Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Wang Hongge has been suffering from brutal persecution since November 2000 simply because he remains steadfast in Dafa. The mistreatment and abuse he has had to endure under the persecution include torture and forced confessions. Tiebei Detention Centre police officer Liu Huibin in Changchun even stated, "I am ordering you to confess! You have to confess! I am telling you to admit guilt! You have to do it, even if you refuse. On this bench, if I say you raped your mother, you will have to admit it!"
Mr. Wang was formerly an employee of the Changchun Bus Manufacturing Plant, working in the thermal electric shop. In April 1999 he started to practise Falun Gong. Since then his mind and body has gone through many great changes. He used to be very hot-tempered and would swear and beat others easily. He was a headache for others, both at work and home. After practising Falun Gong, his bad habits disappeared. His co-workers said that Falun Gong had changed him into a very good person.
On November 19th, 2000, Mr. Wang and his wife were at a friend's home. Suddenly about six or seven police officers broke in and started to search the residence. They confiscated Falun Gong books, and other Falun Gong materials. Mr. Wang, his wife, and three others were taken to Changchun's Beijing Road Police Station. During this whole time, nobody explained to them why the friend's residence was being searched or why they were being arrested. They were detained overnight and the next day transferred to the Changchun Police Station, where they were interrogated for a day, all in violation of the Chinese constitution. On the evening of November 20th, 2000, Mr. Wang and two other practitioners were taken to Changchun's Tiebei Detention Centre and detained.
Mr. Wang was in the detention centre for 19 months. By law, people are only supposed to be held for a maximum of 48 days. During this time, agents from the first division of the Changchun City Police Station interrogated him, brutally tortured him, and then fabricated a confession on his behalf.
During this time, officials from the first division at the Changchun City Police Department set up an office called a "collaborating office," made up of the police in the first team of the city police department. At 2:30 p.m. on January 18th, 2001, police officers Liu Huibin and an officer nicknamed "Big Eyes" arrived to move Mr. Wang from the Tiebei Detention Centre to the third floor of the office building of the first division of the city police department. Five people were there, and the person in charge was section head Yang. In the middle of the room stood the Tiger Bench1. At about 3:00 p.m. they tied Mr. Wang's arms and feet to the bench. They put a metal club horizontally on his belly and locked it in place. In addition, they secured his hands behind his back with nylon ropes. His hands were tied behind his back, but the police pulled the nylon ropes forward. Liu Huibin ordered two other police officers to hold Wang's shoulders tightly downward. When Mr. Wang struggled, Liu pulled his shirt up and used a high voltage electric baton to shock his neck and back. Mr. Wang's arms were being pulled at the same time as his shoulders were being pressed down, causing tremendous pain.
Liu also threatened, "You will say what I want you to, and you will admit what I want you to. On this bench, even if I want you to admit that you raped your mother, you will have to admit it!" Mr. Wang withstood the torture for a few minutes and started to sweat. Liu the ordered the pressure to be increased. "Big Eyes" pressed Wang's arms down with great force, and Liu poured cold water on Wang's back. Then "Big Eyes" pulled the ropes tightly, and the other two pushed Mr. Wang's shoulders down, all the while shocking him with electric batons. After a while Mr. Wang lost consciousness. The thugs then poured cold water on him to wake him up. One of them shook his foot. By then Mr. Wang was unconscious and unable to move. Yet Liu claimed that Mr. Wang's physical condition was fine, and later they would put the ropes on Wang again.
The third time they performed this torture on Mr. Wang, Liu ordered "Big Eyes" to pull the ropes tighter, stretching Mr. Wang's arms back all the way to his thighs. In addition, Liu ordered two other thugs to step hard on Mr. Wang's shackled foot. Mr. Wang struggled to endure the misery. A bone on his left foot fractured. The two thugs quickly left. "Big Eyes" was exhausted and his shirt was soaked with sweat. Mr. Wang fainted once again. When he regained consciousness, his head was wet from the cold water and his arms were bruised. Liu told Mr. Wang that he should be wiser so that he would not have to suffer again. Liu told Gao Peng to take notes and said, "Just write down what we drafted. After that, let him sign. Whether or not he wants to sign, we will punish him anyway." Gao Peng told Mr. Wang if he did not follow their arrangement, he would have to suffer again.
Afterwards, Liu used even more brutal physical punishment to torture Mr. Wang. He used an electric baton to shock his neck and private parts. He also ordered "Big Eyes" to poke the electric baton inside Mr. Wang's mouth and shock him. Liu repeatedly tortured Mr. Wang, trying to force him to admit that his confession resembled those of the other practitioners so that they could get a so-called "confession by consensus."
The two days and one night of severe torture caused Mr. Wang tremendous misery, both mentally and physically. He lay down and could not get up in the detention centre for four months. Some of his ribs were broken; a bone on the left side of his left foot was fractured; a bone was twisted; his blood pressure was abnormal; he could not breathe normally; his arms and legs were black and blue; and his stomach ached almost beyond endurance. He frequently vomited. The improperly set foot fracture left him crippled, and he was in agony when he walked. The other physical injuries are still not completely healed, even now.
In the autumn of 2001, the Angina District Court in Changchun attempted to have a trial for Mr. Wang and 13 other practitioners. Due to righteous statements from close to 1,000 practitioners, the trial was eventually dismissed.
On March 6th, 2002, the Angina District Court in Changchun City once again tried 13 practitioners, including Mr. Wang Hongge. On the day of the trial, the police were all over the inside and outside of the courthouse. Only one member of each practitioner's family was permitted to witness the court proceedings. The police carefully examined each one of the family members and confiscated all their belongings prior to the trial. The police also made the families go through a security check to make sure that they didn't carry anything forbidden, mainly recorders and camcorders. There were many plainclothes officers in the courtroom. The whole court proceeding was under their control.
Every practitioner had a lawyer, but most of the lawyers remained silent and did not even raise a question. One lawyer said that the prosecuted had some social standing and in the past the government also permitted and supported people practising Falun Gong. As soon as he said that, the court police immediately went over to the lawyer and silenced him.
Most of the 13 practitioners had sustained injuries. Some injuries were serious and the practitioners couldn't walk and needed assistance. It was obvious that the injuries were caused by torture. The presiding judge demanded that the practitioners answer questions standing up. Practitioner Mr. Yang Feng wasn't able to stand. The court police went over and yanked him up. His family sitting at the back said, "He can't stand, but you still make him. You are all too cruel!" As soon as the family spoke, a plainclothes officer gave the court police a signal and they immediately removed the family from the courtroom. Practitioner Yang Guang's family was ordered out for the same reason. Both family members were unconstitutionally detained for 15 days for this.
The prosecutor submitted the persecuted practitioners' so-called "confessions" into evidence. (These "confessions" had been falsified and obtained under cruel torture.) The court police would cut the practitioner off before he finished his statement. Some of the practitioners were pulled out of the courtroom. One could hear the sound of someone being beaten or electrically shocked in the corridor outside the room. One practitioner asked to withdraw from the courtroom, because he didn't want to cooperate with such a trial arrangement. He was taken from the courtroom. Thugs broke one of his legs. Two men later pulled him back into the courtroom. Severe torture went on like that in broad daylight in a place where law and order are supposed to be dispensed. The atmosphere inside and outside of the courtroom turned chaotic. To keep the news of this travesty from leaking to the public, practitioners' families were forbidden to go out during the lunch break or to make phone calls. The families were even followed and monitored when they went to the toilet.
On March 8th, 2002, the court reconvened and "unlawfully sentenced2" Mr. Wang Hongge to 13 years in prison. His family didn't receive any notice of the so-called "verdict," which was handed down in secret, in violation of the Chinese constitution.
In the summer of 2002, the Jilin City Prison notified Wang Hongge's family to come visit him. When his family got there, prison authorities forbade the family from going in. They made the family get a permit from the local police facility. Carrying a one-year-old baby, Wang Hongge's wife went back and forth six times to the Jilin Prison. She only saw her husband once. Later they heard that morally bankrupt individuals had brainwashed Mr. Wang to force him giving up his belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." He suffered severe torture numerous times. They intimidated him into giving up his belief and writing the so-called Five Statements (similar to the three statements3). When he left Jilin Prison, blood covered his back. His family didn't know the details of his torture and abuse.
In the spring of 2004, Mr. Wang Hongge was transferred to the Siping City Shiling Prison. Torture had ruined his health. During his family's first visit at the Shiling Prison, he talked about how the Changchun Police Department agents cruelly tortured him. He also recounted the abuse and inhuman treatment he received at the Jilin Prison. He asked his family to appeal. The head of the prison Education Section, Chen Guomin, also agreed to his decision to appeal. Yet, when the family made their next visit, Chen Guomin didn't permit Mr. Wang to tell his family about the appeal. He only permitted Mr. Wang himself to write the appeal documentation.
In July 2005, on family visiting day, Mr. Wang Hongge learned that his mother-in-law was critically ill. His wife rushed to Shiling Prison and asked if Mr. Wang Hongge could see his mother-in-law for the last time. Prison Policy Section head Li Cajun said that since Wang Hongge didn't admit his crime, parole was not possible. He also threatened Wang's family that if they continued to stay, he would call the 610 Office4. Wang Hongge's wife went back to Changchun City, but her mother had died before her arrival.
On January 17th, 2006, before the Chinese New Year, Mr. Wang's family heard that he had a fever. This fever continued for a month. He had problems relieving himself, chest pains, dizziness, and shortness of breath. The prison hospital examined him and said that he was fine. The family went to prison section head Li Cajun and requested treatment for Mr. Wang. Li said that the family would have to pay the medical expenses. "What prison doesn't have a few deaths every year?" he added.
To date, all of Mr. Wang's appeals are on hold on order from Yin Shoudong, head of the Fourteenth Prison Ward at the Shiling Prison. According to a prison insider, the authorities ordered all the Falun Gong appeals materials to be set aside. None of the appeals information is permitted to leave the prison, nor is it possible to deliver it to the courts.
On February 7th, 2006, the family went to Shiling Prison again out of the concern for Mr. Wang's health. Li Zhiqiang wrote down their request to see him. Li lied and said that he had already reported to his superiors that Mr. Wang's appeal documents were being withheld. He also falsely stated that Mr. Wang's health was good. Li was accompanied by prison hospital director Jiang Xinguo, and the two deceived the family together.
In addition, the family requested the prison to no longer hold up Mr. Wang's appeals documentation. The section head, Mr. Sun, said that he could only "report it to his superiors." The family had raised the same request with Li Zhiqiang on February 7th, but there was no result. The family then became more worried about Wang Hongge's health.
On February 21st, Mr. Wang's family once again went to Shiling Prison. They said that they suspected that he didn't eat because he had trouble relieving himself, and that might be the reason he had become skinny. Section head Sun replied that Wang Hongge was not on a hunger strike. He ate instant noodles and also drank water. If any prisoner intended to get out by hurting himself or by a hunger strike, it would not work. "We are not afraid of hunger strikes. We have ways to deal with it." When the family asked to see Mr. Wang, the prison authorities refused them because it wasn't visiting day.
Later, when Wang Hongge's mother called Shiling Hospital, hospital director Jiang Guoxin sowed dissension and didn't want to be responsible, so he claimed that it was Wang Hongge's wife who told Wang to undertake a hunger strike.
We wish for everyone to condemn the persecution, so that we can put a stop to it together.
Note
1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.
2. Illegally sentenced: Contrary to what former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who initiated the persecution, and the Chinese Communist Party would like the world to believe, practising Falun Gong is NOT illegal in China. Although the Public Security Department issued an unconstitutional set of restraints on the practice at the onset of the persecution in 1999, no laws have been passed by the only legislative body in China, the People's Congress, banning Falun Gong or granting the police the authority to arrest Falun Gong practitioners for practising the exercises or distributing flyers. For a more complete discussion of the illegality of the persecution of Falun Gong, please refer to the article "The Ban on Falun Gong—A Dictator's Whim, Not the Rule of Law". (Variation: "illegally arrested")
3. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.
4. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/3/2/121889.html
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