Criminal Acts of Guards in the Mudanjiang Forced Labour Camp, Heilongjiang Province

Mudanjiang Forced Labour Camp is located in Sidao Village, Tielinghe Town, in the eastern suburb of Mudanjiang City. Zhang Junrong, leader of the division responsible for the entry and release of prisoners in the forced labour camp, used electric batons to abuse prisoners. Between 1999 and 2002, during his tenure as a division leader, he followed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners ruthlessly.

Toward the end of 1999, four practitioners were sent to Zhang's division in Mudanjiang Forced Labour Camp. Zou Xianbao, head of Heilongjiang Province Labour Camp Bureau, went to the Mudanjiang Forced Labour Camp to talk with practitioners, and at the same time assigned persecution tasks to several individuals: labour camp deputy head Zhao Guanying, management section head Ma Libiao, education (brainwashing) section head Zhang Zhennan, deputy section head Yan Changhai, division head Zhang Junrong, division political head Li Longyu, and others.

Zou Xianbao also dispatched guards from the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp, known for its ruthless persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, to the Mudanjiang Forced Labour Camp to teach the guards there more insidious methods of persecuting practitioners. Politics and Law Committee secretary Li Chun, who is in charge of the persecution in Mudanjiang City, arrived at the labour camp immediately, to support these guards. Zhang Junrong, Zhao Guanlin, Ma Libiao and others schemed to get a promotion and bonus from persecuting the practitioners. Zhao Guanying participated very actively in this and was later promoted to be the director of the labour camp.

Zhang Junrong assigned his favorite prisoners as a "hook" to monitor practitioners 24 hours a day, and also let them participate in the persecution of practitioners. Those prisoners whom the guards protect are called "hooks." The guards have a loose restriction on "hooks" for their daily lives and sentence reduction. They also use them to manage other prisoners; in addition, the guards give them the "privilege" of extorting money from prisoners and beating prisoners. In return, the "hooks" share whatever they can extort with the guards. This amounts to a relationship between gangsters - protect and be protected, provide and be provided for. The guards' appetites were huge, so big the supply from these "hooks" couldn't satisfy their needs. Therefore, these "hooks" used all available methods to extort whatever they could from the prisoners under their control.

Zhang Junrong is one example. There were three cell heads in the cell. Every day, each of them had to provide him with a pack of cigarettes worth 10 yuan¹. When it came to a holiday, they had to provide him with a carton of cigarettes containing 10 packs. If Zhang Junrong worked the late shift, the "hooks" also had to provide his food. Having Zhang Junrong as "an advanced model guard," the people working under him would unscrupulously extort anything from the prisoners. In addition, the "hooks" used any method they could think of to torture the prisoners to make them demand money and things from their families to satisfy the "hooks" and the guards, in exchange for fewer beatings and less abuse. All the prisoners' families had been forced to send more money, which eventually went to Zhang Junrong and his colleagues.

By that time, a prisoner in the fourth division had a family visit. The family gave him several hundred yuan when they came to see him. Just for this amount of money, the "hooks" beat him until breaking his bones. The camp officials eventually did nothing but add a couple of months to the sentence of the prisoners who joined the beating; they did nothing to compensate the victim.

It is not difficult to imagine the hard times experienced by the four practitioners who were illegally detained in this labour camp. Zhang Junrong used different methods to persecute each practitioner. One example is Mr. Song Yan, an unemployed worker. Because Mr. Song's family refused to cooperate with the guards to aid in "reforming²" him, they tortured him with verbal abuse and beatings. Another practitioner, Mr. Jing Youfeng, had been a gym instructor at Mudanjiang Normal University. Because his wife Jiang Chunmei was also arrested and put in the Mudanjing Forced Labour Camp, practitioner Zhu Xiuchen had to take their young child to his home and take care of him. The couple didn't have family members who could visit. The guards beat Mr. Jing in front of everyone and took every chance to torture him. Zhang Junrong would beat Mr. Jing personally each time Mr. Jing closed his eyes. Zhang Junrong jumped on him, slapped his face, punched and kicked him.

Whenever Zhang Junrong was on duty, he would watch the four practitioners. If he saw anything he didn't like, he would beat Song Yan and Jing Youfeng. One of the two other practitioners, Yu Bo, was a leasing manager who had worked in the Zhaoshang Plaza (Merchandise Company) in Mudanjiang; the other one is Yu Zhonghai, a designer who had worked for the Mudanjiang Library. Since neither of their families knew the truth and cooperated with the guards, the guards used their families to persuade them, and they also ordered the "hooks" to beat them. Furthermore, the "hooks" were told to monitor the practitioners' every word and action and report to the guards in a timely manner.

Zhang Junrong ordered "hook" He Peihua to torture Mr. Yu Bo. The abusers forced him to sit in the double lotus position for about 20 hours, forbidding him to move the whole time. If Mr. Yu moved a little bit, He Peihua would beat him. The next day, Mr. Yu couldn't walk. A few days later, he developed lower body oedema and became paralysed. For having done all these bad deeds, He Peihua was released ahead of his term. Eventually, because of his belief, Mr. Yu Bo could walk again and recovered very fast. The "hooks" and other prisoners saw the miracle of Dafa manifest in Mr. Yu and all gave up their bad thoughts about Dafa. One of the "hooks" who had been in prison for 20 years changed his behaviour and attitude from then on. He would not monitor or report on practitioners' words and actions and made things easier for practitioners' daily lives.

Zhang Junrong used a beguiling way to treat practitioner Mr. Yu Zhonghai. By all appearances, he regarded him highly. Mr. Yu Zhonghai was good at art design and specialised in painting. The art design work (graphics) in the labour camp was dependent on him. Sometimes he had to work all night to finish the work. Zhang Junrong covertly ordered "hooks" Sun Shaokun and Li Honghai to monitor Mr. Yu Zhonghai's speech and behaviour.

Later on, "hook" Li Honghai was sent to the Industry Team where Mr. Song Yan was being held by that time. Li Honghai assigned Mr. Song the worst place to sleep. He had to sleep on one side of his body as there was no room for him to turn around. The night made him more tired than the day. Mr. Song was often beaten and otherwise abused by Zhang Junrong. Li Honghai would beat him once more after Zhang Junrong's abuse. Li Honghai also incited other prisoners to watch Mr. Song and found any excuse to beat him. Li Honghai was released before his sentence had expired. Mr. Song Yan, however, had been tortured so severely that he was weaker than before.

After Zhang Junrong had beaten Mr. Jing Youfeng and Mr. Song Yan, he couldn't raise his arms. He would stop the beatings, but once he didn't feel any pain in his arms, he would start again.

After 2005, Mudanjiang Forced Labour Camp officials transferred all the Falun Gong practitioners to the Suihua Forced Labour Camp in Heilongjiang to continue the persecution. Mudanjiang Forced Labour Camp no longer detains practitioners.

Mudanjiang Forced Labour Camp: 86-453-6372910, 86-453-6372453
Mudanjiang City 610 Office, Li Changqing: 86-453-6548610

Note

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

2. "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/2007/4/11/152560.html