Detailed Information about Wang Tiesong's Torture Death at the Yanbian Forced Labour Camp in 2001

Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Wang Tiesong was from Antu County, Jilin Province. Agents for the Communist regime arrested him in October 2000 and tortured him to death at the Yanbian Forced Labour Camp in 2001. Certain camp officials, along with some others, are guilty of his murder. The following is a detailed description of the events leading up to and including Wang Tiesong's death.

On the night of November 30th, 2001, labour camp authorities were celebrating the camp's 20th anniversary. The authorities had invited well-known performers to put on a show attacking and slandering Falun Gong. At the time, more than 100 practitioners were incarcerated at the camp.

Seven hundred inmates were assembled in a hall at around 6:00 p.m. to watch the performance, including the Falun Gong practitioners. Realising the performance was nothing but defamation of Falun Gong and its founder, a practitioner named Yu Jianhua stood up first and requested to stop the show. He also shouted "Falun Dafa is righteous!" Next, a 23-year-old practitioner named Gu Yindong from Tumen City stood up shouting, "Falun Dafa is good!"

Following their example, Wang Tiesong, Xiao Guobing, and other practitioners sitting in the first row also stood up to stop the show.

Officer Wang from the management section removed Yu Jianhua and Gu Yondong from the room, forced them to take off their clothes, and jailed them in solitary cells with only underwear and thin shirts. It was winter and the cells were very cold.

Back in the hall the guards beat the other practitioners severely in front of everyone. Practitioners Wang Tiesong and Xiao Guobing tried to stop the beating. They were forced to take off their clothes and were locked up in solitary cells as well.

The power of the practitioners' righteous thoughts and deeds shocked the performers and they ended the show. Management section chief Hong Lin, known as one of the four worst officials in the camp, snapped at Yu Jianhua and Wang Tiesong and said, "You should think about what happened tonight. We will deal with this tomorrow." Wang Tieson retorted, "You ought to return our clothes to us! This is illegal. There is no such law that allows you to strip our clothes during solitary confinement." Hong Lin left without another word.

One hour after Hong Lin left, a guard returned their clothes, and a 30-year-old criminal named Jin Zhehua was sent to monitor them. He was a local gangster and notorious for being violent. He told the practitioners, "I don't want to monitor you. I know that you guys are good people, but I have no choice, since it is an order. If you don't cooperate with me I will beat you." The four practitioners were jailed in the cold cells overnight.

They began a protest hunger strike the following morning and demanded unconditional release. Guard An from the management section beat Gu Yindong on the head. The labour camp's deputy head, named Shan Heping, took practitioner Gu Yindong to another room, handcuffed him and cruelly beat him. He beat practitioner Gu with an electric baton, to the point where Gu lost control of his bowels and bladder. Shan Heping eventually locked Mr. Gu in a cage under the stairway. The cage has metal bars for a door, and the three walls are made of concrete. The dimensions of this cage are approximately 8 feet long by 2 feet wide, but because of its location under the stairway it is only four feet high at most, and slants down to just a few inches. The cage contained a receptacle to serve as a toilet. Besides Mr. Gu, Mr. Yu Jianhua was also held in this cage, later to be joined by a criminal named Jin He on December 1st.

Jin He was a 19-year-old student who had been sent to the camp for physically assaulting people. This student was placed in the cage for verbally abusing a police officer. Jin He cried because of the cold. This December night in Yanbin, it was 22o F. With the cage facing the entrance of the building and no heat in the building, it was extremely chilly.

Cold wind continuously blew into the cage. People usually cannot stand staying there for more than ten minutes. To keep warm, Gu and Yu held onto Jin He. They shivered so strongly one could hear the handcuffs rattle on the cage's metal bars. The guards sent a criminal named Peng Xin to keep them under surveillance. Criminal Peng slept outside the cage. Although Peng had a heavy coat on and was covered with two thick quilts, he was still too cold to fall asleep.

Although the situation was severe, Gu and Yu still explained the true situation of Dafa to Jin He. Later, Jin He told other practitioners how the guards had mistreated Gu and Yu. Other practitioners started a hunger strike and asked for Gu and Yu's release. Some talked to the labour camp head, some spoke with officials from the management section, and some petitioned some higher-up officers. On December 1st, Gu Yindong and Jin He had high fevers. Yu Jianhua asked guard An to find a doctor. An said, "it is too late to find a doctor. It is not up to me whether or not they can be released." The next morning a management official arrived and released Jin He and Gu Yindong. At that time, Gu had such a high fever he was delirious.

Guard Hong Lin jailed hunger-striking Wang Tiesong and Xiao Guobing in the cage next. Hong Lin asked them if they would eat. Wang Tiesong said, "We won't eat until you release us. It is illegal and violates human rights to imprison us in an iron cage." Then Hong Lin asked Yu Jianhua if he would eat. Yu Jianhua replied, "Mr. Hong, I think we should sit down and have a good conversation. It is not about eating or not eating. If you jail us for a long time, all of us will have a fever, just like Gu and Jin." Hong Lin replied, "You eat first, then we can talk."

The practitioners discovered later that it was the labour camp head who had ordered their incarceration in the cage, so only he had the authority to release them. Wang Tiesong and Xiao Guobing let Hong Lin know that they wished to speak with the labour camp head and Hong Lin's supervisor. Hong Lin told them he would oblige if they ate first, actually trying to trick them into eating. Wang and Xiao refused to be deceived and maintained their hunger strike.

Yu Jianhua ate, thinking it would improve his chances to negotiate with Hong Lin. That night was extremely cold. To keep warm, they slept close together. Even criminal Peng Xin was chilled, in spite of his two heavy quilts. He had to keep moving to keep warm.

On December 3rd, the third day, labour camp head Wang Qiang arrived with an electric baton, saying, "I heard that during my absence you people rebelled and even started a hunger strike. Didn't you say you wanted to talk with me? I am here now."

Wang Tiesong and Xiao Guobing said, "It is not that we refuse to eat. We will, if you release us. It is illegal to jail us here. We want to talk to your supervisor. You should not jail any Falun Gong practitioners or any criminals in this iron cage. Actually, you should destroy this cage."

Somebody arrived to talk with Wang Qiang, so Wang left. Before he left he told them he would be back. After a while Peng Xin arrived and told them that practitioner Cai Fuchen had gone to management and asked for their release. Chief Wang Qiang heard about it, so Wang tried to beat Cai with an electric baton. Actually, lots of practitioners spoke with people in the management section and asked for their release. After Wang Qiang left, Yu, Wang and Xiao were jailed in the cage for one more night.

On the fourth morning, (December 4th) Hong Lin arrived and told Yu that he could not release them unless they ended the hunger strike. Yu said, "I won't unless you release us. I am so cold now that my legs are paralysed. I want to talk to your supervisor." Hong Lin didn't release him. That day, all the practitioners in the labour camp stood up to protest the persecution. At 2:00 p.m. guard An arrived and took Wang Tiesong and Xiao Guobing out. The cold had already paralysed their legs. They put Xiao into a solitary cell and took Wang Tiesong to another room and force-fed him.

Peng Xin went to see Wang Tiesong. Later he tried to trick Yu Jianhua by saying, "You better eat. Wang Tiesong was so determined, but this afternoon he ate a whole can of food." Yu knew that Peng was lying, since Yu could hear what was happening in the room where Wang Tiesong was force-fed. He heard Wang Tiesong resisting the food.

The criminals revealed later that they had been removed from the room so that the authorities could mistreat and abuse practitioner Wang Tiesong in secret. One criminal observed that following Wang Tiesong's murder, the whole room was spattered with blood. It took several criminals quite a while to clean it up. These people also added that by the time Wang Tiesong was carried out of the room at 4:00 p.m. he was already close to death.

At 6:00 p.m. they released Yu Jianhua from the iron cage and put him into a solitary cell. Xiao Guobing and Yu Jianhua didn't know that Wang Tiesong had already been tortured to death.

The next day, to keep this event secret, the guards lied and said that Wang fell out of bed and became unconscious. They also beat young Jin He for passing information to Falun Gong practitioners.

Wang Tiesong was a 32-year-old young man whom the guards murdered by savagely beating him for three hours. The murderers are Wang Qiang, Hong Lin, Shan Heping, Li Wenbing, and guards Wang and An. Wang Tiesong died for his firm belief, just because he insisted on living his life according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, to be a good person. His elderly parents have lost their son.

We hope all people with a sense of justice will stand up and stop this bloody persecution.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/3/5/122113.html