(Minghui.org) “Hit her groin, genitals, and breasts! Pull her pubic hair! It's fine as long as you don't leave visible marks of injury.”
Above was an order barked at inmates in Shandong Province Women’s Prison. On the receiving end of the abuse was Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Cui Ling (崔玲) from Shinan District in Qingdao City.
About 500 miles to the north, a similar scene unfolded at the Beijing Brainwashing Center, officially known as “Beijing Legal Training Center.” Mr. Cui Xiangjun (崔湘君) was also hit hard repeatedly on the upper leg area.
A police officer who saw the large bruises on Mr. Cui's thighs wrote in his testimonial to Minghui, “Kicking [the victim] in the groin and inner thigh area causes excruciating pain. It won’t kill the person, but definitely does tremendous harm.”
Inflicting injuries on Falun Gong practitioners' upper legs, especially the inner thighs and groin areas, is one of the many torture methods used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its attempts to make law-abiding citizens give up their belief in Falun Gong.
Perpetrators—guards and inmates alike—use their hands, feet or foreign objects to inflict pain. Commonly used techniques include pinching, twisting and yanking thigh muscles; punching, kicking or stomping on the thighs; hitting or even drilling into the thighs with foreign objects; and forcing practitioners to position their legs in painful ways.
Hitting or Drilling into Thighs with Foreign Objects
Practitioner Ms. Liu Xiufang (刘秀芳) from Jiamusi, Heilongjiang Province, was tortured in this way during her detention. A policeman surnamed Cui used a one-meter long, inch wide thick bamboo board to beat her over thirty times. Her hips and thighs were covered with dark purple bruises and blood blisters.
In China, prison guards have special one-inch diameter, hard white plastic tubes nicknamed the “Little White Dragon.” It is commonly used to torture Falun Gong practitioners. The tube is cut diagonally, and then used to drill into the victim's body.
Torture re-enactment: “Little white dragon”
At the Yinmahe Forced Labor Camp in Jiutai, Jilin Province, a group of police including Shi Chunfeng (史春峰) tied practitioner Mr. Huang Yaodong (黄跃东) to a bed in March 2003.
They used a “little white dragon” to drill into his inner thighs and his armpits. They drilled four fist-sized holes, causing fractures in his soft ribs and chest perforation. They also drilled two holes into Mr. Huang’s inner thighs. Then they put salt into the holes and brushed the wounds with a toothbrush. The policemen then poked an electric baton into the two holes and shocked him.
Pinching, Twisting, or Yanking on the Thighs
Yin Guijuan (尹桂娟), a captain of the women’s squadron at the Tumuji Forced Labor Camp, Inner Mongolia has a habit. She often rips off practitioners’ clothes and then instigates the inmates to pinch their inner thighs.
Practitioner Jin Chengquan (金成权) from Tumen City, Jilin Province was arrested and taken to Jilin Prison in February 2003. Mr. Jin was dragged to the water room and tortured there several times a day.
Guards also stripped off his clothes seven to eight times within a day, flicking his testicles and pinching his inner thighs. His legs were covered with patches of black and purple scabs.
Practitioner Wang Jianzhong (王建忠) from Holingol, Inner Mongolia was arrested in January 2008 and taken to the Second Squadron of Tumuji Forced Labor Camp. The same year in October, guard Zhou Jianguo (周建国) ordered inmate Zhang Xihai (张喜海) to torture Mr. Wang.
Zhang pinched Mr. Wang’s inner thighs, leading to swollen legs and dark purple bruises. Mr. Wang could not squat to use the bathroom because of the injury.
Practitioner Jia Shuying (贾淑英), from Jinshantun District, Yinchun, Heilongjiang Province was arrested and taken to Heilongjiang Women's Prison in 2003. Prison detective section chief Xiao Lin (肖林) kicked and broke her ribs.
While her ribs were fractured, inmate Wang Fengchun (王凤春) led a group of prisoners and immobilized Ms. Jia on the ground. They stepped on her head, with her hands twisted behind her back, face to the ground. They then pinched and twisted her inner thighs.
At night, when Ms. Jia went to use the toilet, she saw her thighs covered with dark bumps and bruises. In some places, there were holes in her thighs in the shape of finger nails.
In June 2001, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhao Suhuan (赵素环) from Shenyang was placed in isolation in Masanjia Labor Camp, where she was subjected to corporal punishment and outright assault. Guard Zhang Xiurong (张秀荣) dug her fingernails into Ms. Zhao's inner thighs repeatedly over the course of three days.
After Ms. Zhao’s skin was pulled off, Zhang Xiurong then kicked the ulcerated area on Ms. Zhao’s inner thighs with her sharply pointed shoes. Ms. Zhao was also held in a bathroom and subjected to sleep deprivation.
Practitioner Jiang Yunhong (蒋云宏), an engineer from Chengdu Air Compressor Plant, was arrested and taken to Xinjin Brainwashing Center in Chengdu on July 22, 2005. The same night, he was handcuffed to a stool and deprived of sleep.
Two to three days later, the guards pulled, pinched, yanked on Mr. Jiang’s thigh muscles. They punched, kneed, and stomped on his legs.
Kicking or Stomping on the Thighs
Ms. Yue Chunhua (岳春华), 56, from Shapingba District, Chongqing was brutally tortured at Chongqing Women’s Women's Forced Labor Camp. One afternoon in early September 2011, the captain instigated a group of inmates to tie up Ms. Yue and immobilized her on the ground.
One inmate rode on Ms. Yue and dug her elbows into Ms. Yue’s spine. The other inmates kicked, punched, and pulled her hair. Later, they pulled her up and made her stand at attention. The inmates stomped on her toes hard, causing them to bleed. They shoved her to the ground again, and several inmates proceeded to stomp on her inner thighs. The torture lasted for several hours.
Tilanqiao Prison in Shanghai is known for two forms of torture. One is to have a man weighing over 200 pounds jumping up and then stomping hard on practitioners’ thighs repeatedly. The victims’ legs would become so swollen that they are rendered unable to walk or stand.
The other torture involves using a hard stick with cross-section size of about 2.5 cm, to hit the thigh area just above the knee. After the area swells up, it becomes an even easier target to whip and strike later on.
Practitioner Jia Haiying (贾海英) from Holingol, Inner Mongolia was sent to forced labor camp four times. At the Hohhot Women's Forced Labor Camp, both her legs almost became disabled.
One day in October 2006, policewoman Li Dan (李丹) took Ms. Jia to a dark room. Ma Xiabin (马夏斌) ordered Ms. Jia to stand up straight, but she couldn’t do that due to all the injuries from previous torture and fell to the ground.
Under the direction of Ma, six to seven inmates took Ms. Jia to the ladies' room. They forced her to sit on a bench with both legs on another stool. The inmates pushed down on Ms. Jia’s head, body and feet. They had people stomp on Ms. Jia’s legs, causing fractures almost right away.
Forcing Practitioners to Do Splits with Shackles On
With this torture method, the person's legs are abruptly split into a straight line, which can cause strained ligaments and muscles immediately.
Practitioner Sun Jianzhong (孙建中) from Fengrun District, Tangshan was repeatedly arrested. In June 2003, Mr. Sun went on a hunger strike at the Fengrun Detention Center.
Yu Congrui (于从瑞), the head of the detention center, tied Mr. Sun's limbs to the bed legs, with his feet shackled. The chain in between the shackles was pulled taut and fastened to the bed legs, so that he could not move. Prisoners took turns watching him around the clock to make sure that he couldn't sleep. While Mr. Sun was immobilized and helpless, an inmate struck his left leg, causing a fracture in his femur.
After being tied down like that for seven days and nights, the left side of Mr. Sun's body lost all sensation. A palm-size festering bedsore developed on his back. The back of his left thigh had large purple bruises. It took six months for the left side of his body to recover, but even then, a protrusion on his left thigh was still clearly visible.
