Lanzhou Brainwashing Centre Detains Sixty-Year-Old for 15 months

It has been one year and three months since sixty-year-old Lanzhou Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Chen Guifang was imprisoned in the Lanzhou City Law prison, actually a brainwashing centre at Gongjiawan. The brainwashing centre refused to release her because she would not renounce the practice and teachings of Falun Gong.

Ms. Chen Guifang lived in the family compound of the Gansu Electricity Transformer Plant at in the Chengguan District. According to the people who were there when the Lanzhou City Police Department arrested her, she was alone without any family members with her. She was taken away dressed only in her pyjamas . When family members went to the brainwashing centre to see her, they were told she would be released after the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. However, she was not released after the Olympic Games so her family members went to the brainwashing centre again. They were then told that she would be released after October 1st. When she was not released even after October 1st, they were told that she would not be released until if she renounced her practice of Falun Gong.

Chen Guifang remains resolute in her belief. In 2009, she went on hunger strike to protest the persecution, for which she was beaten.

According to sources, around the time of Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, thirty-five practitioners were arrested and sent to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre. A report dated February 26th, 2009 on Minghui website [Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net], reported eleven practitioners who had been detained there since February 21st, 2009, went on a hunger strike to protest. A report dated May 3rd, 2009, on the Minghui website reported: "On April 27th, police and inmates force fed practitioners Niu Wanjiang, Su Jinxiu, Du Wenhui and Chen Guifang who were handcuffed to the bed rails on the first floor until 3am. Su Jinxiu, Du Wenhui and Chen Guifang were released. But Niu Wanjiang who had been on a hunger strike for nine days remained handcuffed to the bed rails."

Family members of practitioners went to see them at the brainwashing centre and most times they were not allowed to see them.. Family members found Chen Guifang was very weak with a pale face and they are very worried about her health.

Crimes committed by the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre:

Since 2001, Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre has detained three hundred practitioners. According to Minghui website, two practitioners have been persecuted to death there.

Forty-eight-year-old Ms Liu Zhifang was a pipa player at the Gansu Provincial Yu Opera Troupe. She was arrested and sent to the brainwashing centre in July 2005 for the second time. Because she refused to write the "transformation¹ reports", she was locked in solitary confinement. Police handcuffed her arms behind her back on a long term basis. She was tortured to death at the end of July.

Sixty-five-year-old Mr Qian Shiguang was a retired senior engineer of the China Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration. He was detained several times and was sentenced to forced labour three times. He was tortured and his life was endangered several times. He was arrested on May 27th, 2005 again and was detained at the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre. He had been tortured for three years and on September 8th, 2008, he was persecuted to death .

The Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre has detained the following Falun Gong practitioners on a long term basis:

Mr Niu Wanjiang, forty-nine years old, was employed by the Lanxi Locomotive Terminal of the Lanzhou Railway Bureau. He was sentenced to three years in jail and was detained at the Lanzhou Prison. After his sentence was due, he was transferred to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre on September 15th, 2005. He has been persecuted there for over four years.

Ms Su Jinxiu, a forty-seven years old peasant from the Pingan Village, Honggu District, Lanzhou City. She was sentenced in 2006 and was detained at the Gansu Female Prison for over a year. In September 2007, officials from the Township Government and police from the township police station arrested her and sent her to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre. She has been persecuted there for over two years.

Ms Du Wenhui, forty years old, was a practitioner from Qilihe, Lanzhou City. In April 2008, policeman Wei Dong from the Xiyuan Police Station at Qilihe colluded with officials from the Comprehensive Management Office and the police arrested her and sent her to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Class. She has been persecuted there for one and a half years.

Ms Hou Yanqing, fifty-seven years old, a retired worker of the Lanzhou Transportation Company. In February 2002, his work unit sent him to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre and he was detained there for over a year. On March 8th, 2008, her husband beat her until she fainted and then together with police from the Tuanjiexincun Police Station sent her to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre. She has been persecuted there for one and a half years.

Mr Zhao Tinger, sixty-five years old, is a retired worker from the Aircraft Controlling Instrument Factory. In October 2004, he was sentenced to four years in jail and was detained at the Lanzhou Prison. On May 2nd, 2009, when he was having lunch at Linxia where he was waiting to switch the bus to his hometown, the local police arrested him. He was detained at the Linxia Detention Centre for fifteen days. Wang Chenggang from the Security Department of the Aircraft Controlling Instrument Factory sent him to the notorious Lanzhou Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre where he remains to this day .

Mr Yang Xuegui was forty-four years old and was an officer at the General Service Office of the Lanzhou City Second People's Hospital when he was imprisoned for eight years and tortured physically and mentally. On September 10th, 2009, the 610 Office¹ at the Chengguan District Lanzhou City arrested him again and sent him to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre.

Note

1. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

2. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at target=blank>http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/10/1/209383.html