Practitioners Viciously Beaten and Tortured in Laizhou City Domestic Security Division in Shandong Province

My name is Ren Yueqiao. I am a 45 year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Heping Village, Shahe Town, Laizhou City, Shandong Province. On August 8th, 2008, Laizhou City 610 Office¹ Domestic Security Division Head Zhang Haifeng led people to scale the wall of the place where I was staying and arrested me and Pan Yuejun, another practitioner who happened to be visiting at the time. They took us to Dianzi Brainwashing Centre where we were made to suffer various tortures.

Pan Yuejun is a practitioner from Beizhuang Village, Tushan Town, Laizhou City. Earlier, on June 25th, 2008, he was arrested at work and inhumanely tortured for two consecutive days. On June 27th, he managed to escape from the detention centre and had to stay away from his home thereafter to avoid the police. When I saw him, he had a greenish face and was disoriented. He had bruises and wounds all over his body. Moreover, both of his hands had lost feeling and he couldn't straighten his fingers. The two-day non-stop torture severely traumatized him both physically and mentally. In order to expose the persecution he suffered, I wrote an article and submitted it to the Minghui website [Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net]. For details of Mr. Pan's experience, see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/7/19/99092.html.

Zhang Haifeng and his accomplices including Liu Jingbing were furious that I exposed their crimes. At the brainwashing centre, Liu Jingbing called my name and said, "Do you recognize me? I'm the person named Liu Jingbing you guys mentioned. Never thought you would be at my hands? Today you're at my mercy." He then savagely beat and cursed at me. Two other policemen also joined him.

In my article sent to Minghui, I exposed the fact that they stripped Pan Yuejun and scribbled everywhere on his bare body while teasing him, which I considered sexual harassment. They asked who wrote such a thing and I told them it was me. Then one of them waved three markers in front of my face saying, "These are the markers used to sexually harass Pan. I'll let you see what is real sexual harassment." He then scribbled with these markers on my face, neck, arms and whole body, while saying, "This is sexual harassment! This is sexual harassment!" Afterwards, he sprayed water on my face before wiping it away with a cloth. Then he repeated the whole process. Another person grabbed me by the hair, forcing my face upward while the third person pried my mouth open and poured beer into it.

During the 12-day detention in the brainwashing centre, there were eight days when I was hung up [by handcuffed wrists] and deprived of sleep. Because my arms were cuffed for so long, I couldn't move them at all after I was finally let down. My legs and feet were swollen to the point that I couldn't wear my shoes. My hands had no feeling and I couldn't straighten my fingers. Now that seven months have passed, I still have numbness in my hands, and my ears sometimes ring. My left arm still hurts and I can't move it very quickly.

When Pan Yuejun was arrested together with me last August, it was barely 40 days after his escape. Because Liu Jingbing and his accomplices' crimes had been exposed they were even more brutal. This time they locked Mr. Pan in a room. One man came in and lifted Mr. Pan's shirt to cover his head. Then he gave Mr. Pan a good beating until he passed out. They poured cold water on him and resumed the beating once he regained consciousness. The beatings lasted for several days. They also poured beer into his mouth. When it was sunny, they left Mr. Pan under the scorching sun. When it was raining, they made Mr. Pan stand outside to be soaked. They put shackles on him, which caused severe injury to his ankles. During the night, they cuffed him to the window frame and took turns beating him. They also attached electrical wires to Mr. Pan's nipples and then turned on the switch to shock him. This occurred several times.

Pan Yuejun passed out several times. Each time the police simply poured cold water on him to wake him up before resuming the beating. They also heated a thin steel plate with a lighter and held the steel plate to his body to burn him. Liu Jingbing whipped Pan Yuejun with bamboo sticks for several days. Their purpose was to force Mr. Pan to renounce Falun Gong. However, Mr. Pan firmly refused to give in.

One day I saw Pan Yuejun standing in the courtyard with his arms extended outward and palms facing up. One person sat across from him. I couldn't hear what he was asking Mr. Pan, but I saw that person whip Mr. Pan's palms frequently. There was another time when I saw Mr. Pan pacing in the yard barefoot, because his feet were too swollen to wear shoes. He had handcuffs and shackles on. Deep in the night when he was beaten, he shouted "Falun Gong is good!" Liu Jingbing poked his eyes saying, "I also know Falun Gong is good. I just don't allow you to say it." Unable to subdue Mr. Pan, they took him to the detention centre. Before the transfer, they beat him again until he experienced incontinence. The staff of Tushan Town government wanted to throw away Mr. Pan's trousers, but I stopped them. I washed the pants clean.

At the detention centre, Pan Yuejun began a hunger strike. He has not eaten or drank anything for over seven months. He is now extremely weak and can't stand up by himself. He has to lie in bed and he is incontinent. He can't take care of himself and he can't speak in a loud voice. He can't even think because that will cause a headache. Sometimes he is even mentally disoriented. Every day he lives in extreme pain. He no longer meets the physical requirement for detention. I strongly request he be released home for rehabilitation.

The prosecutors in Laizhou City charged me of "fabricating" information about Pan Yuejun's torture at Laizhou City Legal Education Centre (brainwashing centre) and sending it to the Minghui website. I hereby solemnly declare that my account of the torture of Mr. Pan was factual. Falun Gong practitioners believe in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and we would not fabricate or exaggerate anything. At the same time, I also want to expose the fact that the so-called Laizhou City Legal Education Centre is in fact Dianzi Brainwashing Centre, an evil den used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners with all kinds of torture.

On May 20th, 2009, Pan Yuejun and I were sentenced and sent to Jinan Prison together with four other practitioners from Laizhou City (Ms. Li Qiaofeng, Ms. Ren Yongxiu, Mr. Lu Jianguo, and Mr. Li Yufu). (See http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2009/6/20/108428.html)

Since the verdict given on June 16th, 2009, I have gone on a hunger strike to protest my unfair sentencing and detention. There is nothing wrong with my belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and I did not violate any article of the Constitution. I refused to sign any documents prepared by the detention centre. Everything I said under torture in Dianzi Brainwashing Centre was about the things I did to expose the persecution, which cannot be used to justify the verdict against me. It is completely unfair that Laizhou People's Court slapped me with such heavy sentence. I hereby demand that I be released, the verdicts against my fellow practitioners and me be annulled, and the perpetrators in Laizhou City be brought to justice.

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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/6/17/202870.html