Practitioners Subjected to Brainwashing During the Olympic Games in Shanxian County, Shandong Province

Shortly before the Olympic Games got under way, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials in Shanxian County, Shandong Province collaborated with thugs from the Domestic Security Division in Heze City to arrest more than a dozen Falun Gong practitioners. Two were later sentenced to jail terms, ten were put in labour camps, and the rest fled their homes after they had been searched.

When the Games were in session, authorities of the Shanxian County Politics and Law Committee, personnel from the 610 Office¹ and the Domestic Security Division held brainwashing sessions for practitioners.

Before the sessions started, Shanxian County Police officials met with Party officials from all levels throughout Shanxian County. An order was issued to arrest every practitioner on a list and detain them in the brainwashing centre. In addition, every administrative and working unit was required to pay 1000 yuan² and send a person as an aide. All practitioners' ID cards were confiscated, even those of practitioners not taken for brainwashing.

Over ten practitioners were arrested and send to the brainwashing centre. The main person in charge was the head of the Shanxian County 610 Office, Xie Kongbin, and the head of the Shanxian County Politics and Law Committee, Chen Yunquan. The behind-the-scenes organizer was Gu Ruiling, the head of the Shanxian County Party Committee (these people have been exposed on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website many times). Those who are active in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners include the deputy head of the Shanxian County Domestic Security Team, Qi Dunzhou (he has been exposed on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website many times), a deputy head (a female) of the county 610 Office and a policeman with the surname of Gao.

Brainwashing centre personnel forced these practitioners to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong, and listen to the speeches by Wang from the Shanxian County Procuratorate and Zhou, the head of the Heze City 610 Office that fabricated lies against Falun Gong and Master Li. The brainwashing session was concluded by the political head of the Shanxian County Politics and Law Committee, Chen Yunquan.

Every time after watching the video, or listening to a speech, practitioners were forced to write some "responses." The thugs also manipulated practitioners' family members to put pressure on the practitioners in an attempt to force them to be "transformed³," and write the Three Statements⁴. They would not release any practitioners unless their workplaces bailed them out.

Of the policemen at the brainwashing centre, Qi Dunzhou and Gao xx were the most vicious. Qi claimed that if the practitioners were arrested again, he would send them to labour camps, or sentence them to a few years of imprisonment. Gao threatened practitioners, saying that if they did not cooperate, he would send them to a detention centre.

At the end of 2007, CCP officials and policemen from Shanxian County and Heze City used extremely brutal and barbaric means to torture practitioners. Some practitioners were put on the Tiger Bench⁵ for six days in a row, and they were deprived of sleep. They were also tied up on bed frames and they could neither squat nor stand up. In the meantime, their hands were tied behind their backs and they were hung up. Sometimes they were hung up with their hands cuffed behind their backs until they passed out. Then the CCP thugs would pour cold water on them to revive them (in the winter). After long-term brutal torture, the CCP thugs then secretly put some anti-psychotic drugs into their water or food, leaving the practitioners mentally disoriented. When that happened, with this despicable means, the thugs were able to force "confessions" from them. Worried about being exposed for his crimes when persecuting practitioners, policeman Bao Lihu from the Shanxian County Domestic Security Division claimed that he was the head of the 610 Office, Xie Kongbin; and policeman Wang Jianmin claimed that he was Wang Yangui, head of the Domestic Security Division.

On March 31st, 2008, the police arrested several practitioners. Before that, they fabricated some scenes of two vandalized police vehicles and then accused these practitioners for the crime. But their conspiracy did not succeed.

Recently, practitioner Zhi Yongping was transferred from the Jinan Women's Labour Camp in Shandong Province once again to Shangqiu City in Henan Province. This is a city on the border of Shanxian County in Shandong Province. The police are conspiring to further persecute her.

Note

1. "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.

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

3. "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")

4. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

5. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/11/10/189504.html