Ways That Benxi Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners, Both Physically and Mentally

Since Jiang Zemin's regime began its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners on July 20th, 1999, Benxi Forced Labour Camp (also called Benxi Weining Forced Labour Camp) has persecuted 300 practitioners to varying degrees. The forced labour camp has developed a set of brutal measures to persecute practitioners. This article recounts part of what occurred between 2005 and 2006 in the camp.

The "Law and Order Education Centre" (the team for persecuting Falun Gong) of Benxi Forced Labour Camp uses police guards and collaborators (former Falun Gong practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong) to guard Falun Gong practitioners but not other inmates. They hire collaborators¹ as needed to brainwash steadfast practitioners. Their verbal abuses, attacks, insults and defamations of Dafa are worse than the physical tortures the practitioners have to endure.

As soon as one walks into the "Law and Order Education Centre" of Benxi Labour Camp, a large banner announces, "Educate, Rehabilitate, and Save." In reality it is the centre for persecuting practitioners.

Sandwich, encircle, and humiliate

The first thing they did to a newly arrived practitioner was to assign two collaborators, one on each side, to guard and monitor him or her. From the time the practitioner woke up until the time he went to bed, including mealtimes and toilets visits, the two were there. Sometimes they had the person sit up all night on a little bench to listen to their attacks on Dafa, and practitioners, or to their propaganda for the Communist Party. For steadfast practitioners, they at times rounded up seven to eight guards to hurl verbal abuse at them.

Mr. Li Guangwen was a 40-year-old unmarried college graduate. After they verbally abused and humiliated him, a female collaborator set a little bench in front of him, sat on it, and pushed her forehead up against Mr. Li's and said, while choking his neck, "Let's see whether you have lust or not."

Former Falun Gong assistant Jiang Husu has long been guarded by two collaborators and was prohibited from having any contact with other practitioners. He was not allowed to talk with other practitioners, even when he met them during restroom visits. If he did, they put him in solitary confinement or extended his sentence. He steadfastly believed in Dafa and would not cooperate. He was sent to solitary confinement several times. Later, he was isolated and moved into the general inmate population. He remains in Benxi Camp.

Mr. Sun Tiechun was hearing impaired. His hand was injured as a result of torture and he could not move it easily. They often laughed at him on account of his disability. He would not cooperate with the brainwashing. Within those two years, until the second quarter of 2006, he was sent to solitary confinement eleven times at the direction of the deputy director Guo Tieying. They were very tough on him during solitary confinement, not letting him wear heavy clothes in winter and not giving him blankets. He was so cold at night that he could not sleep.

He had to attend the brainwashing sessions three to four days a week. In the sessions, the guards attacked Dafa and promoted Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda. Everyone was required to attend. Uncooperative practitioners were restrained in a chair and compelled to listen. All practitioners brought here were brainwashed this way, and this is what they termed "education."

Exploiting practitioners' sentimentality toward family members

When the authorities realised that their attacks and verbal abuses of Dafa and the propaganda for the Communist Party had no effect on practitioners, they tricked their family members into coming to the camp and used them to try to influence the practitioners. The husbands, wives, children, parents, brothers, or sisters of the practitioner came to the camp and wept, complaining about their being abandoned by the practitioners. Sometimes the managers of the practitioner's company or his friends came and said that practitioners were being selfish, caring about only their own cultivation and not about their families.

Who exactly broke up numerous families and caused family members to be separated or die? Was it not caused by the Party's persecution of these good people, who adhere to the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance?"

Use of violence

How did they "save" practitioners? Being "saved" was a euphemism for brutal treatment. When both "education" and "rehabilitation" with lies did not succeed in getting a practitioner to give up his or her belief in Dafa, they used the most evil and deceptively harmless method to "save" the practitioner. The method was easy to implement, too. They put the practitioner on the death bed² or "stretching bed." They put two twin beds side by side and lay the practitioner on them in the middle, along the steel bar. They handcuffed his legs and arms to the four corners and then pulled the beds apart. (Later they switched to ropes because the handcuffs left visible injuries on practitioner Wang Xuefe and they preferred not to leave marks that others could see.) They pulled the beds apart after a certain interval and filled the gap with bricks. Every pull could cause huge damage to the practitioner's body. It the past, this torture was called "separating the corpse by five horses." In ancient times it was called "separation by coaches."

The guards who applied the torture included the deputy manager of the training department, Dong Po; the staff person of the "Law and Order Education Centre," Zheng Kai; the camp operation director, Chen Zhongwei (now transferred to Xihu Prison); "Law and Order Education Centre" Director Liu Shaoshi; and deputy directors Zheng Tao, and Guo Tieying. As a former military doctor, Liu Shaoshi controlled the extent of the torture to avoid risking practitioners' lives. For example, he would let practitioners stay on hunger strikes for four days before force-feeding them.

The cruelest part was that once a practitioner was put on the bed, he or she would not be released either to use the restroom or for forced-feeding. Practitioners who were tortured this way included Yan Bo for 20 days, Jiao Fang for seven days, Wang Jinhai for 18 days, and Wang Xuefei for about 10 days. Also, Mr. Sun Tiechun was tortured this way three times, each time lasting 15-16 days, in November 2004 and June and July of 2006. Ono of these times he was forced-fed with an unknown drug. Afterwards, he was dazed and his hands became disabled. In addition, Li Qinghuan was tortured for seven days, Jia Jingwen for 13 days, Wang Jingwan for about 10 days, Zhao Wei for 13 days, and Mr. Li Guangwen for over 20 days. Li Guangwen lost consciousness at the end. They kicked him violently when he was pulled off the bed and unable to move. They kicked him until he collapsed and then they sent him away. Now his whereabouts are unknown. Jiang Hufang, Liang Yuncheng, and Zhang Shupeng were tortured for an unknown amount of time. Mr. Liu Chengguo was tied to a bed for three to four days after his hunger strike. The police tricked his wife into coming to the camp and coerced her into divorcing him, claiming to the outside world that she divorced him because he would not "convert."

Note

1. "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

2. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/3/27/151635.html