(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Liu Yanchang is a former teacher at the Linjiang Town High School in Heilongjiang Province. Both students and parents alike recognized him for his outstanding teaching.

In December 2007, he was illegally arrested for distributing Falun Gong informational materials in Donghong Village, Tongjiang City. He was later detained in Tongjiang Detention Center and brutally beaten. When he was moved to Jiamusi Prison, guard Meng Jun repeatedly punched him, breaking of one of his ribs.

Schoolteacher Liu Yanchang

The following is Mr. Liu's personal account of how he was persecuted for refusing to give up his belief in Falun Dafa.

Brutally Beaten at the Tongjiang Detention Center

I am 50 years old. I was fired from my teaching position at Linjiang Town High School in Tongjiang City for practicing Falun Gong.

On December 13, 2007, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Yingxia and I went to Donghong Village in Tongjiang City to distribute Falun Gong informational materials. Shortly after, a local reported us to the police. Captain Wu Hongwei of the Qinghe City police substation, along with several police officers and local officials, arrested us at around 9 p.m. We were later taken to the Tongjiang City police station at around 11 p.m.

As soon as we arrived, a police officer slapped me about the temples for about 30 minutes, while angrily cursing me. I was in agony and very disorientated. Ms. Wang and I were later sent to the Tongjiang City Detention Center, where we began a hunger strike to protest our illegal imprisonment.

The guards tied my arms and legs to a bunk bed in my cell. The detention center head, Yang Hua, ordered inmate Fu Guoshan to force me to eat. Fu repeatedly punched and slapped my head every time I refused to eat. Yang also instigated several other inmates to hit me in the head and temples.

On the seventh day of my hunger strike, Yang ordered a group of inmates to rough me up, but nobody lifted a finger. Yang then announced over the loudspeaker that if the group couldn't force me to eat, then all of the inmates in their cell would be punished. “None of you will be allowed to smoke, drink, or watch TV!” he shouted.

Inmates Jim Dalin, Tian Chun, and several others stepped forward and began beating me. Zhao Zhiguo kept smacking my head against the metal railing of my bunk bed, causing me to go temporarily blind. After more than an hour of this, my face was swollen; my arms and legs were bruised, and I had almost lost consciousness.

Torture re-enactment: Brutal beating

After 20 days, I was moved to a ward full of especially ruthless inmates. One thug, Tang Zhendong, ordered me to wash his socks. “If you don't do a good job, I will beat you senseless,” he said. Once, he punched me in the head for not properly mopping the floor. When I asked him why he had punched me, he smacked me in the nose, causing it to bleed. I reported the incident to the prison head, but he refused to take any action.

Fuyuan County Court Unlawfully Sentences Us to Prison

Two officials from the Fuyuan County Procuratorate interrogated practitioner Ms. Wang Yingxia and myself on January 11, 2008. After they handcuffed me to a narrow bench, she and I refused to answer their questions. They then told us that our silence would not prevent them from handing down a sentence.

Torture re-enactment: Tied to a narrow bench

On March 17, 2008, several police officers took us to Fuyuan County Court and told us not to talk during our trial. After the prosecutor presented his case, I politely asked the judge, “You just charged us with undermining the law. Could you please tell us what specific laws we undermined? As far as we know, distributing informational materials does not violate any laws. The information we handed out promotes goodness.” The presiding judge, Zhang Bo, raised his voice in anger and said, “Do not disrupt the order of the court!” He later sentenced me to four and a half years in prison, and Ms. Wang Yingxia to three years in prison.

Prison Guard Fractures My Rib

On June 17, 2008, I was sent to Xianglan Prison for a three-month “training session” and forced to package wooden toothpicks. Anyone who didn't meet their quota was savagely beaten. I was transferred to Jiamusi Prison on September 7, 2008. Guard Xu Chongwen ordered me to give up my belief in Dafa. When I told him that I would not betray my conscience, he said that I would be confined to my cell indefinitely. In addition, he forbade my family members from visiting me for two years.

In the summer of 2009, guard Meng Jun called me to a warehouse. As soon as I entered, he repeatedly punched me in the head. When I tried to protect myself with my arms, he punched me in the chest so hard that I landed about seven feet away. Two inmates who heard the commotion walked in and carried me back to my cell. I felt a sharp pain in my ribcage and realized that one of my ribs had been fractured. It took nearly three months to properly heal.

610 Office Attempts to Send Me to a Brainwashing Center after My Release

I was released from prison on June 13, 2012. When my family and friends came to pick me up, they told me that Mo Yafu, director of the Tongjiang City 610 Office, wanted to send me to the Yichun City Brainwashing Center, because my wife, who had been detained there for over 40 days, was being released at the same time. He obviously did not want my wife and me to see each other. When my family found out what he was up to, they strongly protested. As a result, Mo was unable to follow through with his plan.