I was detained by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for five years because I practise Falun Gong. During that time, my daughter was discriminated against at her school, and my wife suffered from "guilt by association" and lost her job. After my wife lost her job, our daughter, who was only 15 years old, was forced to drop out of school and leave her home town to make a living. My father, my brother, and two uncles were threatened by the police many times. Their normal lives were disrupted, and they could not stand the intense pressure. They became ill and died, first one, then the other.
My mother, Du Jinfeng, in her 70s, is a Falun Gong practitioner as well. In 2000, she went to Beijing with me to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested by Xu Jinrong, a policeman from the Qingyuan County Liaison Office in Beijing, and taken to the Qingyuan County Detention Centre. The police tried to force my mother to give up her belief, but she refused. She was detained for 15 days, and she went on hunger strike to protest. The CCP government suspended her retirement pension, and she had to live by scavenging. In 2004 my mother was arrested again while she was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in the countryside with another practitioner. She was detained at the Hongtoushan Town Police Station for 15 days. The police extorted 3,500 yuan1 without even giving us a receipt. My younger brother went to the police station and asked for the receipt many times, but the police refused to provide one.
The following is what happened to me during my five-year detention.
I started to practise Falun Gong in 1996, and I benefited both physically and mentally. On September 10th, 1999, Geng Huishan, the local 610 Office2 leader, and the CCP secretaries of the mining company where I worked, Zhang Wenda and Wu Zhenyou, took me to a brainwashing centre in the First Ward of the Fushun City Re-Education Centre. I was detained there for one month. I was forced to write a guarantee statement to not practise Falun Gong. I was released on October 10th after authorities had extorted 2,700 yuan from me.
On December 16th, 2000, I went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. As soon as I left home, the Qingyuan County 610 Office and police ransacked my home and threatened my wife and daughter. My wife and daughter were so scared they wept loudly. The police took my Falun Gong books and CDs.
On the morning of January 23rd, 2001, when another practitioner and I stepped off a bus going to Tiananmen Square, we were stopped by a group of police. They forbade us from entering the square and told us to cross the road underground. I looked at the square and saw police officers and vehicles everywhere. There were no tourists at all. In the evening when we passed Tiananmen Square again on a bus, I saw it was full of police, and some of them were armed. This was the day of the fabricated "self-immolation."3
On February 9th, 2001, a practitioner and I were arrested in a motel in the Haidian District of Beijing. An officer Yang punched me in the head very hard when he heard I was a Falun Gong practitioner. Then he kicked my crotch very hard. They searched me and took my mobile phone, five audio tapes, and 2,300 yuan. They tied me up and put me in a police car. They pushed my head down and did not let me look out of the car. I was taken to a room at the Dongcheng District Detention Centre. Five policemen were inside. One asked me my name, but I did not say. He angrily slapped my face many times, which made my ears ring, and I could not stand. Another police waved a belt and threatened me. They took me into a cell. The prisoners there forced me to take off my clothes and squat down while they started to pour cold water on me. I was shivering. My legs went numb, and my lips turned blue. Then they asked me why I came Beijing. I said I came to appeal for Falun Gong. They immediately beat me again. They broke my sternum. It hurt so much I had a hard time breathing, and I could not turn over in bed. I suffered day and night.
I was detained until March 12th, 2001, when Xu Jinrong, Kang Guojing, and Yang (given name unknown), the Qingyuan County police officers stationed in Beijing, took me out and handed me to the security guards of the mining company. They handcuffed me and took me back to my hometown by train. I was taken to the Qingyuan County Detention Centre and detained. One day when they took me to get a physical exam in order to prepare to put me in a forced labour camp, I took the opportunity and escaped. Local police issued an arrest warrant for me. I could not go home, and I had nowhere to appeal. The police went to my home and my parents' home many times, threatening my parents, wife, and daughter. They watched the two homes for a long time to try to catch me again. I was forced to become destitute and homeless. I started to distribute fliers, exposing the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
On June 25th, 2001, I was arrested while posting leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in Dalian City. They restrained me on a Tiger Bench4 for three hours. Meantime they ordered me to curse the founder of Falun Gong. They said they would release me as soon as I did. I refused. Later they took me to the Dalian City Qianjin Police Station. After they searched me and took my mobile phone, ID, credit card, and 400 yuan in cash, they beat me. They beat me so hard that the inside of my cheek was torn. They used electric batons to shock me and forced me to bend my legs, hold my arms horizontally, and stay like that for three hours. Before they went home they handcuffed me to the heater pipe, and I was forced to stand for the whole night.
The second day, they handcuffed me behind my back. They forced me to sign on a form for criminal detention, then took me to the Dalian City Re-Education Centre. I was beaten by prisoners there upon entering the cell.
On June 27th, 2001, Yin Changjiang, the director of Qingyuan County Detention Centre, and guards Xu Mingyan and Ai Gang put me in handcuffs and shackles. They put me in a car and drove me around. Yin Changjiang shouted verbal abuse at me. He threatened to throw me into the ocean or reservoir. That night, around 10 p.m., we returned. Yin Changjiang told guard Xu Mingyan to tend to the arrangements. They directed prisoners to torture me. They pushed me and backed me up against a wall, pushed my head down, and pushed my arms up against wall. In this position, I was trembling and sweaty. After half an hour, they pushed me to squat down, and four men beat me hard on my head and back until they were too tired to hit me anymore. It felt like my bones were all dislocated. I crawled to a bed and passed out.
The next morning, they put shackles on me and forced me to walk around nonstop. My whole body hurt. Then they forced me to take off my clothes and poured 20 basins of cold water on me. My body went numb, and I was totally frozen.
In the following days, they forced me walk around with shackles. If my shackles made any noise they would beat me. I tied a rope in the middle of the shackles so I could lift them up. I was forced to walk around every day. My ankles were bleeding, and even now, I have scars there. They tortured me like this only because I believe in Falun Gong.
On July 10th, 2001, guard Xu Mingyan took me to the office where another guard, Zhao Lihua, was waiting. The two of them started to torture me. They forced me to half squat with my arms stretched out horizontally. As soon as I moved, they would beat me. When they saw I was all sweaty, they put a plastic bag on and off my head. This torture lasted for two hours. Then they took me to another room. They forced me to stay in the same position and told prisoners to watch me and beat me if I moved. Later the third guard, Ai Gang, entered the room. Three guards shocked me with electric batons for four hours until the batteries wore out. I could barely walk afterwards. I passed out as soon as I returned to my cell. When I woke up the next morning, my entire body hurt so much.
On July 15th, 2001, guard Yin Changjiang shouted curses at me, then called a prisoner and asked him to beat me. My lower back was injured during the beating, and it has not healed yet. Even now it hurts, and sometimes I cannot stand straight or walk.
On July 20th, 2001, guard Yin Changjiang came in again and told other prisoners, "Beat him up." I was internally injured. The same day, they announced that I was formally detained on a criminal charge.
On July 30th, 2001, a county police officer and Ruan Li, the local 610 Office director, announced I was to go on trial. They told me to sign, but I refused. I was not a criminal, and I wouldn't admit to committing any crime. The police officer threatened me, and eventually he signed it for me since I was firm in my refusal to sign.
After I was transferred to the county detention centre, on August 1, 2001, I asked them to give me my bedding and clothes from the previous detention centre. Yin Changjiang turned down my requests, and I was forced to sleep on a hard wooden bed board without any bedding after they took me from Dalian.
On August 10th, 2001, Yin Changjiang shouted abuse at me and told a prisoner to beat me again. He handed me a bill for 100 yuan and claimed it was for my three meals at the Dalian Re-Education Centre.
On the morning of August 15th, guard Zhao Lihua saw me doing the Falun Gong exercises. He called Han Cai, a prisoner, to beat me up.
On August 23rd, 2001, they showed me my first indictment. I refused to sign it.
In October 2001, guards tied me and another practitioner, Gao Changying, up and hung a sign on our chests. They put us on a truck and paraded us, as well as some other prisoners, through the streets. At the Qingyuan County train station, guards announced that they would formally arrest me and Mr. Gao.
On November 13th, 2001, they showed me my second indictment. I did not admit to any crime.
On November 28th, Gao Changying and I were taken to a secret court. No family members were notified. There were only two prosecutors and two officers from the court. I was deprived of my right to defend myself.
On December 25th, 2001, they sentenced me to five years of imprisonment. On the written judgement, my "crime" was "undermining the implementation of laws by using an evil cult" according to China's Criminal Law No. 301. However, No. 301 of China's Criminal Law is about "fraud and cheating for money by using a feudalistic cult." They clearly falsified my "crimes," so I appealed. On March 22nd, 2002, my appeal was turned down. During my almost one year of detention in Qingyuan County Detention Centre, my employer fired me, and my family was not allowed to visit me.
On May 12th, 2002, guards Yin Changjiang and Zhao Lihua took me to Dabei Prison in Shenyang City to stay temporarily. On June 7th, 2002, practitioners Mr. Wang Jiangning, Mr. Wang Xin, Mr. Cao Chao, and I were taken to Huazi Prison in Liaoyang City. During the hot summer days in July 2002, the prison administration forced us to go through military training under the baking sun, but prisoners Jiang Wenjie and Sun Dechun did not allow me drink water and tortured me with thirst. One day I was writing a letter, and Sun Dechun torn up what I had written and said Deputy Warden Xu Changhai had instructed him to do it. I questioned Xu, and he admitted that he did give this order. They also only allowed us to bathe once per month. The bath is 13 feet long and 7 feet wide, and for the up to 150 prisoners in the whole ward by 2003, they forced the 50 practitioners to wash last in half a bath of dirty water. The guards did not even let us use tap water. We were very itchy after a bath in such dirty water.
On December 13th, 2002, prison administration tried to force all detained practitioners to write "guarantee statements" to renounce Falun Gong. I absolutely refused, because the freedom of belief is our constitutional right, and I did not commit any crime. Guard Wang Jianjun instructed prisoners to beat me, and they punched my right eye, causing my eye to bleed. My face was swollen, and my head was injured.
On December 25th, 2002, the prison administration forced us to write "thought summaries." I signed my name "Dafa Disciple Liu Hongchang." Prisoner Wang Yu saw it and tried to make me change it. I firmly refused. He then punched my head, causing me to be dizzy. I could not stand still, and I suffered memory loss.
On July 20th, 2003, practitioners Mr. Ren Xiaobei, Mr. Wang Jiangning, Mr. Tian Xiaofei, and I went on hunger strike to protest the persecution and requested to be released as innocent. Guard Wang Boda threatened me, saying, "If you dare to continue the hunger strike, I will lock you in a small cell5 to torture you." I answered with dignity, "I do not acknowledge the crime you have accused me of."
On July 28th, 2003, they began force-feeding me. I told them with compassion that force-feeding is illegal internationally and violates human rights. Prisoners instructed by guards held me down on the bed and inserted the finger-thick tube in my nose. It was painful and made me nauseous. They tortured me by force-feeding me a highly concentrated salt solution three times per day.
On August 12th, 2009, guard Li Chengxin ordered prisoner An Zhong and another to drag all practitioners on hunger strike to the yard to have us bake under the scorching sun. I had been on hunger strike for more than twenty days, so I was very weak. They mostly force-fed me a highly-concentrated salt solution with a little cornmeal. I passed out due to weakness. Guards had prisoners drag me onto the turf and pour water into my nose to choke me into waking up. They dragged me back to the cell and ordered a group of prisoners to torture me. I refused to let them force-feed me, and they then pressed me down and pinched my cheeks and mouth. The wounds festered.
Guard Wang Jianjun, Zheng Xiaofeng, and Xu Changhai ordered prisoners to handcuff me behind my back and force me to lie on my side so I could not move. My arms were numb and extremely painful. I could not sleep for three whole days. They connected my handcuffs and shackles to practitioners Mr. Ren Xiaobei, Mr. Wang Jiangning, and Mr. Tain Xiaofei, so that we could not straighten up.
On August 18th, 2003, Mr. Wang Jiangning protested the torture. Guard Wang Jianjun had prisoner Zhang Gui put a helmet on Wang Jiangning's head, then hit him with a wooden bed board. Mr. Wang could not bear the torture any longer, so he hit his head against the heater, sustained a large wound, and passed out. He could not open his eyes, and guard Zheng Xiaofeng ordered prisoner Wang Yongsheng to tape his eyelids open to torture him by not allowing him to close his eyes.
On August 20th, 2003, guards ordered prisoner Zhou Hui to shave my hair off. In less than one week, guard Li Dahai ordered prisoners Wang Weizhi and Zhang Hengquan to shave my head again. There were always two prisoners closely monitoring each practitioner, and we were not allowed to talk or walk and had to ask permission to use the toilet every time. Walking a little too slow or fast would result in a cursing.
On February 29th, 2004, a weekend, Guard Wang Jianjun did not allow me to rest. Prisoners Zhang Hengquan, Zhang Lu, and Yang Dazhi brutally beat me five times in another cell, resulting in internal injuries. My wounds still hurt.
In April 2004, guard Li Chengxin ordered prisoner Xu Jianwei to beat practitioners who refused to work. I was forced to do craft work gluing plastic boxes and adhering a white powder on the outside. The powder was very suffocating. We laboured in our cell for 15 days, and the hallway and inside the cell were covered with the white powder.
In July 2004, Mr. Lian Ping died in the production ward due to torture, and his body was dissected. In order to prevent such information from getting to the outside, no visits were allowed to practitioners for the entire month.
At the end of August 2004, my family brought me Falun Gong materials. Then I was deprived of one year of visitation.
In September 2004, Mr. Fan Xuejun also died. Like Mr. Lian Ping, his body was dissected, and all practitioners were deprived of visits for one month.
In September 2004, guard Zheng Xiaofeng encouraged prisoners Li Guangwen, Li Xuzhong, and Liu Xingyuan to beat Mr. Lu Yunqing, fracturing his ribs. He could not get out bed for one month.
On December 18th, 2004, prisoners Wang Jiahui and Cui Ke found me reading Falun Gong materials. They beat me and injured my lower back. Prisoner Dai Baohai beat me the next morning.
In January 2005, I refused to do labour to protest the persecution. Guards ordered prisoners to not allow me to use hot water for one week. On September 15th, 2005, the prison did not allow my family to visit and did not allow me to buy my daily necessities or take a shower because I refused to wear a prisoner's badge. We were not allowed to buy daily necessities worth more than 30 yuan, and, in the most severe conditions, we were only allowed to buy them once every three months. During the hunger strike, Mr. Ren Xiaobei had 1500 yuan extorted from him. Once, practitioner Mr. Tain Xiaofei saw the guards soak up Mr. Ren's vomit and force-feed it back to him.
Guards censored our letters and burned any containing things they did not like. They listened to our conversations with our families during visitation, and if we ever revealed how we were being tortured, they would not let out families visit.
In January 2006, 21 practitioners went on a group hunger strike, and the guards improved a little bit. On April 7th, 2006, Deputy Director Shen Zequn led a group of office chairs to see our cells. Chair Fan (given name unknown) said, "We never abuse practitioners." At that, Mr Liu Quan immediately stood up and reported how he had been brutally beaten. Guard Xu Changhai said, "The guards beating you does not count as harming you."
I was released on May 19th, 2006. I have no income, and I am physically in very bad condition due to being tortured. I have many internal injuries. My mental health has also been damaged by the five years of detention, and I have partially lost my memory. Because I refused to be brainwashed, the local government still monitors me all the time.
I am here to call on all kind people in the world to pay attention to Falun Gong practitioners detained in Huazi Prison. 58 of them were detained there from 2002 to 2004, and five of them were tortured to death: Mr. Lian Ping, Mr. Fan Xuejun, Mr. Yang Zizhong, Mr. Zhou Dewei, and Mr .Wang (given name unknown).
Note
1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
2. "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.
3. The "Tiananmen Self-Immolation" an incident on Tiananmen Square in January 2001 whereby four people set themselves alight and the Chinese Communist claimed they were Falun Gong practitioners, yet there was video evidence to strongly disprove this claim
4. "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.
5. Small cell - The detainee is confined alone in a very small cell. The guards handcuff the practitioner behind his back in a fixed position, so that he can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and no sunshine comes in. A bucket in the cell serves as the toilet. Only half of a regular meal is served each day. During the night rats run around. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/11/2/141583.html
* * *
You are welcome to print and circulate all articles published on Clearharmony and their content, but please quote the source.
more ...