Tortures I Suffered at the Changchun Women's Forced Labour Camp

I am a Falun Gong practitioner in Nongan County. More than one year ago, local police arrested me at my home and sent me to the Changchun Women's Forced Labour Camp (the Heizuizi Labour Camp). In this place, guards shocked me with electrical batons, slapped my face with a board made with bamboo, hit my hip with a mop handle, and made me stand for 16 days and nights until I lost consciousness. They compelled me to give up my belief, again and again.

Background information:

On March 26th of 2004, policeman Gao Peng from Division 1 of Changchun City Police Department intruded into my home. He was with Politics and Law Section head Yu Hongquan and Li from the Nongan County Police Department. They searched the house, looking for Dafa material. Afterwards, policeman Li blindfolded me and took me to the Nongan County Politics and Law Department. At 2:00 a.m. they sent me to a detention centre. The detention centre refused to accept me because I had previously been ill with hepatitis B, meaning no public facility was permitted to accept me. During a physical examination at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, though, policeman Du Laosan spoke with a physician. Two weeks later officials sent me to the Changchun Women's Labour Camp.

Tortures: Forced to stand for 16 days and nights and beaten on the face with a bamboo board

Police sent me to division one. Guard Zhang Xiaohui, who was just transferred from division two, urged two collaborators¹, Chen Guizhi and Guan Xiang, to watch me constantly and never leave my side. They forced me to listen to them reading Wang Zhigang's anti-Dafa book. On the fifth day, when they saw I still would not give up Dafa, with encouragement from the guards, "collaborator" Jia Shimin (a resident from Huandian) dragged me to a toilet. Along with Sun Xianhua, Guan Xiang, Chen Guizhi, five or six people pulled down my trousers and hit my hip with mop handles. I almost lost consciousness, felt nauseated and vomited. I could no longer keep my head straight and lost my ability to think rationally. They brought a notebook and pen and forced me to write something against my will.

After they beat me, division head Yan said hypocritically, "I do not know what happened." Guard Zhang Xiaohui said viciously, "I have abused you, so what?" Many people were then suffering from the brutal beating. When I took a cold shower I noticed many practitioners whose hips were bruised because they refused to write anything against their will. Some of their injuries were bandaged.

On September 23rd, I wrote a statement to void any writings that were done under pressure and against my will. Then I experienced another round of more severe mistreatment under the persecution. Guard Wang Xiuli ordered me to go to the guards' office, where supervisor Li viciously slapped my face twice. Wang Xiuli shocked me with an electrical baton. My heart felt extremely uncomfortable from the electrical shock.

I held on for more than 40 days. On October 8th, they began to deprive me of sleep, day and night. Six or seven people took two-hour shifts monitoring me. They also forbade my family members from visiting me. Furthermore, they made me read books that were against Dafa. After continuous standing for seven days and nights, I once again wrote something against my conscience.

Two days later, I once again made a statement affirming my belief in Dafa. They forced me to stand up continuously days and nights, not allowing me to sleep. Then I stood up eight or nine more days, 16 days altogether on the two occasions. My legs felt numb and uncomfortable, then I no longer had any feeling in them. The two swollen calves became as thick as thighs. I could not even put on my trousers. On the 16th day, I got dizzy and could not hold my body still and fell down forward.

They continued torturing me, ignoring my plight. With urging from the police, a collaborator named Ma Xiuqin viciously beat me. I got a bump on my head and bruises all over my face. The following day Ma Xiuqin and others each held a 7cm wide and 25cm long bamboo board. They torn open my collar, hit my neck, and then hit my face and hands. My hands became swollen. They stopped lashing me when the swelling became too severe.

A newly transferred guard named Wei Dan who was in charge of this abuse from behind the scenes asked sarcastically, "What happened to your hands? Do you want to continue the standing? The batons upstairs have been fully charged!" Now I was in extreme physical pain and experienced mental horror from the torture. I once again wrote something against my conscience.

This happened over a year ago. My hip still has some hard spots, and my legs are still swollen. When I press my leg with a finger, the indentation remains for quite a while.

I often saw many steadfast practitioners in the Changchun Women's Labour Camp being beaten so hard that they could not walk normally and relied on other people's help to walk. Some Falun Gong practitioners' faces were burned and beaten from the electrical batons and their faces became disfigured. Some faces were bandaged, showing only the eyes. Some people's mouths were taped shut with clear tape. Some practitioners' four limbs were tied onto a "death bed²" in four directions. There was nothing on the bed, only a bucket under the bed. The practitioners' four limbs took on different colors from the stretching.

I found many inch-long scars on the back of practitioner Li Zhizhen, a Changchun City resident in her 30s.

The vicious people did not even show any leniency for elderly practitioners. One day, as an elderly practitioner walked a little slower, someone suddenly kicked her down.

Liu Shulan, in her 50s, was beaten and shocked so severely she lost feeling in her back. She could not keep her slippers on her feet, and looked like a completely different person. The labour camp guard sneered at her, saying she looked like a 70-year-old. Even so, they still forced her to work, to make money for them.

Being enslaved: Being forced to process craftwork for export.

The Changchun Women's Labour Camp not only persecutes and abuses practitioners and other detainees, they also enslave them. Even though many people here had several infectious diseases like lung disease, liver disease, scabies and other illnesses, they were still often forced to get up at 5:00 a.m. to work and could not go back to their cells until 8:00 p.m.

When I was in detention, the labour camp detainees assembled craftwork for a private company, the Changchun Craftwork Factory, to export items to Japan, Russia and other countries. We were making plastic birds, butterflies and other craftworks with goose feathers. During assembly we needed to glue, paint and affix colorful plastic pieces to these items. These chemical products emitted a strong order. Some chemical products were already past their expiration date, but out of consideration for extra profit, the factory and labour camp kept using them. Many people coughed from these irritating chemicals. Falun Gong practitioners often had to work overtime, till 10:00 p.m. Some were permitted a mere two hours of sleep and had to work the rest of the time. When I was there, I made labels for ham products.

Crimes committed by the Changchun Women's Labour Camp are countless, and are currently continuing.

Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are still held in Chinese prisons, labour camps and detention centres, suffering from all kinds of inhuman persecution. I call upon the international community and all righteous people to keep a close watch on the continuing state terrorism in China, and request the Chinese Communist regime to stop persecuting Falun Gong, release all detained practitioners, honour justice, abide by the rule of law and restore Falun Gong's reputation.

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.

2. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/1/31/119825.html