Practitioners Severely Mistreated in the Strict Discipline Team of Yinmahe Forced Labour Camp in Jiutai City, Jilin Province

Falun Gong practitioners held in the Yinmahe Forced Labour Camp in Jiutai City, Jilin Province are undergoing severe mistreatment by prison guards. In the Strict Discipline Team in particular, all victims are subjected to cruel torture both mentally and physically.

Li Yunbo, the director of the Strict Discipline Team, and Zhao Fengshan, the commissioner of the team, colluded to extort money from prisoners in the labour camp by charging money for the so-called Civil Administrator position. Those who got the position would pay them between 1,000 and 10,000 yuan¹. Li Yunbo exploited the prisoners by extorting food, wine, money and other things of everyday use from them. He constantly encouraged the Civil Administrators to mistreat Falun Gong practitioners: "You can beat or torture them whenever you find it appropriate. You do not need to worry about death from torture, because the government will be there backing you. It is very normal for a prisoner to die here; we have a death quota every year. Any death caused by torture will be regarded as a natural death so long as you can find three people to support you." They also indicated to the Civil Administrators that if they do well enough in mistreating Falun Gong practitioners, they could receive a reduction to their term in the labour camp. Incited by Li Yunbo, the Civil Administrators horribly tortured Falun Gong practitioners physically and mentally.

1. Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Li Wenzhi was subjected to violent force-feeding because he held firm to his belief. In the toilet, they fastened him to an Iron Chair² and force-fed him with solutions high in salt content. Mr. Li suffered greatly from the torture. His health deteriorated and he had a constant acute cough.

2. Mr. Zhang Xincai was forced to sit straight on a hard board for a long time. Sometimes he would have to sit for over 19 hours per day. In the cold winter in the middle of December they would open the door and windows widely to make him suffer from the freezing wind. As a result, Mr. Zhang suffered serious injuries. His waist and buttocks were wounded and festered from the long time sitting. He became unable to care for himself and stayed in a state of paralysis in bed for 8 months.

3. Mr. Li Wenjun was subjected to cruel torture. His arms were fully stretched out to the side and were fixed there with shackles. His ribs were then poked with sewing needles in an attempt to force him to give up his belief in Falun Gong. Mr. Li became emaciated, but he was still forced to sit straight for long periods of time. They also force-fed him cruelly. Four or five prisoners fastened him to an "Iron Chair" and force-fed him with salty water. Such torture lasted for over 10 months. Consequently, Mr. Li suffered many injuries including a hemorrhage in his digestive tract.

4. Mr. Jiang Jianfeng was hung up with his hands shackled, then beaten.

5. The perpetrators bound the upper half of Mr. Sun Zhanguo's body to his double-crossed legs and ordered another person to sit on his back forcefully, pressing him into a deeply bent position.

6. Mr. Zhang Guosheng was cruelly beaten by Yu Mingzhu, the chief of the Strict Discipline Team. His face was badly swollen and deformed. His blood pressure increased to 220 and as a result, he fell into a coma.

Many other Falun Gong practitioners and prisoners have been cruelly beaten to different extents.

Because of the incitement and indulgence of the prison guards in the Strict Discipline Team, the Civil Administrators mistreated Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners audaciously. The perpetrators were not punished for their crimes. Instead, they received praise and awards for having reformed themselves actively and even received reductions to their terms of forced labour.

Li Yunbo, Zhao Fengshan and other prison guards also forced prisoners to do heavy labour. They forced the prisoners to get up and start work at 5:10 a.m. and continue until 7:30 p.m. During the work hours, the prisoners were not allowed to rest except when having dinner or going to the toilet. Each day they worked for 13 hours. They would not even have enough time to finish their dinner because the timetable for dinner was very strict. Many people were forced to go back to work before they could finish eating. Even aged and crippled prisoners were made to run from the dining room on the first floor to the workplace on the fifth floor. In addition, they were usually forced to work overtime. For example, on January 22nd, 2008, they worked until 10 p.m. On November 23rd, 2008, they started work at 3:30 a.m. On January 23rd, 2009, they were forced to get up and start work at 2:50 a.m. To earn economic benefits, the prison guards from the Strict Discipline Team cruelly exploited the prisoners, even at the price of their health and life.

Note

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

2. Iron Chair: 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 at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/24/199546.html