Over 400 Practitioners Tortured In Chaoyanggou Labour Camp In Changchun

Chaoyanggou Labour Camp in Changchun City, has detained more than 400 Falun Dafa practitioners. The guards coerce inmates to keep practitioners under surveillance and to torture them for extended periods of time. In addition to doing hard labour, the practitioners are often made to sit on a Tiger Bench (For a detailed description for this and other forms of torture used in labour camps, see http://www.geocities.com/transrefs/Torture-tr.html).
Practitioners have to keep their hands on their knees, sit straight up, and are not allowed to turn their heads. They are also forced to read materials that slander Falun Dafa. The guards beat them if they refuse to do so. Since April 6, 2002, the torture has escalated. Guards promise criminal camp inmates that their terms will be shortened if they collaborate and beat the practitioners. There were times when the inmates beat practitioners from 3 a.m. until midnight.

Ma Lijun, an inmate, beat practitioner Wang Hui (who is studying for his Masters degree) on the back with a rattan stick until Ma was overcome with exhaustion. Wang's back was cut and covered with bruises that turned dark purple. On some occasions, the guards and the inmates made practitioners sit on the floor holding their knees with their arms. Practitioners were then told to raise their feet and lean backwards as far as they could and to hold the position for as long as possible. They were beaten when they couldn't hold the position anymore and let their feet touch the floor. At other times, the practitioners were told to stand on their toes, bend forward at a 90-degree angle, and raise their arms behind their backs. The guards then put a piece of paper on the ground and monitored how long it took for the practitioner's sweat to drip from their noses and soak the entire paper.

If practitioners are able to withstand this torture, they are then summoned to the guard's office. Their limbs are tied to the four corners of a bunk bed that has been placed in an upright position. Then, seven guards assaulted them with all kinds of torture devices such as bamboo boards, spades, wooden batons, and electric batons. The face of practitioner Zhou Ji'an was so horribly beaten that it was swollen beyond recognition. He could not put on his shoes either because his feet were so swollen from the severe beating. He could not walk and had to be dragged by the inmates. Practitioner Wang Guoxiang's hands were once shackled to a bed behind his back. He was beaten for the entire morning and his clothes were torn to shreds. Half naked, he had to walk before the squad with a placard of derogatory names hanging from his neck. Wang Tianming, another practitioner, was beaten with an electric baton from his neck to his feet. He was so brutalized that it was heart-wrenching to look at him. Practitioner Sun Xianming's arm was broken and will take a long time to heal.

These practitioners face all kinds of horror and torture each day, but their faith in Falun Gong never wavers.