Guards in Shandong Province No. 2 Forced Labour Camp Instigated Criminals to Viciously Assault Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Song Shufu

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Song Shufu of Rushan City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to three years of forced labour in May 2008. While incarcerated in Shandong Province No. 2 Forced Labour Camp (aka Wangcun Forced Labour Camp), he was brutally beaten by other prisoners. Mr. Song, in his 40s, had only two teeth when he was released. Below is a description of the incident in his own words:

On May 6th, 2008, I was taken into custody by the police. On May 9th, I was sentenced to three years of forced labour. At that time I was sent to the No. 8 Division. Because I refused to write the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong, the guards ordered prisoner Liu Zhenbo to beat me. He used a table tennis paddle to slap my face. At night the guard on duty was Qiu Zhenyu. He woke up all the prisoners who were sleeping and ordered six or seven of them to take turns beating me. Later they stripped me and used my shirt to tie me to the pole between the upper and lower bunks and continued beating me. Qiu Zhenyu not only stood on the side and personally watched what the prisoners were doing, he also said, “You refused to write the three statements. In a few days time I am on duty again and I will have new ways to handle you.” After beating me, the prisoners went to sleep, but one remaining prisoner continued to beat me. He made me sit on a small stool and hit me very hard on my back. It was so painful that I could hardly breathe. He then used a wooden stool to viciously hit my back. In the end the stool broke in two. He continued beating me the whole night. I told him that I cultivate Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and that I had not committed any crime. I told him that I hoped that he would stop what he was doing. He said, “If I can 'transform' [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] you by beating you, I will get a reduction in my sentence. That way I can go home earlier to get married.”

Another prisoner, Zhao Weiwei, was even more vicious. He beat me every day before getting off from labour. He even said, “If you don’t write the three statements, the prison will not reduce my sentence.” Every time he beat me, he would grab me by my hair and viciously assault me. My hair ended up all over the floor. I was covered with bruises and my tendons were torn. For a long time, I could not stand up and my legs and feet were swollen. I also had difficulty breathing. At one point Zhao Weiwei hit me straight in the face with his fist and loosened all the teeth in my mouth. It hurt so much that I saw stars. Not only could I not eat, it was heart-wrenchingly painful just to drink water. Just rice touching my teeth was excruciating. My teeth subsequently fell out one by one. I was only in my 40s when I returned home and was left with only two shaky teeth. No one who saw me after I had been persecuted could recognise me.

In the dark labour camp, the evil guards secretly instigated prisoners to beat practitioners. They enticed these prisoners to carry out such brutal abuse by promising to reduce their terms of imprisonment.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/3/22/237939.html