Mr. Chen Yong Tortured in Yingcheng City, Hubei Province

Name: Chen Yong
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: Unknown
Most recent place of detention: Shayang Forced Labour Camp
City: Zhongxiang
Province: Hubei
Persecution Suffered: Detention, extortion, beatings, forced labour, brainwashing, force-feedings, electric shocks.

Chen Yong is from Yingcheng City. After he began to practise Falun Gong his illnesses, such as schistosomiasis (infestation by a parasitic blood worm that can damage the liver, bladder, and intestines) and hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) vanished. Additionally, he improved mentally. After 1999, he was tortured because he told people the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution. He was sentenced twice to forced labour and taken to the Hubei Forced Labour Camp in Shayang. The following is his own account of his incarceration.

I started to practise Falun Gong in 1998. I suffered from schistosomiasis and hepatitis, and did not have any energy to work. I went everywhere searching for medical help, but all was in vain.

One day, my sister introduced me to a Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun. At that time, I was being put on a drip. I read Zhuan Falun and during the night, I reviewed Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong’s lecture video. After I had finished listening to all nine lectures, my entire body felt light. I walked without any difficulty and felt energetic.

In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong. Xu Guohua, a policeman, ordered several other officers to arrest and detain me for 30 days. Xu Guohua extorted five thousand yuan¹ from my wife and threatened me not to appeal, otherwise I would not be released. My wife had to borrow the money before I was released from jail.

Upon returning home, I made a thorough analysis: Falun Gong teaches me to be a good person. Before I learned Falun Gong, I had several bad habits, such as playing cards, smoking, drinking alcohol, and was easily angry. I fought for fame and personal interests. After I knew about the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, I was strict with myself and obeyed Falun Gong. I thought about others first and wanted to be a good person. Because Falun Gong helped me to be kind, to harmonize my family life, and to regain my health, I wanted to tell the facts to others and tell them, " Falun Gong is good.
Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are good."

On January 31st, 2000, I went to Beijing by train, and on the 1st of February, I was arrested on Tiananmen Square when I practised the Falun Gong exercises. I was detained in the Yingcheng Detention Centre for four months and had two thousand yuan extorted from me. When I returned home, the police often harassed me. My family could not live in peace, nor was I allowed to travel. I had to sign in at my company, and my wife (a non-practitioner) was very worried about me. She took me to the south to find a job and escape home.

In April 2001, I spoke to people in the south and told them that Falun Gong is good. Someone reported me to a policeman and I was taken away.

I was detained in a 20-square-foot room, in which there were already 60 to 70 people. Those in charge ordered the other prisoners to torture me. They did not allow me to practise and forced me to do hard labour. I worked from 7:00 a.m. to midnight. This went on for a month. Then, I was taken to the Yingcheng Police Station.

Tang Zhuqing, the director of the police station, and Song Jiang, officer of the sub-police station, ordered other prisoners to torture me and not allow me to practise Falun Gong. Thirty days later, half of my body was already numb and I had health issues. Despite my condition, I was still sentenced to one year of forced labour and taken to Shayang Forced Labour Camp in Hubei Province, Division C.

Yu Bangqing, Weipeng, and He Bingrong of Division C told the other inmates to monitor me constantly. I had to get permission to go to the washroom. They played a brainwashing video in the morning and forced me to stand straight and squat for two hours each. When I got up after squatting, my legs and feet were numb. During my incarceration, my eyesight got bad, and I could not see anything clearly further away than a meter. After one year, I was released and returned home.

When I returned to my workplace, I discovered that the secretary of the company, Chen Jiming, had forged my signature and taken my salary. I asked three times to get my salary, but he just made excuses and refused to return it. Chen also coordinated the police to harass me in my home, and they forced me to report to the company every day.

I went to Tiananmen Square on October 1st, 2002, to appeal for Falun Gong. I shouted "Falun Gong is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good! Restore my Teacher's good name! Restore Falun Gong’s good reputation!" Several police officers covered my mouth, arrested and took me to their car. They stuffed something in my mouth, and I was taken to the Shijingshan Detention Centre. They told about ten prisoners to torture and kick me. They took off my clothes and poured cold water over my head for one hour. I could not breathe and was extremely cold. During the noontime, the guards told the inmates to force-feed me. I don't know what they fed me, but I felt horrible afterwards.

Around 10:00 p.m., someone from Yingcheng took me away. The second day, I was taken to the local police station. Even though I had become a good person, I still was tortured. I was able to jump over a wall when a policeman went to answer the phone, and I escaped. The police shot at me twice, but I ran along a crop field, and when it was dark, I stopped. Early the next morning, I heard the sound of a train and followed the train tracks. I begged for food when I was hungry.

Later I arrived at Guangzhou City in Guangdong Province. I phoned my brother and asked him to pick me up. When the police found out, they came to Guangzhou and tried to arrest me. I had to lead a vagrant life from Guangdong to Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong provinces. I walked around for over a year. Later, I began to understand that I should not be homeless any longer, so I went to Guangdong looking for work. But a national security officer reported me to the police. I was then sentenced and taken to Shayang Forced Labour Camp.

When I was in Division C in Shayang Forced Labour Camp, the team leader, Lu Wenjun and policemen Yu Bangqing, Wei Peng, and He Bingrong ordered three people to torture me. They detained me in a dark room, and tortured me day and night, both physically and mentally. I could not go to sleep until around 4:00 a.m. but had to get up around 5:30 a.m. They also shocked me with electric batons. A month later, I was forced to perform hard labour.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/2/21/218587.html