(Minghui.org) Surrounded by a pond and colorful landscaping, the Changsha City Legal Education Center looks like a farmhouse or a nursing home. In reality, it is a house of horrors.
Under the jurisdiction of the Changsha City 610 Office, this place has been designated a brainwashing center under the guise of legal education, where the local authorities are trying to “transform” Falun Gong practitioners. Several hundred practitioners have been illegally detained and tortured since it was established in 2002.
The latest brainwashing session took place on August 10, 2016 and lasted for one month. More than five innocent practitioners were kept in isolation, closely monitored, brainwashed, and subjected to various forms of abuse. They exhibited symptoms of mental disorders upon their release.
Prior to a brainwashing session, the Changsha City 610 officials order staff from various government agencies to harass and arrest practitioners.
Many practitioners were harassed at home or at work at the beginning of July 2016. Some, who filed lawsuits against Jiang Zemin, were interrogated and ordered to sign the three statements. Some practitioners went into hiding to avoid being arrested.
Many practitioners were arrested, and most arrests were done clandestinely, without arrest warrants.
The main purpose of the legal education center is to destroy the practitioners' belief in “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” and for them to slander Master Li, the founder of Falun Gong.
Upon arrival in the brainwashing center, the practitioners are put in isolation and monitored around the clock. They often go into depression because of the isolation and uncertainty of the release. All of the practitioners were mentally disoriented by the time of their release.
The practitioners are prohibited from doing the Falun Gong exercises or talking to other practitioners. They are only allowed to move around in designated areas on the third floor. They are forced to watch videos that slander Falun Gong, listen to classes held by collaborators and guards, and read demeaning materials about Falun Gong.
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Yang Tianyou was harassed and taken into custody by several police officers on August 10. Officers injured her arms and legs during the violent arrest, and she was subsequently taken to this brainwashing center.
Practitioner Ms. Li Zhihong was harassed before she disappeared after August 10. No one knew her whereabouts until she was released one month later.
A teacher in her 50's, who was arrested and taken to the Changsha City Legal Education Center on the eve of the 2008 Olympics, became mentally disoriented within one month of her incarceration.
Youngzhou City practitioner Ms. Jiang Meilan was tortured to death in October 2012. Several torture deaths of practitioners were attributed to this facility.
Liuyang City practitioner Ms. Yan Donglian was arrested on August 26, 2015. After less than 20 days of detention, her blood pressure reached the danger zone. She was granted medical parole.
Participants in the persecution
Hu Yajun (胡亚军): director, Changsha City 610 Office, +86-731-88667548, +86- 13787151617(cell)Lei Songping ( 雷松平): director, Changsha City Legal Education Center, +86-731-88675725Yang Lu (杨路): deputy director, Changsha City Legal Education Center, +86-13975805222.(cell)