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An Open Letter Exposing Abuses at Mudanjiang Prison: the Law Enforcers Themselves Violate the Law

July 11, 2005

(Clearwisdom.net)

To: All provincial and municipal departments of the Public Security Bureau, Procurators, People's Courts and Justice

From: Dafa practitioners and their families in Mudanjiang City

Exposed herein are cases of severe human rights violations of Falun Dafa practitioners. An evil group of men led by Prison Director Chen Shougang, along with Deputy Director Luan Jinghe from Jianshanzi Prison in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province employed brutal torture of our family members. In order to reach the so-called "transformation" quota" [of Falun Dafa practitioners], they willfully abused and tortured them both physically and mentally. This resulted in many of our family members being covered with wounds all over their body. Several of them were tortured to death. We hope that you will investigate these violations as soon as possible.

1. Deaths Resulting from Torture

Mr. Wang Jiguo, Mudanjiang City Normal University staff member. In March 2000, Mr. Wang went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. He was first sentenced to three years of forced labor and was later sentenced and locked up in Mudanjian Prison, where he was persecuted until he was close to death. He was then sent to the hospital for emergency treatment, but they failed to revive him. He died in September 2003.

Mr. Li Ruqing, 66 years old, a retiree of the Mechanical and Electrical Factory of the Shuangyashan City Mine Affairs Bureau. Mr. Li was sentenced to seven years in Mudanjiang Prison. He was tortured to death within two months on October 9, 2003. A male officer from the Prison Affairs Department admitted that Mr. Li Ruqing died and stated that he had refused to give up his beliefs and had not been "reformed".

Mr. Yu Jixing, approximately 30 years old, died as a result of the persecution in the No. 4 Prison Ward of Mudanjiang Prison. A male guard from the prison admitted that they processed Mr. Yu Jixing's death case, but did not provide the exact date of his death, saying that he died a long time ago and the case had been closed.

Mr. Wei Xiaodong, not yet 34 years old, formerly lectured in the School of Engineering of the August First Land Reclamation University in Heilongjiang Province. On March 21, 2005, Mr. Wei died from the persecution in Mudanjiang Prison. His body was cremated even before his wife was informed of his death. Mr. Wei's wife also practices Falun Gong and is being detained and persecuted in Harbin Prison.

In early December 2004, the authorities at Mudanjiang Prison issued a decree escalating the forced "transformation" of Falun Gong practitioners. There were words in the decree stating that, "Violence can be used in dealing with Falun Gong" and that, "Certain means are needed for treating some special individuals" and, "the police will be rewarded for 'transforming' a Falun Gong practitioner." The decree thus resulted in a series of brutal persecution cases that included the death of Mr. Wei Xiaodong.

2. Disabled Due to Torture

No.1 Prison Ward

In early November 2004, Mr. Yang Xiaoguang was locked up in a small cell and was brutally persecuted. Every time the prison guard Song Junlin was on duty, he beat Mr. Yang. One time, Song beat Mr. Yang three times in one evening. Mr. Yang's face was bruised and distorted from the swelling. He could not open his eyes and his chest and back were covered with bruises.

During early December 2004, Instructor Li Jiezhi, Secretary Li Yuhong and others assembled more than 30 criminal inmates to carry out the forcible "transformation" of four practitioners in the ward. If the criminals did not want to cooperate, the guards threatened them with extending their sentences. They assigned several criminals to each practitioner, to be their watchdogs, taking shifts to monitor the practitioners 24 hours a day. They tried to force practitioners to write a "guarantee letter" by depriving them of sleep, forcing them to sit up straight on a board cross-legged, by violently beating them and by other methods. Team Head Dong Yujiang told these criminals, "No matter what methods you use, it will be alright as long as you are able to make them write the 'four statements'." Secretary Li Yuhong said, "This work is directly related to the percentage of your jail sentence that can be reduced upon review." Ordered and enticed by these guards, the criminal Liu Lijun, in prison for murder, insanely beat and tortured Dafa practitioners Yang Xiaoguang, Sun Rongxiao, and Liu Guolai.

Liu beat Mr. Yang until he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. His face was distorted from the swelling and his mouth was so injured that he was unable to eat. Mr. Liu Guolai was beaten until his eye sockets were black, he had three ribs broken and was unable to get up from the ground. Mr. Sun was cruelly beaten twice in four days. His face was deformed from the first beating. After two days, Mr. Sun was beaten again. Mr. Sun who was over 50, was beaten to the extent that he rolled all over the ground in pain. It was extremely horrible to watch.

On the evening of February 28, 2005, the guards ordered criminal inmates Liu Lijun and Mao Jianbo from the No. 2 Prison Ward to beat Mr. Liu Guolai. Mr. Liu passed out several times. His head was several swollen and in pain. His left eye was purplish black. His eye was bloodshot. His ribs and chest were so painful that he even feared breathing. The criminal Mao still wildly said, "It will serve no use to report this to the authorities. No responsibility is to be taken when beating Falun Gong!"

No.2 Prison Ward

On the morning of December 8, 2004, the ward head Mei Jianguo rebuked and abused Dafa practitioner Mr. Li Fengquan (38 years old from Qitaihe) and beat Mr. Li until his lips were swollen, and his mouth and gums bled. In the afternoon, Zhao Xihe and Officer Li came to Mr. Li Fengquan with electric baton in their hands. Zhao Xihe first punched Li Fengquan on the nose and then slapped him on the face. Officer Li constantly shocked and beat Li Fengquan on his head and all over his body with the electric baton. Li Fengquan was injured all over the body and could not see with his injured eyes. Even in this condition, the guards still forced him to work outside. On the evening of December 14, Li Fengquan passed out and rolled down the stairs from the third floor. His head was badly cut and he was bleeding severely. Mr. Li was sent to the Mudanjian Prison Hospital for emergency treatment. His current situation is unknown.

No. 6 Prison Ward

In late October 2004, Mr. Yu Zhonghai's family mailed him some money, but the guards secretly kept the money. Mr. Yu went to ask for the money but was beaten by the criminal inmates under orders from the guards until his nose and mouth bled. Mr. Sun Dianshan (Philosophy Lecturer from Northeastern Normal University in Jiamusi) was locked up in the small cell. Mr. Li Fengquan, Mr. Wang Xueshi, Mr. Liu Xiaolong and others were deprived of sleep for five consecutive days and nights. They were, however, still forced to do hard labor outside.

No. 8 Prison Ward

On September 20, 2004, the guards Zhang Jiawen, Wang Yuan, Wang Jijun, and Zhao Dahu beat Dafa practitioner Huang Guodong with two electric batons.

No. 14 Prison Ward

At about 8 a.m. on January 20, 2004, Ward Head Liu Minghua and the instructor with the last name of Gao beat Mr. Shen Jinxiang, breaking his left leg. Mr. Shen was not able to walk for over two weeks and his leg did not recover for almost over a year.

No. 15 Prison Ward

Mr. Gong Guidong (from Hegang City) and Mr. Li Baohua (from Jixi City) could not endure the unjust treatment and insults to them. To protest, on May 9, 2005, they went on a hunger strike. Now they are very weak, dehydrated and look like skin and bones. Since they were brutally force-fed with feeding tubes, their esophagi are injured and they are on the verge of death.

Intense training team

The persecution in the intense training team was even more brutal. The authorities used violence to "transform" Dafa practitioners. The guards from all the wards and those in charge of the solitary cells are mobilized to torture Falun Gong practitioners by various methods. These include shocking them with electric batons, handcuffing them to the floor, force-feeding them with highly concentrated salt water, etc.

The guards deprived Mr. Wu Yuerong of sleep for 7 days and forcibly dragged him to the restroom and poured cold water over him until Mr. Wu Yuerong passed out. During his confinement in the small cell, Mr. Yao Guocai underwent a hunger strike for 15 days. The guards ordered the criminal inmates to force-feed Mr. Yao. This brutal force-feeding is accomplished by inserting a tube into the mouth, all the way to the stomach. While force-feeding, the tubes are purposely and forcefully inserted and withdrawn several times in order to increase the pain and suffering. Due to the force-feeding, Mr. Yao Guocai suffered an inflamed esophagus and later developed a fever.

In the Intense Training Team, the sleeping space for each person was very small; often several persons shared one bed. Going to the restroom and drinking water were all controlled. Under these abominable circumstances, everyone had lice on their bodies. Practitioners were required to do forced labor every day and often until late night. If one could not finish his quota, he would suffer brutal beating. The torturers often beat practitioners with boards, hitting the practitioners so hard that the boards were broken.

One evening when Mr. Jin Youfeng (a teacher from Mudanjiang Normal School) went to the restroom, he was brutally beaten by criminals ordered by the guard. After he was dragged to the passageway from the restroom, he suffered another beating and was beaten by the guards one more time until he bled from the mouth.

At the end of December 2004, on instructions from Deputy Prison Director Luan Jinghe, the prison authorities trained a group of guards to forcibly "transform" Falun Gong practitioners. They used extremely brutal means, such as depriving practitioners of sleep for a long time, physical punishment, increasing practitioners' labor quotas, beating and torturing practitioner with wooden blocks or plastic tubes. Moreover, they ordered and incited criminal inmates to torture practitioners by promising those criminals benefits (extra points and commutation, etc.) When upper-level cadres came to inspect the facility, they hid the steadfast and brutally persecuted practitioners, and arranged criminal inmates to watch over them to conceal the persecution and the falsified transformation rate reported.

What is stated above are only some of the crimes of the Mudanjiang Prison authorities, who violated the law in their role as law enforcers. They have violated the following articles the Criminal Law: Article 234 - Intentionally injuring another person; Article 247 - Use of force to extract testimony from witnesses; and Article 397 - Abuse of authority. They also violated the Labor Law and Prison Law. During the past six years, the crimes committed by the Mudanjiang Prison authorities in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners were too numerous to record. Herein, we initiate the accusation according to the law. We strongly request that all the named departments investigate the cases rapidly, in order to punish the perpetrators and rescue the persecuted practitioners.

Our family members are all good people who focus on improving their moral standards according to the principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." Many of them have obtained healthy bodies and minds after practicing Falun Gong, and thus served society better. We will absolutely not tolerate those malicious police and perpetrators willfully persecuting the practitioners. We hope that the leaders from each department will make an on-site investigation according to the law, stand on the side of justice and bring the criminals to justice.

Dafa practitioners and their families in Mudanjiang City

The guards and other responsible persons from Mudanjiang Prison who participated in the persecution:

Prison Director: Chen Shougang
Political Director: Yu Jinghe
Director of Political Department: Sun Jiujie
Secretary of Discipline Committee: Li Bin
Section Instructor of Educating and Transforming Section: Song Xiaobin
Deputy Section Instructor of Educating and Transforming Section: Zhao Peng
Section Instructor of Service Section: Zhou Jinping
Deputy Section Instructor of Service Section: Wang Xuhui
Section Instructor of Detection Section: Wang Hui
Deputy Head of Prison for Transforming: Luan Jinghe
Head of Intensive Training Brigade: Ding Xuezhong
Instruction of Intensive Training Brigade: Zhuang Qiuxin
Guards from Intensive Training Brigade: Hai Tao, Jiang Jun, Section Chief Yu, Zhang Dazhi
Head of No. 1 Prison Ward: Yan Shanming
Instructor of No.1 Ward: Li Jiezhi
Secretary of No.1 Ward: Li Yuhong
Instructor of No.1 Ward: Li Wei
Squadron head of No.1 Ward: Dong Yujiang
Guard from No.1 Ward: Wu He
Prison Guard from No.1 Ward: Song Junlin
Head of No. 2 Prison Ward: Mei Jianguo
Secretary of No. 2 Ward: Last name Li
Guard from No. 2 Ward: Zhao Xihe
Brigade head of No. 8 Prison Ward: Jiang Weidong
Prison Guard from No. 8 Ward: Zhang Jiawen, Wang Yuan, Wang Jijun, Zhao Dahu
Head of No. 14 Prison Ward: Liu Minghua
Instructor of No. 14 Ward: Last name Gao
Criminal inmates from No.1 Ward: Liu Lijun, 38 years old, originally sentenced to death with a reprieve, now 2 years left to serve.
Criminal inmate from No.2 Ward: Mao Jianbo