Mr. Ji Songhai Has Been Imprisoned and Tortured in Mudanjiang City Prison for Seven Years

Name: Ji Songhai
Gender: Male
Age: 36
Address: Nanshan Community, Lingdong District, Shuangyashan City
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 15th, 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Mudanjiang City Prison
City: Shuangyashan
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, extortion, interrogation, detention, denied visitation

Falun Gong practitioner Ji Songhai has suffered nearly seven years of persecution in the Mudanjiang Prison. He has been tortured repeatedly and is in critical condition. In April 2010, Huang Wei, captain of the ninth prison section, forced the debilitated Ji Songhai to do hard labour. When Ji refused to comply, Huang Wei shocked him with an electric baton until he lost consciousness. His family has not heard from him for a long time.

On June 17th, 2003, police arrested Ji Songhai's brother, Ji Songshan. Prison guards Li Hongbo, Du Zhanyi, Liu Weiguo, and others beat him to death. He was 27 years old when he died (see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/7/8/37873.html). His family had nowhere to turn to as his father died in 2009 from grief and his mother moved and had to live away from home.

In January 2003, the Shuangya Shanjianshan district court sentenced Mr. Ji Songhai to twelve years in prison. He was sent to the Qitaihe Prison in April and then transferred to the Mudanjiang Prison in September.

Difficult Visitations at Prison

Prior to 2008, his family went to the prison three times to see if they could visit him: the family was allowed visit him one time, but twice they were told they could not visit him. Only after his family argued with them were they allowed visitations. When his family saw him, he looked pale and feeble.

After 2008, the prison intensified their efforts to "transform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] him. His family received news that Ji Songhai was severely beaten. On April 19th, Ji Songhai's mother and sister rushed to the prison, but prison guards refused to allow a visit. When the family argued with the prison management, security guards rudely pushed them. Ji Songhai's sister, was pushed to the ground. Prison guards yelled insults at them and refused to let them in. In desperation, they stayed in town that night. They went to the prison again the following day, but security personnel shut the gate so they couldn't even get inside.

On August 10th, his family paid someone a bribe to be able to visit him. Ji Songhai looked pale. He would put his hands on his chest whenever he talked and he looked to be in pain when he coughed. When Ji Songhai saw his sister in tears he dropped his hands off his chest and smiled at her uneasily.
Before he was imprisoned, Ji Songhai was in excellent health. He was 1.75 m tall and weight 65-70 kg. But now he looked lighter than 50 kg. Ji Songhai told his family that it took him 40 minutes to come down from the seventh floor to the ground floor and he couldn't carry anything. He'd have chest pain when he walked. There were two prison guards standing beside him and one behind him. When Ji Songhai mentioned his chest pain, a guard picked up a microphone to signal him not to talk about it. His family smiled and they just kept quiet.

In December 2008, Ji Songhai's brother gave money to an official of the 610 Office [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong] in the Mudanjiang Prison. They were then allowed to have a meal with Ji Songhai. To have that meal together, they spent 2 - 3000 yuan¹ to bribe the official. The 610 Office official and a prison guard were present at the meal so Ji Songhai couldn't say anything to his family. Ji Songhai didn't eat anything. He looked very weak. Since he couldn't carry anything at all, others had to help him carry the items his family brought him. From time to time, he put his hands on his chest habitually and he had to stop when he walked just a few steps.

Not until August 2010 did Ji Songhai's family discover some details of his persecution. His family then realized that the reason they were denied visitation on April 19th, 2008, was because the prison was trying to cover up the cruel persecution.

Cruel Torture

On April 1st, 2008, when prison guards did a search, they found a mobile phone where Ji worked. Huang Wei, captain of the ninth prison section, framed Ji as the owner of the mobile phone. Huang Wei told guards: "The mobile phone belongs to Ji Songhai. Force him to admit it." Ji Songhai denied owning the phone. Even other inmates said it didn't belong to him. But prison guards were unwilling to listen to them and began to beat him. They used electric batons to shock him causing burns on his flesh. They hit him from 10 o'clock in the morning until noon when he lost consciousness. They then took him to the prison hospital.

They brought him back the following day at noon on April 2nd. He lay on the bed like a dead person and wasn't aware of anything and completely lost the sense of time. His cellmates took care of him until he could get out of bed.

On the evening of April 1st, Ji's cellmates worried about him not returning the whole day after guards took him away. They asked a prison guard why he hadn't returned, since it was pretty late. The guard quibbled for a while and then said there were other things they needed to talk to him about. His cellmates asked again: "Who needs to talk for a whole day? Did you guys beat him up again? We want to see him." The guard then said that he had a heart attack and they took him to the hospital.

In November 2009, the Mudanjiang Prison carried out cruel torture in an attempt to "reform" the steadfast Falun Gong practitioners who were unwilling to give up their beliefs. Ji Songhai was once again cruelly tortured. They used electric batons to shock him, poured cold water on him, forced him to stand barefooted in the cold weather outside, and so on. They beat him up until he went into a coma.

In April 2010, Huang Wei forced Ji Songhai to do hard labour. When he refused, Huang Wei beat him up and shocked him with an electric baton until he lost consciousness. Ji Songhai was often beaten because he refused to give up his faith. His cellmates knew Ji was a good person and that he shouldn't be treated this way. They reported the cruel torture to the Prison Discipline-inspection Commission.

On July 16th, the Prison Discipline-inspection Commission asked Ji Songhai whether the torture allegations were true. Ji Songhai told the commission the facts about the torture. Huang Wei was afraid of being punished, so he ordered Ji Songhai to change his statement. When Ji Songhai refused to change his statement, Huang Wei threatened him saying that if he didn't change his testimony it would not be good for him as he would still be in prison under him.

After Huang Wei threatened Ji Songhai, his family had never heard from him again. So far, the Mudanjiang Prison has persecuted three Falun Gong practitioners to death: Pan Xingfu from Shuangyashan City (see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/2/11/57397.html); Kong Xiangzhu (see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/7/11/87582.html); and Wu Yueqing (see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007 / 12/30/92651.html).

Ji Songhai's life is in danger. His family asks the people of the world to lend a helping hand to stop the persecution! Help all detained Falun Gong practitioners be free!

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/2010/8/12/228230.html