Mr. Xu Huai'an and Ms. Chi Qinghua Brutally Tortured

Mr. Xu Huai'an, 57, and his wife Ms. Chi Qinghua, 58, from Fuxiang Village, Fulin Township, Tonghe County, Heilongjiang Province, began practising Falun Gong in 1996. Though they have remained steadfast in their belief, they have suffered from inhuman torture both physically and mentally over the past ten years.

Mr. Xu Huai'an Inhumanly Tortured

The couple were arrested by officers from the local police department, as well as Di Yunfeng, Head of Fulin Township, Tian Guocheng, Head of Fuxiang Village and Qiao Changlin, Director of the Public Security Committee. They were taken to Tonghe County Detention Centre.

Teng Zhenxin, head of the detention, centre beat Mr. Xu badly and bound his legs with shackles weighing 19 kg. They later dragged Mr. Xu, who had blood all over him, to his wife and beat him again in front of her.

Li Weimin also shackled Ms. Chi Weimin. Three months later Ms. Chi Qinghua was transferred to Wanjia Forced Labour Camp.

In the detention centre, Teng Zhenxin allowed Mr. Xu to wear only his shorts at night, and opened the door and the back windows in an attempt to freeze him. This would last starting in the evening, until 3 a.m. the next morning, over three consecutive days. Guard Ma Jun incited inmates to beat Mr. Xu, and forced him to extend his outstretched arms like an airplane, then bent them backwards 95 degrees. They repeated this three to four times a day. Mr. Xu was later transferred to Wanjia Forced Labour Camp to serve one year of forced labour. He was first kept at the intensive training centre before being transferred to Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp.

The practitioners there had scabies all over them because their bedding was too damp. Mr. Xu suffered from pustules the size of a soybean. He felt extremely itchy. When they burst as a result of the scratching he felt a lot of pain, and as a result he could not fall asleep. Most of the time he was there, his health deteriorated. He began to experience abnormal sweating, and whenever he felt a chill he would instantly have sweat all over his body. The sweat was sticky and sour. In the evening one could squeeze water out of his bedding. His legs were full of holes oozing yellowish, smelly pus. When trousers which stuck to the wounds were removed, the pus and the blood would come down. It was both painful and itchy. His body was swollen and had no strength at all. It was very difficult for him to walk a single step. Even under such bad conditions he was forced to get up at 4:30 a.m. and go to bed at 8:30 p.m. During the day he was not allowed to lie down, but sat on the benches of the classroom. After a long day his legs became very swollen, cold and dark coloured.

After returning home, Mr. Xu was bedridden for three months. He always felt out of breath. However, he had to go to the field to work on his limping legs. Even several years later, his legs are still full of scars.

Liu Beimin, Head of the Tonghe County State Security Division and two other officers dragged Mr. Xu from his home into a police car on July 18th, 2006. While driving past Chalin River, Liu Peimin ordered two officers to drag Mr. Xu out of the car to the riverbank. With each officer grabbing one of Mr. Xu's arms, they proceeded to shove his head under the water several times. The torture choked him and left him out of breath. He was then taken to a detention centre where he was tortured for half a month before being taken to a brainwashing centre. People in the centre tried very hard to force Mr. Xu to renounce Falun Gong. During this time, the police department used the opportunity to extort 10,300 yuan¹ from his family.

Ms. Chi Qinghua Sentenced to Forced Labour

Liu Beimin and Wang Shaobin, in collaboration with Cao Wanlong and others, broke into Mr. Xu's home and confiscated a computer, a printer, Falun Gong books, some personal items and a deposit book with 1,000 yuan. Ms. Chi was arrested again. She was sentenced to two years of forced labour and taken to Wanjia Forced Labour Camp in January 2006.

Upon her arrival at the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp, prison guards Yao Fuchang and Hu Baoyun pushed her into a small room and handcuffed her. They tied a thick rope to the handcuff and threw the other end over the pipe of the central heating system, which was near the ceiling. They sealed her mouth with two-inch-wide sticky tape, and tied a scarf around her eyes. Then the guards pulled the rope, raising her about 1.5 metres above the ground.

As a result of the torture Ms. Chi suffered from blurred vision and severe aphonia, the inability to speak. Sometime later one of her arms became thinner and she often felt numbness in her arm. Her neck was stiff because of the internal injuries she had sustained. She could not lie on her side or she would be out of breath.

The prison guards forced the practitioners to raise their fists while reciting a so-called oath, which consisted of words that slandered Falun Gong as well as its founder. The practitioners were forced to recite the oath three times a day. They were also forced to sing songs that praise the wicked party and were made to sing at the top of their lungs. The guards also forced the practitioners to watch video programmes that slandered Falun Gong and its founder, and write so-called "ideological reports" and articles that "expose and criticise" Falun Gong.

The authorities pegged the salaries of the prison guards according to the rate of successful "transformation" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] of the practitioners. For every practitioner they transformed (when the practitioner had satisfactorily renounced Falun Gong), they would get 800 yuan as bonus.

Zhang Bo, the Head of No. 7 Division of the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp incited Yang Guohong, Political Instructor and Chang Shumei to force the practitioners to do slave labour. They had to work 16 to 20 hours a day.

When the families went to visit her they had to step on portraits of the founder of Falun Gong before they entered the door. They were also asked to slander Falun Gong and its founder. If the guards were not satisfied with what they had said, the families would lose the opportunity to visit.

At the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp, the guards used many kinds of torture methods, including squatting for a long time, injection of unknown drugs, being hung-up with rope, electric batons, clips (used to clip fingers and toes), in addition to being watched 24 hours a day.

After returning home, Ms. Chi was still under surveillance and her telephone was tapped.

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/2010/10/5/230591.html