Mr. Gao Cai from Jingyuan County, Liaoning Province, Persecuted Since 2005

Name: Gao Cai
Gender: Male
Age: 58
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 18th, 2005
Most recent place of detention: Benxi City Prison City: Benxi
Province: Liaoning Province

Mr. Gao Cai, 58 years old, is retired from the Jingyuan Town Government in Jingyuan County of Fushun City, Liaoning Province. Because he practised the Falun Gong exercises in a park, he was arrested many times and subjected to two years of forced labour in Wujiabao Forced Labor Camp in Fushun City. In March 2005, he was arrested again and sentenced to four years imprisonment by the Jingyuan County Court. He suffered from all kinds of tortures while in prison, such as being brutally beaten, forced to sit on a small bench for long hours, deprived of sleep, brainwashing, and forced to do slave labour. In 2009, after he was released, he did not receive any retirement pension from the Jingyuan Town Government. Below are details of the persecution he has endured.

Brutally tortured during interrogation

On the evening of March 18th, 2005, Gao Cai and his wife rode a motorcycle to the countryside and were intercepted by officer Li Hongbin and others from the Jingyuan County Police Department. While he was held in Dashagou Detention Centre, five or six officers, including Wang Xingchuan, the head of the Domestic Security Division, and officer Li Hongbin, interrogated him with ruthless means. They restrained Mr. Gao in a special metal chair with nine flexible knots that could be tightened or loosened. The four feet of the chair were welded to a thick metal plate. When a person was securely fastened to the chair, he could move only his head and fingers.

These police officers tortured Gao Cai in the following ways:

1. They shocked him with multiple electric rods on the sensitive parts of his body, such as the face, lips, belly, nipples, armpits, and back.

2. Using a hardwood board, they lashed his neck, shoulders, back, thighs, and arms.

3. They inserted cigarettes into his nostrils and then lit them, or they covered his face with a head cover, folded a newspaper into a cone, lit it, and blew the smoke into the head cover.

4. They poured distilled liquor into his mouth.

5. They removed his cotton-padded clothes in winter, opened the door and window, and turned on the fan at highest speed facing him.

6. They threatened him by showing him all kinds of torture instruments and claimed that all of them had been used to deal with Falun Gong practitioners. They claimed, "Those stories on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website about being tortured to death or disabled are all true. We did. But we have more instruments and we can try them on you one by one. If you are not dead by the end, you probably will have been stripped of two layers of skin. Even if you die, your death will be in vain."

When Mr. Gao was sent back to the detention centre after this terrible round of interrogation, he was unrecognizable. There were many cuts on his face and head because of the electric shocks. His chest and back were burned black. His arms and thighs were swollen with bruises. Tears kept running out of his eyes and he could not open them. Since he had not been allowed to sleep for over 50 hours, he was dizzy and kept having hallucinations.

Unjustly sentenced

At 9:00 a.m. on July 20th, 2005, Mr. Gao was brought to the Jingyuan County Courthouse for a hearing. He was not informed about this until one hour before the hearing. He managed to ask someone to inform his family.

During the hearing, the judge allowed the prosecutor to talk but not the defendant. The defendant was only permitted to say either "Yes" or "No." The hearing lasted less than an hour. The judge announced the verdict, which had been prepared ahead of time, sentencing him to four years in prison. Not allowing the defendant to plead his case during the hearing aroused much dissent from those present in the courtroom. (Note: The presiding judge was Hua Yuzhe; the venireman, Yi Bo, Liu Wei; the clerk, Peng Xiaoqiang).

Tortured in prison

On August 8th, 2005, Gao Cai was sent to Dabeixin Prison in Shenyang City, where he was forced to work like a slave. Dabeixin Prison is used to temporarily hold new prisoners before they are assigned their final destination. The administration there was out of control. The prisoners were forced to work at least 16 hours per day and sometimes even 24 hours a day. The worst criminals were appointed group leaders and were assigned to manage others. They carried a wooden rod and often beat others at will. Since Mr. Gao didn't cooperate with them, they beat him brutally.

After he was transferred to Benxi Prison, because he refused to give up his belief, he was forced to seat on a small bench (15 cm x 10 cm x 5 cm) for 18 or 19 hours a day, from 5:00 a.m. to midnight. Two prisoners were assigned to monitor him. His forehead was just 10 cm away from the wall and he was not allowed to move, close his eyes, or even go to the toilet. His mealtime was limited to less than 10 minutes. Several days later, his bottom had festered, and his pants were soaked with blood. He experienced extreme pain in his legs and lower back, and his clothes were soaked with sweat. Once, seven or eight inmates surrounded and beat him. His whole back was covered with black bruises. His left ear was injured so badly from the beating that he lost his hearing.

More than 70 practitioners were detained at Benxi Prison in 2008. Currently, over 40 practitioners are still suffering at that place. In the prison's education section, they have a so-called "Thought Education Class," which is for brainwashing practitioners. Those who did not compromise were sent to other prison wards for further mistreatment. The guards instigated vicious prisoners to torture these practitioners with all kinds of means, such as depriving them of sleep for several days; stripping off their clothes in the cold winter and pouring cold water on them; beating and hanging them up; and trying to force them to write the three statements to give up Falun Gong. Because of its "outstanding achievements," Benxi Prison has received many awards and became one of the four prisons in Liaoning Province designated to detain Falun Gong practitioners. In 2007, it was even given the "Provincial Civilized Prison" award. The persecution and mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners in this facility continues.

The ongoing financial persecution

In May 2008, Mr. Gao was released. More than a year has passed, but he hasn't received any of his retirement pension. His original work unit--the Jingyuan Town Government--was supposed to have resumed his retirement pay. However the Party head, Yang Jianguo, has tried to withhold it, using all kinds of excuses. After appealing to higher authorities, Mr. Gao was told that he could get a temporary allowance on the condition that he give up Falun Gong and not participate in Falun Gong activities.

Mr. Gao refused to accept these conditions. Currently, his family has no income and their life is very tough. We call on the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) to pay attention to this case, and we call on the rest of the world to stop the communist regime's violation of human rights and the persecution of Falun Gong.

Jingyuan County Police Department:
Wang Xingchuan, former head of the Domestic Security Division, now in the Financial Investigation Division: 86-13514133766 (Mobile), 86-413-3050166 (Home)

People involved in Mr. Cao's case in the Jingyuan County Courthouse:
Presiding Judge Huan Yuzhe, Veniremen Yu Bo and Liu Wei, Clerk Peng Xiaoqiang

People responsible for withholding Mr. Cao's retirement funds:
Yang Jianguo, head of the Jingyuan Town Party Committee: 86-413-3023371 (Office), 86-413-3075999 (Home), 86-13324135599 (Mobile),
Gao Shan, head of Jingyuan County 610 Office: 86-413-3023640 (Office), 86-413-3033120 (Home), 86-13030713619 (Mobile),
Chen Anyuan, deputy head of the Jingyuan County 610 Office: 86-413-3031165 (Office), 86-413-3022808 (Home), 86-13188296698 (Mobile),
Yang Jun, deputy head of the Jingyuan County Government (in charge of salaries): 86-413-3029090 (Office), 86-413-3023370 (Home), 86-13841395999 (Mobile),

Benxi Prison (2008):
Bao Diqing, head of the prison: 86-414-2821555 (Office), 86-13304141588(Mobile),
Chen Weizhong, party head of the prison: 86-414-2186669 (Office), 86-13841407866 (Mobile),
Tian Dengfeng, deputy head of the prison: 86-414-3622188 (Office), 86-13386702066 (Mobile),
Tian Yong, deputy head of Mr. Cao's prison ward: 86-414-5538910 (Office), 86-13941409595 (Mobile), 86-414-5538856 (Home) (He has been involved in persecuting many Falun Gong practitioners and is very vicious.)

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/8/18/206732.html