Lives at Risk in the Daqing Prison

The following persecution facts are from the letters sent by practitioners who are unjustly imprisoned in the Daqing City Hongweixing Prison. The practitioners have broken through several layers of the information blockade and their letters have gone through several hands. Due to the strict monitoring in the prison and the varying abilities of practitioners to express themselves in writing, the details and the extent of the persecution disclosed here do not quite reflect the reality. They are only the tip of the iceberg. This article does, however, show a glimpse of the darkness and horror in the Daqing Prison.

During the last three months, three Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death in the Daqing prison. We hope that international human rights organisations and others can lend a hand to stop the persecution.

1. Mr. Zhang Zhi, Worker at the Daqing Petroleum, Lost his Front Tooth

On June 18th 2003, the Daqing Detention Centre illegally sent practitioner Mr. Zhang Zhi to the Daqing Prison Education Prison Ward for further persecution. On July 20th 2003, Guo Chuntang, director of the Education Reform Division, ordered Cui Zhengui, the captain of a sub-prison ward, to lead inmates from the culture and art team to persecute Zhang. In order to force Zhang to write the guarantee statement¹ and give up the practice, they deprived him of sleep and tortured him for five days. During the day, they dragged Zhang to an auditorium and played music, and asked people to take turns talking to him to prevent him from falling asleep. At night, they used the same method. If Zhang was tired, they poked his ribs with their fingers. If Zhang refused to obey, they punched him in the face. Inmates who participated in the persecution said, "The prison officials said that as long we did not cause any external injuries, we could punish him any way we wanted."

When Zhang was tortured, he told Wang Yingjie, the deputy director of the prison, about it. Wang did nothing to stop it, and the inmates became more arrogant.

At around 9 o'clock on May 12th 2005, Cui Zhengui led all members of the education reform division to force Zhang to wear a prison uniform. Zhang refused, and they ordered the inmates to strip his clothes off and beat him. Afterwards, they locked him in a small cell. Zhang wore thin clothes and he sat and slept on a cold iron slab. The guards would not give him any warm clothes as they were attempting to make him surrender.

Zhang's left ribs were injured from being kicked, and it caused pain for about six weeks. His right ribs were also kicked and he had hard time breathing. After being illegally imprisoned, Zhang went on a hunger strike. The prison staff force-fed him, and knocked out one of his front teeth in the process. The second day he was locked in a small cell; Guo Chuntang went to the cell and ordered Zhang to stand up for a long time. A policeman in the cell tried to stop Guo. Zhang was released from the small cell after eight days, but the authorities would not allow him to leave the prison ward. Sometimes Zhang did not have water and if he protested, the answer was, "The prison officials asked us to do this."

Most of the time, the prison police would instigate the inmates to disturb practitioners. For example, not giving them hot water, reducing the amount of food or letting practitioners go hungry, and stealing practitioners' personal belongings.

2. Prison Staff Beat Mr. Liu Zhucai and Broke his Eardrum - Guards and Inmates Force Water Hose into Mr. Li Lizhuang's Rectum

Practitioners Mr. Liu Zhucai and Mr. Jin Sheng distributed Falun Gong fliers on February 23rd 2002, and police arrested them and sent them to the Zhaozhou County Detention Centre. The Zhaozhou County Court sentenced Liu to five years of imprisonment and sent him to the Daqing Prison on August 7th 2002. Mr. Liu experienced many forms of torture for 3 weeks. He was in a "special training camp" which included such tortures as standing up for a long time and other inhumane abuse. The prison sent Liu to the education prison ward on August 27th. Tang Huibo, director of psychiatric counselling, did not allow Liu to rest or sleep that night. The next day, Tang ordered inmates to "transform"² Liu and they deprived him of rest and sleep for many days. Meanwhile, Guo Chuntang and Shi Huixue, director and deputy director of education reform, pressured Liu many times, until Liu was exhausted in both mind and body, and coerced Liu to write a "guarantee statement".

At 8:00 p.m. on July 24th 2003, Liu Zhucai wished good health in the toilet to another practitioner Zhang Zhi, who had been deprived of sleep for five days at that time. Cui Zhangui, the officer on duty, beat Liu, breaking his left eardrum. The next day Liu told the director about this incident and was refused any examination or treatment. Now Liu still has many problems in his left ear and his hearing is getting worse. From May of 2005 until now, the inmates have taken turns monitoring Liu, and Liu has not had any personal freedom.

Practitioner Mr. Li Lizhuang was sentenced to four years in prison because he persisted in continuing to practise Falun Dafa. Li was tortured in the first prison ward of the Daqing Prison. The police and inmates deprived him of sleep, beat him, poured cold water on him and inserted a water hose into his anus. They also broke Li's ribs.

Practitioner Mr. Jia Shenghui lived in Dongfeng New Village in Daqing City. On June 10th 2002, the Daqing City Vice Squad arrested him from his home, handcuffed him to an iron chair for a day, and sent him to the Daqing Detention Centre. In September 2002, Jia was illegally sentenced to seven years in prison and was sent to the Daqing Prison's first prison ward, first division on December 4th. Jia didn't see any document of indictment or verdict. Jia's wife was also a practitioner and was tortured until half of her body was paralysed. Her daughter is taking care of her alone at home. Jia suffered tremendously in both body and mind.

Zhu Rui, captain of the third brigade, openly beat Falun Gong practitioners and ordered four inmates to watch practitioner Deng Qingshan around the clock. Deng was not allowed to leave his cell. Deng had to urinate into a jar and could only go to a toilet for his bowel movement. Deng stayed with four other inmates in a room and was totally isolated from the outside world. Deng was deprived of all personal freedom and rights.

Note:

(1) "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.

(2) "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/8/2/107558.html