Exposing the Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp

I was arrested in 2002 and detained in the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp, Changchun City, where Falun Gong practitioners were being cruelly persecuted. Here I would like to expose the persecution with my own experience.

The Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp has seven teams. It is designated as a "transformation base¹" for Falun Gong practitioners and also includes those people who have been transferred from other forced labour camps. The No. 5 Team is the so-called "newcomer group." When I was there, there were more than two hundred detainees, which included Falun Gong practitioners and criminals. Since the ward is too tight to hold so many people, some of the detainees have to live in the activity room.

The Falun Gong practitioners in the newcomer group were managed by several criminals designated by the guards. They were forced to take off all their clothes before the two hundred detainees, and their clothes and luggage were searched. The Falun Gong practitioners were also forced to admit to the crime of "disturbing social order." Otherwise, it resulted in them being tortured. The Falun Gong practitioners also would undergo torture until they were "transformed" as required by the designated criminals. The torture methods included: remaining in a standing position for long periods of time, "taking a shower," sitting on a bench for long periods of time, and squatting while facing a wall for long periods of time. "Taking a shower" is a torture method where cold water is poured over the naked victim, causing the victim to tremble in the cold. Practitioners are also forced to sit on a small, child-size plastic bench without moving for 14 to 16 hours a day. The Falun Gong practitioners were frequently verbally abused and beaten by the criminals. Any disobedience would lead to beatings with electric batons or spiked clubs. Anyone who renounced the practice would reap a small benefit such as being allowed to lie down for a while. Anyone refusing to "transform" would be forced to sit on the bench along with designated criminals, who were incited into hating Falun Gong practitioners by being punished alongside the practitioners. No communication between Falun Gong practitioners was allowed, and violators were beaten. The camp authorities launch "harsh attack" campaigns from time to time in order to assault Falun Gong practitioners physically and spiritually.

During those campaigns, they torture Falun Gong practitioners with clubs, electric batons, rubber sticks, bamboo sticks, pickaxe handles, the "big hang up," etc. The horrible cries of pain from the torture were interwoven with noise from the electric batons. Even practitioners in their seventies were not spared.

Gao, the team head at the management section who is in charge of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, is an extremely vicious person who initiates a lot of the persecution. He said, "Those who are not "transformed" in the No. 5 Team will be "transformed" in other teams. Nobody will make it!" Later, I was sent to the No. 3 Team, whose team head was named Chen. He attempted to make me renounce Falun Gong several times, which resulted in frequent beatings. Chen also forced the detainees to finish a seven-day quota of work in three days so that he had more time to torture and brainwash Falun Gong practitioners.

The Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp portrays itself to the outside world as "touching" and "saving" practitioners, claiming that the guards there treat the practitioners "as gently as a breeze." However, they are actually quite vicious. I hope that everyone will pay attention to what is happening there and help stop the persecution.

Note

1. "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/2006/1/3/117906.html