Persecution that I Suffered at the Hands of the National Security Team in Mudanjiang Public Security Bureau

I was arrested, interrogated and tortured in November 2008 by Peng Fuming, Yang Danpei and other policemen from the National Security Team in Mudanjiang Public Security Bureau.

I went to a court hearing on November 28th, 2008, to support four other Falun Gong practitioners who had been arrested. I doubted that these practitioners would get a fair hearing. According to the Chinese constitution, trials are public and everyone can attend. However, after just a short while, a dozen other practitioners and I were thrown out of the courtroom. Police officers confiscated our photos and videos, and arrested all of the Falun Gong practitioners in the vicinity of the courthouse.

Prior to the hearing, plainclothes officer Peng Fuming had deceived the Falun Gong practitioners at the courthouse. He told them that he was a reporter and took their pictures. Plainclothes officer Yang Danpei had also mingled with the practitioners, gathering their information. Afterward, these police officers called in two cars of riot police and started to arrest practitioners. Approximately 50 practitioners were arrested; some were sent to detention centres later that night.

In December 2008, Peng Fuming, Ma Qun and Peng Liang took me from the detention centre to the interrogation room in the police station. A tiger bench¹ was in the middle of the room, and more torture instruments were visible on the left side of the room. I was horrified. The walls were covered with foam and cloth, with no windows, so the torture room was completely enclosed. There was a monitor on the upper right corner of the back wall, and below the monitor was an examination table. Peng Fuming asked me questions and Ma took down the answers.

Peng Fuming said, “Just admit that you guys organized this gathering. If you say so, we'll mark that you were responsible for it, but will not pursue this further and will not arrest other practitioners. We will then send you back home.” I knew he was lying and trying to incriminate us so that he could send us to detention. I said, “I will not speak for others, and I will not take responsibility for anything you say I have done.” He then threatened me with torture, and since I refused to agree to his lies, the officers started to torture me. Ma Qun, Peng Liang and another policeman pulled my arms back, and used ropes to rein them in tighter while insulting me. I suffered both mentally and physically. When I did not say anything, Ma Qun added another rope to increase the pressure. He twisted my hand behind my back, causing me unbearable pain. When they saw that I was close to fainting from the pain, they released the rope and pulled my arms back forcefully. The pain in my arms was very intense.

After a short break, they tortured me again using the same ropes. They repeated this torture three times, each time a little longer than before. They stopped at 10 p.m. Without saying anything, they sent me to the Railroad Detention Centre at about 11 p.m. After they left, I changed clothes and saw that my arms were covered with black bruises and I could not move them very well.

After 20 days, Peng Fuming selected two policemen from Dongan District to send me back to the No.1 Detention Centre. After two weeks there, on January 13th, 2009, Peng Fuming and Ma Qun took me to the interrogation room again; Peng Liang was also there. Peng Liang tried very hard to get me to disclose who had notified Falun Gong practitioners to come to the courthouse, whom I had communicated with on that day, and where the sites producing materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong were. He also tried to take my laptop, but I refused to give it to him.

Peng Fuming came again in the afternoon. To entice me to cooperate with him, he said, “You can just tell me who sent the message to you to come to the courthouse.” I said, “I won't tell you, and I won't harm others. I just went to court to listen to the public hearing, which is my legal right and you have no right to interrogate me over this.” Peng Fuming said, “Anyone can go to court, except for Falun Gong practitioners. They are not allowed to go to court sessions.”

Then he asked Peng Liang to bring a torture instrument. When I realized that he planned to torture me again, I took a chance. Peng Liang had not closed the door when he went out, so I ran out of the room. Peng Fuming ran after me and dragged me back by my hair, hitting my head against the wall. I fainted and fell to the floor. When I woke up, I was bleeding with a cut lip.

Peng Fuming straightened one end of a safety pin with pliers and tied the other end to a string. He pushed me down onto the iron chair. With Peng Liang holding my head, he put the sharp end of the pin into my nostril and tugged on the string. I shed tears from the terrible pain. The injury healed after a long time, but my eyesight was impaired.

When they did not get the information they sought from me, they used another torture method. They handcuffed my hands, pulled them behind my back and cuffed them onto the iron chair. In the front they tied my legs with a rope and then pulled up hard on my legs, so that my whole body was instantly suspended off the floor. All of my weight fell onto my arms, with Peng Liang adding his weight by pushing down on my suspended legs. I was in terrible pain. Then one leg was released and touched the ground, but I could not stand on it. Holding my body in that position was very difficult. My whole body was covered in sweat. Peng Fuming watched the time, and switched my legs after an hour or so. Peng Liang poked the bottom of my feet with a stick. When they still got no response, they released me.

I was tortured from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., and then sent back to the detention centre. My legs were numb, and I fell to the ground upon arrival there. The guard on duty asked criminal inmates to carry me to the clinic, and a doctor named Wen made a record of it.

I was seriously injured, including my internal organs. I experienced shortness of breath, and my back was numb. I could not lift my right arm. My nose was bleeding, my lower lip was swollen, and my mouth was still bleeding. I could only lie on planks of wood. Two detained fellow practitioners took care of me.

After 10 days, seeing that I could sit, they sent me to the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Labour Camp for two years. There were four other male practitioners and a female practitioner sent with me to the labour camp. Peng Fuming also tortured these practitioners with the same methods.

Two sisters, Wang Ailing and Wang Aiping from Mishan, were also tortured by Peng Fuming using the same methods. Wang Ailing could not lift her arms after 2 weeks. Peng Fuming extorted 10,000 yuan² in cash from them before allowing the local police to take them back.

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

2. "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/2011/4/22/239425.html