The Persecution of Mr. Gao Cai, 58, from Jingyuan County, Liaoning Province

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, Jingyuan County, Fushun City, Liaoning Province. Because he practised the Falun Gong exercises in a park, he was arrested and sentenced to two years of forced labour at the Wujiabao Forced Labour Camp in Fushun City. In March 2005, Mr. Gao was arrested again and sentenced to four years in prison by the Jingyuan County Court. While in prison Mr. Gao was subjected to abuse and torture, including being brutally beaten, forced to sit on a small bench for long hours, deprived of sleep, subjected to brainwashing, and forced to do hard labour. After Mr. Gao was released in 2008, he did not receive any of his retirement pension from the Jingyuan Town Government. The following is an account of the persecution that Mr. Gao experienced.

1. Brutally tortured during interrogation

On the evening of March 18th, 2005, as Gao Cai and his wife were riding a motorcycle to the countryside, they were intercepted by police officer Li Hongbin and others from the Jingyuan County Police Department. While he was detained at the Dashagou Detention Centre, five or six police officers, including Wang Xingchuan, the head of the Domestic Security Division, and police officer Li Hongbin, interrogated Mr. Gao with brutal means. They handcuffed him onto a special metal chair with nine flexible knots which can be adjusted to be either tight or loose. The four legs of the chair were welded to a thick metal plate. When a person is shackled tightly to the chair, he can only move his head and fingers.

During the interrogation, the police shocked Gao Cai with electric batons on sensitive parts of his body such as the face, lips, stomach, nipples, armpits, and back. They lashed his neck, shoulders, back, thighs and arms with a wooden board. They inserted cigarettes into his nostrils and then lit them, and also covered his face with a cone-shaped piece of newspaper and blew cigarette smoke into the cone. The police poured hard liquor into Gao Cai's mouth [note: Falun Gong practitioners are forbidden to drink alcohol]. They removed his winter coat , opened the door and window and turned on a fan at the highest speed to freeze him.

The police threatened Mr. Gao with dozens of torture instruments and claimed that all of them had been used to "deal with" Falun Gong practitioners. They said, "Those stories on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website about being tortured to death or disabled are all true. We did indeed do those things. But we have more instruments and we can try them on you one by one. If you are not dead in the end, you'll probably 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 the brutal interrogation, he was disfigured and barely recognisable. There were many wounds on his face and head because of the electric shocks. His chest and back were charred black. His arms and thighs were swollen and bruised. 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.

2. Unjustly sentenced

On the morning of July 20th, 2005, Mr. Gao was brought into the Jingyuan County Court 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 only allowed the prosecutor to talk but not the defence. The defence was only permitted to say the words "Yes" or "No." The hearing lasted less than one hour. The judge announced the verdict, clearly prepared ahead of time, and sentenced Mr. Gao to four years in prison. Not allowing the defendant to plead his case during the hearing aroused the anger of the people present in the court. (Note: The presiding judge was Hua Yuzhe; the jurors, Yi Bo, Liu Wei; the clerk, Peng Xiaoqiang).

3. Tortured in Prison

On August 8th, 2005, Gao Cai was sent to the Dabeixin Prison in Shenyang City, where he was forced to do hard labour. The Dabeixin Prison is used to temporarily hold new prisoners before they are assigned to their permanent location. The administration there is very corrupt. The prisoners were forced to work at least 16 hours per day and sometimes even 24 hours a day. The worst criminals were appointed to monitor the other prisoners and were assigned to manage them. They carried a wooden rod and often beat others at will. Since Mr. Gao didn't co-operate with the situation, he suffered brutal beatings from these thugs.

Gao Cai was transferred to the Benxi Prison. Because he refused to give up his belief, he was forced to sit on a small bench measuring 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 restroom. His meal time was limited to less than 10 minutes. After several days of this torture, his buttocks were injured 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 Mr. Gao. His whole back was covered with bruises. His left ear was injured so badly from being beaten that he lost his hearing.

More than 70 Falun Gong practitioners were detained at the Benxi Prison in 2008. Currently, over 40 practitioners are still incarcerated there. In the prison's Education Section they hold a so-called "Thought Education Class," which is used to brainwash practitioners. Those who do not compromise are sent to other prison wards to suffer further maltreatment. The prison guards instigated vicious prisoners to torture these practitioners with all kinds of means including depriving them of sleep for several days, stripping of their clothes in the cold winter time and pouring cold water on them, beating them and hanging them up. The prisoners try to force practitioners to write the so-called "three statements¹". Because of its "outstanding achievements," the Benxi Prison has received many awards and became one of the four prisons in Liaoning Province that specialises in detaining Falun Gong practitioners. In 2007, the prison received the award of "provincial civilised prison." The persecution and maltreatment of Falun Gong practitioners is still going on there.

4. Ongoing Financial Persecution

Mr. Gao was released in May 2008. More than one year has passed and he hasn't received any of his retirement income. His original work unit - the Jingyuan Town Government - was supposed to have resumed his retirement payments. However the local Party chief Yang Jianguo has obstructed the payments with all kinds of excuses. After appealing to higher authorities, Gao Cai was told that he could get a temporary allowance under the condition that he gives up Falun Gong and not participate in Falun Gong activities.

Mr. Gao refused to accept such a condition. Currently, his family has no income and their life is very difficult. We call on the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) to pay attention to Mr. Gao's case, and call on all people to help 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)

Jingyuan County Court:
Presiding Judge: Huan Yuzhe; Veniremen: Yu Bo, Liu Wei; Clerk: Peng Xiaoqiang

People responsible for obstructing the release of Gao Cai's retirement payments:
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 of the Jingyuan County 610 Office: 86-413-3031165 (Office), 86-413-3022808 (Home), 86-13188296698 (Mobile)
Yang Jun, deputy 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, prison director: 86-414-2821555 (Office), 86-13304141588 (Mobile)
Chen Weizhong, party head of the prison: 86-414-2186669 (Office), 86-13841407866 (Mobile)
Tian Dengfeng, deputy director: 86-414-3622188 (Office), 86-13386702066(Mobile)
Tian Yong, deputy warden: 86-414-5538910 (Office), 86-13941409595 (Mobile), 86-414-5538856 (Home) (Tian has been involved in persecuting many Falun Gong practitioners)

Note

1. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

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