Falun Gong Practitioners Severely Abused in Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp, Changchun City, Jilin Province

In November 2010, the Women's Forced Labour Camp of Changchun City, Jilin Province, also known as Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp, dismissed its 6th team, and the former team chief, Ding Caihong, was reassigned to be the chief of the 2nd team. In her new position, Ding continues to torment Falun Gong practitioners.

On January 4th, 2011, Ding cruelly beat Ms. Zhang Li because she refused to give up or renounce Falun Gong. To make the practitioners suffer more, Ding made many regulations. For instance, practitioners must report to and ask permission from the chief guards if they want to go to the toilet. In many cases they were not given permission and had to use a bucket in their room as a toilet. Their room could be very cold in the winter because the radiator was broken, but they were forced to keep their door open during the daytime. They are also forbidden from speaking loudly.

Sometimes prisoners held in the 2nd team were forced to do extremely heavy work. Most practitioners held in the team were in their 50s. Two of them were 62 years old.

In 2010 Ms. Li You, a practitioner from Changchun, was sentenced to forced labour in Heizuizi Labour Camp and was detained in the 2nd team. At 5 p.m. one day in November, team chief Liu Lianying brought her to her office and tried to force her to give up Falun Gong. Ms. Li took the opportunity to tell her the facts about Falun Gong, but she refused to listen. At about 2 a.m. Liu shocked Ms. Li with an electric baton and forbade her from going to the toilet. Ms. Li had to use her own room as her toilet, the same place where she ate.

On January 9th, 2011 Liu forced the practitioners to work until 11:30 p.m., claiming that anyone who failed to finish would have to work for extended hours until their workload was completed.

On November 23rd, 2010, the 6th team was dismissed and Liu Ying, a guard from the team, was reassigned to the 3rd team. She tried to flatter her superiors by torturing those who refused to give up practising Falun Gong. On December 9th, 2010 she subjected practitioner Ms. Cheng Shiyun to the death bed¹ torture for eight days and Ms. Tao Xiuzhi for one day. She also tortured the newly detained Ms. Liu Xia for one day to try to force her to give up practising Falun Gong. Some practitioners tried to tell Liu the facts about Falun Gong, but were tortured for doing that. Liu shocked practitioner Ms. Chen Hong with an electric baton and tied Ms. Wang Yanchun to the death bed for two days. She tortured practitioners for four days, from December 9th to 13th.

Since the merging of the 6th and the 1st teams into the 3rd team, the abuse of practitioners has gotten worse. After Li Ying, chief of the former 6th team, was reassigned to the 3rd team, she targeted practitioners who had announced they would continue practising Falun Gong. In early December, when five practitioners announced that they would resume practising Falun Gong, they were severely tortured. Liu ordered guard Zang Li to slap Ms. Tao Xiuzhi in the face and tie her to the death bed, despite the fact that she was 54 years old and already in poor health. Ms. Cheng Shiyun, 52, was tied to the death bed for 48 hours and suffered from pain in her back and shoulders. Ms. Zhao Guihua was beaten by a group of guards, although she was already in pain from a bone spur in her neck. As a result, she lost feeling in her left leg and was unable to walk. Liu Ying and another guard, Jiang Lijun, were involved in beating Ms. Zhao. Jiang slapped her face while Liu kicked her until she fell down. Ms. Zhao is 54 years old. Now she is bedridden and suffering from incontinence.

After the 1st team was dismissed on December 23rd, 2010, guard Wang Lei was reassigned to the 3rd team and the six practitioners previously held in the 1st team were also transferred to the 3rd team. After the 2011 new year, the prison guards started to force the practitioners to work from 7 a.m. To 4:30 p.m. without a break. Quitting time was then further extended until 8:30 p.m. Prisoners Sun Liqiu and Tai Shujie tried to flatter the guards by closely watching the practitioners in their work and verbally abusing them. They would harshly abuse the practitioners whenever they attempted to take a break. They did this to get reductions in their terms. Prisoner Tian Shuyuan also actively reported to the guards every single thing the practitioners did.

In the 3rd team, the toilet was open for use only after the three meals. At other times the practitioners were prevented from going to the toilet and had to use the bucket in the corridor in the day time and in their rooms at night. Ms. Chen Hongyu, 43, was in bad health and could not work for long hours. After she was transferred to the 3rd team, she was forced to do heavy work and her wrist became terribly swollen. After the 2010 new year, she began to cough up mucus and her back hurt.

In December 2010, Ms. Shang Shuxia, in her 50's and newly detained in the labour camp, was tied to the death bed for 24 hours with no one nearby. During this time she was not allowed to use the toilet.

Practitioner Ms. Wang Yanchun, 46, suffered from unstable blood pressure and dizziness, and was slow in her work. On December 11th, 2010, she demanded the release of all practitioners. In retaliation, guard Liu Ying tied her to the death bed for 48 hours and later forced her to keep working without a break.

Now more than 20 practitioners are being held in the 3rd team, 12 of whom are over 50 years old, while the others are in their 40's. All of them are in poor health. On December 23rd, the 3rd team moved to the top floor of the old building. The radiator there was not working, and the rooms were very cold. They had to sleep with their clothes on and more than two bed covers so they wouldn't freeze. It was so cold that the toilet was frozen and the window was covered with thick frost.

Despite their repeated failure to force the practitioners to give up their faith, the labor camp still went on with their torments. To find Falun Gong articles, guard Zou Xia strip-searched practitioners. When practitioner Ms. Wang Yanchun was found to have Falun Gong articles, she was tortured with the death bed for 48 hours.

All who refused to give up practising Falun Gong received two days extension of their term for each day of their imprisonment. To locate Falun Gong articles, the guards searched the whole workshop, even the radiators, every day and dismantled almost everything, including the clock in the workshop. Practitioners were forbidden to carry any food or other items such as pens, paper, or a watch.

Guards involved in abusing Falun Gong practitioners:

Shen Minglian, chief of the 3rd team;
Jiang Lijun, chief of the production team;
Liu Ying, former chief of the production team of the 6th team;
Zou Xia, prison guard from the 3rd team;
Wang Lei, prison guard of the former 1st team;
Zang Li, prison guard from the second subgroup;
Liu Zhiwei, prison guard from the 1st team;
Liu Dongyan, a perpetrator who usually beat Falun Gong practitioners.

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/1/20/235095.html