Mr. Shao Zhongye, 60, from Liaoning Province Imprisoned and Tortured for Nine Years

Name: Shao Zhongye
Gender: Male
Age: 60
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Railroad epidemic-prevention station driver
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 26th, 2005
Most Recent Place of Detention: Benxi Prison
City: Benxi
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, extortion, physical restraint, detention, denial of toilet use

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Shao Zhongye, who is from Dandong City in Liaoning Province, was arrested many times the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During the 11 years from 1999 to 2010, he was in a forced labour camp for up to four years and sentenced to prison for five years. He suffered all kinds of torture during his nine years and 75 days in prison. His legs were paralysed at one time.

Tortured in Dandong Detention Centre

Mr. Shao Zhongye was in his 60s and used to be a driver at Dandong railroad epidemic-prevention station. He recovered from all his health problems after he started practising Falun Gong in 1995.

On July 20th, 1999 the CCP began persecuting Falun Gong publicly. Mr. Shao went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He was arrested and taken to the Dandong liaison office in Beijing. Section head Yu Bo at the Zhenxing District Police Department in Dandong City took 2,000 yuan from him. Later, Yu Bo went to his company to harass him and extorted an additional 500 yuan.

Mr. Shao was detained in the Dandong Detention Centre for more than a month. Guards instigated a criminal in the same cell to beat Mr. Shao brutally. His ribs were broken and his mouth bled.

In November 1999 Mr. Shao was arrested again by Dandong Police Department and taken to the detention centre. Three months later, he was transferred to the Dandong Forced Labour Camp and held for one year. In the labour camp, he was forced to work like a slave. At times he had to work nonstop for more than 48 hours. The guards made him a target for “transformation [forcibly renounce Falun Gong].” He was put into a separate cell eight times in a year. There were two rows of cages in the separate cell. Each cage held one person. Only one steamed cornbread were served for each meal. The practitioners were not allowed to buy anything or have family visit. Mr. Shao was brainwashed during the daytime. He was forced to sit on a small hard stool for a long time. The criminals would brutally beat him with a wooden board if he moved at all. His buttocks festered. Administrative section head Ding Zhaohui shocked him with an electrical baton for a long time. After eight months, his face was black and blue and he was reduced to skin and bone. He was very sluggish and walked slowly.

On May 6th, 2001, the police arrested Mr. Shao again. After being persecuted for 13 months in the detention centre, they put him at the labor camp for another three years. In Dandong Labour Camp, he was detained in the separate cell and in the iron cage for more than a month. He refused to write the three statements. Because of this, the guards shocked him with electric batons for two days in a row. One day, guard Hu Daming stomped on him until he could not stand anymore and could not straighten his back. He also could not sit down and had to squat or lie down.

Tortured in Xianningying Forced Labour Camp in Benxi

In August 2003 two practitioners escaped from Dandong Forced Labour Camp. This made the heads of the labour camp panic, so they transferred Shao Zhongye and 27 other practitioners to Xianningying Forced Labour Camp in Benxi City.

Practitioners in Xianningying Forced Labour Camp were treated very badly. The guards used criminals to take turns monitoring practitioners. They didn’t allow practitioners to sleep, and they tried to forced them to give up their belief by torturing them physically and spiritually. One time, team leader Liu Shaoshi told some people to tie Mr. Shao's legs in the lotus sitting position. He could not move for three days and nights and lost consciousness. As a result, his legs were paralysed for a while.

Torture at Jinzhou Forced Labour Camp

The forced labour camp in Benxi transferred Mr. Shao to Jinzhou Forced Labour Camp on January 13th, 2004 ,and put him in a separate cell. His term was also extended for another 28 days. He lost some of his teeth because of the beatings he suffered there. His legs were lame because of the brutal beatings.

He broke out of Jinzhou Labour Camp on June 14th, 2004. He could hardly walk when he returned home. He recovered after studying the Falun Gong teachings and practising the Falun Gong exercises.

Brutally Beaten at Fushun Brainwashing Centre

On July 27th, 2004, Mr. Shao was admitted to the Liaoning Province Brainwashing Centre by manager Hao Jing and others from his workplace. He was detained and persecuted there for 52 days.

One day, the team leader told him to go to the brainwashing session. He refused. Six guards brutally beat him. As a result, his chin was broken, he lost several teeth, and there was blood everywhere. He could not move his lower back, and his thighbone was injured so badly that he could hardly walk. He was put in the separate cell again. His hands were cuffed to the bed board for 21 days.

Mr. Shao left the brainwashing centre on September 16th, 2004.

Tortured in Benxi Prison

On October 26th, 2005, Mr. Shao was arrested by Yongchang Police Station officers, Lu Chaongjun, and other officers at his workplace. He was sentenced to five years in prison on February 22nd, 2006. His family was denied permission to visit him about 26 times during those five years.

From May 16th, 2006, to March 22nd, 2007, Mr. Shao was not allowed to see his family for 10 straight months. His family members went to Benxi Prison over a dozen times but were not allowed to see him. On March 22nd, 2007, due to the family's adamant demands, Benxi Prison finally allowed them to see him. When they visited Mr. Shao, the team head sat on the left, and two criminals closely monitored him.

The main culprit in the persecution of practitioners in Benxi Prison was political head Chen Zhongwei. He offered a 1,000-yuan reward to any guard who “reformed” a practitioner. Motivated by greed, the guards increased scores and reduced terms to incite criminals to abuse practitioners. They used all kinds of excruciating torture on practitioners: the tiger bench, feeding them hot pepper juice, burning them, pouring cold water over them in the winter, tying them up on the death bed, not allowing them to sleep for days at a time, pinching them with pliers, etc. All of these torture methods were used on Shao Zhongye.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month in 2007, team leader Yang Chunfa instigated criminal Zhong to torture Mr. Shao. They didn’t allow him to sleep for seven days and nights. Whenever he closed his eyes, they pinched him with pliers. He had bloody pinched spots all over his body.

The evildoers also used a fist or other hard objects to specifically hit the nerves of his arms and legs. His arms and legs became numb, and he was not able to move after having been beaten for a long period of time. The injury could not be detected from the surface. Once he was beaten so hard that he could not move for three or four months.

Mr. Shao was once tortured almost to death. The evildoers ignited cigarettes and burned him all over his body. The burned skin emitted black smoke and the smell of burning flesh filling the air.

Other cruel torture methods included force-feeding him hot pepper liquid and forcing him to sleep on the death bed. Once, fifth team head Zhao Guang found him with Falun Gong writings, so they tied to the death bed for 24 hours. His hands and feet were tied to the ice-cold bed and he could not move. He was not allowed to go to the toilet. He was chilled to the bone and remained in the same position for a long time. When the guards force-fed Mr. Shao pepper water, he choked and almost suffocated.