Older Practitioner Gao Guofeng's Term Extended by Qianjin Labour Camp in Harbin City

Name: Gao Guofeng
Gender:Female
Age: 50s
Address: Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Unknown

Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 11th, 2007
Most recent place of detention: Qianjin Labour Camp
City: Harbin
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, Forced Labour, Beatings, Hung Up, Solitary Confinement, Force-Feedings, Sleep Deprivation, Electric Shock, Physical Constraint
Key Torturer: Huo Shuping

From the end of 2006 to May 2007, the tortures experienced by Falun Gong practitioners at the Wanjia Labour Camp in Harbin were exposed to the public. To elude public attention, the labour camp sent more than 50 Falun Gong practitioners in two groups to the new Qianjin Labour Camp near Harbin. Some of the guards at the Wanjia Labour Camp were also transferred to Qianjin Labour Camp. There were also about 10 other detainees. Most of them were ordered by the guards to assist in the torture of Falun Gong practitioners.

Falun Gong practitioners were beaten, tortured physically, and forced to do hard labour for nearly 14 hours every day. At the same time, the labour camp made up excuses to extend the terms of the practitioners or extended their terms without giving a reason. The persecution against Gao Guofeng was particularly brutal.

Ms. Gao, in her 50s, is from Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province. She was captured by police from Dongfeng Police Branch when selling buns at a morning market on September 11th, 2007. The only reason she was detained was that the words "Falun Gong is great" and "The world needs Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" were printed on her white uniform. She was first detained at the Shuangcheng Detention Centre. In two weeks, Tong Huiqun, team leader of the Shuangcheng National Security Bureau, sent Ms. Gao to Qianjin Labour Camp for two years. She endured all kinds of torture at the labour camp. Originally, her term was scheduled to end on September 10th, 2009. When her family member came to the labour camp to pick her up, they were told that Ms. Gao was not co-operative. At a party in October 2007 to commemorate the Communist take-over of China, Ms. Gao shouted "Falun Gong is great." Her term was then extended for seven months.

That was when Ms. Gao was first sent to Qianjin Labour Camp. At the party, Falun Gong practitioners were forced to sing songs to glorify the Communist Party. Ms. Gao said into the microphone, "Falun Gong is great. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is great." As soon as she finished, she was tackled to the ground by guards including Huo Shuping and Sui Xuemei. She was kicked and beaten. The guards grabbed her hair and dragged her out of the hall.

On that day, she was beaten so much that there were bruises all over her face. Then she was put into solitary confinement. She was brutally tortured and hung up for 13 days. Everyday she only had a bowl of porridge to eat. She was not allowed to go to the toilet. She was emaciated and went on a hunger strike to protest her treatment. She was then force-fed by Huo Shuping and other guards. When a labour camp doctor was force feeding her, she vomited blood and passed out. She almost died.

After being released from solitary confinement, she was sent to her own team and put in solitary confinement again for 15 days, starting on October 9th, 2007. She was flanked by convicted thieves Liang Xiao (in her 20s) and Li Yingjie (in her 40s) under orders from guards Wu Baoyun, Xie Chunyan, and Zhou Yingfan. She was not allowed to sleep. When she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore, the guards used a squirt gun to spray her, shocked her with an electric baton, and poked her eyelids with sewing needles. They ordered the convicts to beat her with their clothes and books. A thick book was broken into pieces in the process. The convicts also slapped her on the face. The guards forced her to write the Three Letters expressing her repentance for practising Falun Gong. She was hung from the back, with her arms twisted behind and hung up high. On November 2nd, she was hung up three times and passed out from the torture.

Due to continued torture, Ms. Gao's mind became unclear. She was sent to another cell for solitary confinement for 28 days. The guards used this opportunity to force her to write repentance letters and read them out loud in front of other Falun Gong practitioners. After that, they released her from solitary confinement. She was returned to her team to continue doing forced labour.

On March 3rd, 2008, the labour camp forced the detainees to watch a live broadcast of the Chinese Communist Party's People's Political Consultative Conferences . Before the conference broadcast began, when the detainees were watching a TV show, Ms. Gao put her legs on a low stool to ease the pain from being tortured while in solitary confinement. Guard Xie Chunyan (ID number 2343074) ordered Ms. Gao to put her legs down, and Ms. Gao refused. Xie notified team leader Huo Shuping (ID number 2343020). Xie pulled Ms. Gao's breasts and poked another Falun Gong practitioner in the eye. She also framed Falun Gong practitioners, which resulted in more torture and the extension of their terms. After Ms. Gao was beaten severely, she was handcuffed and hung from the wrists. She was not allowed to sleep at night. Starting on March 11th, Huo Shuping under-fed Ms. Gao and only gave her half a bun per meal.

On March 3rd, shift leader Huo Shuping and supervisor Xie Chunyan prevented Ms. Gao from sleeping. They handcuffed her at around at 10 a.m. and kept them on through the night.

On March 4th, instructor Wang Xiaowei (ID number 2343077) lectured Ms. Gao about quitting Falun Gong during the day. Ms. Gao refused to compromise. That evening, Wang handcuffed Ms. Gao to the headboard of a torture bed and forbade her from sleeping. Ms. Gao did not comply and lay on the ground instead. The guard on the night shift found out, and Ms. Gao talked about the persecution to the guard and Sun Xiaojun, the director of the education bureau. Sun did not say anything. After Sun left, Ms. Gao was beaten by Wang Xiaowei.

On March 5th, team leader Huo Shuping continued to force Ms. Gao to wear handcuffs and did not let her sleep for 24 hours.

On March 6th, Ms. Gao talked about Falun Gong to team leader Zhang Aihui and supervisor Li Peihuan. That day, an inspector from a supervising agency came and told the labour camp not to apply excessive physical punishment. That evening, Zhang handcuffed Ms. Gao until midnight in the hallway before she let Ms. Gao sleep on a couch. Ms. Gao was not given a blanket. The next morning, convict Li Yingjie reported Ms. Gao to the guards. Supervisor Li Peihuan slapped Ms. Gao on the face and handcuffed her in the bathroom.

On March 7th, Ms. Gao was watched by convicts during the day. She moaned all night due to the pain that she was in.

On March 8th, Ms. Gao was beaten brutally by team leader Wang Xiaowei and supervisor Zhou Yingfan, which left bruises on her face and broken skin at the corner of her mouth. She wasn't allowed to rest until late at night.

On March 9th, she was watched by convict Liang Xiao during the day. In the evening, when Ms. Gao went upstairs to sleep, team leader Zhang Aihui ordered her to sit on a low stool in the hallway because Ms. Gao did not greet Zhang when entering the supervisors' office. Ms. Gao tried to talk to her, but Zhang would not listen. Zhang also ordered Liang Xiao to tape Ms. Gao's mouth shut.

On March 10th, convict Li Yingjie (thief), who was ordered to watch Ms. Gao's actions, asked Ms. Gao for money. Ms. Gao did not give her any. Li then told team leader Huo Shuping that Ms. Gao was doing the Falun Gong exercises. Huo Shuping said she would not give Ms. Gao any food. That evening, Ms. Gao was handcuffed to the headboard of a bed and not allowed to sleep all night.

On March 11th, Huo ordered others not to bring any food to Ms. Gao. Ms. Gao only had half a bowl of corn powder congee. For lunch and dinner, she only had half a bun. She wasn't allowed to sleep until very late at night. On March 12th, she was only given half a bun for each meal, and was again not allowed to sleep until very late at night.

On March 13th, because Ms. Gao refused to wear a prison uniform, Wang Xiaowei and Zhou Yingfan ordered that Li Yingjie handcuff Gao's wrists to the upper bunk and forced her to stand. Wang Xiaowei did not allow anyone to bring Ms. Gao any pickled vegetables for breakfast. Ms. Gao was taken to the storage room downstairs. She was handcuffed and hung by the wrists all day. At the end of the day, when the other detainees returned from work, they heard Ms. Gao shouting "Falun Gong is great" in the storage room. The door to the storage room was shut. Supervisor Sha Yujin (guard number 2343068) and convict Liang Xiao punched and kicked Ms. Gao's abdomen repeatedly. They did not let her go to bed until late at night.

On September 5th, 2008, Ms. Gao's family received a call from the labour camp, telling them that Ms. Gao's health had deteriorated significantly. The next day, they received another call from the labour camp, saying that Ms. Gao was OK and they did not need to visit. Her family members did not know what was happening and decided to check things out for themselves.

When they arrived at the labour camp, the guards told them that it would be better if they took Ms. Gao to a hospital. When Ms. Gao's family saw her, they could hardly recognise her. In less than a year, a previously healthy Ms. Gao was tortured to the point where she could not take care of herself. Her body was covered with bruises, and she was suffering from headaches and dizziness. Her blood pressure was over 170. Her body was extremely weak, and she could not even speak clearly. Due to severe blows to the head by the guards, her leg nerves were damaged, and she was partially paralysed. She could not walk even with two people's help.

When her family asked the guards nearby who did this to her, Ms. Gao said, "They beat me on a regular basis. Recently they hung me by the wrists three times and I fainted again and again. The reason I can't walk anymore was because a few nights ago, the guards beat me in the head. The next morning I felt my legs were numb and weak. Pretty soon, I couldn't walk."

Ms. Gao held on to her family member's hand and said, "I did not break the law by practising Falun Gong and being a good person. I am going home with you now. I don't want to be tortured like this for another minute."

The next day, when her family members came to bring Gao to the hospital, the guards at the labour camp changed their mind. They said they would give Ms. Gao medical treatment in the labour camp. Ms. Gao's family members asked to see Ms. Gao again. Huo Shuping and a division director denied their request and said that Ms. Gao had already recovered. Ms. Gao's family members refuted their statement and said it was impossible for one who was critically injured to recover in one day. They asked Huo to provide proof. Huo did not offer anything. She further said, "Even if we have no proof, we still won't let you see her." Huo denied that she ever beat Ms. Gao, and drove her family members away.

Ms. Gao's family members were worried about her health. They reported the situation to the Legal Bureau. The Legal Bureau contacted the labour camp. On September 9th, 2008, Ms. Gao's family members came to the labour camp again to request to see Ms. Gao, and to take Ms. Gao to a hospital. The director of the labour camp still refused to let them see her. She also told them that Ms. Gao had already returned to good health; if Ms. Gao saw her family members, she might become very excited and fall ill again. In that case, Ms. Gao's family members would be responsible for any negative outcome.

Ms. Gao is still under detention as of today on an extended term. We ask everyone to pay attention to the brutal torture and persecution against Falun Gong practitioners at the Qianjin Labour Camp in Harbin.

Qianjin Labour Camp:

Director: Wang Yaluo; ID number: 2343002. 86-13304645999(Cell). Deputy Director: Sun Huijun.

Related articles:

Ms. Gao Guofeng in Critical Condition from Abuse, Authorities Deny Family's Requests to Take Her to a Hospital

http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2008/10/2/101157.html

Torture Inflicted on Ms. Gao Guofeng at Qianjin Forced Labour Camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province

http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2008/4/26/96753.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/9/23/208813.html