Exposing the Brutalities at Huanxiling Forced Labour Camp in Jilin City, Jilin Province

I wrote down what I have experienced and witnessed during six months between 2000 and 2001. Although the exposed crimes here are only the tip of the iceberg, they sufficiently reflect the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) evil nature of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

Most of the events exposed here occurred in the "education" (brainwashing) team. A special division for the Falun Gong practitioners was formed in the Spring of 2001. There were about 200 inmates in this division, which was made up of three teams, with Han Jing as the division head.

1. Direct Physical Torture

Sitting on a Board

Practitioners had to sit on a board every day from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. when every one went to bed, except for about 15 minutes for washing and eating. This was actually a disguised form of corporal punishment and was very painful. Everyone's buttocks formed thick calluses before long, and some even developed festering sores.

There were many torturous sitting postures: for example, sitting with both legs straight, with the upper body straight and with eyes looking straight ahead would result in unbearable leg pain in a short time; one could only grasp the legs of the trousers with one's hands to reduce the pain, and a slight movement would result in verbal abuse or a beating. Other types of torturous sitting postures including, one leg crossed and one leg straight; sitting on a length of angle iron that connected two metal beds; and sitting on one leg of a stool (a practitioner from Shulan City named Zhang was forced to sit that way for doing the Falun Gong exercises). Wu Dexu from Jiaohe City was forced to ride on a squared-off wooden board about eight centimetres square (about 3 by 3 inches), with both feet hanging in the air and both legs straight, by sitting this way, the pain became unbearable within only two to three minutes.

These postures also included sitting on the edge of a bed. There was another type of torture called "squeezed sitting" - several people are forced to sit in a row such that one person sits with both legs straddling the person in front of him, with his chest pressed against the back of the person ahead. The person sitting at the end was fixed in place. To make the bodies squeeze together more tightly, each person was then forced to fold one leg in front of them as if they were about to sit cross legged. The other leg remained straddling the person ahead. If a person had to get out of the row, he had to fall down sideways before he could get out. If one could not sit straight, he would press on the legs of the person behind him. The pain was unbearable. Tian Fushen from Jiaohe City was writhing in pain from scabies on his buttocks and was pulled out and beaten three times in one morning. Also, Zheng Fengxiang from Jilin and Niu Junhui from Shulan were handcuffed to a bed and forced to sit on a board. They were handcuffed for two weeks in a row, and at all times, whether sitting or sleeping.

Freezing Punishment:

In the winter of 2000, the temperature was below -40 0F. The practitioners were forced to run and then to stand in a military position to be exposed to the cold. They were first forced to run for a long period time until they sweated profusely; then they were brought to areas without sun light and thus exposed to the freezing wind; then they were compelled to run again. Zhang Yinping from Jilin City and another practitioner were handcuffed to the stairway handrail in the freezing cold corridor through a whole night.

Standing Torture:

Criminal inmate Yan Wei forced a young practitioner to stand for long time. Within several hours the practitioner vomited and could not stand steady.

Sleeping in Crowded Conditions

We had to sleep on wide bed boards covered with ice. Although the ice bed was covered with a plastic cloth, after we got up, our blankets were wet and underneath the plastic was a pool of water; this lasted for several days.

In order to aggravate the persecution, the police even left half of the "beds" empty and made everyone squeeze together to sleep. If someone had to get up in the middle of night, he would not be able to find his place when he returned. In Division 1, Qi Laixing from Jiaohe City, 66 years old then, had to sleep on the angle iron connecting the upper tiers of two metal bunk beds. He fell down when he tried to climb up the bunk bed. The big blue and purple bruise on his buttocks from the fall did not heal for several months.

Shocking with Electric Batons, Beating with Spiked Clubs, Kicking and Punching

This is the torture method police used the most. One day at the beginning of March 2001, Li Yingpeng from Jiaohe City was suddenly called to the office and was shocked with electric batons for half an hour for no reason. During the massive torturing on March 11th, 2001, 37 practitioners of the 50 practitioners on the fourth floor in the Education Team were tortured by more than a dozen police with electric batons and spiked clubs. Bai Jingzhi from Huadian City had fractured ribs. Jiang Mifeng and Song Wenming from Jilin City had their backs injured from the torture.

The practitioners in other divisions suffered even more brutal torture. Four practitioners in the Strictly Controlled Team were beaten until they lost consciousness. Shu Lan, Niu Junhui and other practitioners were sent to a hospital for emergency treatment. Li Qiang from Jiaohe City was beaten to unconsciousness and suffered from brutal beating again when he regained consciousness. The brutal beatings did not stop until the prison doctor at the scene saw that Li Qiang could die and repeatedly shouted to stop the beating. Education Team police head Han Jing said when abusing the practitioners, "I dare not to carry out the incident on March 11th again without orders from above."

When Shu Lan and Chen Dexi asked Education Section head Liu Qun, "Why are we still imprisoned beyond our terms?" Liu kicked Chen ruthlessly in the presence of many other people. One time behind the boiler house, practitioner Chen from Jilin was punched and kicked by team head Nan for having one of Teacher Li's [Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa] writings.

Tying-up with Rope, Hanging by Handcuffs and Shocking with Electric Batons

Wu Dexiu from Jiaohe suffered from many kinds of tortures for refusing to be "reformed." He was hung by handcuffs, tied up with ropes and then was shocked with as many as ten electric batons simultaneously. When the batteries ran out, they were charged again and the shocking continued. When the police were tired, they took a rest and then the shocking continued. Wu Delius's skin was burned and oozing yellowish fluid, but the police still would not stop. Wu Dexiu suffered from electric shock torture several times.

"Personal Monitors"

Everybody knows that Falun Gong practitioners are good people. But the Chinese Communist Party makes some criminal inmates closely monitor these good people and follow these good people everywhere. This is insulting to practitioners. These criminal inmates, in order to flatter the guards and achieve personal advantages, found various methods to torment practitioners, adding to the horror of the persecution.

Suffocating the Victim with a Thick Blanket and Pounding the Ribs with a Square Wooden Pole

Qi Laixing, an aged man from Jiaohe City, was arrested and sent to Jilin City Forced Labour Camp the second time. Education Team head surnamed Chen ordered the criminal inmates to "give him some help." In the hot weather several criminal inmates covered Qi Laixing with a blanket. The criminal inmates sat on the sides of the comforter to make it virtually airtight. Qi Laixing sweated profusely and had difficult time breathing. They also used a square wooden pole to pound his ribs, so as to cause great pain and injuries that would not be visible.

Confining in a Small Cell

Pan Zhaowen from Jilin City was once locked in a small cell in the spring of 2001. After most of the practitioners protested with a hunger strike, Pan Zhaowen was released from the small cell the same night.

Lifting up in the Air and then Throwing on the Ground

I overheard the private discussion among the criminal inmates of Team 1 in Division 4 saying that Li Zaiji was lifted up in the air and was then repeatedly thrown to the ground, which caused severe injuries to his internal organs. He died as a result.

2. Depriving the Most Basic Rights to Life

Limited Water Use

Water use was limited in all the wards, being supplied only in one short period each day. Almost everyone had two small plastic bottles, one for water and one for relieving themselves (see below).

Limiting Toilet Use

To make life miserable, everyone had to relieve themselves in a plastic bottle. When some people had diarrhoea they had to use plastic bags.

Not Enough Food

The meals were skimpy and the nutritional quality was poor. The practitioners who were doing intensive physical labour were constantly hungry.

Depriving People of Washing Themselves

Restricting Family and Friends Visits and Restricting Them from Sending Daily Necessities

The practitioners were constantly suffering physical and mental torture. They were forbidden to read Falun Gong books and do the exercises. Many people developed hypertension, a stroke and other symptoms. Mr. Chen from Huadan Brewery, Jilin City lost consciousness and fell down a flight of stairs. Many people suffered from scabies for long time; the scabies oozed pus and blood and were heart-piercingly itchy and painful. The practitioners could only sleep for one or two hours each night. Yu Wenzhong from Jilin had fingernail-size pustules all over his body that oozed pus. Liu Juntang from Jiaohe City had swollen arms and hands, and could not bend them. In spite of all the suffering, many practitioners broke through the difficulties with the help and encouragement of their fellow practitioners.

3. Brainwashing; Police Collude with Criminal Inmates

The heads at different levels of the Forced Labour Division of Jilin City Police Department and the forced labour camps, the labour camp guards and the "helpers" used visits to further persecute practitioners. They deceived or forced visiting family members into persuading practitioners to give up Falun Gong. They tried to destroy the practitioners' will. They subjected the practitioners to brainwashing by forcing the practitioners to watch slanderous TV and video programmes, to participate in brainwashing classes and to discuss and talk about their experiences and to write thought reports under duress. Shu Lan and Niu Junhui were brutally beaten for refusing to watch a specific video and were handcuffed to a bed day and night for two weeks.

The monitors assigned to watch Falun Gong practitioners obtained these positions by paying bribes and almost all them colluded with the police to intensify the persecution of practitioners. Incited by the police they searched practitioners' belongings and stole their belongings while pretending to be doing "inspections." Qi Laixing from Jiaohe City had 270 yuan¹ with him. Monitors in Division 1 took the money. Liu Juntang's 110 yuan was taken away by Yu Zhiwen from Team 1 in Division 4, and the police and monitors also stole items sent by practitioners' families such as bedding, clothes, socks, gloves and other items. Every time they conducted a search, some practitioners would suffer losses; Xue Baoping from Jilin was robbed of 50 yuan.

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/6/11/156666.html