Li Xiuhong's Family Insists That Authorities Stop Mistreating Her at Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp, Changchun

Falun Gong practitioner Li Xiuhong's family members Li Xiuqing and Li Xiuting, in Tonghua City, Jilin Province, received an invitation on July 30th, 2010, from a forced labour camp and the Jilin Province Procuratorate. As requested, they went to Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp in Changchun. Staff members at the forced labour camp originally wanted Li Xiuhong's family to persuade her to write the so-called "five guarantee statements," to renounce practising Falun Gong or write an article criticising Falun Gong. However, through her family members' inquiries, Li Xiuhong confirmed that she had been subjected to torture by police, including shocks from electric batons and being tied up. When camp authorities realised that their evil deeds had been exposed, they immediately ended the family visit and took Li Xiuhong back to the forced labour camp. Li Xiuhong's family members sternly warned the police to no longer torture Li Xiuhong.

More Details of the Encounter

A police officer first took Li Xiuhong's family to a room and told them to wait. At around 10:30 a.m., Tian Yanqiu (director of the forced labour camp), Zhou Xuanyi (resident prosecutor), Yan Lifeng (team lead of the No. 1 Team), and another officer entered the meeting room. They took Li Xiuhong's family to the visiting room, five to seven officers joined them, and another brought Li Xiuhong.

Li Xiuhong's family members asked Li Xiuhong about her sufferings at the forced labour camp. Li Xuhong confirmed that on June 4th, 2008, she was subjected to electric baton torture. She told how Wei Dan and Ye Jiong used six batons to shock her over the course of a day. Several people watched, including team leader Yan Lifeng, instructor Wang Lei, and Duan Yajuan. They also tied Li Xiuhong to a death bed¹ and kept her there until March 2009. While kept on the bed, Li Xiuhong sometimes was not untied for up to two weeks at a time, unable to bathe or use the toilet.

Hearing this, Director Tian interrupted Li Xiuhong's talk and said, "That was not a death bed." Li Xiuqing then asked Li Xiuhong what the bed looked like. Li Xiuhong said it was like a bunk bed made of steel. On the bed were steel strips, not wood. Yan Lifeng immediately interrupted saying they used that kind of beds to prevent Li Xiuhong from doing the exercises. Li Xiuhong's family members then asked whether she was beaten by the inmates assigned to monitor her. Li Xiuhong said yes. Li Xiuhong's family then asked for their names. Li Xiuhong replied they were Lin Yuxue and Nie Rongqin, among others. Li Xiuhong's family then asked her whether she told the "instructor" when those people beat her up. Li Xiuhong said she did, but the instructor didn't bother to deal with it. At this point, the instructor no longer allowed Li Xiuhong's family members to continue with their inquiries.

Director Tian said at that moment, "The main reason that we asked you family members to come here is to help us do some 'positive work' for Li Xiuhong. We don't want you to ask her these kind of questions." Li Xiuhong's family members said, "Aren't we doing 'positive work' by asking these questions? The reason we ask these questions is because Li Xiuhong has been here for over two years and we don't have any information about her. We believed what the director and the prosecutor told us. We thought Li Xiuhong was doing very well here. Today, we want to find out if what we were told is true."

Prosecutor Zhou interrupted, "All these things happened a year ago. What is the use of talking about it today?" Li Xiuhong's family replied, "It was still against the law, right?" Yan Lifeng interrupted immediately and said that Li Xiuhong was tied up to prevent her from doing the exercises. Li Xiuhong's family replied, "There is nothing wrong with her doing the exercises. What law does that break? No one would say that police beating people is the right thing to do." Yan Lifeng then said, "It is not excessive for us to use the electric batons and death bed to punish people." Li Xiuhong's family members then took out their phone and put it on the table and said, "You think you are doing the right thing. Do you dare to say it again towards this phone?" At that moment, two officers came over and dragged Li Xiuhong outside, and then back to the camp.

Li Xiuting walked up and tried to prevent them from taking Li Xiuhong, saying, "I still have a few words to tell my younger sister. I want my younger sister to come home with us." She held her sister's waist tightly but the guards forcibly separated them and dragged Li Xiuting outside.

Li Xiuting was so angry about the guards reaction that her legs became limp and fell down to the ground. She could not move her legs. She told Director Tian and Team Lead Yan, "I don't have any other purpose. I just want my younger sister to come home with me. My younger sister has suffered too much here. If you take her back to the forced labour camp, can you promise you won't beat her?" Director Tian said, "We will not beat her." Li Xiuting then told the director, "You should go to the No. 1 Team to see my younger sister every day. If she was beaten by someone, what will you do?" Director Tian replied, "The purpose that we ask you family members to come here is because Li Xiuhong has refused to write a guarantee statement. She also refuses to work or to wear the camp uniform. On August 23rd, Li Xiuhong's forced labour camp term will expire. We want to communicate with the family members. I hope both sides can step back. We do not need Li Xiuhong to write the guarantee statement as long as on the day when she is released she wears what she is told to wear. This is to save face for Team Lead Yan. Otherwise it will be hard for Team Lead Yan to manage the group in the future. I would like you to write a letter to your younger sister and ask her to cut her hair." Li Xiuting said, "I respect my younger sister's choice. Don't force her to do things that she does not want to do."

Li Xiuting and her husband each wrote a letter to Li Xiuhong and handed them over to Director Tian, who then took them to Li Xiuhong. They asked Director Tian and Team Lead Yan to deliver the letters immediately and let Li Xiuting know that her family misses her. In the meantime, she emphasised that no one should dare to beat her younger sister. On their way back home, Director Tian called to say that she went to the No. 1 Team and saw Li Xiuhong and had a talk with her. Li Xiuhong also saw the letters. Director Tian also gave Li Xiuhong's family members a phone number and said they could call Li Xiuhong immediately. Li Xiuhong's family members called Li Xiuhong and confirmed that she had received the letters. The "instructors" at the forced labour camp no longer tortured Li Xiuhong.

Note

1. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/8/6/228029.html