Name: Yang Mingjiu (杨明久)
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 9, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Weizigou Forced Labor Camp in Changchun City (长春市苇子沟劳教所)
City: Changchun
Province: Jilin
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labor, beatings, hung by handcuffs, solitary confinement, torture, forced-feedings, extortion, physical restraint, home ransacked, interrogation, detention
(Clearwisdom.net) (By a correspondent from Jilin Province) At about 6:00 p.m. on March 9, 2007, police officer Zhang Jian led approximately five officers from Weixinglu Police Station in Chaoyang District of Changchun City, Jilin Province to break into the home of Falun Gong practitioner Yang Mingjiu. They searched his home and found several Falun Dafa books and Fa lecture video tapes. They took Yang Mingjiu to the police station where he was detained in the No. 2 Detention Center for 21 days. On March 30, Yang Mingjiu was sentenced to one year in the notorious Weizigou Forced Labor Camp in Changchun City.
Below is a partial account of the persecution Yang Mingjiu suffered in the forced labor camp.
After being imprisoned, Yang Mingjiu was severely beaten by the monitor, Wang Hongsheng, because he refused to recite the camp regulations and write a "report on his thoughts." On May 14, 2007, he was transferred to Team No. 3 of the labor camp for further persecution.
On October 12, Yang Mingjiu declared to team leader Xu Dawei, that it was not a crime to believe in Falun Dafa, and requested an unconditional release. At about 4:00 p.m. that day, Yang was taken to the Education Division of the labor camp where over a dozen guards were waiting for him. Under the direction of chief officer Wang Yanwei, about seven guards handcuffed Mr. Yang. They had the assistant team leaders of Team No. 3, Zhang Wenge, Li Dawei and Jiang Bo stand on a bench. They then lifted Mr. Yang up by the handcuffs using a wooden club so that his feet were off the floor. He was let down after seven to eight minutes. They tortured him this way four to five times.
Wang Yanwei then directed the guards to put Yang Minjiu's head in a shower and said that was to make him "clearheaded." Yang Mingjiu still did not give in, so they locked him in a small cell for solitary confinement.
On the evening of March 23, Yang Mingjiu was hung up in the small cell, deprived of sleep, and had cold water poured on his body, in attempts to force him to write the three statements. Yang Mingjiu went on a hunger strike to oppose the persecution.
By noon on March 25, Yang Mingjiu was on the verge of losing his life. The guards were afraid of being held responsible and let him down. They also force-fed him. They didn't release Mr. Yang from Team No. 3 until the afternoon of March 30.
Due to the prolonged hanging by handcuffs, Yang Mingjiu's hands were numb and he had severe pain in his arms. It was so painful that he often could not fall asleep at night. Even in this condition, the guards still tried to force him to do hard labor, but he refused to cooperate.
In early February 2008, the guards transferred Yang Mingjiu from Team No. 3 to Team No. 1 for what they called "strict training for newcomers." On February 2, Wu Dongming, team leader of Team No. 1, along with assistant team leader Li Baoguo, slapped Yang Mingjiu several times because he refused to do the forced labor.
Yang Mingjiu's sentence ended on March 8, 2008, but the labor camp refused to release him, using the excuse that he didn't participate in the forced labor and refused to wear the prison uniform. They threatened to prolong his sentence. Yang Minjiu then went on a second hunger strike. During that time, Wang Yanwei directed guards to torture Yang Mingjiu. They hung him up every morning starting at 6:00 a.m. and didn't let him down until after midnight. They also force-fed him twice every day. Wang Yanwei didn't agree to release him until after 5:00 p.m. on March 14.
After getting out of the forced labor camp, Yang Mingjiu was again detained in Jiutai by the 610 Office in Chaoyang District of Changchun City and was released that evening.
Written on October 15, 2009
