Torture Methods: Dislocating Joints

One form of torture used by the police of the Chinese Communist regime is dislocating practitioners’ joints, making the victims lose consciousness from the excruciating pain.

Dislocating Shoulder Joints

“Then, several policemen held me down on the tiger bench¹, handcuffed me, and tied my hands behind my back. They put my arms behind the back of the tiger bench. Two steel bars that crossed the bench restrained my chest and abdomen tightly. My feet were held rigid by two big steel hoops. Then police brutally tortured me, repeating the torture every five minutes. Every time they pulled my arms forwards and backwards, I heard my bones and tendons crack. I almost lost consciousness from the excruciating pain.”

Above is an excerpt from Changchun practitioner Ms. Wang Yuhuan’s account of how the police dislocated her arms to try to make her renounce her belief. (Full Story: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/10/15/90516.html )

At other times, the practitioner is handcuffed behind the back and hung up; the person's entire body weight falls on the wrists. It is easy for the shoulders to become dislocated in this position since they are twisted backwards.

Ms. Shao Jingrong from Lanqi Town, Fengcheng City, Liaoning Province, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in early 2003. She was arrested, taken back, and held in the Fengcheng Detention Centre. One day at 11:00 p.m. they handcuffed her hands behind her back and hung her up with her feet off the ground, dislocating her arm and shoulder joints. She could no longer move after being taken down. (Full Story: http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/6/9/125906.html )

The guards at the Sanshui Forced Labour Camp in Guangdong Province locked a practitioner who refused to renounce Falun Gong in a small room. His hands were handcuffed and connected to two sandbags. Several inmates pushed the bags apart, while others scratched the practitioner’s armpits and abdomen. Mr. Wang Guifeng’s arms were injured, and his shoulder was dislocated this way. (Full story: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/7/14/38115.html )

Mr. Sun Xianming, a former employee of Tonghua City Petroleum Machinery Factory in Jilin Province, was held in Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp in Changchun. The guards twisted his arms 360 degrees until they came out their sockets. Guard Zhu Shenglin violently shook his dislocated arms, and Mr. Sun screamed in horrible pain. He was on the brink of death within a year in the labour camp. After returning home, he had an X-ray at the city hospital, which showed his upper arms were broken and twisted 90 degrees. He underwent surgery and had his bones re-set, but he lost the use of his arms. (Full story: http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/6/14/126030.html )

Ms. Han Zhongcui, who worked at the Lanzhou Train Station Street Office in Gansu Province, was arrested in mid-September 2003 and taken to Lanzhou City Legal Education School, a brainwashing facility. She was subsequently thrown in the detention room under head Yan Yongsheng’s order. She was hung up with her arms behind her back for more than a month. She was near death when she was brought out and could not move her arms and legs. Her arms were handicapped as a result of torture. Two months later, official Zhao Jian and others finally took her to the provincial Chinese medicine hospital: her left arm was broken, and some flesh had already grown out of the bone joints. She was diagnosed with widespread nerve damage, which was beyond treatment, according to the doctors at Lanzhou Military General Hospital. (Full story: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/11/6/91130.html )

In another torture method, the practitioner is pinned face down on the ground while two inmates lift his arms and force them upward until they touch his head. Mr. Zhou Peihong from Shuangcheng had both elbows dislocated this way in Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp. His arms were severely swollen and purple, yet guard Zhao Shuang told inmate Qi Kunlei to push and shove Mr. Zhou’s dislocated elbows. He screamed in agony. Later in the hospital it was discovered that both his elbows had been dislocated and one of his forearms was fractured. (Related article: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/8/4/76328.html )

Dislocating the Leg Joints

The above mentioned Tiger Bench is widely used in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The victim on a Tiger Bench is tied tightly in a sitting position, legs stretched forward forming 90-degree-angle with the body. Bricks are the placed under the legs. The victim sweats profusely with three bricks. The knee joints are completely dislocated with 5 bricks, and the victim faints from excruciating pain. The evildoers then add one more brick, increasing the pain, and then another brick to prolong the suffering.

There is a torture method called “Small Tiger Bench” in Shanghai. Practitioner Mr. Lu Xingguo from Pudong in Shanghai was tortured this way at the Qingpu No. 3 Forced Labour Camp. Guard Xiang Jianzhong ordered several inmates to force him to sit on the floor with his legs stretched out and his back straight and pressed against a small bench with his arms spread out and held against the wall. They forced his legs apart until they were almost at a 180-degree angle. People heard his screams. His tendons were severely torn after two days of torture, and he could neither stand nor walk.

Mr. Lu Xingguo died two days after being tortured. An existing report only stated that his tendons were severely torn. From the severity of the torture, however, it was very likely that his leg joints were dislocated as well.

Although some of these cases did not specifically mention that the practitioners’ joints were dislocated, it is very likely, given the forms of torture involved. After practitioner Ms. Shao Jingrong’s arm(s) were dislocated, the guards tied her legs together and pushed them up to her neck. Then they wrapped her in a quilt to smother her. Even crueller, they grabbed her legs, tied them cross-legged, and then pulled her feet up above her head. When they kicked her pelvis, they pulled her legs out of their joints. (Related article: http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/6/9/125906.html )

Another torture called “stretching” is widely used in Jilin Prison. The victim’s arms and legs are stretched in four directions. Then he is hung up spread eagle, causing tendons to be torn and joints to be dislocated. Some practitioners' fingernails and toenails were even torn out. The officials hit the practitioners' joints with a hammer until they popped out of their sockets and the muscles were deeply bruised. Practitioners Tan Qiucheng, Liu Chengjun, Diao Shujun, Sun Qian, Zhang Xinqi, and others were all tortured this way in Jilin Prison.

Sometimes, the practitioners do not know exactly how their joints became dislocated through torture, because they were overwhelmed. One practitioner from Hebei Province said, “At the brainwashing facility the officials kicked me out of the car, and a group of people came up to me holding various weapons in their hands; blows rained down on me, and I was kicked and whacked with metal bars until I lost consciousness. They also made the metal bars red hot, then held them against my skin. They also shocked me with electric batons. They handcuffed me to the head of the bed. I lost consciousness many times. My back hurt terribly when I came to, so I kept screaming until the doctor finally came in. He discovered I had a dislocated pelvis, two broken ribs, severe muscular damage, and blood in my stool.”

Dislocating Jaws

The guards sometimes break the practitioners’ jaws during force-feeding. Practitioner Mr. Lu Yougen was taken to Tangxunhu Brainwashing Facility in Hubei Province in mid September 2009, and he saw how the guards broke one practitioner’s jaw for refusing to cooperate with them. He said, “One guard grabbed the practitioner's hair and pulled it up, which forced his neck back slightly. Another guard pressed down on the practitioner's shoulders and did not let him move. A third guard held the back of the practitioner's neck with his left hand and used the palm of his right hand to deliver a violent blow to the practitioner's jaw. I heard a loud popping sound and saw that the practitioner's jaw was broken. The practitioner's lower face and mouth drooped. When the guards force-fed him he had no response at all, like a dead man.” (Full story: http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2010/5/15/117024.html )

Practitioner Ms. Xin Shuhua from Benxi City, Liaoning Province, was shocked with electric batons many times when she was held in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City, but she still refused to renounce her belief. So they tortured her with the Big Hang-up and Death Bed², and they forced her mouth open with a metal device, and they dislocated her jaw four times during the process. (Related articles: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/8/19/88720.html ; http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/2/24/82961.html )

Tortures Dislocating Other Joints

There are many other reports of practitioners’ wrists, ankles, knuckles, and collarbones being broken during torture. What we list here are only a few examples.

Mr. Li Jinzhong, an editor at the Changle County Arts Workshop in Shandong Province, was tortured in Changle Forced Labour Camp in Weifang City, Shandong Province. Collaborator Liu Zhigang beat Li Jinzhong until his spinal discs were dislocated. He could not lift his head; when he held it up with his hands, his head would still fall backward. Even so, the officials propped up his head on a table with two rolls of toilet paper and proceeded to bombard him with slanderous propaganda. (Full story: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/4/20/72191.html )

Ms. Chen Zhenbo, a former accountant at the Jinhuayuan Seeds Co. Ltd. in Shandong Province, was taken to Shandong Province No. 2 Women’s Forced Labour Camp. Four people, including guard Xia Li, handcuffed her to a metal window frame in a spread eagle position. Inmates Zhao Yan and Liu Wenrong wrapped her head in a quilt and yanked her head forward for about five minutes, causing severe injuries to her spine, neck, chest, and back.

Later, an eventual hospital exam revealed a twisted spine and dislocated disc(s); the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth discs were compressed. She did not recover after returning home on July 2nd, 2010. She felt as if she was carrying a heavy object on her back and right shoulder, and the left half of her body was numb and painful; her spine is still twisted and misaligned, and she suffers from headaches, dizziness, and memory loss, probably from nerve damage. (Full story: http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2010/8/20/119384.html )

The officials carried out these tortures on purpose to try to make Falun Gong practitioners renounce their belief, knowing full well the possible horrific consequences.

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. "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/2011/6/19/242696.html