Severe Recent Abuse of Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Wang Jiang in Daqing Prison, Heilongjiang Province

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Wang Jiang was recently severely abused in Daqing Prison, Heilongjiang Province. When his family discovered their loved one's whereabouts on June 12th, 2006, they immediately went to the prison, requesting to see him. The prison officials quickly told a lie saying that a criminal had beaten Mr. Wang. They said the criminal had hoodwinked Mr. Wang to a place outside the prison cell and the officials were not aware what weapon was used to beat Mr. Wang. They also said that Mr. Wang did not report this incident until two days later. The prison officials also lied, saying they had punished the criminal for his bad deed. The officials further indicated that Mr. Wang was too honest and had said he was not badly injured, only that he had sustained a swelling on a rib on his left side that was actually a growth, to hide the incident.

The authorities said Mr. Wang Jiang refused to wear the prison uniform and refused to cooperate with them. As a result, the prison had the right to refuse him visiting rights, but for the sake of his aged mother in her 70s they permitted her to see him.

Criminal inmates were allowed visitors. When Falun Gong practitioners' families wanted to visit, they had to get permission from five management staff persons, namely the prison chief, prison politics division chief, reformatory division chief, ward chief, and middle team prison district chief. All five of them had to sign on the approval documents. Then, the two criminals together with the deputy ward chief in charge of compulsory brainwashing and "reformation¹" will escort the Falun Gong prisoner to the visiting room where the visit takes place.

Ever since Falun Gong practitioners have been incarcerated in Daqing Prison, the officials have imposed more cruel rules on the practitioners in each ward. They will be watched over and monitored closely by the ward chief in charge of brainwashing and "reformation" and many other prison wardens. They will personally control all activities of each and every practitioner. They also make use of four "personal monitors" for each practitioner to watch the practitioner closely on a 24-hour basis and keep records of each and every movement. They forbid the practitioners to leave the prison cell. Even in the prison cell the practitioners' activities are limited. The practitioners are made to sit in the so-called study room all day long. How then could it be possible for practitioner Mr. Wang to be hoodwinked into leaving the cell and end up being beaten? It is clear that the prison had something to hide.

Mr. Wang's relatives talked to him through the visitor room phone as they sat across from each other, separated by wire mesh. Mr. Wang was thin and weak. He did not have much strength to talk. His voice was weak and barely audible. His family wanted him to show them his rib injury. When he lifted his shirt there was a large swollen area. But Mr. Wang kept silent when the family wanted to know who had beaten him and what implement was used. Mr. Wang had a pained expression. One family member raised her voice and asked what happened. Mr. Wang said that the beating happened quite a while ago. He also said that it only became like that on the second beating. (It seemed that the rib was already broken). At this time Zhu Wenwu, the deputy ward chief, who had watched all this quickly lifted Mr. Wang's shirt and pressed roughly on the swollen area. He mumbled something, and Mr. Wang had a very pained expression on his face. The family member wanted to say more but a prison official surnamed Zhu quickly severed the phone connection.

The family member asked the prison authorities to let her take Mr. Wang to receive medical treatment. But the prison officials adamantly refused and tried to validate their decision by saying Mr. Wang did not want to be released for medical treatment. The family member replied that Mr. Wang had agreed to this over the phone. The family member also told the prison if any thing happened to Mr. Wang that caused his death, she would sue the persons involved in the incident. Zhu Wenwu, deputy ward chief, said, "We cannot guarantee Mr. Wang's safety. Fights between prisoners are commonplace." He even said that nowadays anyone might easily be beaten to death on the streets. At the same time he tried to placate the family member by saying that he would let her know in two weeks the results of the prison-ordered medical checkup.

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/2007/6/17/157057.html