Practitioner Mr. Sun Yubin from Liaoning Province Persecuted and Tortured in Forced Labour Camps, Detention Centres, and Prisons

Name: Sun Yubin
Gender: Male
Age: 49
Address: Bayuquan, Yingkou City, Liaoning Province
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Weiningyiin Forced Labour Camp
City: Benxi
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, forced-feedings, home ransacking, interrogation, detention, denial of toilet use.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Sun Yubin is from Bayuquan, Yingkou City, Liaoning Province. As a steadfast practitioner he was arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to forced labour many times. He was subjected to torture in the Yingkou City Education Institute, Dalian City Education Institute, Jiatie Detention Centre, Xigemu Forced Labour Camp in Jiamusi, Suihua City Forced Labour Camp, Gaizhou City Detention Centre, Anshan Prison, Bayuquan Detention Centre, and Weiningying Forced Labour Camp in Benxi City.

Mr. Sun began practising Falun Gong in 1996. He taught many about the practice, who benefited from practising Falun Gong just as he did.

1. The Persecution of Mr. Sun Started before July 20th, 1999

In July 1998, police officers Song Zhiwen and Cui (given name unknown) from the Haixing Police Station in Bayuquan, along with five more people, broke into Mr. Sun's home. They confiscated two boxes of Falun Gong lecture tapes, one box of exercise teaching tapes, and an answering machine.

In early 1999, Mr. Sun and a dozen other practitioners were held in the Haixing Police Station for one day. The police officers threatened these practitioners, attempting to force them to write a guarantee statement renouncing Falun Gong and saying that they would put them on notice if they should dare to do the exercises in public.

2. Critically Ill Due to Torture in Yingkou City Education Institute

On the morning of July 22nd, 1999, Mr. Sun was at work when police officer Hua Ning ordered someone to have him taken to the Haibin Police Station (formerly Xinqu Police Station). Hua ordered Mr. Sun to write a guarantee statement renouncing Falun Gong, but he refused. Hua then ordered a local official and Mr. Sun's family to come to the station to pressure him into renouncing Falun Gong. Mr. Sun refused, so in the afternoon, after Hua had a few drinks, he hit Mr. Sun twice.

On July 24th, Mr. Sun was taken to the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and ordered to stay in a squatting position for two hours, while the police beat and kicked him. The police ransacked his home and confiscated Falun Gong tapes, an identification card, and pictures of the founder of Falun Gong. The 610 Office staff interrogated and beat him. Two weeks later, the police ransacked Mr. Sun's home.

Mr. Sun was held for three weeks before he was transferred to the fifth brigade of Yingkou City Education Institute where Liu Gang was the deputy director and Qin Bingwen the head.

Mr. Sun was held in the fifth brigade for ten days before being transferred to the first brigade. In the first brigade, he was forced to perform labour, making such items as ornaments and articles for memorial ceremonies. He was forced to work 16-24 hours per day. When the guards tried to force practitioners to write a guarantee statement to renounce practising Falun Gong, Mr. Sun wrote “Falun Gong is a righteous teaching.”

In September 2000, eight practitioners in the Education Institute were transferred to Dalian City Education Institute where they underwent brainwashing for ten days. Over 100 practitioners were detained in the Dalian City Education Institute and several former practitioners were instrumental in trying to transform [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] practitioners during the brainwashing sessions.

Mr. Sun was emaciated and became mentally disoriented due to the torture. He couldn't eat or drink for several days at times. Qin Bingwen claimed he was a troublemaker and transferred him to the Yingkou City Mental Hospital in November 2000. The doctors refused to accept him because he was on the brink of death.

In January 2001, Mr. Sun was released after prison authorities extorted 4,000 yuan¹, about $600, from his family. For about a year, he was very weak and could not live a normal life.

3. Tortured for Two Years in Forced Labour Camps

When Mr. Sun attempted to visit a relative in July 2003, he was searched at the Nancha Train Station in Yichun City, and was found to be carrying Falun Gong materials in his bag. He was taken to the Nancha Rail Police Station. Three officers interrogated him and then took him to the Rail Public Security Bureau in Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province. Mr. Sun refused to cooperate. He was held in the Jiatie Detention Centre and forced to sit on a small stool for long hours daily. The deputy director of the Jiatie Detention Centre was Huang Kunlun and the prison doctor was Deng Jian.

One day in October 2003, Huang Kunlun and Deng Jian took Mr. Sun to Xigemu Forced Labour Camp in Jiamusi. He was taken to a basement, which was surrounded by steel plates with glass. From the outside, the steel plates with glass looked like a mirror and no one could look inside. It was dark inside, with a sink and taps against the wall. There was a two-meter tall closet filled with high-voltage electric batons and many other kinds of torture equipment.

Torture Equipment

1) Tiger bench: There were two iron rings on the top for the wrists. The practitioner's upper body was immobilised. The practitioner's mouth was covered so he could not be heard. Two iron rings were at the bottom for the ankles. A hydraulic press was set up to push the legs upward. The iron rings on top and bottom could move and pull the limbs sideways.

2) Hanging loops: The practitioner was hung up in the air by his wrists. The loops were automated and could move up and down.

3) Hand clips: Hand clips were made of steel. One steel plate was connected to one spring and the other steel plate to five springs. Once the springs were pulled, the two steel plates would connect tightly. Once the practitioner's hands were secured, his fingers, palm, and wrist were immobilised.

4) Death bed: The death bed is made of iron with two rings on the top to cuff the wrists and two rings at the bottom to cuff the ankles. The victim's arms are extended above the head and the legs spread open. The rings are made to fit the wrists and angle perfectly. The more one moved ones hands, the tighter the rings become.

5) Iron chair: The iron chair includes iron rings for cuffing the wrists and the legs.

A short and strong guard threatened Mr. Sun in a low voice, but did not use the torture equipment. The guard took Mr. Sun back to the Jiatie Detention Centre.

Mr. Sun went on a hunger strike in December, demanding to be released without charges. Prison guard Yuan Hua ordered the prisoners to force-feed him. A prisoner with the surname of Yang pried his mouth open with a sharpened wood stick. He lost one of his upper teeth and another was pried lose. They inserted a tube through his nose into his stomach. He lost consciousness due to the excruciating pain. He was force fed three times within 15 days. Mr. Sun was tortured with the “death bed” torture and monitored by three prisoners around the clock. Because of the cuffs being closed tightly, his legs became swollen and the flesh on his legs turned dark purple. His hands and legs were cold because the circulation was cut off. Mr. Sun was immobilised on the “death bed” for 15 days. After he was released, he couldn't move. He took a week to sit up while leaning against a wall and another week to sit on his own. Two weeks later, he was able to walk slowly.

In May 2004, Mr. Sun was taken to Suihua City Forced Labour Camp in Heilongjiang Province, where he was tortured again. There were over 100 practitioners in that camp. They were ordered to sort peas according to size.

Mr. Sun had a physical examination at the camp hospital in late 2004, and was diagnosed with severe heart problems. He refused to take medicines, and several guards forced him down and gave him injections. Ten days later he was taken to a hospital in Suihua City and it was confirmed that he had a myocardial infarction. Two weeks later he was taken back to the Jiatie Detention Centre.

On April 30th, 2005, Mr. Sun's life was in danger because of the torture, so he was released from Suihua City Forced Labour Camp. He was held a total of more than two years in the Jiatie Detention Centre, Xigemu Forced Labour Camp, and Suihua City Forced Labour Camp.

While Mr. Sun was imprisoned, his wife went to Beijing to appeal on his behalf in 2004. She was taken to Suiling County Detention Centre in Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, and held for a year. She was then taken to Harbin City Drug Addiction Treatment Centre and persecuted there until April 1st, 2005.

4. Tortured in the Gaizhou City Detention Centre and Anshan Prison

One day in 2005, Mr. Sun went to Xiaoshipeng Township in Gaizhou City. While he was distributing Falun Gong fliers, two people reported him to the police. Kong Chuihe and two other officers from the Xiaoshipeng Township Police Station arrested him. On the way to the police station, officers held his head down in the police car and one sat on him. He was interrogated and then taken to the Gaizhou City Detention Centre in the evening. Guard Zhang Hongmin ordered prisoners to cuff Mr. Sun to the ground for seven days, during which time the police interrogated him. Mr. Sun refused to sign or put his fingerprint on the documents. Guard Zhang forced his fingerprint and ordered inmates to brutally beat Mr. Sun. His eyes were injured and he bled and fainted. He went on a hunger strike to protest the torture and the guards force-fed him with an unknown substance. He began vomiting after the force-feeding and his nostrils bled from the tube insertion.

Two weeks later, Mr. Sun was transferred to another cell. Kong interrogated him and ordered prisoners Nie San from Gai County, and Su (given name unknown) to hold Mr. Sun's head down in a toilet and beat him. He was not allowed to use the toilet and his blanket was taken away. Kind-hearted guard Gao Zhifan gave Mr. Sun instant noodles. Gao locked up the prisoners who beat Mr. Sun in solitary confinement and said to them, “How can you beat a good man like him? Do you still have a heart? No one is allowed to beat him from now on.” Later Mr. Sun was transferred to another cell. In June or July 2006, he was sentenced to a three-and-a-half-year prison term and taken to the Yingkou City Prison. He was later transferred to the fourth ward of Anshan Prison. Zhang Fangzheng, a former practitioner who had renounced Falun Gong under the pressure of the persecution, was involved in torturing Mr. Sun. There were approximately 20 to 30 practitioners there, including Mr. Sun Xianhui. The practitioners were monitored by other prisoners and were ordered to write the so-called "thought report," in which one has to provide one's thoughts about Falun Gong. They had to sit without moving on a small stool throughout the day. Once, when Mr. Sun was cleaning his cell, a guard with the surname of Gao beat him.

Mr. Sun was released in April 2008. He had been imprisoned and tortured for three years.

5. Tortured in Weining Forced Labour Camp in Benxi City

In March 2009, Mr. Sun explained the facts about Falun Gong to a police officer in Bayuquan. He was arrested and taken to the Bayuquan Detention Centre. He refused to disclose his name and a guard with the surname of Wen hit his head with a belt. Mr. Sun went on a hunger strike in protest. Sixteen days later he was sentenced to two years at Weining Forced Labour Camp in Benxi City. The director was Liu Shaoshi, and the deputy director was Guo Tieying. There was a former practitioner with the name of Zheng Tao, and guards Su Zhengwei and Zuo Liwei. There were about 31 practitioners imprisoned. The guard used former practitioners, television programmes, and pictures to slander Falun Gong in order to brainwash them into renouncing their belief. The practitioners were forced to make artificial flowers and seal diodes as part of the forced labour at Weining Labour Camp.

Mr. Sun was released on July 6th, 2010.

Note

1. "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/2011/12/12/250464.html