Mr. Gao Ke Tortured in Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp

Mr. Gao Ke is a teacher from Yumin Elementary School in the Daowai District in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. After he started practising Falun Gong in late 1996, his eight physical ailments, including gallbladder stones and a slipped inter-vertebral disk, were cured. He worked diligently and was widely recognized and praised by his superiors and colleagues. However, during the past ten years, he has been arrested by the police eight times, his home was ransacked seven times, he was sentenced to forced labour four times and fined on numerous occasions, and his wages were withheld and reduced, causing him a financial loss of several tens of thousands of yuan¹. Most recently he was the object of inhuman abuse in Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp.

After 3 p.m. on June 6th, 2009, Mr. Gao was on 12th Street in the Daowai District trying to talk to people about the truth behind the persecution of Falun Gong, when he was reported to the local authorities and arrested by four officers from the Taigu Police Station led by Zhang Jining and Guo Yupeng. He was taken in the police patrol vehicle to the Harbin City Detention Centre. He went on a hunger strike to protest the detention and tried to communicate with the police about Falun Gong. Four days later, his health had gravely deteriorated and his family took him home.

After eight days, at 9 a.m. on June 17th, 2009, Chief Lu Zhenli of the Taigu Police Station and Officer Zhang Jining forcefully took Mr. Gao back to the police station, arguing that he had to be photographed and sign some documents. At the station, Zhang Jining and other officers handcuffed him and beat him again, causing him immense pain.

Afterwards, Mr. Gao was once again taken to the Harbin City Detention Centre. Around 9 the next day June 18th, he was transferred to Wanjia Forced Labour Camp for so-called "intensive training."

Around 11 o'clock on June 18th, a vehicle from Zhanglinzi Forced Labour Camp arrived to take him back and photograph him. Mr. Gao said, "Falun Dafa is good. I am innocent. I should be released immediately." Captain of Team 4 Wang Rufang, deputy captain Li Jianfeng, and policeman Li jumped up and beat him to the ground. Wang Rufang shouted and threatened him with solitary confinement. At the same time, Wang Rufang stuffed a dirty mop cloth in Mr. Gao's mouth and sealed it with tape. Later, Mr. Gao was taken back to Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp.

Later it became known that Hou Tingyi, Cai Qun, and Li Li from the Daowai District National Security Team had conspired to detain and ill treat Mr. Gao. In the eight days of detention, they had already prepared materials to sentence Mr. Gao to two years of forced labour.

Mr. Gao was handcuffed in a solitary cell in Team No. 4. Deputy captain of Team 4 Qiang Shengguo put on shackles on him, linked them to the handcuffs, and anchored them to the ground. Mr. Gao could then not walk at all. The guards would order the inmates, "Let him eat in the cell and toilet in the cell. Don't let him shout slogans. Seal his mouth with tape if he does. Don't allow him to do Falun Gong exercises. Beat him if he does." The authorities assigned four inmates to take turns monitoring him 24 hours a day.

Mr. Gao started his hunger strike on June 17th when he was arrested. He refused water in addition to food. On day 6 into his hunger strike, the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp authorities started force-feeding him. They chained him to an "iron chair." Four people held his head and hands down and inserted a rubber tube into his nostril and down into his oesophagus. Previously, Changlinzi authorities already had killed practitioners Kong Xiaohai and Li Bin using this violent force-feeding method.

A few days later, the guards tied him up in a straight jacket and handcuffed one hand to a metal window frame and the other to a ring in the ground. Then they started an intravenous infusion. Mr. Gao developed hypertension and his heart displayed irregularities. He became very ill and was on the verge of death. Sixteen days into his grave condition, the camp authorities sent him to the city's Second Hospital for a check up. They found that he had developed hypertension and second degree heart prostration, among other things. He was forced to have intravenous injection.

Zhang Bin, the political instructor of Team 4, locked Mr. Gao to the bed with handcuffs and shackles. Mr. Gao's body was so stretched that he could not move a bit. The ill treatment lasted from 3 p.m. until midnight, during which period Mr. Gao had several attacks of extreme shortness of breath and his right eye became fully filled with blood.

The camp authorities feared that he might die in the labour camp, so they wanted to release him on bail for medical care. However, his school principal, Tao Yaoyuan; the Daowai District Yumin Elementary School; and Daowai District Education Department head Yang Liping feared assuming responsibility and refused to sign for the bail until six days later when Mr. Gao was on the verge of death again. Then the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp authorities released Mr. Gao and forced his family members to sign on the bail documents.

After Mr. Gao got home, the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp authorities harassed him by making repeated telephone calls to his home. After 9 a.m. on July 21st, Zhang Bin, the political instructor of Team Four, and police officer Ma went to Mr. Gao's home. They later ordered another policeman named Yu from the education division to come and photograph Mr. Gao. Before they left, Zhang Bin told Mr. Gao's family, "As soon as we see him on the street, we will take him back to detention."

Due to the ill treatment in detention, Mr. Gao's heart disease continues to be a problem and his legs swell badly and turn black. To avoid further arrests and persecution, Mr. Gao has fled home and is now forced to be homeless.

Taigu Police Station:

Police Chief Lu Zhenli: 86-13946059563
Policeman Zhang Jining: 86-451-86905611
Policeman Guo Yupeng: 86-451-89066771

Daowai District National Security Team:

Hou Yiting: 86-451-88570956
Cai Qun: 86-451-86989614
Li Li: 86-13903650408 (Mobile)

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/7/28/205477.html