Appeal for the Freedom of Dafa Practitioner Wang Zhiqian from Yichun City

In October 1999, four Dafa practitioners were sent to Yichun City Forced Labor Camp in Heilongjiang Province. They were local coordinator Wang Zhiqian, Zhu Chengxin, Qin Yueming, and Lu Chenglin, all from the Jinshantun District. Because the local government arrested Dafa practitioners from the Jinshantun District in Yichun City without any valid reason, Mr. Wang and dozens of other practitioners went to the Government Building to appeal. The officials there directed them to the Appeal Office at a different location. As soon as they walked out of the Government Building, police cars arrived. The policemen hit the practitioners with electric batons. Blood immediately flowed on the ground. However, Mr. Wang and the other practitioners still headed to the Appeal Office. At the Appeal Office, the practitioners were asked to send their representatives inside. Once Mr. Wang and the three other representatives entered the building, they were immediately arrested.

The four of them were brutally beaten by the police at the Jinshantun Detention Center. None of them yielded. One of them, Lu Chenglin was tortured to death when being force-fed on January 28, 2001.

The evil held an illegal public trial for the four of them. They were all sentenced to one and a half years or two years in forced labor camp. They were sent to the Yichun Forced Labor Camp. Later, the Jinshantun Police Department authorities felt the sentence was too light. The police went to the Yichun Forced Labor Camp to beat them, falsified new "evidence" and extended their sentences by another year.

The Yichun Forced Labor Camp is a hell on earth. The guards there brutally torture Dafa practitioners, abuse them with physical punishments and force them to do heavy labor. The cruelest abuse is known as, "covering the shed," which is to shackle a Dafa practitioner to a chair, cover his head with a plastic bag and not let him breathe for several minutes until the person is panic stricken on the verge of actual suffocation. Even so, they could not make the Dafa practitioners give up their belief in Dafa. These evil persons were completely without any conscience. In the spring of 2000, in order to reach the "transformation quota," the Yichun Forced Labor Camp authorities became crueler and routinely tortured Dafa practitioners. It was routine that a guard, together with a gang of criminals, would inhumanly beat one practitioner. The scene was too awful to watch. It was also routine that Dafa practitioners were forced to stand in the corner throughout the night for several nights. Mr. Wang, in his fifties, was often brutally beaten and physically abused by the guards and criminals. Because Mr. Wang was a local coordinator and had a good reputation among Dafa practitioners, the evil wanted to break him. When they failed by brutal torture, they hung Mr. Wang up with handcuffs, leaving only his toes touching the ground. A normal person could not stand this for more than ten minutes. However, the evil guards continuously hung Mr. Wang for eight hours.

In the following three days, Mr. Wang was hung like that each day for at least eight hours. During this period, Mr. Wang didn't think about anything in his mind other than reciting "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance," "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance." Later, a miracle happened. All his pain disappeared and his body seemed light. Because Mr. Wang was over fifty, the guards finally released him from being hung-up since they were afraid of the responsibility should he suffer any serious injury or die from the torture.

However, on the next day, Mr. Wang was again sent to "restrictive guarding." The so-called "restrictive guarding" is actually an iron cage. Persons inside cannot stand straight or lay straight. [Because the iron cage is small, they are forced to remain hunched over.] Mr. Wang was locked in the cage for fifteen days.

The forced labor camp exhausted all means and was fearful of Mr. Wang, because they could not break him, and they did not know what to do with him. They detained Mr. Wang in the intensive reeducation division and each month extended his sentence by another three months. Besides Mr. Wang, Wang Xinchun was also forced to continuously stand for five days and nights without food and water for not studying the reeducation materials. Wang Changhuai, who recently graduated from the Heilongjiang Agriculture University, and Lian Tao, a retired cadre from the Wumahe District of Yichun City, also had their sentences extended three months for every passing month. With their prolonged terms, the four were finally sent to the Suihua Forced Labor Camp and nobody has heard anything from them since.

When I was with Mr. Wang, no matter under what kind of situation, no matter how others swore at him, he was always calm. It seemed that nothing outside could touch him. Under all circumstances, he was calm and peaceful. You could not find a single trace of anger or joy. No happiness, no anger. No embarrassment.

Later, the Yichun Forced Labor Camp started to force Dafa practitioners to do endless heavy labor. We had to work until midnight everyday. Dafa practitioners were beaten every day, with not enough food or sleep. Sometimes I ran into Mr. Wang in the hallway at mealtime or work time, he was still calm and relaxed. Later he was sent to the Suihua Forced Labor Camp.

The persecution is still continuing. We hereby call for help from all kind-hearted people, please pay attention to Mr. Wang's situation and help him regain his freedom.

(August 8, 2002)