My Son Is Being Cruelly Tortured and His Life is in Danger --Who is Responsible?

My son Liu Yongwang is 35 years old. In 2001, police officers and officials from the 610 Office¹ arrested him. Subsequently, they detained him at the Baoding Forced Labour Camp, Tangshan Forced Labour Camp and Hebei Jidong Prison, and he has endured various kinds of inhumane tortures. Currently, he is paralysed in his lower body and is extremely weak. He has passed out several times when they force-fed him. His life is in danger and he could die at any moment. Seeing my dying son, my heart is pained with worry and anxiety! Therefore, I am writing this letter calling upon all levels of the government to investigate the misery of us ordinary citizens and to ensure that justice is served!

Yongwang had been a promising child. He was accepted into a prominent university (Tianjin University, majoring in computer science). After graduation, he worked as a manager and later as the chief engineer in a foreign-owned enterprise in Beijing. He is the pride and joy of my entire family. Since he started cultivating Falun Gong, Yongwang became even more considerate of the people around him. He unselfishly shared with his colleagues his research results and the professional papers that he translated. He has won respect from all of his colleagues. Over a dozen of his colleagues started cultivating Falun Dafa because of him.

Yongwang is also a wonderful son of great piety, especially towards his grandmother, who he cares for very much. While his younger sister was studying at the Shanghai Huadong Industrial University, Yongwang saved all his money to provide for his sister.

In June 2004, Yongwang's body was greatly injured and therefore he was released from the Tangshan Hehuakeng Labour Camp to receive medical treatment. In order to alleviate the financial burden on his family, Yongwang dragged his numb legs and disabled body out to look for work.

My son's kind-heartedness has touched many people. In late 2006 when I went to see Yongwang at the Jidong Prison, the conversation among Yongwang and my entire family greatly moved three section chiefs who were monitoring the conversation. They said that Yongwang has shown so much kindness towards his parents. Every parent should hear such touching words from their son!

However, even though Yongwang is such a wonderful person, he was cruelly tortured simply because he persisted in practising Falun Gong and cultivating benevolence. In 2001, Yongwang was sent to the Baoding Labour Camp. The policemen in the #1 Division in this camp, led by Li Dayong, tortured him until he became disabled. They brutally force-fed my son, and his lips and gums were bleeding as they pried his mouth open. Water was fed into his lungs causing sharp pains in his chest. He passed out during the force-feeding, was bleeding from the mouth and nose, and was incontinent. He had a high, continuous fever and almost died, but nobody helped him. They also locked him up with an inmate who had tuberculosis, causing him to contract TB, and he started spitting blood continuously. Later, under such inhumane torture and after such long continuous high fever, Yongwang lost sensation in his left leg. In 2002, Yongwang was diagnosed with neuro necrosis in the left leg.

The Baoding Labour Camp set up torture rooms openly, and brutally beat Falun Gong practitioners, including Yongwang, who refused to give up their belief. My son had blisters all over his body after being shocked with electric batons, and the entire torture room smelled like burned skin. They used the "killer rope" method on Yongwang and the thin rope cut into his flesh. They thrust rubber sticks and beer bottles into Yongwang's arm pits lest the killer rope not be tight enough. To this day, my son has scars on his shoulders. After my son was bound by the killer rope, policeman Li Dayong whipped his face with a leather whip causing his teeth to loosen. Policeman Liu Liang beat my son's face, mouth and nose with a bamboo rod until he was bleeding from the nose. Then they handcuffed him behind his back and shocked him all over his body using electric batons. They particularly shocked his disabled left leg, heart and the top of his head until the electric batons' batteries were depleted. Yongwang's mouth was heavily swollen. Then they bound my son with his legs stretched apart on a bed for 21 days. They continued to shock Yongwang's back and bottom until the skin turned dark, skin ulcers developed and started to bleed. Even so, Li Dayong sarcastically said to Yongwang, "You can sue me, but you don't have any evidence." When Yongwang told him that it was illegal to torture prisoners, Li said, "These are police devices. The government gave me authorisation to use them."

In 2005, Yongwang received an MRI scan checkup in the Baoding #252 Hospital and was diagnosed with pathologic changes in his spine. Even so, they continued torturing and interrogating him. At that time he had been on a hunger strike for two months. They used electric batons and strong light beams to force him to stay awake for seven continuous days. They affixed his legs for a long period of time causing them to swell, which aggravated the condition in his legs.

Before the trial, policemen from the Beijing National Security Bureau and Baoding Police Station told us repeatedly that Yongwang was fine and that he would be released as soon as he promised to give up cultivation. After a month they released Yongwang due to lack of evidence, only to be sent to the brainwashing class and later be arrested again. During the trial, the lawyers announced that Yongwang was innocent. After the trial, the judge said, off the record, that even according to unreasonable legal procedures, a Falun Dafa practitioner should not have been given such a severe sentence. Yongwang was sentenced to an unbelievable eight years! The constitution says that Chinese citizens have freedom of belief, but Yongwang was jailed in the Jidong Prison due to his belief in "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance."

Later, Yongwang was jailed in the Tangshan Jidong Prison, #1 Division, within the construction team, carpentry group. They used a tube thicker than a finger to force feed Yongwang, causing him to pass out several times. His life was in danger, but the prison authorities refused to release him. In December 2006, Yongwang protested the brutal force-feeding and bit off and swallowed a piece of the tube. They had difficulty force-feeding him with anything, and at that point they called his family, because they were afraid of being held responsible. Seeing the terrible condition my paralysed son is in now, the entire family is heart-broken!

Yongwang received such cruel torture simply because he persists in his belief in "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance." I do not understand what my son has done wrong! Yongwang's daughter is only eight years old and she is very lovely. Every time I see my granddaughter, my heart is filled with sorrow. How much does the girl yearn for the fatherly love and care! But my son is now at the brink of death. Yongwang's mother died 19 years ago, I toiled to bring him up alone. If my son should die, how will my granddaughter and I live!

I hereby call on all levels of the government to bring out your morality and conscience and send Yongwang home!

Liu Liguo, father of Liu Yongwang
Nanshuiyu Village, Chande, Quyang County, Hebei Province

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/2007/5/18/155089.html