On October 21st, 2000, practitioner Mr. Cao Dong, 30, and Mr. Gao Feng, 31, were arrested by police in Beijing for producing Falun Dafa leaflets exposing the persecution, and explaining the facts of Falun Dafa to people. They were sentenced to four and a half years and four years in prison respectively without any legal representation or process.
Prior to the sentencing, they were imprisoned at the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (AR) Drug Rehabilitation Centre for brainwashing.
After their sentencing, the Beijing City Dispatching Office took them to the Dashaping Prison in Lanzhou City in Gansu Province to serve their sentence. Please read below the physical and mental torture they suffered at Lanzhou City Prison.
First Imprisoned Practitioners at the Lanzhou City Prison
On May 22nd, 2001, Mr. Cao Dong and Mr. Gao Feng were taken to the Lanzhou City Prison and held in the Training Centre. Mr. Gao was assigned to cell number one. The team leader for that cell was Liu Bingcheng and the criminal inmate in charge of the cell was nicknamed Su Douwa. The minute Mr. Gao stepped into the cell, he was told that everyone in the cell was "a big guy" and should not be offended. There were eighteen people in cell number one. Each was assigned a bunk bed.
Mr. Cao was assigned to cell number seven. The team leader for that cell was Yue and the criminal inmate in charge was Dang Zhanlong. Mr. Cao was assigned the upper bunk bed, the one above Dang Zhanlong's bed as he needed "special care." There were more than thirty people in the cell. But, most of them did not have their own bed, instead they shared one extremely wide bed.
The Education Section Chief was Yang Dong. The squadron leader was Su and the political instructor was Wang Changlin. Officers at the Education Section included Zhao and Yang Zhou. Team leaders were He Liqing, Liu Bingcheng, Yue and Qin. Later, An Jinglu became the squadron leader and others were promoted to team leaders.
Mr. Cao and Mr. Gao were the first practitioners imprisoned at the Lanzhou City Prison. Guards and inmates bullied them. They ordered them to admit "guilt," acknowledge that they were "criminal inmates," say "report" before entering offices and sign prison papers. But Mr. Cao and Mr. Gao refused to cooperate. Therefore, they were harassed, insulted, threatened and even beaten by guards and inmates. Guards and inmates said, "We have many ways to take care of you. We don't believe that we can't make you yield."
They were forced to clean the prison corridors, courtyard, guards' toilet, fetch water, dig dirt, pick up melon seeds, take garbage to the dumpsters and much more. At first, the two practitioners thought that they should be good people any place, so they worked hard. This made the authorities even more irrational in their treatment of people who responded to their evil behaviour with benevolence. They were forced to attend a number of classes where they had to study the prison handbooks and political newspapers. They also had to take military-style training and psychological tests. They were ordered to write reports about their thoughts. The two practitioners spoke out for justice in all they wrote. The tormentors could not accept that, so they no longer allowed them to write and confiscated paper and pens.
Guards frequently checked them during sleeping hours and ordered several inmates to monitor them, record their daily activities, and interrupt their Falun Gong exercises. One day Mr. Cao and Yue Tianxiang talked for a short time. The inmates reported him to He Liqing, the guard in charge of that section. He Liqing interrogated Yue Tianxiang for several hours. He suspected that they were plotting some activities.
The Hypocritical Education Section Chief Yang Dong
Section Chief Yang Dong of the Education Section had many discussions with Mr. Gao and Mr. Cao. He told them that if they behaved well, they would be transferred to the Education Section to teach inmates after three months. The Education Section had a library with books, television, VCDs and computers. The food was also better than in other sections. Criminal inmates had to pay to rent books, but Yang Dong let the practitioners borrow books for free. Hearing of their "privilege," inmates asked them to borrow books for them. They borrowed many books for inmates.
Yang Dong once asked Mr. Gao to his office. He forced him to squat in the hope that he would admit guilt and that he had broken the law. Mr. Gao clarified the truth to him, but he refused to listen. Instead, he slapped Mr. Gao's face cruelly. Guards Wang Changlin, He Liqing, and Zhao were present. Mr. Gao told him, "I will not hate you even though you beat me. But I must warn you that beating me does not bode well for you." A few days later, Yang Dong asked inmate He Congshan to bring Mr. Gao to his office. Half drunk, Yang Dong apologized to Mr. Gao for beating him that day. Then Yang Dong said, "There are three rules at the prison for you. First, you can't do any exercises. Secondly, you are forbidden to spread Falun Gong and thirdly you must stop practising Falun Gong. The government has outlawed your belief. We are the executive branch, part of the government machine. You were sentenced by the Court and not us. But, since you are an inmate at our prison, we have responsibility over you. You must follow all the rules here, be transformed1 and try to get your prison term reduced so that you can go home earlier. This is our job." Mr. Gao said, "Practising Falun Gong and being a good person is our freedom. This is my belief and I will not give it up." Yang Dong told inmate He Congshan, "Don't let him do the exercises. If he starts doing the exercise, tickle him, pull his hands down and drag his legs out."
Yang Dong is the worst section chief at the prison. He tortured practitioners the most at Lanzhou City Prison. Inmate He Congshan was the number one evil criminal inmate who assisted the guards. Yang Dong also threatened Mr. Cao and Mr. Gao, "We have already made plans how to deal with you. Handcuffs, foot shackles, electric batons and solitary confinements are all ready. We are not afraid of a hunger strike either. We got the tubes and pliers from the medical clinic."
One day, He Congshan saw that Mr. Cao was sitting in double crossed leg position, reading the book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" he had checked out from the library. He jumped on Mr. Cao and tried to move his legs. But, he did not succeed. Then, he beat Mr. Gao's forehead, called criminal inmate on-duty Cao Feng in and also reported it to the main guard Liu Bingcheng. Liu Bingcheng handcuffed Mr. Gao and used foul language. He blamed Mr. Gao for always creating trouble.
One criminal inmate warned Mr. Gao, "Be careful. They are letting you read books, so you have no time to think about Falun Gong and shift your attentions to other things." Some criminal inmates who had been imprisoned for more than a dozen years told Mr. Gao and Mr. Cao, "Never trust the guards. They are trying to deceive you. You are new to this and you don't know much about a prison. Listen to us and you won't get into trouble. The criminal inmates here are very evil. Don't tell them much. They are informants for the government, trying to report on others to get their prison term reduced. Each division has many informants, reporting to different prison leaders. They monitor all inmates and guards."
After three months, Mr. Cao and Mr. Gao asked Su and Wang Changlin, "Didn't Section Chief Yang say that he would transfer us to the Education Section to teach criminal inmates after three months?" Warden Su smiled foxily, "You are too naive. Only the people with special relationships can go there. There are many college graduates holding Masters Degree, Ph.Ds and even diplomates. Who are you?"
Hung up in the Air for Doing the Exercises Openly
The Training Centre counted the people twelve or more times daily. They frequently forced all inmates to study or participate military-style drills. One day, Mr. Gao refused to participate in the drill. Instead, he sat down in the meditating position on the big playground, in front of many guards and criminal inmates. Yue asked the criminal inmates Ma Ling and others to carry Mr. Gao to another place. The squadron leader Su and team leaders Wang Changlin, Liu Bingcheng and He Liqing were present. Su asked criminal inmates to handcuff Mr. Cao's and hang him from a high-beam bar, with his feet off the ground. The criminal inmates cheered on those torturing Mr. He, shouting loudly. Ma Ling felt like a big hero, and joked that he had seen practitioners flying on the playground like a bird with wings opened.
When Mr. Gao read Teacher's [Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa] articles, he had written down from memory Ma Ling saw it and grabbed the paper. Then he dragged Mr. Gao to the warden's office and handcuffed him. Several criminal inmates took part in the torture of Mr. Gao. They applied handcuff torture methods and used electric batons at will. They even dared to threaten or even torture others. Because Mr. Gao did the Falun Gong exercises in the cell, in front of the guards and on the playground, he was hung up from a high up beam by his handcuffed hands, or was handcuffed to an electric pole with both arms around it. He was handcuffed for several months with time off only during family visits (the prison was afraid that his family might see this). Criminal inmates Cao Feng and He Congshan beat him. When he was on a hunger strike, criminal inmate Yue cursed at him, called him the worst person in this world and asked why he had not died yet.
Once the Investigation Section searched inmate Wang Jung and found a piece of paper with the Falun Gong exercise formula on it. They ransacked the entire cell that Mr. Cao was in and took Mr. Cao for interrogation. Later they put Wang Jun in solitary confinement for seven days and frequently called Mr. Cao to their office for verbal abuse.
Forced-Brainwashing and Mental Torture
The inmates were required to form a group political study. Criminal inmate He Congshan threatened Mr. Gao that if he did not participate, they would tie him to a tree with a rope around his neck, just like a dog leash. Warden Wang Changlin came to check them several times a day.
Mr. Cao and Mr. Gao cleaned the courtyard well. But He Congshan was afraid that Wang Changlin would realize that he had not done a good job. Therefore, when he saw Wang Changlin coming towards them, he would blame Mr. Cao and Mr. Gao for not doing a good job loudly. Criminal inmates Yue Tianxiang and others would pick up brooms, pretending that they were cleaning for Mr. Cao and Mr. Gao. At that time, Mr. Gao was on hunger strike, had no water and was handcuffed. When Wang Changlin saw cigarette butts on the ground or dirt on the door, he would curse criminal inmates and deduct points. Once a criminal inmate used the warden's toilet after Mr. Gao cleaned it. When Wang Changlin saw the dirty toilet, he viciously yelled at Mr. Gao.
Wang Changlin did not allow Mr. Cao and Mr. Gao to appeal . He also said to Mr. Gao, "Haven't you said that we will be punished? Why do we still live the good life and get paid every month?" Warden Liu Bingcheng often ridiculed Mr. Gao. These evildoers were poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)) propaganda.
About three months into the practitioners' prison term, the guards stirred up hatred among the criminal inmates against Mr. Cao and Mr. Gao. They claimed that the criminal inmates had to pick melon seeds because of something Mr. Cao and Mr. Gao had done. The criminal inmates began to abuse the practitioners worse than before. Mr. Cao wrote a letter to the prison officials. Both practitioners signed it and gave it to the prison officials. They also went on a hunger strike. Then, they received many threats, and were harassed and tortured.
We suspect that prison staff took Mr. Cao Dong to the Pingliang Prison in Gansu Province five days later and kept Mr. Gao, because they felt that they stood up for each other.
Tortures
To protest the persecution, Mr. Gao repeatedly went on a hunger strike and water fast, or sometimes hunger strike without water fast, from August 2001 to the beginning of 2002.
During his hunger strike, the prison authorities frequently came to "have a discussion" with Mr. Gao. People from the Gansu Province Forced Labour Bureau and Judicial Bureau also came to discuss things with Mr. Gao. They brought a lot of food and snacks for him. They also tried to use emotions to touch him. Mr. Gao used these opportunities to expose the persecution of Falun Dafa to them.
When Mr. Gao was on hunger strike without water fasting, he was forced to work. On the nineteenth day of his hunger strike, Su and criminal inmate He Congshan forced Mr. Gao and Mr. Cao to dig dirt from the over six feet deep ditch in front of the gate, despite Mr. Gao being terribly weak from the fast. He broke out in cold sweats, felt dizzy and had no strength to walk.
During their hunger strike, the practitioners were given IV's that included unknown substances. They forced them to take many exams and blood tests. Guards beat them with electric batons and hung them up in the air. Criminal inmates beat them, forced them to sit on small iron stools and attend political study classes. They were not allowed to talk to criminal inmates. Their families were threatened and the family members and relatives who did not practise Falun Gong were coerced to come to the prison and be involved in "ideological re-education" with the practitioner or write to them. Guards from different sections were called upon to be involved in threatening practitioners. Several inmates were ordered to monitor them around the clock.
A guard screamed, "There are four thousand inmates and seven hundred guards in the prison. What impact can you two Falun Gong practitioners have? What does the dictatorship of the proletariat do? Don't use hunger strike to threaten us. If you die, you die. If a person dies in prison it's just like a dog dies or an ant dying. Nobody cares. Is it really worth it for you to give up your lives to safeguard Falun Gong?" Each time this guard lost his argument during reasoning with Mr. Gao he ended up leaving angrily. Team leader Liu Bingcheng said that Mr. Gao did not want to take care of his parents. Mr. Gao told him seriously, "You dare to tell me this lie about not taking care of my parents to my face? Now think about the media spreading lies about Falun Gong to the entire country. Was there ever a lie that the CCP dared not spread?"
To be continued
Note
1. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/1/28/147771.html
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