(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Tian Shaochun is a farmer from Toudaohe Village, Yi County, Liaoning Province. During the nine-year suppression of Falun Gong, Tian Shaochun was arrested and had his home ransacked many times in complete violation of the Chinese constitution. He has been held in brainwashing centers three times, incarcerated in a detention center five times and sentenced to forced labor for two years. Policemen and officials have beaten him, shocked him with electric batons, and forced-fed him to the brink of death.
1. Tian Shaochun detained at the Beipiao Detention Center and suffers ruthless force-feeding
On June 3, 2008, police arrested Mr. Tian Shaochun. Agents involved were from the following agencies: the Beipiao Domestic Security Division, Beipiao Bureau of Radio and Television, and the Shangyuan Police Station. They ransacked his home and confiscated a satellite TV system, two receivers and more than ten sets of spare parts. They also robbed him of five valuable fish fossils. A second home invasion followed later. While Mr. Tian was at the police station, police interrogated him. Because Tian Shaochun insisted that his belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is not wrong, the persecutors sent him to the Beipiao Detention Center, where he went on a protest hunger strike.
On June 6, police station head Sun Jiawei and agents from the Domestic Security Division wanted to send Tian Shaochun to a hospital for force-feeding. Tian Shaochun said that since he had not done anything wrong, they should release him instead of force-feeding him. The police officer said, "You believe Falun Gong and said that living according to Truthfulness-Compassion- Forbearance is right. That means you are disobeying the law." Tian Shaochun refused to be taken to the hospital, so they struck him to the ground and two police officers dragged him by the arms into the hospital. Dozens of onlookers witnessed the process. He was dragged to a room on the second floor. The police officers pressed him onto a bed and ordered two doctors to put a tube into him.
Tian Shaochun told the two doctors that he had done nothing wrong, and they shouldn't aid the police to do bad things. To his surprise, they said that since he is a Falun Gong practitioner, they must do such things to him and had done so many times to others. When Tian Shaochun didn't cooperate with them, seven or eight people held him down. One of them used all his strength to pull on the middle part of the handcuffs, causing them to cut into Tian's wrists and making him bleed. Mr. Tian was also bleeding from the nose. Even though Tian twisted and didn't cooperate with them, they still kept on inserting the tube into his nose, pulling it in and out many times but unable to complete the forced feeding.
One of the Domestic Security Division agents left to make a call. Half an hour later, more than ten police officers arrived, held Tian down tightly and again inserted the tube. One of the doctors used medical pliers to force the tube into his nose. One of the officers covered Tian's mouth. Mr. Tian suddenly felt himself out of breath, and he realized that the tube had gone into his trachea.
Tian felt extreme chest pain and saw blood spraying out through the tube. The doctor was scared and hurriedly pulled out the tube. Tian was in a state of shock from the suffocation. The blood from the handcuffed hands, the nose and running out from the tube splattered all over the bed and the floor. The officers still didn't stop until they finished the force-feeding and then took him back to the detention center.
Mr. Tian's chest pain continued and he developed a high fever. He kept coughing up blood. Soon he could no longer walk because of the injuries, the cough and pain, and having been deprived of food and water for five days. Even so, police station head Sun Weijia and Domestic Security Division agents still arranged to have some policemen send him and another two practitioners to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. One of the practitioners was Ms. Hu Guohong, who was incarcerated in prison for four years and had just been released less than six months ago.
On the way Hu Guohong asked the police, "Tian Shaochun and I have been imprisoned for four years simply for our belief in Falun Gong. Why do you continue to detain us?" They replied, "Why do you say Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good? The CCP won't care if you are a prostitute or a thief. But if you believe in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, even if we kill you, we will say that you committed suicide and we could also get a higher bonus."
2. Masanjia Forced Labor Camp officials deny their acceptance for health reasons
Mr. Tian and two other practitioners were sent to the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. Tian's wrists, which were handcuffed behind his back, became severely swollen. Police held onto Tian and dragged him into the building. A physical exam showed Tian's poor condition, and the camp officials refused to accept him. The other two practitioners remained, and Tian was taken back to the Beipiao Detention Center. Three days later Domestic Security Division agents demanded that Tian's wife pay an extortion fee of five thousand yuan and then released him.
Mr. Tian stayed at home under police surveillance. Several days later, a sympathetic police officer secretly told Tian's family that he was sentenced to four years of incarceration, and once he recovered, he would be arrested again. Then despite his physical weakness and high fever, Mr. Tian decided to avoid further persecution and live in exile.
3. Tian's family's plight during the nine years of persecution
Mr. Tian's wife has lived in constant terror. While Mr. Tian was held at the Jinyi Detention Center in November 1999 for 34 days, Politics and Security Section chief Yang Yuxiang ordered his family to pay 2,360 yuan and then released him.
In the summer of 2000, Beipiao Domestic Security Division agents took Tian to the Beipiao Detention Center. Many days later, Toudaohe Police Station head Li Fuquan took Tian to the Yi County Detention Center and later on demanded Tian's family pay another extortion of 3,360 yuan, and then released Tian.
Between 1999 and 2000, Tian Shaochun's older sister Tian Shaohua was imprisoned at the detention Center twice. To get her released, Tian's family had to pay several thousand yuan. In 2001, Tian Shaochun decided to live in exile to escape from continued police harassment. But wherever he went, he saw the defamation and suppression of Falun Gong. Even when he went to buy a train ticket, he was ordered to curse Falun Gong or Master Li.
Once at the Anshan Station to catch a bus, a police officer waiting at the gate ordered every passenger to curse Falun Gong or risk arrest. Tian Shaochun was not willing to do so. The police then detained and searched him thoroughly, and told him that they would send him to a detention center. Tian Shaochun argued with them, and one of the officers said that he was not a local person and let him go. He was released after five hours in police custody.
While Mr. Tian lived in exile, his father was sent to a detention center twice and couldn't live a peaceful life even after returning home. Police station head Li Fuquan often led others to harass the family. In the summer of 2004, Li Fuquan again came to Mr. Tian's home and took his mother to Yi County Detention Center. They called his family many times and ordered them to pay ten thousand yuan for his mother's release or they would send his mother to a forced labor camp. The family didn't comply with their extortion attempt. More than ten days later, Li Fuquan called Tian's father and said that Tian's mother went on a hunger strike and told him to take her home. Tian's father went there but didn't see Tian's mother. Li Fuquan took the chance to capture him and sent him to one year of forced labor at the Jinzhou City Forced Labor Camp.
On April 25, 2005, Tian Shaochun was once again sent to the Beipiao Detention Center. Participating in this illegal act were Beipiao Police Station and Beipiao Domestic Security Division agents. They attempted to extort money from him again, but were foiled that time. The authorities sent him to the Chaoyang Forced Labor Camp for two years.
Tian Shaochun initially went on a protest hunger strike. Once on the way back from a hospital, as he got out of the vehicle before the labor camp's gate, he suddenly ran. He climbed up the wall in the southern part of the complex, ran for about two hundred meters, and officer Fang Jinsheng caught him. Then about ten police punched and kicked him until they were exhausted. He ended up being handcuffed for 24 hours, and his sentence was extended by six months. During force-feeding, the officers intentionally made it even harsher and painful. Each force-feeding involved inserting the long tube recklessly, pushing him down and eventually injuring his esophagus. Mr. Tian later on gave up his hunger strike but had difficulty eating. He was in a lot of pain just drinking water.
4. Mr. Tian and other practitioners suffered electric shocks at the Chaoyang Forced Labor Camp
All of the practitioners at that labor camp were kept in Division Four, and each practitioner was under the observation of two assigned inmates. Practitioners were forbidden to speak to each other and could not do the Falun Gong exercises. Even while sitting in bed, they had to stretch their legs out, or they would be shocked or beaten.
Division leader Qi Yongshun and team leader Gao Zhiguo were the most vicious and tortured practitioners by shocking them or other forms of physical abuse. Their purpose was to make practitioners say that the persecution was justified and write a "transformation statement" giving up Falun Gong.
Almost all of the practitioners there were tortured. They were forced to remain standing for up to 18+ hours per day in the hot sun over the course of many days, until their legs became swollen and they could barely walk.
Once in a while, they tried to force Tian Shaochun and other practitioners to denounce their belief and make them recite camp regulations. After a heavy daytime workload, they would force the practitioners to stand against a wall until 2 a.m. for several days in a row. If division leader Qi Yongshun was on duty, he would shock the practitioners repeatedly. If it was team leader Gao Zhiguo, he would slap, kick or punch the practitioners. When he got tired, Gao would shock them with electric batons. For a long time, inmates would hear the "Pa, Pa, Pa" sound of the electric shocks.
Towards the end of July 2005, because Tian Shaochun refused to give up Falun Gong or recite the camp rules, team leader Gao Zhiguo took Tian to the second floor, where division leader Qi Yongshun and seven other people were waiting. They struck Tian to the ground, and one of them fetched a bucket of water to pour on Tian. They then shocked him with four electric batons. Tian had been shocked many times before, but this time the water and electric shock made him tremble and shake. The other four people kicked and stomped on him ruthlessly. The oversized electric baton was about a foot long with metal wire wrapped on the end. Tian twisted about in agony from the shocks. After about an hour of this torture, Mr. Tian was at the verge of death. Thankfully at that point the batons ran out of charge.
Later on they arranged for somebody to take Tian back to the cell. Tian didn't regain consciousness for a long time. The torture injured him severely, and even the guards and inmates were stunned by the bad shape he was in. Tian's left leg was injured, and he couldn't walk normally for over a month.
Besides Tian, many practitioners were shocked and beaten as well. Practitioner Wang Jian from Linyuan was tortured for a long time, sometimes shocked with seven electric batons simultaneously and losing consciousness for more than five hours even after being doused with cold water. In spite of that, the guards never stopped the daily shocks. The huge current made Wang's body shake visibly, and they didn't stop until he lost consciousness. Mr. Wang went on a long-term hunger strike. The guards inserted a feeding tube and left it in place for about six months. They also left him handcuffed with his hands behind the back for long periods of time.
Practitioner Li Donghai from Mutouchengzhi in Chaoyang was also shocked and beaten continuously. The abuse led to him suffer a mental collapse. The guards also cruelly tortured the following practitioners: Ren Guozhuang, Wangqing, Wang Liang, Fen Guofu, Zhang Anjun, Yan Guohua, Cheng Yu Xiang, and Liu Xue. Team leader Gao Zhiguo shouted at the practitioners, "Our supervisors told us that we could burn you alive if you won't reform."
Some practitioners in this labor camp might be sent to other places to be tortured. We were told that they would be assigned heavy workloads that were impossible to finish. Anyone who didn't finish the assigned work would be electrically shocked and beaten with a wooden board after returning to the cell at night. The beating would not stop until guards gave instructions to stop. If the practitioner was seriously injured, they might let him have one day's rest. Otherwise, they would order him back to work the next day. If the practitioner couldn't finish the work, they would do the same thing as before. Practitioners Wang Qing, Liu Lixin and others were abused like this.
The food is very bad at the labor camp. Each day in the morning and evening, the practitioners were given black and yellow cakes made of corn meal, mixed with sand, dirt and mouse droppings. It was difficult to ingest. The pickled vegetables that served as breakfast is often spoiled. Sometimes there were worms in the soup, and there would be a layer of silt at the bottom of the bowl. Sometimes there was white-colored meat in the soup that would often lead to vomiting or diarrhea.
More than nine years of persecution have brought huge physical and mental trauma to practitioner Tian Shaochun and his family. After Tian Shaochun was sent to the labor camp in 2005, his family went to see him. He noticed that their daughter was not with them and asked his wife the reason. His wife cried and said that their five-year-old daughter missed her father very much, but when she heard that they would go to the labor camp to see him, she was afraid and burst into tears. She dared not go to the labor camp because of the police there. The little girl is often sad and seldom spoke to other people.
The authorities refused to release Tian Shaochun in 2008 until he was at the verge of death, and then he was compelled to live in exile. The practitioner had owned an aluminum alloy processing shop and was forced to close the business. Local Politics and Law Committee and Industrial and Commercial Bureau agents confiscated goods valued at about 20,000 yuan in his wife's bedding accessories shop, claiming his family did business to support Falun Gong and would be fined.
Tian's wife knew that thousands have died as a result of the long-term persecution, and that does not include those whose organs were harvested when they were alive.
Practitioners Xiao Peng in Jiudaoling, Yi County, Zuo Zhongyou in Dayupu, Wang Yanqing in Beipiao, and Chen Baofen died as a result of persecution in the prime of their lives. Chen Baofen was tortured to death after his arrest when he had been in custody for only seven days. Tian's family knew them personally. So each time Tian Shaochun was arrested, his wife and relatives would beg the police not to harm him. The persecution has put his wife and relatives under tremendous pressure.