Falun Gong Practitioners Cruelly Tortured at the Jilin Province Prison

Guards in the "Strict Control Unit" in the Jilin Province Prison (Jilin No. 2 Prison) have incited inmates to brutally torture practitioners, resulting in many deaths. The officials have established a so-called "correction centre" where they use the cruellest torture methods, including the "constraining bed," "stretching bed" and the "big hang up."¹ Practitioners who do not follow their commands or refuse to be "reformed²" are sent to the "correction centre." Between 2001 and 2003, many practitioners were tortured on the "stretching bed" and were force-fed.

Mr. Yang Guang, a 56-year-old practitioner from Changchun City, Jilin Province, was detained at the Jilin Province Prison for eight years, and subjected to all sorts of inhuman treatment, resulting in his being in critical condition many times. He was incontinent, suffered muscular atrophy, and was skeleton-like. His legs were crippled and his toes were rotten and deformed. During the three years spanning 2006, 2007 and 2008, Wang Yuanchun from the Education Section took away Mr. Yang's Falun Gong lectures. Wang also punished inmate Chang Weicai, who took care of Mr. Yang Guang. In the past several years, Yang Guang has gone on hunger strike several times to protest against the persecution. He was eventually unable to walk and suffered from whole-body oedema and was unable to eat, yet the prison authorities still refused to release him for medical treatment. Around August 8th, 2008, Mr. Yang Guang was dying. His emaciated body suddenly became bloated, and he could not eat. The prison administration took him to the Jilin Province Railroad Hospital, but forbade his family from seeing him. He died on August 25th, 2008.

Mr. Sun Changjun was sent to the prison's Tenth Ward on October 25th, 2002. That same night, instigated by Li Yongsheng, inmates Wang Shaochen, Cui Lijun, and Han Mingjun (who has since been released) beat Mr. Sun Changjun savagely using rubber tubes, and broke one of his ribs. On September 23rd, 2003, the abusers began mistreating Mr. Sun Changjun in the "Strict Control Unit" for over 70 days for renouncing the previously-published "four statements³". Participating in the abuse were guards Wei Xianghui and Cui Longzhe of the Tenth Ward. Mr. Sun lost over 20 kilograms (around 45 pounds).

In July 2004, Wang Yuanchun attempted to coerce Mr. Sun into having a conversation with Zhang Zongshan from the 610 Office⁴. Mr. Sun refused. Wang Yuanchun stated that he would send Mr. Sun to the "Strict Control Unit." In July 2005, Mr. Sun Changjun suffered from severe tuberculosis and the condition worsened around November 2007. Fluid accumulated in his chest and abdomen, and he should have been granted medical parole, but the prison administration refused to consider the request.

Mr. Ma Desheng is from Nanhuangdi, Qingyuan County, Liaoning Province. He was arrested on the night of November 24th, 2006. Participating in the arrest were perpetrators from the Gongzhuling City Domestic Security Division, Dongsan Police Station and from the Lishu County Police Department. Mr. Ma was held in the Gongzhuling Detention Centre for 15 days and then transferred to the Jiutai Forced Labour Camp. In October 2007, he was sent back to the Gongzhuling Detention Centre. Following this was a sentence pronounced by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) court officials. In late August 2008, he was held and mistreated in the prison's Ninth Ward, where he was cruelly tortured and became very weak. He also developed severe tuberculosis.

Mr. Yu Qingyuan, who is from Shuanliao City, Jilin Province, was searched on a train and had his Falun Gong materials confiscated. He was held at the Shuanliao Detention Centre and sentenced to four years in prison. In September 2008 he was incarcerated and abused in the prison's Eighth Ward.

Mr. Zhang Yuke is from Huaide Town, Gongzhuling, Jilin Province. He was on the brink of death from gross abuse at the hands of CCP perpetrators at Gongzhuling. He was then sent to the Jilin Province Prison. Prior to his incarceration, Mr. Zhang held a hunger strike for more than two months. After an additional week of not having food or water, the prison officials ordered him to be force-fed with highly salted corn gruel, which caused him severe stomach pain. Mr. Zhang still suffered from it three months later. He is currently still being held and abused in the Eighth Ward.

Mr. Jin Chengquan, a practitioner of Korean ethnicity, was detained in solitary confinement for over a month and was subjected to many forms of inhuman treatment. When he washed his face, the inmates pulled his hair and banged his head against a wall. The inmates also used a lighter to burn his eyebrows and mustache and injure his eyeballs. They used a needle to stab his finger tips and feet. He was deprived of sleep. While in the prison he was subjected to numerous beatings. Participating in the beating abuse, incited by Li Yongshen, were inmates Yang Yongkui, Han Mingjun, Cui Lijun, and Yu Liwei. Inmate Han Mingjun grabbed Mr. Jin's testicles, poked his ribs using needles, to force him to write the "four statements." Mr. Jin Chengquan finally passed away as a result of the relentless abuse.

Mr. Xin Yuanjun was pressured to "reform" in 2003, but he refused to write the four statements. The inmates then often dragged him to the bathroom and poured cold water on him and beat him with rubber hoses. They covered his mouth when he shouted. He was made to sit and forbidden to move, and could later no longer walk normally.

Mr. Teng Weiqiang was tortured the same way. He developed pleurisy.

Mr. Liu Zhaojian was tortured in a small cell in the "strict control unit" for close to a year. He developed a duodenal ulcer and tuberculosis and weighed only 36 kilograms (79 pounds).

Mr. Cai Xiangjun was also detained in the "strict control unit" for three months in 2005. He was on the brink of death and is currently on medical parole.

Mr. Tian Rukai is from Jiutai City, Jilin Province, and is a retired employee from the Ying City Coal Mine who had been sentenced to six years in prison. On February 18th, 2004, he entered the prison and was abused. On July 25th, 2006, he was detained in solitary confinement where he remained for 21 days, and was constrained on a bed for seven days. Following is background information:

At noon on January 6th, 2003, two Jiutai Police Department agents broke into Mr. Tian Rukai's home, and arrested and took him to the Majiagangzi Shelter. Three Domestic Security Division officials tied him up on the tiger bench, attempting to force him to divulge in which Falun Gong activities he had participated. He refused to cooperate with them. The police tortured and verbally abused him and threatened that he would die that day unless he listened to them. The police tied his hands behind his back with a rope. They hung a metal bar in front of his chest, and prevented him from leaning forward. They then pulled the rope at the back very hard to cause severe pain in his spine. When his body was forced forward, the metal bar squeezed all his inner organs and almost suffocated him.

It was about 7:00 p.m. by the time he was sent to Jiutai Detention Centre, and he had lost control of his bowels from the abuse. The detention centre condition here was worse than the treatment in the other center. The guards urged the inmates to participate in the abuse of practitioners. Only two meals a day were provided, consisting of one steamed bun and a bowl of salty broth. The food was coarse and not even fully cooked, and the soup lacked any vegetables, being basically a bowl of salty water. Mr. Tian Rukai suffered from daily hunger. The inmate then said to him, "It's easy not to suffer from hunger. You just tell your family to send money to the Changtai Store outside the detention centre. When the guards see the money, you will be fed."

Mr. Tian was also forced to sit on a hard board for four hours every day. During the night, four to five people shared one blanket, so shoulders and feet could not be covered. More than 20 people shared one five-meter-long bed. Everyone had to squeeze close to each other and had to take turns for a four-hour duty at night as well. Insufficient food during the day, and poor sleep during the night! Mr. Tian became extremely thin, and his weight dropped from 65 kg. (143 lb.) to less than 50 kg. (110 lb.) after 14 months. On February 18th, 2004, he was sent to the Jilin Provincial Prison.

The abusers in the prison use both psychological and physical methods to torment, agonize and torture practitioners. Psychological torment consists of attempting to compel them to give up their beliefs and be "reformed," and is also a part of detaining practitioners in the "strict control unit" or in a "small cell." If practitioners don't cooperate, then the physical abuse begins, including beatings, being affixed to a "stretching bed," and other gross physical abuses. Many people who were subjected to the "stretching bed" torture became disabled.

The guards enforce many rules which violate human rights, such as forbidding practitioners to communicate with each other, forbidding the reading of Falun Gong books, and preventing the practice of the Falun Gong exercises. They also urge the inmates to monitor practitioners. If they see practitioners studying the books or practising the exercises, they immediately put them in the strict control unit and brutally torture them.

Many practitioners were severely mistreated for practising the exercises and studying the Falun Gong books.

Note

1. "Big hang up" - There are two forms in this torture: (1) With both hands cuffed behind the back and only the toes touching the ground, one is hung by a rope that is tied to the metal window frames. (2) One hand of a practitioner is cuffed to one bunk bed and the other hand to another bed, and the two beds are pulled in the opposite directions. One feels extreme pain as the body is pulled.

2. "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")

3. "Four Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write the "four statements" as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the 610 Office, they consist of "a letter of repentance," "a guarantee" to never again practise Falun Gong, a "Dissociation Statement" to declare a dissociation with Falun Gong and promise not go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.

4. "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.org/mh/articles/2008/10/13/187622.html