The Brutal Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Jiangsu Province (Part 2)

Part 1: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200609/35535.html

Inhuman Torture at Mental Hospitals

To break down Falun Gong practitioner’s determination, 610 Office¹ agents in Jiangsu Province have put many normal practitioners into mental hospitals, where they are inhumanly tortured. For example, in Nanjing City several dozens of Falun Gong practitioners have been put into mental hospitals. Some have been imprisoned there repeatedly. The longest term is about one year.

1. Nanjing Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Han Jizhen Savagely Tortured at the Nanjing Mental Hospital

The following is a description of the torture that Ms. Han Jizhen experienced at the Nanjing Mental Hospital. It was written by her son, Mr. Wang Yusheng, who is also a Falun Gong practitioner, but lives in the United States.

"My mother started practising Falun Gong in the first half of 1998. Within a few months, she experienced great benefits physically, and the women's disease that had plagued her for several years was cured. She lived by the principles of Truthfulness, Forbearance, Benevolence. She became much kinder and friendlier to others.

Jiang Zemin’s group started suppressing and persecuting Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999. My mother went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on December 23rd, 1999. She knew whoever went to the Appeals Office would be arrested, so she went to Tiananmen Square instead. A policeman there asked her, "Do you practise Falun Gong?" She answered, "Yes!" He arrested her and put her into a police car. A policeman got into the car and started to slap her in the face. He slapped her until he was tired of it.

When the police found my mother’s home address on her identification card they took her back home to Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province and forcibly put her into the Nanjing Mental Hospital. At first the hospital refused to accept her because the doctors could not see any mental problems. But the police forced them to take her. The doctors told my family, 'She was put into the hospital not for being mentally ill, but for practising Falun Gong!'

I was very shocked when I heard that my mother was in a mental hospital. I told this to my colleagues and my boss. They all found it hard to believe. They said, 'This is the 21st century. How can this happen?'

So I took time off work and flew to Shanghai. The next day I arrived at the Nanjing Mental Hospital and visited my mother. She told me, 'I am forced to take medicine orally or by injection. If I refuse, they will tie me up and force-feed me. These medicines make my body sore. I feel discomfort no matter what I do, whether I sit, stand or lay down. I have lost the energy to do anything, and I feel dizzy and upset, and I cannot keep my thoughts focused.' When she talked, I noticed that she spoke and moved slowly, and she had difficulty speaking clearly. She was slow in responding and looked like a mental patient.

During our conversation, a nurse shouted outside the door. My mother said to me nervously, 'They are going to give me medicine again!' Then a young nurse stepped in, holding a cup with water and medicine. While she was administering the medicine, she said to my mother, 'Do you still want to practise Falun Gong? Don’t practise any more.' I felt great pain watching this.

I went to see her regular doctor. I said, 'I am Ms. Han Jizhen’s son, and I came from the United States. I want to know her situation.' She told me, 'In her current situation she can go home any time as long as the police agree.' I then asked her why my mother was given medicine. She said, 'We have no choice. The police sent her here so we have to give her medicine. We will be in big trouble if she goes to appeal for Falun Gong again.'

On the requests of my family, my mother was released from the hospital a few days before the Chinese New Year. But the police went to her home the next day and asked her to write a statement to promise that she would never go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Otherwise, they would take her back to the mental hospital. Under this huge pressure, my mother wrote the statement against her will. But the next day the police came back again. They said, 'The statement that you wrote is not enough. You must write another statement promising that you will never practise Falun Gong. Otherwise, we will take you back to the mental hospital.' My mother replied, 'How can I promise that? I experienced great benefits both physically and mentally by practising Falun Gong. How can I stop doing such a good thing?' The police said, 'Then you still have a mental problem. It has not been cured. You need more treatment.' They took her back to the mental hospital for two more months.

At that time, my father had cancer and had just had an operation. He needed my mother’s care. But since the police put my mother in the mental hospital, my mother was not able to care for him, but rather needed him to care for her, such as bring meals for her every day. Their lives were totally ruined!

At the end of 2000, I invited my parents to visit me in the United States. They got visas and were ready to take their flight. However, the customs agents at the Shanghai airport stopped her because they found her name on the "black list." The police knew that their crimes would be exposed to the public if my mother left China."

- Statement by Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Wang Yongsheng in the United States

December 9th, 2002

2. Falun Gong Practitioners from Suining County, Xuzhou City are Tortured in Mental Hospitals

We are Falun Gong practitioners in Xuzhou City, Suining County, Jiangsu Province. The police put three of us in mental hospitals against our wills for three months in 2000. During that time, we were tied to beds, forcibly injected and force-fed medicine. The medical staff there injected large quantities of unknown drugs into our bodies that caused us to immediately lose consciousness. Right after the injections, while the drugs were active, we experienced such severe pain that we would roll on the floor, yell and slam our bodies against the wall. When we regained consciousness, we asked them, "Why do you inject and force-feed us, though we do not have any mental problems?" They said, "We have to follow orders from the top. We don’t want to treat you like this, but we will lose our jobs if we don’t do so." They also told us, "These medicines will not kill you, but they will make you suffer. If you stop practising Falun Gong, we will stop giving you the medicine. But it can not be stopped on the spot. We need to gradually reduce the quantity. So you should not run away from the hospital. Otherwise, you will become insane or die, and other people will think you are mentally sick and take you back to the hospital." We are women, but the mental hospital separated us and put us among the male patients. One day, a practitioner sat in the lotus position on a chair. The hospital president went over to her and said, "You are still doing the exercise? We will increase the quantity of your medicine so that you will beg us to let you die. Let's see whether you will still want to practise!"

Three months later, we were sent to the Judong City Women’s Forced Labour Camp. Since the medicine was stopped right away, we had terrible reactions. One practitioner kept rolling on the ground and running around. Two people were not able to restrain her. She was shaking all the time, her head drooped down and her eyes were dull. She yelled out often and could not sleep. When the pain was too severe, she would bang her head and body against the wall. Another practitioner suffered severe cramps, writhing in pain on the floor, unable to stand or walk. Others had to carry her in and out of the cell. At night she was filled with anxiety and would vomit blood. All of these reactions tortured us for fifty days. The forced labour camp once took a practitioner to a hospital in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province for a mental diagnosis. The results reported, "Her brain nerves are functioning normally. Her abnormal behaviour is the result of an intake of a large quantity of strong medication."

3. Changzhou City Dafa Practitioner Mr. Chen Zhong Was Put into a Mental Hospital for Torture

Mr. Robin Munro is a senior researcher at the School of Law and China Study Centre, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the University of London. In his book, entitled "Judicial Psychiatry in China and Its Political Abuses," he cited real cases of the psychiatric torture of Falun Gong practitioners by Chinese communist party. His book includes a case in Jiangsu Province, Changzhou City. The following is a summary of the case:

On the afternoon of July 25th, 2002, Changzhou City Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Chen Zhong was "invited" by the police and officials from the Bureau of Civil Affairs for questioning. Without any legal justification, he was taken to the Changzhou City Number 102 Hospital Mental Disease Treatment Centre for examination. They told him openly, "If you continue practising Falun Gong, even though you are not insane, we can make you insane." However, Mr. Chen Zhong did not yield.

On the afternoon of September 28th, 2002, under the pretext of asking him some questions, the police took Mr. Cheng Zhong to the Wujin County Third People’s Mental Hospital against his will. He was given medication for those who have mental problems. Mr. Chen Zhong refused to take the medicine. The police electrically shocked him five times to force him to take it. He was tortured there for more than ten days.

In a tape recording, Mr. Chen Zhong said, "I felt very cold because I wore only one T-shirt. My family did not know where I was. I did not have any extra clothes and was not allowed to shave. This hospital claims it is a "humanitarian hospital," but actually it imprisoned many people who were appealing against unfair treatment. It was even worse than a detention centre because its mental and physical torture methods are more vicious. I am a Falun Gong practitioner, and a good citizen that never broke any laws. I live by the principles of ‘Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance’ which is beneficial to our society and government. Why was I treated this way?"

Savage Abuse in Jail

During the Chinese New Year of 2003, United States' citizen, Falun Gong practitioner Dr. Li Xiangchun, also known as Charles Lee, who was born in Jiangsu Province Yancheng City, went to visit his parents in China. He was arrested by the Chinese police at the Guangzhou Airport. After being imprisoned for over fifty days, Dr. Li Xiangchun was sentenced to three years in jail by a Chinese court under cooked up charges on March 21st, 2003. He was imprisoned in Nanjing Prison.

Dr. Li started a hunger strike to protest the unjust treatment on May 27th, 2003. He was abused and force-fed at the Nanjing Prison hospital starting Saturday, May 31st.

After hearing of his hunger strike, a U.S. consulate officer drove to the Nanjing Prison on Monday, June 2nd. He requested to meet with Dr. Li Xiangchun to check on his safety and health, but the prison turned down his request. After repeated requests, the Nanjing Prison allowed him to talk to Dr. Li Xiangchun over the phone. Dr. Li told him that he had been abused and force-fed, which caused him great pain.

Dr. Li Xiangchun’s fiancé, Miss Fu Yongqing, immediately called the Nanjing Prison after hearing this news. Warden Shun, who talked to her over the phone before, said cruelly, "Don’t keep bothering us." To avoid further questions, he said, "You don’t sound like his fiancé." Before, he had told Miss Fu Yongqing, "You tell Dr. Li Xiangchun to be honest and cooperate with us, then we might consider releasing him after two years. Otherwise, he has to stay here for the full three-year term."

The U.S. consulate officer said that from June 27th, 2003, Dr. Li Xiangchun had been forced to undergo five brainwashing sessions. Every time he was forced to listen to two hours of anti-Falun Gong propaganda. Dr. Li refused to go to a brainwashing session on July 8th. The wardens ordered a group of inmates to beat him, and then they forcibly dragged him downstairs and carried him to the brainwashing class. He was also abused when they dragged him to the brainwashing class the next day. This torture left at least 29 scars on his body, and many of them were large. Dr. Li Xiangchun started another hunger strike to protest this abuse.

During this time, Dr. Li Xiangchun sent six letters to the U.S. Consulate officer, but they never reached the destination. Because he did not receive his weekly letter, the consulate officer called Dr. Li directly and learned that his right to practise the Falun Gong exercises and read the Falun Gong books were deprived and he was forced to go to brainwashing classes. Also, the number of people in Dr. Li Xiangchun’s cell had been increased from four to ten. The six extra inmates were sent to monitor him around the clock so that he could not practise. One inmate, who had been given a death sentence for selling drugs, once threatened to kill Dr. Li.

The U.S. Consulate officer finally received eight pages of the ninety-four pages Dr. Li sent him; the remaining pages were blocked by the Chinese government. Dr. Li Xiangchun mentioned in his writings that he had been savagely beaten when he was arrested in January 2003. He was interrogated continuously for three days and three nights and not allowed to sleep. When he was sent to the Nanjing Prison, he "was handcuffed for a long time" and forced to watch brainwashing videos that defamed Falun Gong.

For the past seven years, under the control of the Jiangsu Province "610 Office," local court systems in Jiangsu Province actively followed Jiang Zemin’s group and the Chinese CCP’s evil policies to persecute Falun Gong. They openly violate laws and human rights by holding illegal trials of Falun Gong practitioners. The trial of Taichang City Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Qin Yanqiu by the Taichang City Court is an example.

Judge Liu Liangkai: "If you die, that’s nothing to us."

Taichang City Court held an illegal trial for local Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Qin Yanqiu on November 7th, 2005. She was tried just because she had two copies of "Minghui Weekly" magazine, two copies of Minghui Weekly newspaper, and five cards that had "Falun Dafa Is Good" printed on them. Judge Liu Liangkai refused to let her hire a lawyer, and made up excuses to force her husband and son to leave the court during the trial. When Liu Liangkai asked Ms. Qin Yanqiu whether she had any final words, Ms. Qin Yanqiu started to say, "Falun Gong is righteous." But Liu Liangqiu cut her off saying, "Shut up." Ms. Qin Yanqiu said, "I did not commit any crime. You are illegally trying me. I will continue my hunger strike to protest. If I die you are all criminals." Judge Liu Liangkai said, "If you die, that’s nothing to us."

The Court Shamelessly Lied

After Ms. Qin Yanqiu was tried and sentenced by the Taichang City Court, her family requested the written judgement many times. The primary correspondent at the court first said that it was mailed to her work unit, Jianxiong Institute in Taichang City. They waited many days, but still received nothing. Then they asked for it again, but did not get anywhere. Later, her family told the correspondent that they needed it to go to Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province to appeal. The court then presented the written judgement and claimed, "The letter to the work unit was returned, and that’s why it took such a long time to give you this." Jianxiong Institute was only a few blocks away from the Taichang City Court.

The trial of Ms. Qin Yanqiu was open to the public. Many people attended. Because Ms. Qin Yanqiu refuted the fabricated charges against her in court, the corrupt judge thought she had a bad attitude and severely sentenced her. The written judgement said: "She admitted guilt to all charges." They lied openly and shamelessly.

(To be continued)

Note

1. "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/2006/8/27/136388.html