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Details About the Brutal Torture of Dafa Practitioners in the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp, Heilongjiang Province

Oct. 7, 2002

(Clearwisdom.net) The Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, detains male Dafa practitioners from Harbin City and the surrounding area. Practitioners are abducted and taken to the public security bureau, where they are interrogated and tortured. Their families have large sums of money extorted from them and are told, "If you don't pay, they will be sent to labor camps." In the jail, the practitioners are confined with real criminals such as murderers, robbers, swindlers, rapists, etc. Practitioners are abused by both the police and the criminals, and suffer unbelievable hardships.

The forced labor camp is even worse than the jail. The Policemen are extremely cruel to Dafa practitioners. They experiment with various ways to torture Dafa practitioners with the intention to destroy their will.

  1. In the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp, Dafa practitioners' daily meals consist of low-quality corn rolls, tough black steamed bread (man-tou), and vegetable soups that occasionally contain dead flies and other unsanitary things. The food store in the dining hall sells items at prices several times higher than the market price. Since most Dafa practitioners do not have much money, they seldom buy anything to supplement their diets. Most Dafa practitioners lose a lot of weight after eating the inferior food supplied by the labor camp over a long time. The tableware in the labor camp is very dirty; it is just quickly rinsed in a waste water basin after each meal. No washing of hands is allowed before a meal. Drinking water is unfiltered, and sometimes practitioners are not even given any water. Because the police are afraid that Dafa articles will be brought into the camp, Dafa practitioners' families are prohibited from sending them any food parcels.
  2. Bathroom time is scheduled and strictly controlled, and the allotted time is very short. Sometimes, as soon as one squats down, they try to hurry you up. Sleeping places are very crowded. Each person is only given a 16-inch wide area to lie on. The lights are left on for the whole night. In the summer, there are many mosquitoes but no covering of the head is allowed no matter how many mosquitoes are attacking you.
  3. Policemen force criminals to monitor Dafa practitioners in order to limit their basic freedoms. Even one sentence spoken between practitioners is prohibited.
  4. During most of the day one has to sit on a chair, without moving, as a form of physical punishment.
  5. A "safety check" is carried out once a month. Practitioner's bodies and luggage are searched for Dafa articles. Before being allowed to see family members, practitioners are required to sign a sheet full of words that slander Dafa; otherwise, the meeting will be canceled. Items brought by family members are not accepted. Because of these unreasonable requirements, Dafa practitioners don't see their family members for long periods of time.
  6. Solitary confinement is frequently used to abuse Dafa practitioners. Real criminals are kept there for two weeks at the most. But Dafa practitioners are left in solitary confinement for indefinite periods of time. Some have been kept in isolation for as long as three months. The solitary compartments have no windows and are cold and damp even during the hot summer months. The criminals monitoring Dafa practitioners wear a cotton jacket during the hot summer, and can punch or curse Dafa practitioners without restraint.
  7. Practitioners are forced to do hard labor; otherwise, they will not be released when their terms are over.

The Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp has been using these kinds of methods to abuse Dafa practitioners for a long time.

Right after the Spring Festival in February 2002, the camp started intense monitoring of Dafa practitioners after receiving the so-called "heavy punishment and heavy sentence" order from Jiang Zemin. They also try to brainwash the Dafa practitioners with force.

Lead by Camp Director Shi Chang-jin, police and criminals punch Dafa practitioners, and shock and hit them with electric batons. Physical abuse of Dafa practitioners happens frequently. In early March, the Dafa practitioners started a hunger strike to protest the camp's intensive monitoring. Thus, Shi Chang-jin sent at least ten Dafa practitioners to the solitary compartments, and prohibited the criminals from receiving their meals just to make the criminals hate the Dafa practitioners. With nothing to eat after a day of hard work, and not knowing the truth, some criminals started cursing and abusing the Dafa practitioners.

In Division Three, Wang Zhanqi, head of the police, instigated criminals to punch Dafa practitioners Wang Jiang, Lu Zhifan, Wan Guojun, and others. Wan's face was injured severely and many of his teeth were broken. Wang Jiang and Lu Zhifan were taken to a small room. Four policemen forced them to the floor and then pushed them back and forth while holding their arms. After such "pushing" the practitioners found it difficult to raise their arms, move their legs, or to walk. After the "pushing" Lu Zhifan was unable to take care of himself for two weeks. Wang Zhanqi also forced Dafa practitioners to stand outdoors in the cold weather. In April, the camp management section came to see if there was any abuse of the detainees. Wang Jiang reported that it was Wang Zhanqi that instigated the abuses. Later, Wang Zhanqi took Wang Jiang to his office, hit his head heavily with an electric baton, and then put him in a solitary compartment with only a cold steel chair to sit on. Wang Jiang's forehead still bears a visible dark scar. After the torture, it was hard for him to talk, and his memory was obviously affected. After the "investigation", nothing changed except the criminals hit Dafa practitioners even more viciously.

When Dafa practitioner Luo Li was first taken to the camp in a bus, Guard Ding Hong cursed him using filthy language. Li Changchun, the Vice head of Division Two viciously beat the back of Luo's head and neck with an electric baton. As a result, his head became swollen and deformed, and he couldn't move his neck for a long itme.

When Dafa practitioner Yu Fuqi first arrived at Division three, he accidentally collided with the cell leader. For this, the cell leader kicked Yu's chest, which made him fall to the ground. He later found that some of his ribs had been broken.

When Dafa practitioner Li Jingchen refused to work, Wang Zhanqi hit him to the ground. As soon as Li stood up, he was hit again and again until Wang was too tired to hit him any more.

To protest the persecution, Dafa practitioners in Division Three started a hunger strike on April 25. On April 28, Wang Zhanqi savagely tortured Luo Li, Wang Jiang, Li Jingchen, and others who were on the hunger strike. He forced some of the criminals to recite the jail rules to cover the sounds of the beating.

Around May 13, Division One began forced brainwashing classes. Instructor Yang Jintang tried to force Dafa practitioners to watch video CDs slandering Dafa. Any practitioner that did not watch was dragged into the water room and beaten. The perpetrators shouted, "Are you going to be transformed? If you aren't transformed, we'll beat you to death, then dig a pit and bury you in it." During the evening of July 8, all divisions were forced to watch CCTV, then participate in organized discussions. In Division Four, several criminals started cursing Dafa. When the Dafa practitioners stood up to stop them, the policemen urged the criminals to hit the Dafa practitioners. Luo Li, Yu Naiping, and Sun Zhiwen were among those that were beaten the most. Zhang Xiquan, the Vice head of Division Four shouted, "Hit them! Why wait!" Then they dragged ten Dafa practitioners to the solitary confinement cells, which shredded their jackets and underclothes. Luo Li was covered with blood, and Yu Naiping's feet were severely injured. In the solitary cells, criminals placed cotton padded trousers over the Dafa practitioners' heads and then beat them again, and suspended them by their cuffed hands. Later the criminal monitors said, "The police have said to hit you as heavily as possible or else our terms may be extended slightly; but our jail terms will not actually be extended." So you can see their evil minds.

In order to completely control Dafa practitioners, the labor camp head Shi Changjing often used various excuses to justify abusing the practitioners. Practitioners in Team Four were handcuffed to a bed pole day and night because they refused to wear the ID cards and labor camp uniforms worn by criminals. In June, the practitioners in Division Three were sent to solitary compartments and brutally beaten by Team Leader Wang Zhanqi for refusing to answer roll call. Dafa practitioners Li Hongbin, Zhang Tao, Gao Ke, Li Zhong, and Yun Fuqi held a group hunger strike, for which Wang Zhanqi tortured them mercilessly. Since the practitioners were extremely weak after the hunger strike and could not sit up, they laid on the ground using their clothes as mattresses. Wang Zhanqi took away the practitioners' clothes and forced them to lie on the bare, icy-cold ground. The guards also force-fed practitioners with an unknown drug, which caused the practitioners to vomit violently and their body temperatures to rise dramatically. They were then thrown into solitary compartments, handcuffed, and hung up off the ground. Dafa practitioners Zhang Tao and Li Hongbin were tortured this way. Not until they passed out were they sent to the faraway Wanjia Forced Labor Camp Hospital to cover their crimes [a notorious labor camp known for its torture and brutality of Dafa Practitioners] instead of a local hospital for "emergency treatment." In July, Zhang Tao passed away at 8:30 a.m. on the day after being admitted to the hospital. Li Hongbin passed away on July 14 in the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp Hospital.

The staff at the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp Hospital brutally beat and force-fed the Dafa practitioners. Practitioner Gao Ke was beaten until he lost consciousness as well as control of his bladder. He was on the verge of death. Later, it was learned that the "610 Office" [a bureau specifically created by the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches] had ordered that practitioners who hold hunger strikes should be tortured to death and never released.

On July 24, 2002, Dafa practitioners Wang Hong-bin, Ren Guozhi, and Li Lizhuang were arrested. Wang Hongbin was arrested because he verified the truth of Dafa to people while he was out of jail on bail. He was taken to Changlinzi, and detained for over 8 months. He asked Shi Changjin many times to release him but was refused. Shi Changjin vilified and abused Li Lizhuang and Ren Guozhi for organizing the April 25 hunger strike in Division Three.

The atrocities of torture and murder of Dafa practitioners in the Chinese jails and forced labor camps are still going on. We appeal to all kind-hearted people to pay attention to this issue. Please help to stop this cruel persecution of good-hearted Falun Gong practitioners.

September 27, 2002