I Suffered Four Years of Persecution in Tiebei Prison in Changchun City

After fellow practitioners and I were illegally sentenced¹ in 2001, I suffered all sorts of physical and mental persecution in Tiebei Prison, such as being locked up in a small cell that was like a steam box, being hung up in the air by hand cuffs, and continuously forced to undergo brainwashing. We also underwent suspicious and very detailed physical check-ups, but were not aware of the real purpose for this.

On November 22nd, 2000, I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. Four fellow practitioners and I unfurled a banner five metres long in Tiananmen Square. I shouted from my heart: "Falun Dafa is great!" "Restore the innocence of my Teacher, restore the innocence of Falun Dafa!" Then a group of policemen swarmed in to arrest us, and I was sent to Qianmen Sub-bureau for interrogation. Because I refused to tell my name and address, I was transferred to Daxing County Detention Centre. Many Falun Dafa practitioners were arrested at that time. Because I again refused to tell my name, I was transferred to Dahongmen Police Station.

I was cuffed and hung up naked outdoors for the whole night, while it was snowing. The next morning, several policemen (the temporary guards always served as hatchet men) practised boxing and kicking me in turn. A police officer surnamed Wang who claimed to be an instructor and another unknown police officer beat me black and blue with a club and then brought one big and one small electric baton to shock the sensitive parts on my body, until the power ran out.

Because I still refused to give my name, I was taken back to Daxing County Detention Centre, 24 hours later. A police officer surnamed Zhang who claimed to be a member of the party, threatened us saying: "The people detained with you are the same as you, a message was sent down from my superiors that we should keep you all separate so that you can't talk to one another."

Later, due to being interrogated day after day and suffering from cruel beatings, my mind became unclear and I was taken advantage by the authorities. At the office of Jilin Province in Beijing, 17 practitioners from Jilin and I were locked up in a room. At night, practitioners in the opposite room pried open the door and rescued me. After escaping, I stayed in Beijing where I produced and posted up leaflets exposing the persecution with local and other area practitioners.

The Small Cell is Smelly and as Hot as a Steam Box

On the night of December 8th, I was again arrested. I was first detained at Tongzhou District Vice Squad Detention Centre, and then transferred to Beijing No. 7 Detention Centre. In March 2001, I was sentenced with 11 other practitioners, and locked up in Beijing City Prison, and then transferred to Tiebei Prison in Changchun on May 25th.

Prison politics section chief Mou Zhanfu, vice chief He Dan and Da Miao took us from the station to the prison. The first question was: "Are you still practising?" I said: "Yes!" They asked me whether I acknowledged my guilt, and I said "not guilty!" Officer Mou Zhanfu then said: "Lock her up!" He Dan also ceaselessly scolded me. I was sent into a dark room that was all but airless. There was only one vent, about the size of a fist, in a five square metre space where eight prisoners were detained.

It was June and very hot, the people in the cell were all naked. When the head on duty patrolled, he put his hand into the intake, and if it was too hot, he would reluctantly open the iron door for a few minutes in fear of any accident. After he opened the lock, he would move away from the door, and then tell us to open it, then he would swear because the inside was so hot and smelly, and he feared he might fall down from the fumes. I was detained for 35 days in that hellish environment. My body and mind suffered a great deal.

Sentenced for Telling the Truth, While Criminals Manage the Innocent

In August, I was transferred to the 4th Squad of the Capital Construction Team, Prison Area 7 to have the so-called prison initiation. The guards were the most notoriously evil in the entire prison. The most ruthless in beating people was Zhang Shuhuai. His father was a former warden and his second eldest brother was the secretary in charge of the prison politics section. Guard Zhang claimed the vice warden was his buddy. He said: "Even I beat you half to death, the prison won't care."

Guard Zhang Shuhuai personally chose six prisoners to form a team to take turns watching me, even when I went to the toilet. They recorded every move I made, and reported everything to Zhang the following day. They carried out "level one strict discipline" on me, did not allow me to practise the exercises, did not allow me to talk to fellow practitioners, and did not allow me to mention the persecution of Falun Gong to prisoners. I was frequently admonished, they told me to write a "thought report," but I did not write one word. At that time, the tortures led to bitterness in my heart. I thought, "What kind of world is it, where one is sentenced for telling the truth, while the criminals are in charge of the innocent?"

Seeing through the Staged "Tiananmen Self-immolation Incident"

As soon as the "Tiananmen Self-immolation Incident²" happened in 2001, it caused a stir among the prisoners. Prisoners who did not know the truth asked whether it was true. Some accused and verbally attacked practitioners. Practitioners in the same team found me and asked me whether I had seen it on TV. I said I only watched it once, but I believed genuine Falun Dafa practitioners definitely would not commit suicide.

The next day, the prison convened a meeting with all practitioners, asking our thoughts after seeing it on TV. They told us to write a report and hand it in. After a short sharing with fellow practitioners, we unanimously considered it had to be a plot to defame and frame Falun Gong. Although we could not point out the fake parts, we believed that Falun Dafa is the most righteous, that Teacher is innocent, and that Falun Dafa practitioners wouldn't violate the principles Dafa by setting themselves on fire. It was a plot for sure.

The head of prisoners who supervised me accompanied me to the education section to hand in my report. Team leader Chen Fang punished me by forcing me to stand for a long time. Police officer Zhang Shuhuai stomped around with fury, dismissed and replaced the head of supervising prisoners, and deducted two points each from other prisoners who supervised me. He tortured me in the yard, ordered the prisoners to put pressure on me, and prohibited my family visits for three months, depriving me of my right to see my family.

The Persecutors Seizes Every Opportunity

The head of the 610 Office³ in the prison, chief Jun (chief of the so called assaulting fortified people office), arranged a new round of persecution; everyone had to write the "Three Statements⁴", they took turns talking to me for the whole day, and only allowed me to sleep a very little at night. Later, for several days, they completely deprived me of sleep. Taking advantage of my tiredness, they called on "transformed" Pan Zhaorui and Mu Richun to "assist in teaching" me many times. They also called fellow villager Wang Yufu from Jilin City to try and convince me.

Because five people in the whole prison did not write the "Four Statements", the prison warned the brigade. Brigade Head Chen Fang personally harassed my family at night, trying to make them convince me. They talked to me on the phone for 40 minutes. Police officer Zhang Shuhuai also tried to bring my son in to talk to me, threatening to fire him from his job.

I was not allowed to sleep for five days straight, and I was forced to stand every day. While I was muddle-headed, I agreed to let the head of the supervision team, Zhang Zhemin, casually write a few sentences on my behalf. I slept for 24 hours, and then, when I became clear-headed, I wept aloud and I did not eat for two days. Police officer Zhang Shuhuai feigned kindness and bought some food, fruit and cooked meat for me (a total of seven times), which I accepted. Afterwards I realised it was wrong, so I paid him for all the food he brought me.

I realised the meaning of "living worse than dying." I became depressed. When I met fellow practitioners later, they encouraged me to continue practising, and not give up. So I wrote a solemn declaration to void all my words and acts that did not comply with Dafa, and immediately handed it to the brigade to forward it to the warden. I again pulled myself together.

Suspicious Physical Exams

From 2001 to 2004, the prison conducted complete body checks on all detained Falun Gong practitioners, and recorded the details of height, weight, skin, heart, blood pressure and X rays. We underwent two physical exams and one blood test. We did not know the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was so cruel that it would remove internal organs from live practitioners and then cremate the bodies to destroy the evidence. We just thought the prison treated Falun Gong practitioners differently from other prisoners.

Conducting a Hunger Strike to Protest Persecution

Yin Lizhu, a newly detained fellow practitioner, was beaten up by police officer Li Jun twice for practising the exercises. I met several practitioners during lunchtime, we all understood that Falun Dafa practitioners are one body. We are not guilty, we are innocent. Hence on the next morning, while the iron doors of every prison area were opened up for us to get food, all practitioners protested at the prison politics section, requesting to speak with prison officials, to see that they seriously punish guards who beat practitioners, and to demand they allow us to study the Falun Dafa teachings and practise the exercises.

The police locked up five of us in a small cell. Practitioner Liu Ziwei refused to enter. The police cuffed him to a tree at the entrance gate with both his feet lifted off the ground. With his body in the air, the handcuffs deeply cut into his flesh, covering him with blood. He did not recover even after six months.

Falun Dafa practitioner Zhang Hongwei was dragged to the criminal law execution section and brutally tortured for shouting, "Don't beat people!" and "Falun Dafa is good!" Other practitioners were taken back by each brigade. We all conducted a hunger strike to protest the persecution.

The Capital Construction Brigade twice sent instructors and guards to bring me out of the small cell, but I refused to leave. I put forward my conditions to the prison; I would not eat or leave the small cell without a reply.

At night, police officer Zhang Shuhuai led five tall and strong prisoners to drag me out of the cell. On the third day of the hunger strike, practitioners in other areas of the prison told me that the prison had basically agreed to all our conditions; police officers who beat people would be transferred from the post and internally punished, and they would let us study and practise the exercises. I lost my senses and believed in this lie so I began to eat and other practitioners also began to take food.

Falun Dafa practitioner Zhang Hongwei in another prison area was quite righteous, saw through the evil plot, and continued the hunger strike. On the 8th day, he was force-fed in the hospital. He had been on a hunger strike for 31 days, and his life was in danger, so he was forced to have a transfusion. The police notified his family, and his mother came from Tonghua and cried by his bed. However the police still did not let him go free, and transferred him to Jilin No. 2 Prison for further persecution.

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. The "Tiananmen Self-Immolation" [an incident on Tiananmen Square in January 2001 whereby four people set themselves alight and the Chinese Communist claimed they were Falun Gong practitioners, yet there was video evidence to strongly disprove this claim]

3. "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.

4. "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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/5/25/128720.html