Mr. Tian Haitao Brutally Mistreated and in Critical Condition in Jiamusi Detention Centre

Name: Tian Haitao
Gender: Male
Age: 46
Address: Agricultural Bank of China, Fujin City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Computer Systems Manager
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 12th, 2009
Most recent place of detention: Jiamusi Detention Centre
City: Jiamusi
Province: Heilongjiang

Arrested and Savagely Mistreated

Mr. Tian Haitao, 46, was a former computer systems manager at the Agricultural Bank of China, Fujin Branch. He was arrested by police officers that were monitoring him when he visited the home of fellow practitioner Huang Weizhong on February 12th, 2009. The police confiscated all his personal belongings including two mobile phones that he had purchased for friends, an MP4 player, a CD, and over 1,500 yuan¹ in cash. One of the officers hit him several times during the arrest. He was then taken to Jiamusi Detention Centre in the evening.

He was confined in a cell on the second floor. The guard placed three prisoners to monitor him daily. He was not permitted to lie down or do the Falun Gong exercises. Mr. Tian went on a hunger strike to protest the mistreatment. The guard ordered 8 to 9 prisoners to force him down, pry his mouth open, and insert a tube to force feed him salty liquid food.

He was also injected with unknown drugs. The guards cuffed his arms and legs to the rings on the ground in an awkward position. The prison physician told him the injection was an antibiotic, but it always made him feel very uncomfortable throughout his entire body and physically exhausted. Later his whole body would hurt.

After a week-long ordeal, he was transferred to a tightly watched cell, where several prisoners instigated by prison guards would yell at him, pull his hair, stuff hot chilli into his mouth, kick him, drag him, and hit him with their elbows. As a result, his ribs ached, and his chest was swollen like a big round bowl.

Mr. Tian nearly suffocated when the prison physician and the guards force fed him. After the incident, they altered the force feeding method by sticking a tube through his nose. He was taken to the city hospital three times to have this procedure done. They would leave the tube in his nose for over two weeks. The tube was mouldy when it was pulled out.

The police still took him to the court for questioning even though he was in critical condition.

74-Year-Old Father Was Threatened When He Went to Visit His Son

His family was not allowed to visit during Mr. Tian's detention. His father, 74, came from Fujin, Heilongjiang Province, to Jiamusi Detention Centre to see him once. It was a few minutes past 10 a.m. in the morning when his father arrived. The guard told him to come back in the afternoon because the director was at lunch.

At noon, his father came back and followed the lunch delivery person into the centre. Four men appeared out of nowhere, yelling and cursing. They started dragging the old man, then lifted him up and threw him out on the snow-covered ground. He could not get himself up to walk as he was in pain from being dragged and dropped on the ground. It was snowing, and his hands and feet were numb from the freezing cold.

Just then, several officers from Yanjiang Police Station appeared and threatened Mr. Tian's family and father, telling them to leave right away. They said that the detention centre had reported them to the police. His family said, "We want to make a report, too. We want to report a physical injury." The police were quiet and disappeared quickly.

The father laid on the ground for over an hour due to the pain. Later, someone from the centre came to his aid. He found the deputy director, who said, "I am in charge of Mr. Tian. He is doing very well, and he is able to wash his own clothes." Mr. Tian's relative said, "Use my cell phone to take a photo of him so we can see it." The deputy director finally said, "Come back next Monday. I will talk to the director."

When the family saw Mr. Tian seven days later, he looked feeble, pale, and weak from the mistreatment he had suffered. There was a tube coming out of his nose. Two criminal inmates dragged Mr. Tian as he struggled to move forward. His wife saw him and could not stop crying.

That was what Mr. Tian looked like after over 40 days of mistreatment in the centre. Most days he was in a semi-conscious state and his weight went from over 176 lbs. to less than 100 lbs.

While still in very poor physical condition, he was taken to Suihua Forced Labour Camp. The police treated him very roughly during the physical examination given at the camp. The camp declined to admit him on the grounds that he was too weak. He was taken back to Jiamusi Detention Centre on the same day. The trip of 650 miles took over 17 hours, all in one day. Mr. Tian barely survived the physical demands of the trip by lying down in the car. It was after 10 p.m. when they got back to the detention centre. The police, including Liu Dianlong, left him tied up on a metal chair until about 6 a.m. before he was put to bed.

The police detained him for 48 days. He was released after they had extorted 2000 yuan out of his family.

Mr. Tian had a high fever and vomited blood. He was awakened by the pain. His family took him to the hospital. The doctor that diagnosed him said, "His lung is swollen and inflamed." The second hospital said, "We are unable to help him--we cannot be responsible for his life." With no hope, he was taken home. At present, he has recovered from the brutal mistreatment through his daily practice of Falun Gong.

Related report: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2009/4/6/106257.html

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/2009/8/16/206619.html