Guards in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp Attack Practitioners Who Protest the Persecution

Guard Yu Jiang from Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City (police ID: 2108213, about 37 years old), is now the team lead of the No. 3 Team of the No. 1 Jail. He has worked with Gao Hongchang, the principle of the No. 1 Jail, since September 2008. He has led others and directly participated in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. He is the key person in this jail responsible for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. He is also recognized as one of the most evil, most ruthless “hatchet men” in Masanjia.

In order to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their beliefs, he personally implemented torture methods, including hanging practitioners up in an “airplane style” position, tying them on a death bed, the “stretching” torture, shocking them with 800,000-volt electric batons, smoking their noses with burning newspaper, depriving them of sleep for many days, etc. He has also unscrupulously extorted money from detainees and their families in amounts ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan¹, and then claimed the money was his.

Practitioners Unrelentingly Resist the Persecution

Falun Gong practitioners have resolutely resisted Yu Jiang's abuse and brutal torture. Xi'an practitioner Sun Yi was beaten in public and his left eardrum perforated by Yu Jiang. Because he was protesting with a hunger strike, Yu Jiang and others pried his mouth open with a medical instrument for seven to eight hours. Mr. Sun could not close his mouth for a long time after the instrument was removed. Yu Jiang tortured Mr. Sun for five consecutive days, by hanging him up “like an airplane” and the “stretching" him. From January 18th to April 26th, 2010, over three months, Sun Yi was handcuffed on a death bed². He was tortured to the verge of death several times, but he still did not give up and continued to resist the persecution.

It really disturbed the guards and other prisoners in Masanjia that this innocent person could demonstrate such determination in his belief, as did other practitioners who resisted the persecution with a sense of justice and moral courage. In the meantime, Mr. Sun's family and his attorney have been appealing to the appropriate Chinese judicial bodies and officials non-stop. They have insisted on visiting the labour camp and prison guards, explaining the law to them. They forced the local prosecutor's office to deal with the case submitted by Sun Yi's family. After that filing, Masanjia Forced Labour Camp sensed pressure from “above” and had to allow Mr. Sun's family to meet with him.

When the local prosecutor's office sent someone to the forced labor camp to investigate, Masanjia Forced Labour Camp took counter-measures, such as cleaning up the site, destroying evidence, arranging for some inmates to perjure themselves, etc. But Yu Jiang was investigated. Sun Yi was taken down, and prior to his release, the guards dared not brutally torture him. All of this kindled courage and hope among those people who try to safeguard their basic human rights.

Practitioners who are being tortured have since continued to publicize what is going on by using the complaint process, clarifying the truth, and awakening people's good consciences. Also, some ordinary inmates who have been brutally tortured have come out against the lawless guards and testified on behalf of those who were tortured. For example, in October 2010, Cao Chengyuan, an ordinary inmate who was once detained at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, filed an official complaint about the persecution he suffered under Yu Jiang, the instructor team leader, and officer Li Meng. Not long after that, another inmate, Yu Zuogang, also filed a complaint about the atrocities Yu Jiang used to abuse him. They also provided evidence about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioner Sun Yi in Masanjia and wrote testimony to support his case.

Police Tortured Lin Yongxu with Electric Batons and Stretching Bed

In early November 2010, to comply with the Liaoning Provincial Forced Labour year-end inspection, Yu Jiang and other prison guards ordered all Falun Gong practitioners to write "thought reports" and started the "transformation" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] test. Lin Yongxu, a practitioner from Yingkou, Liaoning, clearly told Yu Jiang that he could not answer their questions in the way they required. In the evening Yu Jiang (and later Gao Hongchang, director of the No.1 Section of Masanjia) brought in Wang Hanyu, Wang Fei, and other police officers, who began brutally torturing Mr. Lin for over seven hours.

Mr. Lin Yongxu, who is in his forties, was a design engineer at the former Shenyang Aircraft Manufacturing Company. He is now an engineer at Gree Air-Conditioning of Zhuhai. In February 2009, he and his wife went to his hometown in Liaoning to visit during the Spring Festival holiday. After the holidays, they were arrested by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) police while they were in the Beijing Train Station waiting to transfer onto a train to Guangdong. He was sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp for a two and a half years. His wife, Ms. Li Sujuan, was sent to the Sanshui Brainwashing Centre in Guangdong Province. One day in November 2010, Yu Jiang and Wang Hanyu each took an electric baton (Yu Jiang used an electric baton with a voltage of about 800,000 volts) and tortured Mr. Lin. Even protected by a thick coat, he sustained had many electrical burns. They shocked him continually for more than two hours. Yu Jiang proposed, “Let's apply a fatal shock and let him die.”

After 12 o'clock, seeing that nothing they tried worked, Yu Jiang and four other guards, plus two detainees, tied up Lin Yongxu on a stretching bed. The stretching bed was frequently used by Yu Jiang and other guards at Masanjia on determined practitioners. The victim's feet are tied securely, and the wrists handcuffed to the upper part of the bed beam. A rope or cloth belt is then tied around the victim's waist and pulled down very hard behind his back. Pulling and releasing it causes sharp pains in the shoulder joints, wrist joints, knee joints, and thigh muscles. Despite the searing pain, the practitioner can't move. The pain is excruciating. In order not to leave any marks, they first put a very thick layer of cotton cloth on the person's wrists and then put on the handcuffs. Despite the lack of any marks, this torture can disable a person's arms and legs. After a few minutes, the victim starts to sweat profusely and scream.

On the stretching bed, Wang Hanyu constantly pulled Lin Yongxu's handcuffs forward to increase the pain. Wang Fei used the metal part of the other handcuff to press hard on the back of Mr. Lin's hand, which made a very deep pit on the back of his hand. This lasted for over two hours. It is relatively cold in December in the northeast, especially after midnight, yet the intense pain left him drenched in sweat. The sweat and tears ran down his face. After he lost consciousness several times, they finally let him down. Mr. Lin could not move or think straight.

Guard Yu Jiang was “Investigated”

Falun Gong practitioners inside and outside of Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, and practitioners' relatives, have regularly filed complaints according to the law, appealed, and reported what was going on. The evil officials at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp were finally investigated. Beginning in January 2011, under pressure, the camp appointed guard Wang Hanyu as the assistant deputy head with the same job responsibilities and same power as Yu Jiang. Yu Jiang realized he was not in a good situation.

Around April, the Liaoning Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and the local Procuratorate went to the forced labour camp to investigate the charges of extortion and violence. Not long afterward, an inmate who had suffered frequent beatings and torture at the hands of the guards and inmates was transferred to another location. Obviously, it was to avoid the investigation and to prevent the discovery of evidence that might be unfavorable to the guards. After that, Yu Jiang began to keep a low profile. After June, Yu Jiang seldom appeared in front of Falun Gong practitioners. Specific issues that dealt with practitioners were handled by Wang Hanyu. Both guards and inmates became more and more careful dealing with practitioners, and beatings and verbal abuse were reduced. At the same time, practitioners also began seizing the opportunity to rationally and strategically expose the persecution to guards and criminals.

In May 2011, a practitioner wrote an article declaring everything he had written against his will under brutal torture was invalid, and publicly expressed his firm belief in Falun Gong. The article stated the consequences of persecuting Falun Gong and the rewards for treating Falun Gong well. Yang Yun, a practitioner from Haicheng, secretly clarified the truth to inmates. He was once reported by someone after he persuaded three people to withdraw from the CCP's affiliated organizations. The guards did not use electric batons or brutal torture on him, nor did they extend his term or impose other punishment. This shows the effectiveness of the coordination among practitioners inside and out of this forced labour camp and their persistent efforts clarifying the truth and exposing the persecution, using all kinds of channels to investigate and file complaints and lawsuits. The guards responsible for the evil deeds have got the message and have begun to resist the CCP's promotion of those lawless behaviours.

Persecution and Resistance Continue

Around February and March of 2011, practitioners Cheng Xiuchang from Qingyuan County, Fushun, and Li Lixin from Hulu Island were detained in the No. 3 Team. When Mr. Cheng first arrived, he refused to sign the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong, refused to wear the forced labour camp uniform, and also refused to eat. He was brutally beaten by guards and inmates whom the prison officials directed to act like thugs. The next day they had to send Mr. Cheng to the hospital for medical treatment. The guards subsequently ordered two inmates to monitor him. During the daytime, he was forced to do slave labour. At night, he was forced to stand in the hallway until 11:00 p.m. Mr. Cheng protested with a hunger strike. At night after others went to bed, guard Wang Zhuolin from the No. 1 Team ordered Mr. Cheng to keep walking in the same spot for several hours. Zhong Hui, one of the two who were monitoring him, slapped Mr. Cheng's face, kicked him, and held his head against the ice-cold wall in the wintertime. The guards never bothered to stop him.

Another practitioner, Li Lixin, had to stand in the hallway and was slapped in the face because he never signed the three statements and did not cooperate. On another occasion, Mr. Li was slapped on the face because he firmly refused to sing songs designed by the CCP for brainwashing purposes.

Mr. Wang Haihui, a practitioner from Heishan, was once again sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp on April 28th, 2011. He had just been released from the camp at the end of July 2010. This time he was sent to the forced labour camp because he was found posting materials exposing the persecution. Before he arrived at the camp, he started a hunger strike in the detention centre. When he was sent to Masanjia, he continued the hunger strike. Each day, the camp has force-fed him. As long as the persecution continues, Falun Gong practitioners will resist the persecution peacefully and rationally.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/9/20/246969.html