Brutal Torture and Death of Falun Gong Practitioners at the No. 3 Prison in Gansu Province

Right now, twelve Falun Gong practitioners are being unjustly detained at the No. 3 Prison in Qincheng District, Tianshui City, Gansu Province. The guards abuse the practitioners ceaselessly, both physically and mentally, desperately attempting to "reform¹" them. Their superiors have assigned them a "reform" quota which gives the guards the impetus to be so brutal. They torture the practitioners in attempts to force them to give up their belief in Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. In late 2005, seven practitioners including Liu Zhirong were transferred from the Dingxi Prison to the No. 3 Prison in Tianshui City. The guards in Ward 1 tortured Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Liu Zhirong to death before January 14th, 2006. The prison authorities cremated Mr. Liu's body without notifying his family and sent his ashes to the Qingyang City Mortuary, where Liu Zhirong's residence is located. They claimed that Liu Zhirong died from suicide.

Prison head Wei Xinggang, prison Administration Section head Yao Wenqiang and Zhang Jianhua, the political head of Ward 4, adhered to Jiang Zemin's persecution policy against Falun Gong - "ruining Falun Gong practitioners' reputations; bankrupting them financially and destroying them physically." Such a policy amounts to genocide of Falun Gong practitioners.

Certain guards got together and planned how they would persecute Falun Gong practitioners. They played videos slandering Falun Gong and its founder. They coerced practitioners to write statements to "renounce" Falun Gong, and shocked practitioners with high-voltage electric batons if they refused to write such statements. The guards deprived the practitioners of sleep for days on end, and verbally abused and insulted the practitioners. The prison authorities encouraged the guards to beat and kick practitioners. During a meeting held specifically to attack Falun Gong, practitioner Wang Yongming refused to listen to Dafa being slandered. Guards savagely beat practitioner Wang and shock him with electric batons. They held him in solitary confinement for more than one month during which time they handcuffed him, hung him up and deprived him of sleep for more than 30 hours. They tried to force him to read Dafa-slandering books and write a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Dafa. Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Wang Yongming was tortured until his whole body became numb. His hands and feet especially hurt and were extremely painful and swollen.

The guards also exhausted all torture tactics at their disposal to try to force practitioner Yang Jingchun to write a guarantee statement.

Since March 2005, Falun Dafa practitioner Wang Yongming has refused to "reform" and has resisted the persecution. The guards told him, "An arm cannot compete with a leg;" "Just do what the government wants you to do;" and "[you should] try your best to get a sentence reduction so that you can go home." Mr. Wang Yongming told them, "Goodness will be rewarded and wrongdoing will be punished." After he said that, six guards jumped on him and put him in handcuffs and shackles. They shocked him with four electric batons simultaneously. One electric baton had a charge of 300,000 volts. Wang Yongming shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" The guards put the electric batons inside his mouth and shocked his tongue and upper palate. They also shocked his head, neck, hands and other body parts. They ordered inmates to torture him at night and forbade him to sleep. Mr. Wang was forced to stand in the middle of the floor, and he was yelled at and intimidated when he dozed off. The guards and inmates tortured him for five days straight once.

While they shocked Wang Yongming with electric batons, they also told the inmates to beat him. In the evening, the inmates kicked his handcuffs until they cut into his wrists; they kicked his chest until he almost could not breathe from the searing pain. They threw him into a wall and took a break before continuing to beat him. Wang Yongming was held in solitary confinement for 50 days. For a while he slept on the floor, only because he persisted in his belief in Truth, Compassion, Tolerance. His family is not allowed to visit him and the captors have adamantly blocked further information about his situation.

The jailers at Division 4 of the No. 3 Prison were instigated by political head Zhang Jianhua, Liu Jiangtao, head of Division 4, Wen Yanming, a group head, Zhang Yanming and Wang Tao to cruelly torture practitioner Shang Junbin for refusing to write a guarantee statement. The perpetrators used the "cartwheel" tactic, taking turns torturing him. They forced him to stand for long periods of time; they also humiliated him, spread rumours about him, and otherwise mentally abused him.

The guards tried to coerce practitioner Li Chunsheng to watch Dafa-slandering videos. Li Chunsheng refused. The evildoers turned up the volume and did not allow him to return to the detention room for a noon break, forcing him to stay in the office with the video and eat. In the evening, another group of perpetrators prevented Mr. Li from sleeping, and tortured him until 2:00 a.m.

The perpetrators also closely monitored practitioner Yang Jingchun. They didn't let him talk to others. They followed him even when he went to the toilet or when he washed dishes or brushed his teeth. They did not allow him to speak or have contact with others. They also forced his family to stay at the prison and verbally barrage him around the clock in an attempt to destroy his will.

No. 3 Prison in Tianshui City, Gansu Province
Address: No. 196 Jianshe Road, Tianshui City, Gansu Province
Wei Xinggang, head of the prison
Zhang Xiping, doctor at the prison clinic
Liu Hongtao, prison guard
Wang Hongying, prison guard: 86-938-8271415
He Dingping, prison guard: 86-13519083681 (Mobile)
Head of Division 3: 86-938-8278968, 86-938-8278987

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.org/mh/articles/2006/1/23/119268.html