Mr. Lv Songming from Xiangtan City, Hunan Province Tortured in Prison for Almost Ten Years

Name: Lv Songming
Gender: Male
Age: In his 30s
Address: Xiangtan City, Hunan Province
Occupation: History Teacher at the Middle School for Children of Employees of Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Plant
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 4th, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jinshi Prison, Changde City, Hunan Province
City: Changde
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, physical restraint

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Lv Songming from Xiangtan is still being tortured at Jinshi Prison in Changde. He is being subjected to brutal beatings and force-feeding of faeces. He was sentenced twice to prison terms totalling ten years.

Mr. Lv graduated from Hunan Normal University in Changsha City, Hunan Province. He majored in History. He started cultivating Falun Gong in 1996. He once had a harmonious family life, and is the father of a young man. In 2000, he was dismissed from his teaching job because he practised Falun Gong. To earn a living he shined shoes and later sold peanuts on the street. This way he could also tell people about Falun Gong. He was detained multiple times and sentenced twice to prison terms.

On March 11th, 2001, Mr. Lv was detained for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong and later sentenced to five years in prison. He was brutally tortured at Chishan Prison, Yuanjiang City, Yiyang Region, Hunan Province; Jinshi Prison; and Wuling Prison, Changde. When he was released in 2006, his son didn't recognise him, and his wife divorced him. On February 4th, 2007, Mr. Lv was arrested while telling people about Falun Gong in Xingzipu Town, Shuangfeng County, Loudi City, Hunan Province. Without any reason or evidence, Mr. Lv was sentenced to a five-year prison term, and incarcerated at Jinshi Prison.

1. Tortured at Chishan Prison

Prison guard He Yong tortured Mr. Lv for six days in February 2002. He cuffed Mr. Lv's feet and hands to the bed at night and didn't allow him to sleep. He tortured Mr. Lv, attempting to force him to write a guarantee statement to renounce practising Falun Gong. He also ordered inmates to beat Mr. Lv.

In November 2002, Mr. Lv wrote some short sentences from the Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun, on a piece of paper. Guard Luo Lie saw it and ordered inmate Geng Tao to get the paper. Mr. Lv followed Luo to the soccer field, asking him to return the paper. Luo handed it to He Yong. Mr. Lv approached He Yong, to get it back. He Yong shouted, “Attacking police! Attacking police! Hold him down!” Inmates Geng Tao, Li Biao, and others pushed Mr. Lv to the ground and beat him. Mr. Lv shouted, “I won't stop until you return the paper to me. Look at what I wrote. They are all Falun Gong scriptures, which teach people to cultivate Truthfulness-Benevolence-Compassion and be good people.” He Yong called guard Li Feiwen over. Li said viciously, “Why don't you die instead of harming us? You even dare to attack police.” Li told He, “Inform the Prison Management Section and handcuff him to a torture device.”

He Yong then dragged Mr. Lv to his iron bed and forced him to lay down. He Yong ordered inmate Liu Zijiang, “I have already received permission from the Prison Management Section to handcuff him for seven days and handcuff his hands tightly. Make him humble. Show us what you can do. You keep the key for the handcuffs. Only let him go to the toilet and also open the handcuffs for eating... He just said that he will go on a hunger strike. So keep cuffing him except for toilet visits!” There are three vertical steel bars at the head rail of the bed. Liu separated Mr. Lv's hands, so he couldn't handcuff them, but then pulled Mr. Lv's hands towards each other and managed to cuff them. Mr. Lv felt great pain in his hands and especially in his shoulders. Practitioner Mr. Xiao Huisheng (in his thirties, from Xiangtan, a pharmacist) and Mr. Zeng Haiqi (in his thirties, from Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province, technician expert from a machine plant) went on a hunger strike to support Mr. Lv. The brutal torture was stopped by the righteous thoughts and the cooperation among the three practitioners.

On January 10th, 2003, the three practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest having their heads shaved. On the third day, inmate Xiong Jian'gang and several other inmates force-fed them with rice soup in two cola bottles. They pulled Mr. Lv up, “Will you eat?” “No, thank you. I won't eat.” Before Mr. Lv could finish his sentence, Xiong punched his head. Mr. Lv turned before falling to ground. “I ask you again. Will you eat?” Mr. Lv shook his head. “Feed!” The inmates held Mr. Lv to the ground, stepped on his hands and feet, and pushed the cola bottle into his mouth. Medical assistant inmate Chen Lin said, “Pinch his nose, otherwise it will go into his trachea...” Xiong handed the bottle to Chen, “It's better for you to do it. I haven't done this before.” Seeing that Mr. Lv tried to move, Xiong sat down on his stomach. Mr. Lv's threw up. Chen shouted, “Stand up quickly or he will die.” Xiong stood up and smiled, “You are against the government. The government asked me to torture you. I have no choice but to follow the order since I am an inmate. If you won't eat tomorrow, I will insert a bamboo tube into your throat to feed you. I will break your throat. I'll see if you dare not eat.” Chen continued force-feeding.

After four hours, Mr. Lv went to defecate. He felt that he released warm water. Inmate Lv Xiaozong, who was assigned to monitor him, took a look and shouted, “Oh! You defecate blood, just like spilling water.” Mr. Lv defecated blood for two hours. This situation lasted for several days. Later Mr. Lv told practitioner Mr. Xiao Zhixiang, a retired manager from Xiangtan Gas Company. Mr. Xiao went to see Chen Xionghui, an officer in the prison's Education Section, “He Yong has said he wanted Xiong Jian'gang to torture Mr. Lv Songming in revenge for reporting him. Are you trying to use Xiong to kill Mr. Lv?” Chen hesitated for a while, and then called Xiong Jian'gang to his office.

Xiong threatened to kill Mr. Lv several times. Once he fiercely hit Mr. Lv's head with a key chain hidden in his hand.

On the seventh day of their hunger strike, the inmate on-duty shouted, “Lv Songming, get ready for a relative's visit.” Mr. Lv was very weak by then. He walked slowly to the door. Suddenly the on-duty guard Luo Lie's mobile phone rang. Li Feiwen had called him. After they talked for a while, Luo said, “Lv Songming, upper management will not allow you to meet your visitor. Why did you hold a hunger strike?” Mr. Lv protested, “Which law said that people on hunger strike can't see their relatives?” Luo was silent for a while, “Let me go to the Prison Management Section to see who came to visit you.” After half an hour, Luo returned with two bags of powdered milk. “Your sister came. Cadres of the Prison Management Section talked to her and she went home in tears.” Mr. Lv said, “Practitioners are all kind and good people. Our hunger strike is to protest the persecution. For over a year, you saw how practitioners acted. Why do you treat good people like this? We resist the persecution to help you to see reason and not violate the law. Otherwise, you will accumulate bad debts for brutally persecuting practitioners. You will be unable to pay it off throughout eternity.”

Mr. Lv was forced to do heavy labour work. Although he was weak, he was forced to stand for sixteen hours every day. His legs swelled and he couldn't work. To protest the slave labour, Mr. Lv, Mr. Xiao, and Mr. Zeng again held a hunger strike. Deputy Warden Zi Wei said cunningly, “It's not my place to decide whether you committed a crime. You need to talk to the court. Since the court sent you here, you are a criminal here. I have the right to follow prison law in how I treat you. If you don't work, you are violating the prison law.” Mr. Lv replied, “The fundamental spirit and goal of human law is to punish the evil and praise the good and safeguard the just. We are not guilty under the law. It's the government controlling the court to wrongly sentence practitioners. Article Thirteen of the Prison Law tells you to follow the Constitution and enforce the law. But facing such a major miscarriage of justice, you deliberately treat us as criminals. You have already violated the Constitution and the fundamental spirit of law. How can you talk about law? You are playing tricks with the law.”

Then Mr. Lv continued, “Even when following your logic, you have violated Article Seventy One of the Prison Law by forcing practitioners to work fifteen hours per day, including weekends. You give practitioners only one day of rest per month. We resist labour persecution. Even if you use the prison law to punish us, Article Fifty Eight says to warn, record demerits, or put in confinement. But you hung up practitioners by handcuffs and beat practitioners. You have already violated Article Fourteen, which prohibits torture interrogation, abuse, and beating. Mr. Zhang Peng from the Second Division, Chen Yang and Ma Junwen from the Third Division, and Jia Zhefa from the Fourth Division were all put in confinement. You ordered inmates to torture them. They were forced to stand against a wall for eighteen hours per day. You let mice run unchecked in the confinement cell. They chewed pieces off the quilt. There are many mosquitoes in the confinement cell in summer, but you don't apply any anti-mosquito pills or screen the window.”

Zi Wei became irritated and yelled, “Hang him up immediately.” Mr. Lv and other practitioners were hung up from window bars. Inmate Xu Shenjun kept beating them. Practitioners were so weak that their voices to shout slogans could only be heard by the inmates who were beating them.

Seven days after they went on a hunger strike, Chen Lin and two other prisoners who were medical doctors force-fed Mr. Lv, Mr. Xiao, and Mr. Zeng. They inserted a plastic tube into Mr. Lv's stomach which caused a spasm in his stomach. His face turned purple because he could not breathe properly. A few minutes later, the pressure of regurgitation pushed the rice water out of Mr. Lv's stomach. The rice water ran through the plastic tube and splashed on the prisoners. They then gave up force feeding him.

On the eighth day, when Mr. Lv was standing and shouting watchwords, prisoner Xiong Jian'gang disrobed Mr. Lv. He was naked despite the cold weather. Xiang began to laugh. The prison guards were standing and watching. Xiong dragged Mr. Lv to the front door of the workshop of the fifth ward. He then kicked Mr. Lv's ribs in the area of the liver. The excruciating pain almost caused Mr. Lv to faint and stop breathing. Xiong continued to drag Mr. Lv around. The ground scratched Mr. Lv's bare skin, leaving blood on the ground. Xiong then handcuffed Mr. Lv and hung him up. Other practitioners tried to tell guards Wang Xianghui and Li Feiwen about Mr. Lv's injuries, but they ignored it. Mr. Lv was left hanging for ten days until after the New Year.

The shuttles were ready to transfer prisoners to the workshops at 8:00 on May 5th, 2003. Practitioner Mr. Zeng Haiqi refused to stay in line, squat down, or report his number. A special force guard led by deputy warden Zi Wei beat Mr. Zeng twice. Mr. Zeng still refused to follow orders. The guards from the special force took out electric batons. When the batons touched Mr. Zeng, a large electric arc emerged from his body. He collapsed on the ground immediately. The guards continued using the batons on him. It looked like Mr. Zeng's body was on fire. The electric arcs and sparks were all over his body.

Mr. Lv's shuttle drove by at that time. He saw the electric arcs from afar. Seeing the guard hitting Mr. Zeng with the electric batons, Mr. Lv broke away from the prisoners who were holding him and yelled, “Falun Dafa is good! Do not torture practitioners!” Zi Wei and the guards turned and rushed toward Mr. Lv. As an electric baton touched Mr. Lv's head, he fell down and hit his head on a concrete block. His head was bleeding but the guards kept shocking his temples with the batons. He passed out. After he woke up, he still refused to follow orders. Deputy warden Zi Wei scolded guard Li Feiwen and said, “Call a meeting in the fifth ward immediately!” Over a hundred prisoners from the fifth ward gathered at the basketball court. Li shouted, “Get these guys up to the podium and have them kneel down!” Mr. Lv and Mr. Zeng refused to kneel down. Li ordered several prisoners to pull their arms behind their backs and hold their heads down. The prisoners stepped on the practitioners' shanks so they could not get up. Li then said, “Everyone applaud and welcome Warden Li!” Li slandered Falun Dafa and the practitioners and said, “For the prisoners who dared to struggle with practitioners tonight, we will commend their work and highly reward them. Write down their names and I will announce their merits tomorrow. As for how to punish practitioners who fight the government, we will execute the laws and I hope the fifth ward office will criticise and educate them. The meeting is adjourned.”

After Mr. Lv returned to his cell, he fainted when he tried to take his clothes off. A prisoner next to him said, “The back of your head is covered with blood and your back is soaked with blood. You should see a prison doctor.” Mr. Lv found it difficult to speak. He couldn't think or remember anything. He sat on his bed to meditate.

After being injured on the head, Mr. Lv was very dizzy. He lost part of his memory and could no longer remember the Falun Gong articles he had memorised. He began writing letters to the prison guards and warden to tell them the facts of the persecution. Gradually his head became clear and he could remember the content of the Falun Gong articles.

2. Persecution in Jinshi Prison in Changde City

There are over ten wards in Jinshi Prison, with practitioners in every one of them. It's estimated that there are dozens of practitioners in that prison. In the past years, prisoners have died as a result of beatings.
After years of being rewarded and brainwashed, some prisoners became hit-men for the guards. They were especially cruel toward practitioners. These prisoners often beat practitioners, handcuffed them, and hung them up by the handcuffs. The practitioners went on hunger strikes to protest the tortures, and the guards then ordered prisoners to force feed them every two hours. These people had no medical training and continued to feed the practitioners even when their abdomens were protruding.

Once in Jinshi Prison, Mr. Lv crossed his legs (as if he was meditating). Three prisoners attacked him, punched him, and stomped on him for two hours. Because Mr. Lv resisted, they force-fed him urine. As Xiao Jian and another guard passed by, instead of stopping the beating, they scolded Mr. Lv for “disturbing the prison order” and extended his term. Mr. Lv refused to comply and shouted “Falun Gong is good.” Prisoners Wei Yile, Song Shuifa, and Mu Tong beat him and shoved excrement in his mouth.
The guards often order the prisoners to torture Mr. Lv, and he was always wearing handcuffs and shackles. The guards frequently force-fed him. In 2009, the guards ordered several prisoners to hold him down and force feed him with excrement. Mr. Lv became severely underweight.

To win rewards, the prison guards used a variety of means to force practitioners to renounce Falun Gong. In 2011, the prison guards in Jinshi Prison demanded that Mr. Lv's family convince him to give up Falun Gong. Mr. Lv refused.

Hunan Province Prison Administration Bureau
Address: 81 Road, Furong District, Changsha City, Hunan Province. Postal code: 410001.
Fax: +86-736-84462819

Appeals Office: +86-736-84592622
Liu Wanqing, bureau chief: +86-736-84592781 (Office), 1+86-3707319173, 13974980688
Zhang Shiming, political commissioner: +86-736-84592782 (Office), 4592438 (home), +86-13607480928
Li Shaowu, secretary of discipline inspection: +86-736-84592786, 88143108, +86-13808466496

Deputy bureau chief: +86-736-84592780, 84592784, 84592689 (Office)

Jinshi Prison in Changde City, Hunan Province
Address: No. 1, Box 330, Jinshi City, Changde City, Hunan Province, postal code: 415400
Phone numbers: +86-736-4298199, 4298113, 4298608, 4298220

Second Detention and Dispatch Centre in Jinshi Prison: +86-736- 4243120
Song Jianping, education division director: +86-13875097871 (mobile)
Luo Hua, education division head: +86-13975600521 (mobile)
Guo Huifedng, deputy division head
Wang Jinsham, warden: +86-736-4298138 (office)
Cai Fulin, deputy warden: +86-13907369439, +86-736-4298588, +86-736-4298122 (home)
Hu (first name unknown), deputy warden: +86-13973603110

610 Office of Hunan Province (area code: +86-731)
Fax: 82219674
Address: No. 1, Shaoshan Road, Changsha City, Hunan Province. Postal code: 410011
Shen Yu, director: 82219065
Jiang Heping, deputy director: 82215011
Liu Daolong, deputy director: 82215271
Jiang Yongzhong, assistant patrol staff: 82219459
He Xi, director of the secretariat office: 82215161

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/10/2/247404.html