Falun Gong Practitioners Subjected to Brainwashing in Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison Before Being Released

Just after the 2012 Chinese New Year, Teng from the Judicial Bureau came to Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison to coordinate the forced brainwashing police. It was said that no matter what measures had to be taken, all practitioners must be subjected to brainwashing before being released from prison.

Since March 5th, 2012, all the steadfast practitioners who were about to be released, have been sent to the No. 9 Ward.

If a practitioner refuses to cooperate, the guards order other inmates to torture her. They seal the practitioner's mouth with thick layers of tape, and tie a towel around her neck in order to make it hard for her to breathe. Then they drag the practitioner across the floor. Some practitioners were already very weak due to the long term persecution, so the perpetrators would carry the practitioners on bed sheets to the No. 9 Ward. The practitioner would be tied to a bed standing upright, fastened to the bunk bed poles with tape around her chest and legs. She could not move her fingers or toes even slightly and was kept tied up this way for 24 hours. She was watched 24 hours a day. The prepared "four statements" to renounce practising Falun Gong were ready for the practitioner to copy down. If she refuse, the practitioner is not be allowed to go to the restroom for five or six consecutive days.

If she still refuses to give in, the practitioner is forced to sit on a plastic stool measuring 10 cm by 15 cm. The stool is put in the middle of the floor with a floor brick (50 cm x 50 cm) as a border. The practitioner must hold her two legs together with both hands tied and placed on top of her knees. She must sit this way for 24 hours a day. Three or four inmates take turns watching her, and she is not allowed to move or close her eyes. The guards and inmates and try to do so-called "transformation work" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] non stop. The practitioner must keep listening and is not allowed to answer back.

If the practitioner slumps or falls over, she must immediately sit up straight again. If her eyes begin blinking slowly, they rub her eyes with a plastic water bottle. Some tormentors use toothpicks to hold the practitioner's eyelids open. After sitting this way for six or seven days, the practitioner's bottom becomes injured and blood and pus oozes out. Her underwear and the crusts on her injured flesh stick together. Sitting down on the stool again feels like needles stabbing one's bottom and causes extreme pain. Even the smallest movement causes one to feel extreme, tearing pain.

For Falun Gong practitioners, the most insidious torment is posting notes that slander Falun Gong under the practitioner's bottom, under her feet and around the stool. Because the practitioner's hands are tied together she is unable to move the notes. When the practitioner cannot not bear to sit on the notes any longer, the tormentors take out the prepared statement and demand the practitioner copy it down.

When some practitioners are tortured to the extreme, the inmates hold the practitioner's tied hands and copy the statement before untying her.

Now all the practitioners are sent to No. 9 Ward for three or four months before being released and are forced to be brainwashed. If a practitioner is transformed, she is transferred to No. 13 or No.7 Ward.