Mr. Li Xianchao Tortured in the Jiangbei Detention Centre, Chongqing

Mr. Li Xianchao, 32 years old, is from Tangba Town, Tongnan County. He graduated from Southwest Normal University and majored in art education. In October 1999, Mr. Li went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. As a result, in November 30th, 1999, he was kicked out of school. He has been arrested many times. In September 2000, he escaped from the brainwashing centre in Tongnan County and went to Anshun, Guizhou Province. On July 5th, 2001, he was arrested in Guanling County, Anshun. On July 10th, 2001, police officers Wu Jian from the Tangba Police Station and Luo Yonghong from the Tongnan Police Department took Mr. Li to the Tongnan Detention Centre. He was sentenced to two years of forced labour for carrying Falun Gong materials. In 2005, he was arrested again. The details follow.

At midnight on September 26th, 2005, more than 10 police officers from Chongqing broke into Li Xianchao's house. Two other Falun Gong practitioners were staying with him. Officers arrested them and searched the house. They took away their Falun Gong books, CDs, banners, and their personal belongings. Several Chongqing police stations, including the city department, Maoershi Police Station, Xinghua Police Station, and others, were involved.

The three practitioners were taken to Huaxing Police Station, where they noticed that their landlord had been arrested, too. The policemen had carefully planned this arrest. They had parked their cars far away from Mr. Li's house, then broke in quickly so that Li and his friends wouldn't have time to get away.

On September 27th, Mr. Li Xianchao and Zhang Fuyu were taken to Jiangbei Detention Centre. Mr. Li refused to tell the police his name, so they registered him as "no name." Mr. Li was placed in dorm No. 3, and practitioner Bai Tianshi was jailed in dorm No.4.

The guard, Liu Yukun, who was in charge of dorms No. 3 and 4, told criminal inmate Zhao Li to be the monitor. Zhao Li was in charge of everybody's personal belongings and cash. He was also authorised to assign daily labour to all those in the detention centre.

Mr. Li Xianchao started a hunger strike to protest as soon as he was sent to the detention centre. Liu Yukun ordered several guards to put Mr. Li into a damp, dark room. He was tied up to a metal chair without trousers or underwear. The guards bound his torso to the back of the chair with a metal chain. His hands were so tightly bound to the chair that he could not move them at all. His feet were fixed to the ground with metal chains. The chair had a hole in the seat with a container underneath for him to use as a toilet.

Mr. Li was bound onto the chair for several days. He had to remain in the same position day and night. There were many bugs and mosquitoes, but he could do nothing about them. The chains on his feet were so tight that his feet became numb.

He was watched 24 hours a day. The guards gave him three pieces of dry bread and some cold water every day, but he refused to eat.

Liu Yukun, the chief of the detention centre, and other guards kept trying to convince him to eat. Three days later, they force-fed him. Five criminals pushed him against the desk and inserted a tube through his nose. Mr. Li screamed in pain. After the force-feeding, the criminals fixed the tube in his nose with duct tape, and then bound him to the chair again. In the afternoon, they sent him back to dorm No.3. The people there did not even recognise him because his face and body had changed so much from the torture.

Mr. Li remained on the hunger strike. The second day, Liu Yukun bound him to that chair again. This time, they put the metal chains on his feet so tightly that the skin was cut open. He was force-fed again. The criminal inmates picked the biggest tube and inserted it all the way into his stomach. After the force-feeding, they again taped the tube to him.

After the force-feeding, Liu Yukun locked Mr. Li's hands behind his back and forced him to sit against the wall. Liu ordered two criminal inmates to hold Mr. Li's head and legs and to verbally attack Falun Gong in front of him. The doctors at the detention centre came and force fed Mr. Li once a day. The tube, which was still in his stomach, was big and hard and caused great pain in his stomach. A few days later, the tube caused such pain in Li's throat that he could not swallow anything. Since the tube went down his throat, it stimulated the formation of a lot of mucous. The criminal inmates forced Mr. Li to sit up during the night and watched him 24 hours a day.

The stomach and throat pain and other tortures made Mr. Li lose 20 pounds within a few days. He was on a hunger strike for 13 days and became very weak. When the doctors removed the tube from his stomach, the end was black and had blood on it.

The guards in the detention centre forced Mr. Li Xianchao to tell his name and home address. Liu Yukun told the criminal inmates to get the information from him by torturing him. In dorm No. 3, Wu Mao was in charge and he beat and intimidated every person in there. He often punched people's toes with hard objects until their toes bled. Since Zhao Li and Wu Mao helped Liu Yukun to torture people, Liu gave them a lot of benefits and they could do whatever they wanted in the detention centre.

During the cold of October, Zhao Li didn't give Mr. Li Xianchao a blanket and forced him to sit on the hard, cold concrete ground without any bedding. When Mr. Li complained, Zhao Li made him lie down on the hard ground next to the toilet, which was close to the door. The cold wind came in through the door. Mr. Li could not fall asleep at all because people went to the toilet during the night.

Zhao Li was in charge of clothes and had the authority to assign clothes. He gave other inmates winter clothes, but only thin clothes with big holes in them to Mr. Li Xianchao. He didn't give him any shoes. In the daytime, Zhao Li forced Mr. Li to sit in a small room, which had a broken window in the roof. Zhao forced him to sit in that room when it rained. Mr. Li had to sit against the wall with his legs bent and his hands on his knees. He was forced to sit in that position motionless and had to keep his eyes open. If the other inmates saw him moving or closing his eyes, they beat him, pushed his head against the wall, slapped him, or poured cold water on him.

Since Mr. Li's hands were cuffed, Zhao Li told the criminal Zhang Hongyuan to feed Mr. Li and help him to go to the toilet. Zhao told Zhang not to give Mr. Li too much food and only feed him cold food. Zhao also limited the times Mr. Li was allowed to go to the toilet. Zhao made a fan and wrote slanderous words about Falun Gong and Mr. Li Hongzhi on it. He told Zhang to curse Falun Gong in front of Mr. Li and fan him with the fan.

For several evenings, Wu Mao washed Mr. Li's hair and poured cold water on his head, making all his clothes soaking wet. Mr. Li was locked up and could not move. The clothes were left to dry on him.

Every time Liu Yukun came to the dorm, he said to Mr. Li, "Hi, 'No Name.' Have you thought it through? If you tell me your name and address, I will unlock you and inform your family to visit you. If you don't, you will be locked up forever." The chief of the detention centre and another guard, Lu, took Mr. Li to their office. They pretended to be nice to him and asked, "Do you have enough food? Do you get a good sleep? Do you have any requirements and enough clothes?" Mr. Li told them about the torture. They said, "We can help you, but you need to tell us your name and address first." Mr. Li refused to collaborate with them, because he knew that if he told his name and address, they would be able to find more information to persecute and torture him with.

It was getting colder and colder, and Mr. Li wanted his family to know where he was being held, and to send him some clothes and blankets, so he told Liu Yukun his name and address. Liu found his information on the computer immediately, but he didn't release Mr. Li or inform his family. Liu didn't allow Mr. Li to write or call his family. Liu reported Mr. Li's personal information to the police officer in charge of Li's case. The officer went to Mr. Li's home and asked his mother about Li's situation. He didn't tell his mother that Mr. Li was in the detention centre. She didn't know what was going on or who the policeman was.

On December 24th, 2005, Liu Yukun unlocked Mr. Li's hands. Because they had been restrained for such a long time, he was unable to stretch or move them until several days later. His fingers still feel numb even now. That same day, Liu informed Mr. Li's family where he was detained.

Mr. Li Xianchao was also made to do forced labour, such as folding paper bags for medicine. At the beginning, he had to fold 300 bags every day. Later the number increased to 4500 every day. He had to work until 3 or 4 a.m. Wu Mao was very picky about Mr. Li's work. Every day, Wu found some flaws in his work and forced Mr. Li to eat and swallow those paper bags which didn't meet the quality standard. Even Zhao Li thought that this torture was too severe. Due to this long term torture,Mr. Li lost much weight.

On January 25th, 2006, personnel at the detention centre sent Mr. Li to a labour camp for one year and nine months. Zhang Fuyu, another practitioner arrested at the same time, was also sent to the same labour camp. On January 26th, Mr. Li was sent to the first group of the seventh division in Xishanping Forced Labour Camp. On March 9th, Mr. Li was transferred to the fourth group of that division.

The guards and criminal inmates who tortured Mr. Li at the fourth group include: Wu Yuefu, Liu Jun, Liu Heng, and Zhao Disheng.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/10/10/164208.html