Mr. Deng Jiangang Sentenced to Prison after Eight Years of Persecution and Torture

Mr. Deng Jiangang from Pengshan County, Sichuan Province, has been brutally persecuted many times because of his belief in Falun Gong. He is currently detained in Wumaping Prison in Leshan City. His wife, Ms. Jiang Xiantao, also a practitioner, is in a forced labour camp. Their young daughter had to leave school and stay at home, living a very difficult life.

The Beijing police used violence to arrest him

Mr. Deng went to Beijing at the end of 2000 to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong. Around 6 a.m. on December 31st, 2000, as he was walking to Beijing, a police car stopped him. Five people in police uniforms got out of the car and demanded to see his ID. He told them that he had not brought it with him. Then they told him to curse Falun Gong. When he refused, they started to beat him and took him to the Yanjiao Police Department.

Pengshan County police used torture to try to force a confession

Later on Mr. Deng was taken back to the county detention centre by the Pengshan County police. He arrived at the detention centre on the evening of January 6th, 2001, and the head of the Domestic Security Division, Xiao Deyuan, and an officer surnamed Zhou started to beat him. They searched him during the registration. While Mr. Deng was occupied, Xiao Deyuan punched him very hard twice in the temple. Mr. Deng was immediately very dizzy, and he started to sway. Later on he developed tinnitus and it got continually worse. Afterwards, Xiao and Zhou continued to torture him. Xiao was very straightforward, saying he wanted to torture Mr. Deng to death. He tortured Mr. Deng using "Carrying a sword on the back¹" for more than two hours. The handcuffs bore into Mr. Deng's flesh, and they only released his wrists after many minutes. He was punched in the head and body. They stepped on his feet so hard that his toes turned black and purple.

Brutal torture in Xinhua Forced Labour Camp in Mianyang City

Mr. Deng was taken to the Xinhua Forced Labour Camp in Mianyang City. He was tortured many times. The guards used drug addict inmates to torture practitioners. On April 24th, 2001, he was beaten to the ground and punched and kicked, with his head and other sensitive areas being the main targets. On May 14th, 2001, he was taken to the office because he refused to attend training. In the office, they were taking off another practitioner's clothes and that practitioner was slammed to the floor. The two of them were held to the ground by four guards each and bound for nearly 20 minutes. They were shocked with electric batons in the head, body, legs, and feet until their arms and legs lost feeling, and they could not lift them anymore.

Around 12 p.m. on August 12th, 2002, in the laundry room of the Fourth Section, Fourth Ward, Mr. Deng was suddenly pushed up against the wall by team leaders Wen and Wang. Mr. Deng reacted fast enough to avoid major injury, but there was a 6 or 7-inch long water tap sticking out of the wall, and his chest was badly bruised from the impact.

Guards encouraged inmates to commit crimes

On the morning of August 14th, 2002, Mr. Deng was working in the repair shop of the Fourth Section, Fourth Ward. Wen and Wang attacked him again after they had gotten drunk. Wang said to Wen, "According to our boss, do not leave any visible scars, try to hurt the insides, and do it with full force." Wang told Mr. Deng, "Our leaders gave the order to abuse you a long time ago. We can tell you the truth. Since you are going to die soon, you will die in a few days. At least you'll die knowing everything behind this--this is the order from the leaders: damage your internal organs and then claim that you have illness. You will die in a few days." Wang told Wen, "Just do what the leaders told us to do. We won't have to take any responsibility if there is a problem, and our sentences will be reduced."

Wen dug into Mr. Deng's internal organs under his left rib bone. Mr. Deng suddenly felt the rib bones loosen up, then it started to hurt severely and Mr. Deng cried out. Wen said, "Now you feel the pain."As Wen continued to squeeze Mr. Deng's internal organs, he felt his left kidney being ripped apart and his whole body felt lifeless. Wang asked Wen, "Is it done?" Wen answered, "No problem, he is done." At the same time, Wang used the same technique to squeeze Mr. Deng's liver from the right side, and Wang used his knees to hit Mr. Deng's spine and other places on his body. Wang put the flat part of a chair on Mr. Deng's head and slammed a brick against the other side of the chair. Both of them kept hitting Mr. Deng until his facial colour changed. At night study where every inmate had to sit military style, Mr. Deng was in such pain that he fell to the floor. Someone immediately reported it to the leaders and he was carried to the hospital.

Four rib bones broken, vertebrae cracked, bodily fluids lost

The next day, August 15th, 2002, Mr. Deng was taken to two major hospitals in Mianyang City for check ups. Mr. Deng's left seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth ribs were broken; he had cracked vertebrae, and his bodily fluids were leaking out. This is what an officer who saw the diagnosis report said. Another officer that accompanied him to the hospital and looked at his X-rays told him the same thing. Mr. Deng was kept in the hospital for 5 days before he was taken back to the labour camp hospital for observation.

About ten days after the injury, the inmate who was assigned to watch over him told Mr. Deng to sit on the small military chair because the leaders had given this order. In the morning on August 28th, 2002, after practitioner Li Xingze put his life on the line to resist the persecution, Mr. Deng was taken back to the Fourth Section that night. After dinner, he was forced to stand in military position for more than 40 minutes like all the other inmates. His injuries caused him extreme pain, and since then, he was forced to stand and sit in military position for several hours a day.

Around the end of November, 2002, Mr. Deng, along with at least ten other practitioners, was transferred to the strict control section in the Fourth Ward. His health was getting worse and worse, and it was the rainy and snowy season. For around twenty days, he was forced to stand in the rain and snow without warm clothing. When he was hospitalized in Mianyang City's hospital, he was handcuffed to the bed every day. All of his clothing was lost except what he was wearing.

Two toenails ripped off, other toes are black and purple

One day, section leader Zhao Yu ordered all practitioners who couldn't continue "training" to be paired with three inmates. The inmates carried and pushed the practitioners to run around the track twice without stopping until they fell, and then they were forced to do push-ups. Mr. Deng was not able to do the push-ups, so Zhao Yu stepped on his lower back and cursed at him. Zhao dragged Mr. Deng up from the ground, then he stomped really hard on Mr. Deng's feet. The nails on both of Mr. Deng's big toes were torn off, and the other toes turned black and purple. The next day, the guards claimed that Mr. Deng was sick. Mr. Deng and another practitioner were dragged, pushed, and forced to get injections of unknown drugs twice a day for two days. After the injections, Mr. Deng's legs turned cold, his body became stiff below the waist, and he was not able to turn or move. He had tinnitus and his hearing became very poor, his vision worsened, and he could not recognize people's facial features unless they were within two meters. He was detained in this condition for an additional 8 months more than his original term.

Family members wanted Mr. Deng to be released, the guards pretended to know nothing

On August 23rd, 2003, Mr. Deng's family members overcame many obstacles to go to the labour camp to visit him. Before, they were not allowed to visit, send letters, or have any phone conversations, so they never knew what he went through. When his family finally saw Mr. Deng being carried by two people into the visiting room, they were shocked. They could barely recognize him, because his entire form had changed. They could only see each other through a piece of thick glass to prevent physical contact. Because Mr. Deng's hearing was very weak, he just stood there dully. Then he was taken to sit facing his family and he was told that those were his family members. His family called his name loudly, but Mr. Deng could barely hear it. All of his family members cried. When Mr. Deng realized the visitors were his family members, he told them briefly about the torture he went through. His family immediately questioned the guard, "Is this what you call law-enforced education? Which law did he break? What crime caused him to be tortured like this, and you don't even allow us to visit him? You have to give us an explanation or else we will expose you to the media!"

A group of guards came and surrounded his family and screamed at them, "If you keep shouting, we will arrest you all." It caught the other visitors' attention and they gathered to see what was going on, so the guards told someone to take Mr. Deng away. On August 28th, 2003, Mr. Deng was bailed out.

Guards destroyed the criminal evidence

The local 610 Office², police department, and law enforcement department all refused to accept Mr. Deng due to his critical physical condition, so he was finally allowed to be taken home by his family. Before he was released, the guards destroyed all the evidence and even produced fake evidence. For example, the hospital report and exam documents were not only destroyed, but the guards also told the hospital to make fake documents. At the end of 2002, the guards took him to Mianyang City hospital again for a check-up. Before they left, the warden of the Fourth Ward, surnamed Wu, gave a piece of paper to the guard who would take Mr. Deng to the hospital and said to him, "Just tell the doctor to write this on the diagnosis, just say his illness is hyperostosis." When the doctor found out about this, he criticized the guard immediately. The next day, when Mr. Deng passed by the assistant section head, Jia Lianhui, and asked him about the results of the exam. Jia Lianhui was not able to provide a clear answer.

In 7 months, Mr. Deng did not receive any treatment.

Arrested and brutally beaten by the police again

In May 2008, Mr. Deng was handing out leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong when he was stopped by a person that called the police. On May 13th, 2008, he was taken to the detention centre again. Because he refused to wear the prison uniform and refused to report, an armed officer kicked the lower left side of his back near his ribs twice. Mr. Deng's feet were shackled together, and he was kicked to the ground at the doorway. He tried to stand up twice but failed. In the end, he stood up with righteous thoughts. For the following 10 days, he slept on the wet floor on a rotting cushion and a rotting straw mat. He was later transferred to Xinhua Forced Labour Camp and was further persecuted.

At the end of August 2004, because he refused to take drugs, section leader surnamed Pu brutally beat him in the office. Pu slapped his face 20 to 30 times non-stop, grabbed his hair, and slammed the back of his head against the wall, and used his second finger to strike Mr. Deng's chest, etc.

Tortured in Pengshan Detention Centre

On the night of the Lantern Festival (February 21st) in 2008, Mr. Deng was taken to Pengshan Detention Centre. His wife, Ms. Jiang Xiantao, and another practitioner were detained at the same time. The following morning during the daily room check, Mr. Deng refused to wear the inmate uniform, so a twenty-something-year-old cell mate punched him twice on the right side of his chest really hard. Mr. Deng almost vomited due to the pain, which he can still feel even to this day. During the first seven months in the detention centre, he slept on a wet floor, on a rotting cushion and a rotting straw mat near the bathroom where it was very smelly. An inmate who was a gang member, Zhang Quan, spat on him every day. Zhang gathered three other inmates, Li Jianwa, Zhang Dequan and Wang Jian, to keep Mr. Deng from exposing the persecution, practising the exercises every day. Zhang Quan even spat in Mr. Deng's meal and soup.

Mr. Deng sentenced to 5 years, his wife sentenced to 3 years

His life was very hard during the first 7 months in the detention centre. His meals did not contain any oil or salt. On September 18th, 2008, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) court sentenced Mr. Deng to 5 years and his wife to 3 years in prison. When he was taken to the Wumaping Prison, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which was in the infectious stage; high blood pressure; and valvular inadequacy related heart problems. The prison refused to accept him, and he was taken back to the detention centre. Later he was diagnosed with tuberculosis by the Pengshan County People's Hospital and the Meishan City People's Hospital, but he was still transferred to Wumaping Prison on October 8th, 2008. He is currently in the No. 1 Section.

Mr. Deng's current health is very poor. He feels numbness and pain from the lower back to his toes, he is not able to walk steadily, and he has difficulty lifting his feet. His left side is even worse. His condition worsens when the weather turns cold--sometimes he can't hear anything, sometimes he has tinnitus, and his vision is blurry--he is not able to see people's faces clearly and can only see shadows.

Note

1. Carrying a sword on the back - The practitioner's hands are tied behind his back with one hand over the shoulder and the other hand against the lower back. The police then apply a great deal of force to pull the two hands toward one another and handcuff them together. See illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html 21

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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/2/26/196127.html