(Minghui.org) Suzhou Prison, located in Anhui Province, is a prison specifically used to detain and torture male Falun Gong practitioners. In the past two decades, the prison has detained several hundred Falun Gong practitioners, with at least nine practitioners persecuted to death and many more maimed due to being tortured in the prison.
Some of the torture methods used include locking practitioners in solitary confinement, scalding them with boiling water, depriving them of sleep, hanging them by their handcuffed wrists, shocking them with electric batons, forcing them to stand under the scorching sun, force-feeding them, and forcing them to drink urine and eat feces.
Torture illustration: Tied to bed and shocked with electric batons
Torture illustration: Forced to stand under the scorching sun
Torture illustration: Force-feeding
The prison has a total of 19 divisions, with one used specifically for holding brainwashing sessions. After arriving at the prison, practitioners are first sent to a brainwashing session in the morning and locked up in solitary confinement at night. They are also forced to write guarantee statements renouncing their faith before being assigned to other divisions.
When locked in solitary confinement, practitioners are forced to write guarantee statements. If they try to do Falun Gong exercises or resist the torture, they are put in solitary confinement again. The solitary confinement room measures 1.5 meters wide and 3 meters long and has a urinal. The top of the room is not covered, thus the room becomes very cold during the wintertime. While in the room, practitioners are given one to two cold buns to eat and have to drink from the urinal. As practitioners are deprived of sleep for a long time while in the room, many of them couldn’t walk steadily and some even fainted.
Deaths Caused by Persecution
Case 1. Mr. Wang Hongrong
Mr. Wang Hongrong was arrested on September 24, 2004, and sentenced to eight years in Suzhou Prison.
Mr. Wang Hongrong
He was tortured in February 2007 and became incontinent and paralyzed from the waist down. In early April 2007, guards instructed prisoners to submerge Mr. Wang’s feet in boiling water. In just half a day, his feet swelled up, blistered, and ulcerated. He was on the verge of death when he was released in late April 2007. He also had two large bedsores near his buttocks. He passed away on June 22, 2007. He was 59 years old.
Mr. Wang’s feet scalded by boiling water
Case 2. Mr. Ji Guangjie
Mr. Ji Guangjie was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to seven years on July 30, 2004.
After he was taken to the Suzhou prison in November 2004, prison guards often forcibly drew his blood and forced him to consume a variety of unknown drugs. By June 2008, as a result of the persecution, Mr. Ji suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, was in a coma and incontinent and lost sight in his left eye. Fearing that he would die in custody, the authorities ordered his family to take him home.
Mr. Ji Guangjie
During the three years following his release, Mr. Ji’s health was consistently poor, as he frequently experienced headaches and dizziness, as well as joint pain and discomfort all over his body. He required constant care from his family. Despite his condition, the authorities at the Suzhou Prison continued to harass his family over the phone. He died on June 3, 2012. He was 65 years old.
Case 3. Mr. Fei Zhangjin
Mr. Fei Zhangjin was sentenced to three years and taken to Suzhou Prison in September 2005. Because he refused to renounce his faith, he was shocked by several guards with three electric batons and beaten with a wooden club over three feet long. They beat him every day for over three weeks. In October 2005, the guards used high-voltage electric batons to shock Mr. Fei for more than 20 days. They also instructed other prisoners to force-feed him scalding rice and to pierce his lips with needles. Mr. Fei died in the prison on September 23, 2007.
Case 4. Mr. Ye Guangping
Mr. Ye Guangping of Liuan City, Anhui Province, was arrested on September 7, 2015, and sentenced months later to four years in prison. He was moved to Suzhou City Prison in October 2016.
He went into a coma on October 8, 2017, and died on October 13. His family noted that his back was purple.
Case 5. Mr. Bai Jie
Mr. Bai Jie, a former bank employee, was arrested on September 22, 2013, and sentenced to ten years in prison on April 11, 2016. At Suzhou Prison, he was monitored by the inmates and not allowed to speak with other Falun Gong practitioners or sit on the bed at night. The inmates beat him at random, causing his blood pressure to increase. He was also put in solitary confinement, causing his condition to worsen. He had a cerebral hemorrhage on March 31, 2017, and fell into a coma. He was sent to Suzhou hospital but died on April 14, 2017. He was 55 years old.
Case 6. Mr. Xiao Xianfu
Mr. Xiao Xianfu was arrested in September 2006 for distributing Falun Gong flyers and detained in the Jinzhai County Detention Center. A month later, Mr. Xiao was sentenced to a three-year prison term. He had a stroke after being tortured in Suzhou Prison. The authorities feared being held accountable for his death and sent him to his son’s home. He passed away two months later. He was 74 years old.
Case 7. Mr. Wang Guanghui
Mr. Wang Guanghui, a researcher at Anhui Academy of Social Sciences, was arrested on March 15, 2014, for sending text messages about Falun Gong. He was sentenced to three years in prison in 2015 and taken to Suzhou Prison. As he refused to renounce his faith, he was put in solitary confinement and subjected to ongoing abuse. He was also deprived of sleep for a long time.
He was released on March 14, 2017. His health had been declining and he passed away on January 19, 2019.
Case 8. Mr. Feng Qi
Mr. Feng Qi was arrested on the night of March 1, 2008, and sentenced to three years in Suzhou Prison. Due to long-term persecution, Mr. Feng developed liver ascites, cirrhosis, and severe edema. After his release, Mr. Feng was no longer able to take care of himself. He passed away on July 31, 2011. He was 48 years old.
Case 9. Mr. Xu Jiquan
Mr. Xu Jiquan, a retired driver, was arrested on September 1, 2014, for telling people about Falun Gong. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in June 2015. At the time, he didn’t have any teeth left, and could not chew his food. He was emaciated. However, he was still sent to Suzhou Prison. He was released on February 28, 2018. He didn’t regain his health and passed away on January 6, 2021. He was 73 years old.
Disability Cases
Case 1. Mr. Kong Dewen
Mr. Kong Dewen, an engineer, was sentenced to three years in Suzhou Prison in 2004. He was held in solitary confinement, subjected to brainwashing, handcuffed, punched, kicked, deprived of sleep, and forced to work without pay. Released from prison in March 2007, Mr. Kong was disabled and incapacitated.
Case 2. Mr. Hu Enkui
Mr. Hu Enkui, a middle school physics teacher, was severely beaten and tortured for 24 hours by inmates at Suzhou Prison. This was done in temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius (14° F), with the window open and a fan on. The inmates handcuffed one of Mr. Hu’s hands to the window and tied the other such that when several people pulled on the rope, his entire body would be suspended in the air. They alternated hitting his chest and back.
They also had several inmates hold his back against the wall, while he sat on the ground with his legs pulled apart, and they punched his genitals. The guards also repeatedly stomped on Mr. Hu’s feet. He fainted three times.
The inmates also scalded his feet with hot water, which resulted in third-degree burns that burned off his periosteum and left him permanently disabled. His right foot suffered a second-degree burn that permanently damaged the blood supply in his foot. Even after an entire year, his right foot had not recovered, was permanently disfigured, and could not have even light pressure applied to the sole.
Torture Cases
Case 1. Mr. Ji Guangkui
Mr. Ji Guangkui, an engineer in Hefei City and younger brother of Mr. Ji Guangjie, was arrested at home on March 18, 2017. He was sentenced to four years in prison on March 24, 2018. He appealed the verdict but the court upheld it.
Mr. Ji was taken to Suzhou Prison on September 27, 2018. While imprisoned, he was hung up by handcuffed wrists, locked in a steel cage, sprayed with chili water, and prohibited from communicating with his family. He was released on March 18, 2021.
Case 2. Mr. Fang Yingzhou
Mr. Fang Yingzhou from Zongyang County was a medical school graduate. He was admitted to Suzhou Prison in late October 2005. While there, he was held in solitary confinement. Because he refused to wear a prison uniform, he was severely beaten, shackled, and handcuffed. He couldn’t change his clothes for more than five months. He was also force-fed and became unrecognizable after a week of torture. The guards ordered the inmates to force-feed him while using needles to stab his fingertips. When a needle broke and got stuck in one of his fingers, they used a scalpel to cut his finger open to get the needle out. They also used needles to stab his lips and tongue.
Case 3. Mr. Tian Hui
Mr. Tian Hui, a teacher from Taihe County, was arrested for telling students in his school about Falun Gong. He was sentenced to three years and taken to Suzhou Prison in July 2018. Mr. Tian was beaten by prison guards in September of that year. They hit his head and face with leather shoes in an attempt to get him to sign a guarantee statement renouncing his belief.
Case 4. Mr. Sun Fangxi
Mr. Sun Fangxi was an engineer for the Anhui Broadcasting, Film and Television Bureau. He credited Falun Gong for curing his liver disease and enabling him to enjoy a healthy life. Mr. Sun and seven other Hefei practitioners tapped into a local cable TV network in May 2002. All were arrested and given heavy sentences. Mr. Sun was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
As he refused to be transformed, he was transferred to Suzhou Prison from Baihu Prison in March 2007. He went on a hunger strike and was brutally force-fed. Several of his teeth were knocked out as a result. In July that year, an inmate used pliers to pinch his nose and tongue. The inmate also hammered him on the head and pierced his skin with a needle. Around 2011, Mr. Sun fell from the second floor of a building and fractured his legs.
Case 5. Mr. Ren Xinde
Mr. Ren Xinde was sentenced to three years in prison in 2003. He was locked up in solitary confinement for five months at Suzhou Prison and subjected to frequent brainwashing sessions. He was not given water for a long period of time and had to drink from the urinal. As he refused to renounce his faith, he was sent to Chaohu Prison to serve two more years upon finishing his initial term at Suzhou Prison. He was released on March 11, 2008.
Case 6. Mr. Cao Xiongbin
Mr. Cao Xiongbin was sentenced to three years in prison after he was arrested on March 14, 2003. On his second day in the prison, felon Wang Tong hit him on the chest three times. Another felon, He Jie, punched his temple and pressed his eyeballs with his thumbs. Afterwards, Mr. Cao was force-fed. The inmates inserted a feeding tube through his nose, and blood dripped from his nose, all over the tube.
A guard choked Mr. Cao until his eyes rolled one day in June 2004. The guard also punched him repeatedly, causing blood to gush from his nose. He was subjected to solitary confinement for about a month. Mr. Cao was locked in solitary confinement about four times and hung by his handcuffed wrists continuously for more than eight days, causing him to feel dizzy and numbed. His eyes became dry, his heart was palpitating, and his body became weak. When he was released on March 13, 2003, half of his hair had become white and his memory was severely impaired. He continued to experience chest pain after three years.
Case 7. Mr. Wu Jianghai
Mr. Wu Jianghai was locked in solitary confinement for several months, handcuffed, forced to stand under the scorching sun, and beaten, for refusing to renounce his faith. Between July and September 2005, the guards tied his testicles with ropes for several days. The torture eventually caused him to become mentally disoriented, and the middle finger on his left hand had to be amputated.
Case 8. Mr. Xu Chun
Mr. Xu Chun was sentenced to nine years in Suzhou prison in late 2003. Mr. Xu was shocked with electric batons, hung up by his wrists for long periods of time, held in solitary confinement, and deprived of sleep.
The prison guards handcuffed both of his hands on a metal door, and shackled both of his feet, with his toes barely touching the ground. With the exception of meals, during which one of his hands was freed, and a limited number of bathroom breaks, this torture continued around the clock for three to four months. He was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment on multiple occasions after he fainted and collapsed onto the concrete floor.
Case 9. Mr. Du Shanwei
Mr. Du Shanwei was an officer at the Suixi County Police Department in Huaibei City. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for appealing for Falun Gong while wearing a police uniform. In the prison, the guards shocked him with electric batons. They also refused to allow him to sleep, handcuffed and shackled him, and forced him repeatedly to trot from the ground floor to the fifth floor and back. The flesh on his heels and the backs of his feet were scraped raw and exposed the bones. These areas quickly became infected, and the infection lasted for several months. Due to the torture, this once robust, 5’9’’ tall man became skin and bones.
Case 10. Mr. Xie Jiaqi
Mr. Xie Jiaqi was imprisoned in Suzhou Prison twice, once for eight years. During an inspection by the Provincial Forced Labor Bureau, Mr. Xie called out, “Falun Dafa is good!” and was handcuffed and hung from the metal bars of a window for more than ten days. Mr. Xie was over 70 years old at the time. He was deprived of sleep, shocked with electric batons, jabbed with needles, and not allowed to drink water. When he requested water, the inmates force-fed him urine.
Case 11. Mr. Dai Zhifeng
Mr. Dai Zhifeng was arrested on March 2, 2006, and sentenced to a six-year prison term on October 24 that year. While imprisoned, he went on a hunger strike and was subsequently tortured. The director of the prison’s hospital ordered inmates to mix feces with food and use screwdrivers to pry his mouth open and force-feed him.
Case 12. Mr. Ji Huijun
Mr. Ji Huijun was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2002. He was severely tortured. The guards punched him with a barbed wire glove and also beat him to the point of breaking his ribs.
Case 13. Mr. Xu Kun
Mr. Xu Kun was beaten by prison guards with rubber and electric batons. In the freezing winter, they poured cold water on his naked body and blew fans on him. His leg was broken while being beaten by prison guards.
Case 14. Mr. Ji Chuanjun
Mr. Ji Chuanjun suffered internal injuries from beatings to his chest, making it difficult to breathe and walk.
Case 15. Mr. Du Changwei
Prison guards beat Mr. Du Changwei with seven electric batons simultaneously, shocking his body and inside his mouth. He was also handcuffed to the window bar and deprived of sleep for more than 20 days.
Case 16. Mr. Sun Shuangxi
Mr. Sun Shuangxi was locked in solitary confinement for a long time for refusing to cooperate with the guards.
Case 17. Mr. Wang Yu
Mr. Wang Yu was locked in solitary confinement three times for up to nine months.
Case 18. Mr. Li Gangfeng
Mr. Li Gangfeng was beaten by inmates for refusing to renounce his faith. He continued to have constant headaches a few years after he was released.
Case 19. Mr. Zhu Fangming
Mr. Zhu Fangming was locked up in solitary confinement in late 2005. He was wearing only a thin piece of clothing during the winter. His hands were handcuffed and his feet shackled, and he was force-fed every day.
Case 20. Mr. Xi Tiejun
Mr. Xi Tiejun was shocked with electric batons for a long time from January to May 2007 for doing Falun Gong exercises.
Case 21. Mr. Wang Yu
Mr. Wang Yu was sent to solitary confinement in late 2006. He was released from the room after three months and later locked up again for another three months, until July 2007.
Case 22. Mr. Ji Huijun
Mr. Ji Huijun had three of his ribs broken when he was beaten up at No. 3 Division in 2004.
Case 23. Mr. Ji Huinian
Mr. Ji Huinian was tortured and force-fed many times after being admitted to the prison. For several days and nights, the inmates refused to let him sleep, and stabbed his arms and legs with a steel awl. They beat him until his chest collapsed, and ribs caved in.
Case 24. Mr. Li Lin
Mr. Li Lin lived in Hefei City and graduated from the Computer Department at Wuhan University in Hubei Province. In the prison, he was shocked with electric batons and kept in solitary confinement for several months until he looked deformed.
Case 25. Mr. Li Ce
Mr. Li Ce from Fuyang City was brutally beaten for holding a hunger strike. The inmates crushed the first knuckle of his right index finger with a wooden stool. His finger is now bent and deformed.
Case 26. Mr. Huang Zhisong
Mr. Huang Zhisong from Anqing City was shocked with electric batons on numerous parts of his body. He was deprived of sleep for many days. He was hung on a metal gate while the inmates beat him. His hair fell out and he was tense from living under such tremendous pressure.
Case 27. Mr. Wang Manyi
Mr. Wang Manyi is from Bozhou City. The guards shocked him with three electric batons simultaneously. They then handcuffed him to a metal railing in the hallway in the rain and in sweltering heat. They later sent him to solitary confinement.
Case 28. Mr. Zhang Wushun
Mr. Zhang Wushun was a doctor from Hefei City. He was detained in solitary confinement and shocked with electric batons many times. The guards also kicked him.
Case 29. Mr. Huang Jinli
Mr. Huang Jinli is a native of Hefei City. He was hung up by his handcuffed wrists for writing a solemn announcement to nullify his involuntary denunciation of Falun Gong. The guards shocked his neck, head, and other parts of his body with electric batons.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Chen Guiping (陈贵平), president of Suzhou Prison: +86-18155200025Wei Zhenyu (魏振宇), political instructor of Suzhou Prison: +86-13955806054Wu Mujia (吴慕甲), guard involved in brainwashing at Suzhou Prison: +86-15955701198
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
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