Brutality at Harbin Women's Prison

Harbin Women's Prison is notorious for its brutal treatment of Falun Gong practitioners. Both guards and inmates have cruelly tortured and abused practitioners, causing severe injury and in some cases, permanent disability. The following are several cases of abuse at the prison.

Wen Jie was detained in a tiny cell for over thirty days

Falun Gong practitioner Wen Jie from Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on January 2001. Participating in the arrest were Zhang Yide from the Politics and Security Section in the Jianhua District Police Department, Qiqihar City and agents from the city's Third Criminal Investigation Division. During the interrogation, Third Criminal Investigation Division policemen applied the "Handcuff Hanging Torture" (see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/11/17/54624.html for illustration of this torture) and other barbaric tactics to torture more than ten practitioners. The practitioners they tortured included Wen Jie, Li Huifeng, and Zhang Jian. The police beat, handcuffed and shackled Wen Jie, Zhang Shuzhe, and An Jingtao and force-fed them inhumanely. They sentenced Wen Jie and transported her to Harbin Women's Prison.

In July 2002 Zhang Xiuli, a guard leader in the division, and others put Wen Jie in a tiny detention cell for fifty-six days because she refused to do slave labour. In September 2002, when Wen Jie's prison escape failed, the captors detained her in a tiny cell for over thirty days. Meanwhile, the guards also tortured her with the tiger bench¹ (see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html for illustration of this torture). Once removed from the tiny cell, the guards did not let Ms. Wen rest, and instead they handcuffed her arms behind her back (see the above link for illustration of this torture) for seven days and nights.

In the middle of August 2005, while officials at the prison tried to use force to make the practitioners give up their cultivation practice, Wen Jie staged a hunger strike in protest. She also exposed the persecution to the prison division leaders. On October 12th, 2005, the guards stopped their forcible attempts to get her to give up her cultivation. But after that, they sent Wen Jie to the prison's sick inmates ward for further detention.

On November 23rd, 2005, Wen Jie tried to reason with inmate Xia Guixian in a water utility room, trying to stop Xia from beating practitioners. Xia then used a basin to frenziedly hit Wen Jie. Xia also violently grabbed Wen Jie's hair. Wen Jie became bedridden for two weeks as a result of being assaulted by Xia. The beating raised her systolic blood pressure to 230-240, and her diastolic blood pressure to 130. Practitioners asked that Xia be punished, but guard Cai Liping lied saying that Xia suffered from an intermittent mental illness. Prison Hospital head Zhao Ying also turned a deaf ear to the request. Only after the practitioners wrote letters to the prison head was Xia transferred to another place.

On April 17th, 2007 the guards transferred Wen Jie to the Eleventh Ward where they tried for ten months to forcibly reform her. During this time, inmate Cui Xiang, urged on by the guards, verbally abused and physically assaulted Wen Jie.

Wang Aihua was subjected to the "constraining belts" torture and Xia Wenxiu was injected with an unknown drug

Because Qiqihar City practitioner Wang Aihua is steadfast in her cultivation, guards in the Sixth Ward tortured her ruthlessly many times with the "constraining belts" (see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/8/24/77221.html for illustration of this torture). Those committing the crimes were inmates Fei Enrong and Zhao Shulan, and guards Yan Yuhua, Song Yuxia, Hu Yunan, and Liu Chang.

Because practitioner Zhou Qiaohang read a Falun Gong book, inmates Jin Dandan, Teng Xiaofeng, Cui Xiaoxue, and Chen Chunjing beat and cursed at her. Guards Lu Guoting, Wang Xing, Chen Zhao, and Zhang Xiuli confiscated Zhou's book.

In 2006, division head Lu Jinghua ordered several strong inmates to push Xia Wenxiu onto the ground. They stepped on Ms. Xia's head and injected her with an unknown substance.

Hua Xiaojuan was handcuffed to a floor ring for a long time

Practitioner Hua Xiaojuan was sent to Qiqihar Women's Prison in October 2003. In December 2005 she was put in a tiny cell. While there, she was handcuffed with her arms behind her back to a ring mounted onto the floor, unable to move all day, with the exception of a toilet break. Practitioner Hua asked for medical treatment and compensation for her resulting injuries, but the guards did not respond. She can no longer walk normally. When she squats, the area of her pelvic bones hurt; when she washes her face and hair, her back aches beyond tolerance. The main criminals who tortured Hua Xiaojuan from 2006 to 2007 were inmate Li Meilan and guard Dong Lihua.

Guards shocked Wang Jinfan with electric batons

As of May 17th, 2007, division leader Dong Lihua tortured practitioner Lei Min for as long as eight months, causing excruciating pain and injuring her back severely.

Inmates Cong Yan and Ji Mingli beat practitioner Zhang Shuqin. Inmate Xue Shuhua tortured Zhang Shuqin by use of the "constraining belts." Inmates Xue Shuhua and Jin Dandan grabbed Zhang Shuqin's hair and slammed her head into a wall heater. Inmate Chen Guiqing also participated in the beating.

In the Second Prison Ward, guard Dong Yan often beats practitioners. When Zhong Yanan practised the Falun Gong exercises, Dong Yan and other inmates dragged her into a warehouse. It was winter, and they left the windows open to expose her to the bitter cold. They also taped her mouth shut and handcuffed her arms behind her back and forbade her to use the toilet. They tortured Ms. Zhong in this way for as long as ten days.

When practitioner Wang Jinfan was initially detained at Harbin Women's Prison, the guards beat her because she refused to follow the guards' instructions, to report, or walk in formation [Ed. Note: Because Falun Gong practitioners are guilty of no crime, and should not be imprisoned, many practitioners protest the illegal detention by refusing to follow the prison regulations designed to control and humiliate criminals]. Once, Ms. Wang did not cooperate with Sun Yanbin and other Qiqihar City Criminal Investigation Division policemen by refusing to provide her fingerprints. Officers Xiao Lin, Lu Jinghua, and Wang Xiaoli went up to her together and knocked her down. They stepped on her head, and then use an awl to beat and pierce her hands. They then grabbed her hands and got her her fingerprints. After that, they detained Ms. Wang in a tiny cell. When the First Division police of the Criminal Investigation Division shocked her with electric batons, she once showed symptoms of heart disease. While she was eventually held at the Harbin Women's Prison, she was forced to hold the squatting position for more than fifty hours for refusing to do slave labour. After that she showed symptoms of a stroke, had left-side body paralysis, insufficient oxygenation to the heart, and her blood pressure reached as high as over 200.

List of guards who persecuted practitioners:

Xiao Lin, Zhao Yingling, Wang Yali, Wang Xiaoli, Tao Dandan, Lu Jinghua, Lin Jia, Liu Chang, Yan Yuhua, Zhao Bin, Dong Lihua, Zhang Liwei, Zhang Xiuli, Wu Xuesong, Song Yuxia, Hu Yunan, Lu Guoting, Wang Xing, Chen Zhao, Dong Yan, Cai Liping

Inmates who participated in the abuse of practitioners:

Cui Xiang, Sun Xuejuan, Zhao Shulan, Fei Enrong, Xu Zhen, Xia Guixian, Jin Dandan, Teng Xiaofeng, Cui Xiaoxue, Chen Chunjing, Li Meilan, Cong Yan, Ji Mingli, Xue Shuhua, Chen Guiqing

Note

1. "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/2009/5/19/201204.html