Falun Gong Practitioners Tortured in Heizuizi Labour Camp in Changchun City

Heizuizi Labour Camp in Changchun City, Jilin Province, is one of the most notorious places where Falun Gong practitioners are being abused. It used to consist of seven divisions, and more than 5000 detainees were held there from 2000 to 2005. Nearly 1000 detainees were held in each division. Three divisions were closed in 2010. The remaining four divisions detain a total of over 100 practitioners. There are more than 300 guards in the labour camp.

Below are some of the instances of abuse that occurred in Division 3, where, currently, the elderly, sick, or disabled detainees are being held. The main methods used include: torture, term extension, slave labour, and body searches.

Torture: beating, electric shocking, and death bed

Liu Ying was appointed as the deputy head of Division 3 on November 23rd, 2010. She came with a death bed¹ specifically for torturing practitioners. Because Ms. Cheng Shiyun (a practitioner from Nongan County, in her 50s) and Ms. Tao Xiuzhi (from Tumen City, in her 50s) had made Solemn Declarations nullifying guarantee statements to renounce practising Falun Gong they had been forced to make, guards took them to an office on December 9th, 2010. Liu and five other guards slapped them in the face. They then tied Ms. Tao onto the death bed, which caused her left leg to go numb and she suffered extreme pain. When the guards tied Ms. Cheng onto the death bed, she screamed for help. The guards stuffed rags in her mouth and sealed it with tape, which almost suffocated her. Ms. Cheng was tied up for two days around the clock.

Some practitioners asked the guards to stop torturing Ms. Cheng on December 10th, 2010. They also wrote a letter to Tian Yuan, the head of the labour camp, and reported what was going on. Guards Liu Ying and Jiang Lijun called Ms. Chen Hongyu to their office and slapped her in the face. They also shocked her with electric batons until her lips were blistered and her neck was red. Guards body searched every practitioner in the afternoon. Guards Zou Xia and Jiang Lijun stripped off Ms. Qiu Lingli and Ms. Wang Yanchun's clothes to search them. Afterwards, they tied Ms. Wang Chunyan onto the death bed for two days and nights on December 12th. They also tied Ms. Shang Shuxia (a practitioner from Liaoyuan City, in her 50s, who arrived at the labour camp seven days earlier) onto the death bed the entire night of December 14th.

Practitioner Ms. Chen Fuyun, 60 years old and from Songyuan City, was sent to the labour camp on February 1st, 2011. She made a solemn declaration on February 22nd that she would not give up her belief. Liu Ying and other guards tied her onto the death bed. Division head Shen Minglian and Jiang Lijun threatened and humiliated her and also pinched her face. Ms. Chen was tied up for 24 hours.

Practitioner Ms. Bai Yun, 61, from Jilin City was taken to the labour camp on February 25th, 2011. Liu Ying and four other guards tortured her on February 28th. They beat her, swore at her, slapped her in the face, kicked her in the abdomen, and electrically shocked her naked body. As a result, Ms. Bai had severe pain in her abdomen and her back was severely injured. She also had a lump on her forehead the size of an egg. After Ms. Bai screamed in pain, guards sealed her mouth with tape and tied her onto the death bed. She was put on the death bed again on March 9th, and her limbs were stretched out. Because of this torture, Ms. Bai had severe pain in her abdomen and back and could not stand up straight.

Practitioner Ms. Lang Yanmei, 40, from Helong County was sent to the labour camp on March 3rd, 2011. Guards tied her onto the death bed for five days and nights. They also forced her to watch DVDs that slandered Falun Gong.

Ms. Wang Liqin is a 49-year-old practitioner from Fusong County. Police deceived her into leaving her workplace in September 2010 with the excuse that she needed a physical examination and then arrested her. They took her to the labour camp that same day. Guard Liu Dongyan called her to the office that evening and hit her in the eye, which made her dizzy. Liu then shocked her with an electric baton. Liu shocked the left side of her face, eyes, and chest. She also hit Ms. Wang in the face with her fists, which caused Ms. Wang’s eyelids to swell and turn purple. Guards then put her in solitary confinement and forced her to read materials and watch DVDs that defamed Falun Gong. They also forced her to do the most intensive slave labour in the manufacturing unit. Three months later, her eyes and eyelids were still purple and her nose was congested.

Police from Changchun took 64-year-old Ms. Xia Guizhen from Changchun to the labour camp in August 2010. Division head Shen Minglian wanted to “reform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] Ms. Xia, but she refused to cooperate. Guard Jiang Lijun then kicked her so hard with high-heeled shoes that she was unable to walk for two weeks. Staff person Zang Li threatened Ms. Xia every day, saying that she would “reform” her, and forced this elderly practitioner to carry the same workload as younger detainees.

Ms. Zhao Guihua, 56, from Liuhe County was sent to the labour camp in May 2010. When she was examined, they diagnosed her with heart disease, osteophytosis, and sciatica. Her left leg was numb and she could not walk. Several guards (Liu Dongyan, Zang Li, Jiang Lijun, and Liu Ying) beat and kicked her, once in July 2010 and once on December 8th, 2010. Ms. Zhao was emaciated due to being tortured, but the guards still forced her to do slave labour in the manufacturing unit. In addition, guard Li Na reprimanded her and did not allow her to sleep. When Division 3 was moved to the old building on December 23, 2010, Ms. Zhao was beaten again and her lower back was injured. After that, she was bedridden and lost control of her bladder. Officials released her on medical parole on January 14th, 2011.

Term extension

If a practitioner refused to write a “Thought Summary,” her term was extended by two days every month. If a practitioner refused to answer a questionnaire, her term was extended by 10 days each time. If a practitioner refused to write a “Personal Summary,” her term was extended by 10 to 30 days, or even longer.

Ms. Qiu Lingli, a 42-year-old practitioner from the Shiren Town in Baishan City, was sent to the labour camp in August 2009. After being tied onto the death bed for one month in Division 7, she had severe pain in her hands and could not work. After Division 7 was closed in March 2010, she was taken to Division 3. Guards often swore at her and reprimanded her, since she could not do the slave labour. Between November 2010 and January 2011, her term was extended by 21 days.

Practitioner Ms. Di Lihua, 60 years old and from Lishu County, was sent to Division 3 in August 2009. Guards tied her onto the death bed for seven days in July 2010, because she did the exercises. She went into shock. Guards told the labour camp doctor to inject her with drugs, but Ms. Di did not yield. She was tied up for nine days and her term was extended by one month. After being mistreated for a long time, Ms. Di had symptoms of different illnesses (heart disease, high blood pressure, protrusion of the lumbar inter vertebral discs, and lower back pain), but she was still forced to do slave labour.

Ms. Wang Yanchun, 46, from the town Bajiazi in Helong County was sent to the labour camp in August 2010. She was tied onto the death bed on December 12th, 2010, and her term was extended by 21 days. Her blood pressure was unstable and she often felt dizzy. Nonetheless, she was still forced to do slave labour.

Ms. Chen Hongyu, 44, from Liuhe County was arrested and kept in a detention centre on March 6th, 2009. She was sent to Heizuizi Labour Camp two months later. Guard Ding Caihong shocked her with an electric baton and hung her up for three days and nights. There were blisters on her wrists, and both her hands as well as her feet were swollen. During that time, some thugs hit her from behind, and inmate Guo Kuanmin slapped her in the face dozens of times until her face became swollen. Ms. Chen was taken to Division 3 of the labour camp in November 2010, and her term was extended by 12 days in 2011. She was released on March 17th, 2011.

Ms. Wu Libo, 56, from Changchun, was physically weak from being tortured, but the guards still forced her to perform intensive slave labour. This continued for a year. When she was very tired and needed a rest on March 9th, 2011, Liu Ying beat her. Ms. Wu began suffering physical symptoms that evening; nonetheless, guards still extended her term by 12 days. Her term expired on April 12th.

Ms. Zhang Shuying, 40, is from Dehui City. Guards forced her to do intensive slave labour and extended her term for refusing to write a Thought Summary.

Ms. Pan Li is a 43-year-old practitioner from Songyuan City. She was thin and weak, but the guards still forced her to perform slave labour.

Limited access to the toilet

From 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., practitioners are allowed to use the toilet only once, that is, at 11:00 a.m. They were not allowed to go to the toilet at other times, but they were allowed to use a bucket located in the manufacturing division. Other than the allowed access time, the toilet was locked all the time, day or night.

Some of the officials at Division 3 of Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp:
Shen Minglian, division head
Jiang Lijun, deputy division head
Liu Ying, deputy division head
Staff: Liu Dongyan, Yu Lina
Guards: Zou Xia, Zang Li, Liu Zhiwei

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/4/13/238972.html