Bloody Violence Witnessed at Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp in Heilongjiang Province

I am a Falun Gong practitioner from Bin county, Heilongjiang Province and I have been detained at the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp at Harbin City.

At around 11:30 a.m. on February 2nd, 2004, every inmate from the Fifth Ward was waiting in line to use the toilet. The voice of warden Zhao Shuang could be heard around the corner, followed by the sound of someone's face being slapped. Zhao shouted, "Come on! He is resisting!" I saw a group of guards and inmates rush to where the slapping was taking place and more sounds of someone's face being slapped followed.

Ten minutes later, inmates were seen dragging three men covered in blood. I saw inmate, Qi Lianfeng brutally punching the severely injured man he was dragging. Qi was punching the man's weak spots such as the chest and the ribs. The scene was pitiful.

The room on the other side of the toilet was called the "solitary confinement room", also known as small cell¹, a place used only to torture people.

Inmates dragged the three severely injured men into the "small cell", and tied them to iron chairs². This was followed by brutal beatings, being shocked with electric batons and unbearable verbal abuse. The three men were Falun Gong practitioners from another Ward of the labour camp, brought to the Fifth Ward for "strict discipline". There names are: Mr. Gong Wenyi, Mr. Zhang Xiangfu, Mr. Yu (given name unknown). Mr. Zhang Xiangfu was later tortured to death.

Since the winter of 2004, guards arranged for practitioners to sleep on the bottom bunk of the beds so that they could easily persecute the practitioners who were brought here for "strict discipline." Dozens of beds were moved into one row. Four or five people had to sleep on one bed, which required sleeping sideways. Even by doing so, the accommodations were extremely crowded. After a day of hard labour, practitioners were very tired. While sleeping, practitioners were to leave their arms above their heads so the inmate who had been assigned to watch the practitioners, called a "sleeping monitor", could observe them. Because of cold temperatures, practitioners' hands often would slip under the covers unconsciously. The "sitting monitor" woke them up by beating them.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Xu Changfa suggested to the deputy warden Qiang Shengguo that the living conditions be improved at the camp. Qiang took Mr. Xu to his office, shocked him with an electric baton and beat him for more than two hours. The next day, while warden Zhao Shuang was working, Mr. Xu was again taken to his office, beaten and shocked for more than two hours. When Mr. Xu Changfa came back, his head was swollen and face and neck were black. The torture he received caused him to become deformed.

Note

1. The detainee is locked up in a very small cell individually. The guards handcuff practitioners on their back in a fixed position, in which the practitioners can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and no sunshine comes in. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the cell. Only half of a regular meal is served to detainees locked up in a small cell during the daytime. During the night the rats are running around. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.

(2) The iron chair is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time. See illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html .

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/2/4/171680.html