More Information on the Torture Death of Falun Dafa Practitioner Ms. Du Jinglan in the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison

55-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Du Jinglan lived in Harbin City. She was tortured for a long time at the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison and died from torture on October 23rd, 2005. In order to cover up the facts, the authorities from the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison lied to her family. Below is additional information on the torture of Du Jinglan during her illegal incarceration.

The guards, especially the ones at Ward No. 8 at the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison, are extremely cruel to Dafa practitioners. Zheng Jie, Zhang Chunhua and Zhang Xiuli are the three division heads who often order inmates to torture Dafa practitioners. Zheng Jie said to the practitioners, "If you die [from torture], we'll throw your body over the wall and tell people that you died from natural causes."

Practitioner Du Jinglan was sentenced to seven years in prison in April 2003. The charge was "conspiring to commit a crime," and she was held at the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison. In November 2003, Du Jinglan insisted that she is a Dafa practitioner and not a criminal, and therefore should not have to perform manual labour. Four inmates dragged her by her feet from the prison dorm on the third floor. Her head banged against the ground; her clothes were torn and her body was cut and bruised in the process. They dragged her to the workshop on the third floor, and the inmates banged her head against the staircase. At the workshop, they tied her hands behind her back, attached her to a rope and pulled the rope up so that she was lifted off the ground. Then they released her and forced her to squat without moving. She sometimes could not squat without moving, so the inmates tortured her with "flying the airplane," where she is bent over and her arms are pulled up from behind her, and she is forced to hold that painful position for long periods of time.

Beads of sweat dripped from her face. She was tortured this way until the inmates got off work late in the evening, which was either midnight or 2:00 a.m. Afterwards, Du Jinglan was tied up again and not allowed to sleep. She was forced to sit on the cold floor and was tortured the same way the next day until she agreed to work. Du Jinglan was tortured for about two weeks.

In September 2003, the guards in four sections persecuted the practitioners at Ward No 8 for 11 days. They denied the practitioners sleep throughout this period and forced them to run constantly.

Du Jinglan was chained to the workshop floor and later forced to run. Other practitioners were shocked to see her walking with her back bent at a 90-degree angle. Her blood pressure measured 280 mm Hg, at the very top of the sphygmomanometer, so it's unknown what her true blood pressure was. She was forcibly injected with a blood pressure-lowering drug. Then the inmates dragged her out and forced her to run and do exercises. She did not have the strength to run, so the inmates beat her.

For another type of torture, about 40 guards and inmates stood in a circle, each holding an object such as an electric baton, police baton, a piece of white plastic tubing, a water bottle, a bamboo stick, a wooden stick, or a metal rod. They struck the practitioners' heads and bodies. Some inmates refused to hit the practitioners, and the guards beat these inmates until their faces were covered with bruises. In this way, they forced the inmates to persecute practitioners.

Du Jinglan and other practitioners were badly injured from the beatings. The labour camp doctor and the three division heads laughed at the practitioners' injuries. Some inmates hung the practitioners from a metal railing and said they were "treating the practitioners' illness" this way. They also poked the practitioners' private areas with metal rods. Zhang Chunhua said, "We'll treat your back pain this way."

At least seven practitioners were suffering from high blood pressure exceeding 220 mm Hg. They were given injections and forced to run. They were not given water and not enough food for 11 days.

Du Jinglan could not straighten her back and suffered from high blood pressure. The guards didn't make her run when her blood pressure was at 280, but instead tortured her with "flying an airplane." She was soaked with sweat. In the evening, they forced her to sit on the concrete floor and didn't let her use the toilet. She spoke up, "I need to use the toilet." The inmates cursed her and said, "You can wait until tomorrow morning." She was forced to relieve herself on the spot and soiled her trousers. She sat on the concrete floor for a whole night.

One evening in September, she sat on the cold concrete floor with her hands and feet tightly bound behind her, wearing only a sweatshirt and jogging bottoms. She was forbidden to sleep and tortured for nearly one month.

As of January 30th, 2004, she refused to work to resist the persecution. She was dragged to the office, handcuffed and forced to squat. In the winter, she was stripped of her coat and cotton pants, and sat on the floor wearing only jogging bottoms. She held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. About three days later, Shang Xiaomei brutally force-fed her with lots of salt. Du Jinglan's mouth and tongue turned numb from excessive salt intake. The inmates also pried open her mouth with a tool and knocked some of her teeth loose in the process. Two of her teeth later fell out. At first, inmate Song Libo cruelly force-fed Du Jinglan, although Song Libo is not a doctor. Du Jinglan was dragged to the workshop and forced to work. She worked for 15 days before she was allowed to return to the dorm.

In September 2005, Du Jinglan refused to wear a nametag identifying her as an inmate, because she is not a criminal. The guards refused to let her buy things from the canteen and order food, and the inmates didn't allow her to study the Falun Dafa books and do the exercises. Fan Dandan, Wang Jing and Zhao Shuzhen routinely harassed her, encouraged by the guards. They beat and cursed at her whenever she studied the teachings.

On October 23rd, 2005, Du Jinglan was at the brink of death due to long-term persecution. She was sent to a hospital, where a division head and about seven inmates gave her a forced IV infusion. They tied her to the bed, and three days later she died as a result of the torture she had suffered. Her body was cremated on October 27th, 2005.

In order to cover up the facts, the authorities from the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison lied to her family, who was not aware of the persecution against her at the time.

Du Jinglan did not die from natural causes as the authorities had claimed. One week before her death, Du Jinglan lost sight in both of her eyes. Sun Yu, the guard in charge of persecuting Falun Gong, inquired about her condition once, and afterwards no one ever brought it up again. Du Jinglan died as a result of the persecution at Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/12/31/117635.html