Falun Gong Practitioners at the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp Enslaved and Tortured by Brigade Captain Zhao Shuang

Zhao Shuang of the Fifth Brigade at the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp has savagely enslaved and tortured the illegally detained¹ Falun Gong practitioners in his charge. The following is an eyewitness account, in the words of a persecuted practitioner.

I was detained in the Fifth Brigade of the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp on February 17th, 2004. On my second day there, Brigade Captain Zhao Shuang summoned three newcomers, including myself, to the hallway and shocked us with an electric baton. Then he threatened us in an effort to coerce us into working harder as slave labourers, promising that if we didn't he'd use the electric baton on us again.

The Fifth Brigade was assigned to packing toothpicks. Each detainee was required to pack four big boxes each day. Most detainees couldn't complete their quotas in a single shift, and had no choice but to extend their working hours. The task would usually take a young person between ten and twelve hours to complete. The Fifth Brigade was required to complete the whole job within seven or eight days. It was almost impossible for older people to keep up. For me, at more than 50 years old, it was slow going, and Dong Hebin and Lin Haiyang, the prisoners in charge of production, would beat and curse me. Once Dong Hebin knocked a tooth out of my mouth with his fist. For the slowest of us, we worked each day until 4:00 a.m.. Going seven or eight days in a row with only one hour of sleep each day, some of us complained about our weariness and the poor lighting, but Zhao Shuang simply answered, "No matter what, you have to work until at least 3:00 a.m."

When Zhao Shuang was on duty at the work site, he was always drunk and used foul language to curse the detainees. One day I asked him why he always had to shout curses at us. Right away he had prisoners Dong Hebin, Lin Haiyang, and Zhong Chunlong drag me to the hallway and beat me. Zhao Shuang also zapped me with his electric baton. Seeing my refusal to submit, Zhao Shuang took me to headquarters and shoved me to the floor. He subjected me to the torture method know as "rowing the boat," forcing my arms backward repeatedly with great force, making a snapping sound. I suffered terribly from the pain and hadn't the strength to move my arms, increasing the difficulty of my labour.

After that I was even slower, and Dong Hebin and Lin Haiyang continually beat and cursed me.

On New Year's Day of 2005, I shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" For that, Zhao Shuang had me chained and tied to a metal chair. A few days later, while I was performing forced labour, an instructor waved a piece of paper in front of me, saying, "The "guarantee letter²" you wrote isn't right." Taking a quick look at it, I replied, "If it's no good, why don't you tear it up?" Then he told prisoners to drag me to the metal chair. After they told Zhao Shuang what I said, he came over with two instructors and told Yang Lei to strip me down to my underwear. With Yang Lei holding me down, Zhao Shuang used two electric batons to shock me until the batteries went dead. There were black spots and blisters all over my body, from my neck to my thighs. Then, accompanied by the sound of their laughter, Zhao Shuang pinched my testicles through a plastic bag, causing me unbearable pain. The next day Zhao Shuang shocked me with the electric baton again, and shouted curses at me. By that time my suffering was so severe that I'm sure I appeared to be out of my mind.

One night they said that I had shouted, "Falun Dafa is good" in my sleep, so the camp instructor and the other prisoners beat me and locked me up in the metal chair. Yang Lei choked me, while Dong Hebin, Lin Haiyang, and Zhong Chunlong kept beating me. Due to the confusion and my natural reaction I struggled, and they said I was still resisting, so they tied me up with ropes and handcuffed my wrists to the chair. Then they began to beat me with even greater force. My face, head, and body were covered with purple and black bruises; my left eye was dark green and filled with blood. The next day, Captain Zhao shocked me with the electric baton and asked me whether I was ready to submit or not. Later they sent me to an isolation chamber, tied me to a metal chair, forced my head back, choked me, and kicked my head with their boots. Yang Lei and Gong Hebin used a big lock to smash my feet, making my toes black, and my feet as swollen as a loaf of bread. They jabbed me in the head with toothpicks, hurting my eyes. Dong Hebin also copied Captain Zhao's way of pinching my testicles.

To this day, whenever I exert myself even a little, for example when I wash my clothes or walk a bit quickly, my heart races weakly, I always feel weak and dizzy, and I often suffer headaches. All of these are due to the persecution I was subjected to by Zhao Shuang and the prisoners at the forced labour camp. I wasn't the only one being persecuted in the Fifth Brigade. Zhao Shuang also hit and shocked Mr. Wu Zhanchun with an electric baton because he couldn't keep up with the labour requirements. The 63-year-old practitioner Mr. Jin Zhude was frequently cursed and beaten by the drunken Zhao Shuang. His pitiful cries were terrible to hear as Zhao used his electric baton. Mr. Zhou Peihong's arms were injured from Zhao's use of the "rowing the boat" torture method, his arms had to be set in a splint, and he was sent to a hospital outside the camp for medical care. Mr. Yu Enxiang's ear was struck and injured; he lost the hearing in that ear and also had to be hospitalised outside the camp. They were the practitioners most severely persecuted by Zhao Shuang in 2005.

Whenever Zhao Shuang was on duty he was always drunk. At the work site he would curse and berate us with a withering torrent of foul language. Sometimes when he cursed he would urinate in front of us while Zheng Yungang caught the urine with a cuspidor.

Inside the camp they over-charged the detained practitioners for making phone calls: 5 yuan³ for a local call and 10 yuan for long distance. I made three phone calls and the prisoner Zheng Yungang collected 30 yuan from me. When I complained, he said the brigade set the price.

At one group meeting Zhao Shuang threatened us, saying, "You WILL work hard for me. I will punish anyone who speaks ill of me. No one can stop me because I have the support of powerful government officials." At that meeting Zhao Shuang behaved as if he were intoxicated, and he actually named several officials.

Therefore, I hereby charge Captain Zhao Shuang of the Fifth Brigade, Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp, with the following crimes:

Hitting, beating, and cursing Falun Gong practitioners, causing injuries and disabilities.

Abusing his authority by torturing the detainees in his charge with electric batons, causing physical and mental injuries.

Using physical abuse to force camp detainees to perform slave labour, often for more than twenty hours a day.

Heaping abuse on Falun Gong practitioners, including assaults on their characters and personal humiliation.

Being drunk on duty, resulting in bad conduct.

Extorting money from detainees for making phone calls.

Indecent conduct, such as public urination.

Note

1. Illegally arrested: 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 sentenced")

2. "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

3. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/5/1/126572.html