. The doctor diagnosed these people as suffered from food poisoning caused by eating putrid, frozen cabbage.
(To be continued)
Note:
(1) "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
(2) "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/3/2/96463.html
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