Falun Gong Practitioner Suffers Mental Breakdown from Torture in Detention

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners in China are being arrested, incarcerated and tortured severely when they refuse to give up their belief. Many have died from the abuse and some have lost their sanity. The following person was also tortured to the point that he suffered a mental breakdown. His story follows below.

Summary of Key Facts:

Name: Chen Zhanguo (陈占国)
Gender: Male
Age: 40
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Geological Brigade No. 106 of Salaqi, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia
Date of Most Recent Arrest: Some time in 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Hongzehu Prison (洪泽湖监狱)
City: Suqian
Province: Jiangsu
Persecution Suffered: Electric shocks, sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, forced injections, beatings, being hung up, imprisonment, torture, force-feedings, physical restraint, put in mental hospital, detention, solitary confinement, interrogation, denial of restroom use, food deprivation, forbidden to take showers

Because Mr. Chen Zhanguo persisted in his belief, officials at Hongzehu Prison tortured him so fiercely that he had a mental breakdown. His current status is unknown.

Mr. Chen Zhanguo, about 40 years old, used to work at the Geological No. 106 Team of the Salaqi, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia. When he began practicing Falun Gong, he became healthy and good-tempered. He was also diligent in his work and considerate of others.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched its persecution against Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. Mr. Chen was harassed by officials from the 610 Office over a long period of time. He was repeatedly arrested, detained at a labor camp, and also given a heavy prison sentence.

Tortured at the Baotou City and the Wuyuan County Forced Labor Camps

In July 1999, Mr. Chen appealed twice to the government for justice for Falun Gong. Agents from the Baotou City 610 Office arrested him and detained him at the Baotou City Forced Labor Camp. There, he was tortured over 100 days.

On September 18, 2000, officers from the 610 Office transferred Mr. Chen to the Wuyuan County Forced Labor Camp in Inner Mongolia, where the maltreatment was even more inhuman. In this camp, Falun Gong practitioners are being forced to undergo “transformation.” Practitioners are tortured with the following methods: Forced standing, freezing, forced running, hanging up in the air, whipping, electric shocks, beatings, deprivation of sleep and water, and more.

In early February 2001, a meeting was held at the labor camp, during which they slandered Falun Gong. In the middle of the meeting, Mr. Chen and Mr. Ma Yingju bravely stood up and attested that Falun Gong is great. Officials of the labor camp immediately confined them in a solitary confinement cell and put them through extreme torture. From February 23 to 28, 2001, in order to “transform” Mr. Chen and Mr. Ma, Mu Jianfeng, the deputy head of the labor camp, ordered the guards to continuously torture them for five days. They abused them with high-voltage electric batons, whipped them with leather straps, and punched and kicked them. After this torture, Mr. Chen almost died. He became incontinent, and his head was deformed and swollen. He had edema in his four limbs, and also suffered mentally.

In March 2001, during another meeting to slander Falun Gong, Mr. Chen still refused to cooperate. He was handcuffed with his arms behind his back. Mu Jianfeng and other guards beat him in front of everyone. Later, they put him in a solitary confinement cell, left him cuffed, shocked him with electric batons, and hit him with rubber batons. Guard Zhang Tiefeng fiercely pulled up his arms with a rope. The severe pain caused Mr. Chen to almost faint. Guard Du Xiangyang shocked his lower abdominal area with electric batons, which caused him to become incontinent. Mr. Chen was in agony.

 
Torture reenactment: Electric shocks

 
Torture reenactment: Cuffed from behind

Arrested and sentenced to ten years

Soon after Mr. Chen was released from the Wuyuan County Forced Labor Camp and returned to his former company to work, the Chinese Communist Party personnel in his company threatened to send him to a brainwashing class. Mr. Chen had to give up his job and go work at the Huanghai Machine Factory in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, together with his college classmate Sun Yufeng who also practiced Falun Gong. In Lianyungang City, they were arrested again by officers from the local 610 Office and the Xinpu Police Department. Another practitioner, Che Guangming, who is from Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, was arrested at the same time. Their money was confiscated. They were tortured and then taken to the Lianyungang City Detention Center.

While in detention, Mr. Chen conducted a hunger strike for over 50 days and was force-fed many times. In 2003, the Xinpu District Court in Lianyungang City sentenced Mr. Chen to 10 years, Sun Yufeng to 9 years, and Che Guangming to 4 years. They were taken to the 8^th Division of Hongzehu Prison in Suqian City, Jiangsu Province.

 
Torture reenactment: Forced-feeding

Suffers Mental Breakdown Due to Torture at Hongzehu Prison

Hongzehu Prison is one of the most evil places where male practitioners are being detained. The guards there use all kinds of means, such as violence, deception, hypocritical or other contemptible actions in order to force practitioners to renounce Falun Gong.

In their brutal methods to “transform” practitioners, a “transformation” session could last as long as half a year. To prevent others from witnessing the torture, the guards covered all the windows with newspaper. They usually held a practitioner in a solitary confinement cell, and assigned criminal detainees to take turns monitoring him around the clock.

In a typical “transformation” session, the practitioner is forced to stand still, forbidden to speak, and deprived of sleep continuously for over 20 days. Once he closes his eyes the monitors splash cold water on him. The guards threaten him, and forbid him to take a bath, eat, drink, or use the restroom. They often force him to watch or read materials which slander Dafa, and even force his family members to help them with their “transformation” process. The guards beat him themselves, or order criminal detainees to beat him. Sometimes, they force-feed the practitioner, or inject him with unknown drugs.

 
Torture reenactment: Violent beatings

Guards often order criminal detainees to drag practitioners to the training ground, force them to stand straight in the baking summer sun, and to wear thin clothes during the winter.

In 2004, Mr. Chen Zhanguo practiced the Falun Gong exercises in prison, and was tortured by the prison administration so fiercely that he became mentally disoriented. Yet, the guards spread the rumor that Mr. Chen had mental illness and took him to the Nantong and Nanjing mental hospitals. There he was repeatedly injected with drugs, which damaged his central nervous system. Thereafter, his legs were paralyzed and he was unable to eat solid food, except a little milk powder. Soon, he was on the brink of death.

 
Torture reenactment: Injecting unknown drugs

In 2010, the Hongzehu Prison officials were afraid that Mr. Chen could die there and they would have to bear responsibility, so they planned to release him ahead of schedule. However, Mr. Chen's former employer and officers from the 610 Office in that city refused to receive him because they were afraid having to take on the responsibility for Chen Zhanguo's condition. In the end, the Hongzehu Prison officials assigned guards Wang Xingen and Teng Jiang, the head of the 8^th Division, to take the dying Mr. Chen to his hometown in Inner Mongolia. We have not heard anything about him since then.

It was learned that Mr. Chen's parents had passed away a long time ago. Only an elderly brother lived in Chifeng City, but he had hardly ever contacted Mr. Chen since the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999.

Personnel at the Hongzehu Prison who participated in the abuse of Mr. Chen Zhanguo:

Ni Wenqing, Party Secretary of the Prison: [phone]
Hu Yuzhuo, Political Commissioner of the Prison: [phone]
Tang Jinchao, head of the Education and Reform Section: [phone]
Zhai Hongju, head of the Prison Administration Section: [phone]