How I Lost my Eyesight at Jilin Prison Due to Persecution

I was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in December 2003 and detained at the Jilin Prison. The prison guards tried to force me to give up practising Truth, Compassion, Forbearance. During the cold winter, they would force me to sit on a bench for the entire night wearing only a shirt and long johns. The next day, they would continue to force me to sit on a bench. They made me sit straight and look straight ahead. I wasn't allowed to use the toilet or move. The guards told the criminals in my cell to beat me when I moved my body even a little.

Some fellow practitioners refused to stop practising Falun Gong. The prison guards then sent them to the "highly disciplined team." Anyone who was sent there would have a criminal record that contained the start and end dates of their term on that team. They didn't dare to record the torture they inflicted on practitioners. In order to brainwash practitioners, they transferred two people who had become collaborators (1) from the Heizuizi Prison and Changchun Prison to the prison where I was detained. The practitioners in the "highly disciplined team" had to get up at 5:30 in the morning and sit on a bench until 9:00 at night.

The most inhumane torture is called the death bed. The "bed" can be raised up. A person's four limbs would be tied to the bed. No one can stand it for ten minutes. Generally they would hang a practitioner on the "bed" for two to three minutes. They then asked the practitioner whether he or she would still practise Falun Gong. If the answer was a yes, they would hang him or her up again for another three to four minutes. Sometimes they repeated the torture four or more times. The person's muscles would be injured and he or she would become paralysed and lose the ability to walk.

I suffered unbearable physical and mental tortures. On the day I was sent to the Jilin Prison, I wasn't able to see clearly. There is a rule saying a prisoner could receive parole for medical treatments if his or her eyesight is lower than 0.04. Four months after I was illegally detained, the prison clinic checked my eyesight and found that it was lower than 0.04. However, the Jilin Prison refused to report my situation to the related departments for my parole.

Later, I managed to write a letter to my family and told them my situation. My family then went to Jilin Prison and asked them to have me released on parole. However, the Jilin Prison refused to do so. They lied and said, "We have submitted his case to the Jilin Procuratorate. It has nothing to do with us as to whether they will allow it or not." When my family went to the Jilin Procuratorate, they found that the officers there didn't have my case at all. The officers said they would allow me to be released after getting my case and verifying it. My family went back to Jilin Prison. However, they said, "The eyesight checking results have expired. We need to arrange another check." They caused a delay until I completely lost my eyesight. My family went to appeal to the Jilin Politics and Law Committee and wrote letters to the Secretary of that committee. Eventually, that committee sent a notice to the Forced Labour Camp Administration Bureau which ordered Jilin Prison to release me.

I was illegally imprisoned for over one year before I was released.

Note:

(1) "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/8/3/107650.html