Mr. Sun Yi Tortured for Four Months with "Airplane Style Hanging" in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

From December 2009 to March 2010, Mr. Sun Yi, a Falun Gong practitioner from Xian City, Shaanxi Province, was cruelly tortured by being hung up "airplane style" by policemen Yu Jiang and his team in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province.

Mr. Sun's family refused to be intimidated by the authorities. They went to the labour camp and demanded to see Mr. Sun, which they eventually did on March 26th and April 8th. After becoming aware of the torture Mr. Sun was suffering, his family demanded that the labour camp no longer endanger Mr. Sun's life, and sued the authorities (including the police) for the severe persecution. According to a guard at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, if Mr. Sun's family had not made such demands, the torture of Mr. Sun would have continued and, as he was already in a critical condition, he most likely would have died.

Demonstration of the different methods of torture used in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

"Bundled Like a Ball"	"Body Folding"
"Taking off upper clothing in the snow causing frostbites on hands and feet"	"Electric shocks"

Policemen Yu Jiang, Gao Hongchang and the gang from Masanjia Forced Labour Camp put Mr. Sun in the so-called "Intensive Control Cell" and used gruesome torture methods on him, including airplane style hanging, electric shocks, and stretching.

In "Airplane style hanging," the victim is handcuffed to high poles, and his feet are tied together. His body then hangs in the air like an airplane. The handcuffs cut into the flesh of both wrists. Sometimes, if the police fear that the victim's family will sue the torturers for mistreatment by using the scars on the victim's hands as evidence, they wrap the victim's wrists and ankles with cotton so that there are no scars. If the torturers knew that a Falun Gong practitioner was not cared for by his/her family, they would not use such wrist and ankle protection and the torture would be even more ruthless.

"Stretching" involves tying the victim's feet to a metal bar on one end of a lower bunk bed 20 centimetres above the ground, keeping the victim's body upright. Then they handcuff the victim's hands to ropes and pull the ropes toward the bar on the other end of the upper bunk bed.

Mr. Sun, aged 42, was sentenced in Beijing during March - April 2008 (before the Olympics) and then sent to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. He was lin Section 3 of the #1 Male Division. During the two years he was there, his family travelled thousands of kilometres several times to visit him, as permitted by labour camp regulations. However, camp officials did not allow them to see Mr. Sun for various reasons. On March 19th, 2010, the Clearwisdom website published an article titled "Wang Haihui and Sun Yi Being Cruelly Tortured in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang." When Mr. Sun's family read the article, they were stunned. To keep Mr. Sun from being tortured to death, they hired a lawyer and filed complaints with the Administrative Department, the Discipline Department, and the Procuratorate Department of Masanjia Labour Camp, as well as the Judicial Bureau and the Labour Education Bureau of Liaoning Province. Finally, Mr. Sun's family was allowed to visit him. Nevertheless, Mr. Sun, who is in critical condition due to the torture, was not released for medical care. Recently, many families of those persecuted have resorted to legal action against the torturers, and the police in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp involved in the persecution have become extremely fearful.

Because Mr. Sun was subjected to "airplane style hanging" for so long, he has endured great pain. One time, the "hanging" lasted seven days straight, 168 hours in total, nonstop. In addition, the police often deprived him of sleep. When Mr. Sun came out of the "Intensive Control Cell,", the previously strong and healthy young man had become pale, skinny, and fragile. He even needed support to walk and had little strength to talk. After his long isolation and being under strict surveillance, Mr. Sun's mind and speech were affected. It would take him a long time to say what he wanted to say. There was also something growing on his knee that made it very hard for him to walk, yet the police denied Mr. Sun hospital treatment.

In Masanjia Labour Camp, as long as a Falun Gong practitioner refuses to denounce his/her belief, the policemen just "cruelly beat and mercilessly oppress" (in their own words) them. In order to protest this inhumane, constant persecution and physical torture, Mr. Sun went on a hunger strike. As a result, policemen Yu Jiang and his team used high voltage electric batons to shock Mr. Sun several times.

The police used mustard oil and a mouth-opener to force-feed Mr. Sun. They tortured him by prying open his mouth and holding it open for a long time, which causes excruciating pain, sometimes to the point where they beg for death. It was the power of his faith in Falun Gong that allowed Mr. Sun to endure the torture and survive. According to a few kind people in the camp, several other practitioners are still being severely tortured there. They include Mr. Wang Haihui, in his 30s, and a resident of Heishan County, Liaoning Province, and Mr. Li Laifang, in his 40s and a resident of Baoding City, Hebei Province. The families of Mr. Wang and Mr. Li hardly ever visit camp, so these men are tortured even more than others.

Individuals involved in these incidences of persecution:

Gao Hongchang: Police # 2108123, male aged around 37. In September 2008 when Section #3 was established, Gao was appointed the captain. He was directly involved in guiding the insane persecution of several dozen practitioners with extreme cruelty. He was thus promoted to head of a police unit. Many families of practitioners feared that their loved ones would suffer greatly and so wanted them to be released early. Gao exploited the psychological weaknesses of these families and extorted tens of thousands of yuan from them. With Gao leading the way, all the policemen in the Men's Division persecuted practitioners and extorted funds from their families.

Yu Jiang: Police # 2108213, male aged around 37, is the current captain of the Section #3 of the #1 Men's Division. He is the commander in charge of cruelly torturing practitioners. He came up with the slogan: "cruel beatings and merciless oppression." Since September 2008, Yu and Gao personally participated in the cruel torture of over 100 practitioners. Yu is one of the most ruthless and vicious "hatchet men." He regularly changes torture methods used on practitioners and carries out torture 24 hours a day. He subjects practitioners to "airplane style hanging" during the day and restrains them on a dead person's bed in the evening. When applying the "stretching" torture, he would order policemen to hit the victim using 7 or 8 electric batons while choking the victim with smoke (by burning newspaper and letting the smoke choke the victim, causing dizziness and loss of voice). He also ordered policemen to deprive the victims of sleep while on the dead person's bed. For the "transferred" practitioners, he orders them to do heavy labour for long periods of time. The victims are ordered to rise at 5 a.m. and to work until 9 p.m. They are only excused from work to wash their faces in morning or go to the restroom during the day or during meal time. The rest of the time they have to do drills, attend brainwashing sessions, and work. They are not allowed to talk to each other. There is no freedom of any kind. He also uses various means to extort funds from practitioners' families, to the tune of tens of thousands of yuan¹.

Policeman Yu Jiang: 86-13840046635(Mobile)
Masanjia Forced Labour Camp:
Head Zhang Mingqiang: 86-24-89216801
Political secretary Gong Lian: 86-24-89216802

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/6/6/224933.html