The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Mudanjiang Prison

Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Li Baohua, 30 years old, from Qitaihe City, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and is being detained in Mudanjiang Prison in Heilongjiang Province. In September 2003, he was sent to the Extensive Training Team of Mudanjiang Prison, where he was not allowed to wash his hands, face or clothes. One could not wear shoes when entering the room, so he had to go to the toilet with bare feet. Practitioners were not allowed to lie flat, and one had to sleep curled up on one's side. There were bugs crawling all over the bed. Many people got bites that itched terribly. When working, one had to use their hands that were infected and itched, to select and pack "clean chopsticks" and "water ice sticks." There were some foreign words on the boxes, indicating that these products were to be exported abroad. If a practitioner could not finish the work, his feet would be whipped by the head of the criminals in front of the guards, using "the little white dragon"-- white plastic tubes. After the arches were swollen, one was forced to jump on the ground. It was said that these conditions were actually much better than previous circumstances.

In order to protest the persecution, Li Baohua and more than a dozen other Falun Gong practitioners started a hunger strike, and they were beaten. After several days, because Li Baohua said a few words to another Falun Gong practitioner, he was beaten fiercely by the criminal inmates.

Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Guan Rian and Mr. Liu Jun were beaten fiercely by the team leader and criminals, because they refused to write a repentance statement¹. During work, others could have a rest, but Falun Gong practitioners could not. Criminal Wang Jincai said to the Falun Gong practitioners that if they did not obey the their unreasonable demands, they would not be released.

In July 2004, criminals seriously beat Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Gong Guidong in the First Squadron. Li Baohua stood up to stop this, but he was beaten until there was blood all over his body. Prison policemen neither allowed Gong Guidong to go to the hospital for an examination, nor allowed him to rest in the prison building, but forced him to go to work. Because he was injured badly, he could not walk. He was pushed on a cart by others to work and back, and he needed to be carried on the backs of others.

In the latter half of 2004, Falun Gong practitioners started a hunger strike to protest the persecution, but the persecution methods became more covert. The authorities put large amounts of salt in the forced feedings. Sometimes they used a half a kilogramme of salt and did not allow any drinking. They also falsified records. They even asked the family of Li Baohua to come to the prison to take videos, pretending that they treated the Falun Gong practitioners very well. They said that the prison would refuse responsibility if anyone starved to death.

In April 2005, Li Baohua was confined to a solitary compartment because he did the Falun Gong exercises. Once Li Baohua entered the solitary compartment, two prison guards shocked him with two electric batons, and guard Wang Xin'an even kicked him.

On July 20th, 2005, Guan Rian was found to have Falun Gong materials, so he was beaten by criminals three times within a single day. On February 10th, 2006, the Second Squadron team leader Bao Jianhui beat Mr. Guan. He hit Guan Rian in the face until his face was black and purple. Bao Jianhui was drunk at the time.

Now Li Baohua, Guan Rian and other Falun Gong practitioners are still being persecuted inside the prison. The cases above are only a few examples.

Note

1. Repentance Statement: In this 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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/3/26/123742.html