The so-called "Key Transformation Center of Falun Gong"in the Qiaokou District, Wuhan City, has been underway for 11 months. Its first session of class was held on Nov.9, 1999 and lasted until Jan.5, 2000 (its second session started Feb.2, 2000 and continues to this day.). Over 100 practitioners have been sent to the center. Some of them were sent there more than once.
On Sept. 12, of this year, the district party secretary went to the center and said in the plenary session that, "You're good people who've made mistakes, and we're concerned about and care for you..." The following is a true account of what happened to Falun Gong practitioners in the center. You can see what kind of "concern and care " was provided for us.
I. Falun Gong practitioners don't have basic human rights.
Most of the practitioners kept in the center were forcibly taken from their homes. Some were sent there from Beijing when they appealed to the government. Some were brought there while riding trains or while at the station on their way to appeal, and some were sent there because they practiced Dafa exercises outside their homes. Most of them lost their freedom for as long as half a year or even one year without any formal legal procedures.
Eight strict disciplinary rules were regulated in the center, among which was "No confrontation with the working personnel," and "No practicing of Falun Gong," etc. The center, located inside the district's administrative detention house has two sets of iron gates and police dogs on guard. Maximum security is enforced. Not even practitioner's family members are allowed to visit.
1. Losing all human dignity
In spite of bitter cold, rain or snow, in spite of a scorching summer, the practitioners had to have their meals outdoors. They had to stand in a queue, number off and sing songs praising the xxx party. The police were on guard while they were eating, and no one was allowed to talk.
Any newcomer was first thoroughly body-searched---the money that some practitioners brought with them was confiscated without receiving any receipt. Whatever their family members sent to them was also carefully searched.
The relationship between the practitioners and the management was completely one of the controller and the controlled---the practitioners were required to conform absolutely to the control of the police, without any freedom of speech, while the management could arbitrarily curse, slander and beat the practitioners. The practitioners were not allowed to make any comments; otherwise, the police would call them "not benevolent" and "not tolerant."
Besides the so-called study session, the practitioners had to perform labor, such as hoeing up weeds, digging the fields, growing vegetables, watering, cleaning the dirtiest and messiest workshops and rooms in the center, etc.
2. Suffering economic loss
They confiscated all the practitioners' money . They would not return it even when requested. For instance, on Nov. 12, 1999, police searched and confiscated about 25,000 RNB from 9 practitioners that were sent back from Beijing. (Note: about US$3,000 or about 50 months of an average Chinese workers salary.) Several times the practitioners asked for the return of their money, but in vain. The management found ways to delay it. When some people came and visited the practitioners during the first session of the class, they were body searched as well, and about 1000 RNB (note: one and half months salary) was confiscated without giving any receipt. In October of this year, another practitioner was searched and had 1000 RNB confiscated without receipt and the sum hasn't been returned to him yet.
When some emergencies occurred in practitioners' families, they were allowed to go back home only after their family members paid a certain sum of money, ranging from 2000 RNB to over 6000 RNB (equal to 3-8 months salary of an average worker). In addition, the police station would ask the practitioners' working units for arbitrary fees.
Each practitioner in the center had to pay a further 600 RNB a month (note: equal to a month's salary for an average worker), which was not a small sum for a family with an average income, not to mention the fact that some practitioners were already discharged from their jobs, retired or didn't have a job. However, the practitioners were treated the same as the criminals that were detained. Moreover, the practitioners themselves mainly grew their own vegetables that they consumed every day.
II. The cadres in the local police station took the lead in beating Falun Gong practitioners.
1. Jin Zhiping, a brutal accomplice.
During the first session of class in the center, Jin Zhiping, the director of the 1st Section, would, as the first thing he did everyday, ask the practitioners whether they practiced the exercises or not. If the answer was "Yes," he would cuff and kick the male practitioners, and then order them to run bare foot around the exercise yard for 30 laps. Following that, they would have to shoot several hundred basketball shots accurately. Sometimes he would punish them with icy cold showers.
During the second session, he came to the class several times punishing and injuring practitioners. For example, once the practitioners were going on a hunger strike (note: to request the release of those who had been detained for more than 6 months, and to request the removal of a banner which insulted the Teacher and Falun Dafa). At 7 PM, he arrived and personally ordered all practitioners to stand in queues, outside in the exercise yard overnight. With the temperature as high as 40 C (equal to 102 F) and with swarms of mosquitoes, the practitioners were hot, thirsty and tired, yet they were not allowed to move or squat. Jin, accompanied by his staff, ate and drank on the balcony of the second floor, under electric fans, while watching the practitioners (they went to sleep in turns). At nine o'clock the next morning, the practitioners still refused to eat. He then ordered them to work in the fields. At noon, when the practitioners still refused to eat, he didn't allow them to rest indoors. He kept them in the scorching sun till two o'clock and made them work in the fields again for the whole afternoon.
On Oct.19, 2000, the practitioners were punished by having to stand in the rain, in the yard, and not allowed to eat because they practiced the night before. When Jin Zhiping came at three in the afternoon, he didn't stop the policemen but he himself came to abuse the practitioners. He knocked them down one by one and ordered the practitioners to kneel. The practitioners refused to do so and rose to their feet. He then knocked them down again, kicking their waists and trampling on their feet and legs with his leather boots. Some practitioners' waists were injured; some practitioners' feet were broken. They stood and kneeled in the rain for more than 12 hours, thoroughly soaking wet and with bruises all over their bodies. Some of them were seniors over 60 years old. Another time, he locked a female practitioner in the female cadres' room and beat her. When the practitioner shouted for help, he stuffed a dirty rag into her mouth. After the beating, he bound her to a chair with two big rough ropes. Her mouth had a cut of about two inches long, and the rag was full of blood. She could not raise her hands and her whole body was full of bruises. She didn't recover for more than two weeks.
2. He Zhenxiong, the assailant directing the beating.
The director of a section of the local public security bureau temporarily promoted He Zhenxiong as the "head" of the study-class. He's mainly in charge of the class. Yet, he didn't bother organizing the cadres, instead he took the lead in bullying and oppressing the practitioners---he viciously slandered people if they didn't obey him in the smallest ways; he confined the practitioners at will; he directed the police to beat the practitioners and sometimes he would participate. Once, he handcuffed and kicked a female practitioner, over 50 years old in the ribs continuously. On Oct.19, 2000, when 11 practitioners were punished by having to stand in the rain, he directed the policemen to beat them. When the practitioners pointed out to them that it was wrong and illegal to beat them, he yelled, "I'll take off my uniform and beat you, and I'd like to be jailed if happen to kill you." He didn't allow the practitioners to have lunch. He yelled, "Don't feed them. They won't die even if they don't eat for seven days." When the practitioners requested to go to the washroom, he yelled, "No. Let them pee in their trousers..."
3. Wang Jingde, a vicious perpetrator.
Wang Jingde was the deputy director of the 1st section, and a sub-group leader in the class. He regarded the practitioners as his enemies. Whenever he found out that the practitioners were practicing, he would bring all his staff members and punish the practitioners---sometimes forcing them stand outdoors overnight, sometimes spraining their arms, beating their faces and heads with fists or the handles of mops and seizing them by the throat, etc. He has tortured almost all the practitioners there.
Those that beat the practitioners most frequently and most viciously in the center were: Jin Zhiping, Wang Jingde, Zhu Guodong, Xiao Ganzhi (from the first section), Guo Lei (from the administration office of justice in the District), Zhou (a driver from the local public security bureau. When he is at the center he never misses any chance to beat and viciously curse the practitioners).
III. Confined cells here are worse than jail.
The cells have never been vacant since last May. Some practitioners have been placed in there for as long as three months. Sometimes when there wasn't enough room for the practitioners, they would lock the practitioners in the male and female cadre's rooms. Those that were confined were the practitioners that were sent from somewhere else (the so-called "people on trial") and those who were punished because they practiced (because they were regarded as heads of the practitioners). They had no freedom at all---they were only allowed to leave the cells twice a day (in the morning and in the evening) to wash, brush teeth and to clean the bedpans. Yet, this was not guaranteed every day. When they were washing and brushing, the police would follow them closely to prevent them from talking to others. The policemen would swear at them whether they were sitting down or lying down. One female practitioner was handcuffed to the bed frame and stood there for four days in the confinement cell. Sometimes she was not allowed to go to the washroom and had to urinate while standing. Another two female practitioners were handcuffed to the window for a whole night because they practiced exercises in the cell.
IV. Playing the role as a particle of Dafa, firmly and genuinely cultivating Dafa.
With Teacher and the Fa, all of the practitioners could discipline themselves according to Teacher's teachings, playing the role as a particle of Dafa. In such severe situations, the practitioners could still firmly cultivate Dafa, never complaining or feeling hatred towards the police even when they were beaten, cursed and tortured. Whenever there was a conflict they first looked within themselves, trying to find the reason from their own Xinxing. They helped and learned from each other in cultivating Dafa, and have made rapid progress.
Dafa practitioners from Mainland China
Nov. 17, 2000