Practitioners Tortured at Chongqing Women's Forced Labour Camp

When practitioners arrive at the camp, they are forced to do ten to twenty hours of so-called "military training."

1. Face the wall and stand still. 2. Squat down with the right knee on the ground and left knee bent 90 degrees. Practitioners are not allowed to switch legs for hours.

Most practitioners in the camp are in their sixties. Many suffer severe swelling of their bodies and deformed legs from the "military training." Practitioners that are physically unable to participate in the training, will be harassed, beaten, yelled at and insulted. Guards also confiscate practitioners personal funds.

Some practitioners gave in due to the intense torture. They were forced to watch videos and read books that slander Falun Gong. Before they turn in for the night, they are forced to write a report about their understanding and that they will accept the camp's arrangements. If practitioners' statements do not satisfy the camp's requirement, the practitioners suffer sleep deprivation until the guards are satisfied with the report. After some time of brainwashing, practitioners are forced to write the Three Statements¹ and renounce Falun Gong. If they succumb to the demand, they no longer have to partake in the military training, instead they are under surveillance around the clock and have to perform hard labour.

The "transformed" [forcibly renounced Falun Gong] practitioners are only relatively freer, but do not escape being monitored. Besides the hard labour, they continue to attend various brainwashing sessions. When found to hold any thought that does not conform to the camp's ideology, they have to do military training again.

Practitioners that recant the Three Statements will be isolated and forced into military training until 2 or 3 a.m. daily.

Persecution Cases

1. Ms. Fang Min, 51, from Qijiang, was imprisoned in the Chongqing Women's Forced Labour Camp in Maojiashan, Chongqing from 2002 to 2003. In July 2008, she was arrested and imprisoned in the Chongqing Labour Camp again. She was beaten by guards Zhou Yi and Wang Tingjun the day she arrived at the camp. She went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. One day Ms. Fang told guard Shu Chang that she should not have injected her with drugs that damaged her health during her prior imprisonment. Shu slapped Ms. Fang.

Ms. Fang was found to have uterine fibroids in May 2008. She was bailed out for medical treatment for a month in July but returned to the camp and has not been released.

2. Ms. Huang Shuhua, 59, from Changshou, was taken to the Chongqing Women's Forced Labour Camp in September 2007. Guard Zhou Yi took her to an isolated room and stepped on her fingers. A guard poured boiling water over Ms. Huang's back. She was forced to undergo brainwashing and gave in to the pressure to "transform." In December 2008, Ms. Huang wrote her true thoughts during one of the camp's tests. She and two other practitioners who renounced their being "transformed," Ms. Luo Youming and Ms. Qiu Shengshu, were taken to an isolation cell and cruelly tortured.

3. Ms. Qiu Shengshu, 69, from Liangping, was detained in an isolation cell in December 2008. Before she was released in April 2009, she was forced to participate in military training daily.

Inmate Wang Haiyan abused Ms. Qiu frequently. Wang was 23 and it was her third time in the camp for drug abuse. Wang often yelled at Ms. Qiu using foul language. She often beat practitioners.

4. Ms. Huang Zhenglan, 36, from Changshou, arrived at the Chongqing Women's Forced Labour Camp in February 2009. Guards Hu Xiaoyan, Chen Zhi and Hu Hao beat her shortly after her arrival. Ms. Huang was locked into an isolation cell. During the two months in that cell, guard Zhao Yuanyuan ordered collaborators² Ding Xia and Shi Mei to torture her. They grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the wall. They picked her up and threw her to the ground. Ms. Huang was not allowed to sit down when eating. Her legs were swollen from the torture. Some of her friends sent tissues and hygiene products, but the collaborators stole them. When Ms. Huang had her period, she had to shred her trousers to use as sanitary napkins.

Ms. Huang was tortured brutally from October 2005 to August 2006. For the first two months the collaborators beat her daily. She was force fed with drugs. Guard Hu Xiaoyan ordered collaborators to press Ms. Huang to the ground and one person to sit on her stomach. They pinched her nose and throat and pried open her mouth with toothbrushes. After they force-fed Ms. Huang with unknown drugs, she shivered, convulsed and made strange sounds. The guards took her to the prison clinic and the doctor said she was not going to die. Ms. Huang refused to eat because the collaborators would not let her use the toilet. The guards claimed that she began a hunger strike and had Zhao Yuanyuan force feed her soy milk. The guards damaged Ms. Huang's throat during the force feeding. Drinking water and swallowing food caused excruciating pain in her throat. The brutal force feeding process also caused her teeth to loosen and hurt for several months.

Guard Chen Xiaoqin ordered collaborators to strip Ms. Huang and to write words on her body that slandered Falun Gong. Chen dragged Ms. Huang downstairs to humiliate her in public and further insulted her by claiming that practitioners were shameless for wanting to be naked.

Ms. Huang often was forced to stand or squat for a long time. She was forbidden to shower for months. She had to squat and stand for long periods of time. She suffered sleep deprivation. The guards forced Ms. Huang to copy books with communist ideology. She had to squat down when she wrote and it took her four months to finish copying the books. Besides sleep deprivation and brainwashing, Ms. Huang also was forced to do hard labour while squatting down.

5. Ms. Zhang Zhifen, Ms. Fu Rufen, Ms. Zhao Jiayu, Ms. Yue Chunhua and Ms. Dong Daoqun are all in their fifties. During the nine months at the camp, the guards forced them to stand in the scorching sun in summer and when it was freezing during winter. They had to stand or squat for a long time.

Ms. Yue was not given food for a day and permitted to use the toilet only once a day.

Ms. Zhao Jiayu and Ms. Zhang Zhifen were tortured in an isolated cell. Ms. Fu was force fed with unknown drugs. Ms. Zhao was beaten and kicked.

Ms. Huang Wanjiang voided her Three Statements and was beaten by the guards.

Ms. Shen Fengmei voided the Three Statements she signed.

Ms. Qiu Cuixiang and Ms. Liu Hefang were tortured in isolated cells. They became very weak and could not walk without help.

Ms. Yang Zhenchang is from Changshou. She was tortured by the collaborators.

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.

2. "Collaborators": former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/12/10/214188.html