I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, a 62-year-old lady. Because of my appeal to higher government administration, I was jailed for 15 days by the police, who claimed that I had interfered with public order. I was arrested and brought to Niubaotun police station at 11:00pm on February 4. The policemen (Liu, Wang, and Ma) slapped, punched, and kicked me until my entire body was bruised. They also grabbed my hair and smashed my head against the wall, all the while shouting filthy curses at me. What they did was beyond description. After this, they handcuffed me to a post with my hands behind my back, one coming down from over my head, the other coming up from my lower back. I was handcuffed this way for one whole night and I was not even allowed to use a toilet. This torture lasted until 7:00 am, a full eight hours later. I was then sent to the detention center with my hands cuffed behind me; other policemen in the detention center witnessed this torture. When I was being transferred to the detention center, they tried to stuff me between the driver's and the passenger's seats; but I would not fit. They kicked me and forced me into this tiny space. I felt extreme pain in my legs halfway to our destination. After arriving, I saw two big blisters appeared on my legs, and those areas are still purple as I write.
After I reached the detention center, I was informed of the "rules", as well as the punishment of being beaten with the heel of a shoe. One time, a policeman came to teach me the rules. He let four prisoners beat me in turns, two rounds for each prisoner. I was beaten about 80 times. My buttocks were purple until I left the detention center.
Another time, the policemen arrested myself and 7 other practitioners. The three policemen (Liu, Wang, and Ma; one of them was the associate head of the police station) kept kicking and scolding us. Furthermore, the policemen grabbed our hair and slammed our heads against the wall. After that, we were told to stand bent over with our heads facing the ground. We were not allowed to raise heads higher than the windowsill. The policemen kept pushing our heads down. We dropped our heads this way for more than 2 hours. At about 6-7 pm, seven of us were stacked one on top of the other and not allowed to sit down. We all felt severe nausea. Afterward, I was brought to the detention center, where a policeman slapped me more than 20 times with his hat. In the detention center, I was beaten with the sole of a shoe and I was also taught the "rules and regulations". After 15 days in the detention center, I was brought back to the Niubaotun police station. A clandestine court was set up and I was held there for 4 days during which I had been denied food, even food brought by my family. Someone offered me some food, but the policemen did not allow me to eat it. I had not been allowed to sleep for those 4 days, either. During the 4th night, they handcuffed me for 8 full hours. The policemen told me that they were afraid that I might kill them. I am a defenseless old lady. Wasn't it a violation of the law for them to treat me like this?
Policeman Ma said: "I beat you and you could go to appeal but nobody will accept your case." How arrogant he is!
On June 2, the policemen came to my home and arrested me without any cause or charge. They asked me where I had gone. I asked them if it was a violation of law for going to return the money I borrowed. The policemen said that I was lying, and they would hang me up. Then they handcuffed one of my hands to the windowsill and I was tortured this way for more than 3 hours. My wrist was swollen. I was forced to stand on tiptoe; otherwise I would be hanging by my wrist. My wrist is still swollen now. I was not allowed to eat from 10:00am the first day to 10:00am next day. Moreover I was forced to work pulling weeds. I was illegally detained for 2 full days. They did not follow any laws. Although they are supposed to be the respected officers of the People's Republic of China and work for national law enforcement, and have the national emblem on their hats, they are doing evil deeds that damage the image of our nation.
I want to sue Niubaotun local police station for the following:
I want to sue the detention center [Tongzhou District] for the following:
I appeal to the procurators [of the investigation bureau] to investigate the crimes committed by the assailants in Niubaotun local police station and Tongzhou District Detention Center, and bring them to justice. I ask you to fully enforce the laws of our nation. Let us, the common citizens, really see the sanctity of the law. Please give me an explanation and uphold justice. Thank you.
Appellant: (name and address omitted)
June 20, 2000
Appeal Document II
I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. Because of my appeal to the government, I was detained for 46 days at my local police station. I was put in cell #2-7 in Tongzhou District Detention Center from February 5 to March 21. Once I was transferred there on February 5, I was searched and during the search the police intentionally tore my clothes to pieces. The head prisoner shouted filthy curses at me continuously. The next morning, the prisoner who was second in charge taught us the rules of the center (since I was brought in at night, what I was taught were the rules illegally set up by Tongzhou District Detention Center).
These are the rules and punishments as I learned them:
1. Flying (the head facing down, with the head and the back against the wall, and the hands raised up against the wall). At the same time, we were not allowed to touch other persons' basins, water buckets, or water faucets. Any violation will result in punishments of "flying" and being beaten. They could make you "fly" as long as they like and had the right to beat you with a board as many times as they like.
2. Squatting (holding the hands and arms horizontal, squatting with the legs bent halfway down). At the same time, anyone could scold and command us. We were not allowed to explain or talk back. We must always say thank-you. Furthermore, we were drenched with ten basins of cold water. We must say thank-you whenever we were beaten, scolded, physically abused, or showered with cold water. Any disobedience would result in punishment and beating.
3. Beating (Beating the buttock with the sole of a plastic shoe for least 10 times). This also happened while being showered with cold water (the temperature at that time was 4 to 14 C below zero Celsius).
4. When we were called by our name, we had to hold our head with both hands and arms. We had to lower our heads when we leave or enter a room; otherwise, the head prisoner would kick us.
5. Whenever a new prisoner was brought in, he or she had to memorize the detention center rules and regulations (stipulated by the Beijing Police Station), behavior guidelines, the twenty restrictions, and the eleven types of regulations, etc. There were a total of 100 titles. Even a one-word mistake would result in punishment. Whoever could not fully recite the 100 titles was not allowed to talk or read books or magazines. We were punished whenever we disobeyed anything.
The prisoner who was second in charge said at the end: "There were even more rules here. These are only some of them". These were not called "beating" or "physical punishment," and they are just called rules.
During the 46 days of detention, the head prisoner and the second in charge verbally abused me every day. In the detention center, I was beaten 5 times, the worst of which was 60 consecutive beatings. My buttocks had been blackish purple for more than one month. I was forced to "fly" 5 times with the longest being 20 minutes. Outside my cell (in the hallway), I was ordered by the policeman to stand; the leader of the detention center Hao Wenqing grabbed my hair, kicked my feet, and pushed my head down. Another time, there were five policemen and several prisoners in the hallway. I tried to leave my cell, but before I was able to cross the doorway, someone (a stout Muslim labor prisoner who is called the chief by other prisoners) suddenly grabbed my hair and pulled me out of the cell. Before I could get to my feet, I was slapped in the face and knocked to the ground. The policeman also kicked me once. They forced me to "fly" for about 20 minutes. And another time, the leader of the center came in person and ordered nine of us "fly" in the hallway. During this "flying", he ordered about a dozen male prisoners to hold our hands up. I was forced to "fly" for more than a half hour. During the whole process, the policemen came back and forth to monitor our punishment, and kept kicking and cursing us.
There are monitors inside the cells, so the policemen know everything that occurs inside the cell. However, they turned a blind eye to everything. Everyday, the leader of the center called the leading prisoner over and taught him tactics. The leading prisoner came back looking like that he had all the authority in the world and felt that he were backed by their superiors and had nothing to worry about. He yelled, verbally abused and beat us without restraint. The leading prisoner said that beating us was not what he wanted and that he did it only to comply with the rules of the center. The leading prisoner said beating us was his job since he was a prisoner too, and he had to follow his orders.
During this period of 46 days, I felt I had been to hell. It was really a nightmare.
I want to sue Tongzhou District Detention Center for:
We live in a country ruled by law. It is against the law for policeman to beat people. Why can Tongzhou District Detention Center act above the law? Why can't we see the "blue sky" of law in Tongzhou District Detention Center? I demand that you investigate the crimes done by Tongzhou District Detention Center leaders and other assailants and bring them to court. I wish to get a satisfactory reply.
Appellant: (Name and address omitted).