(Minghui.org) Mr. Lang Qingcheng, 59, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Donggang City, Liaoning Province. In the 14 years, since the Chinese Communist Party began persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, he has been illegally arrested twice and imprisoned for a total of nine years.

Mr. Lang recounted, “After I was arrested in December 2000, my house and land were confiscated by the village committee and I did not receive any financial assistance. My wife and child had no income.

“To pay for our child's school fees, my wife was forced to sell our home and even owed a huge debt. She also had to travel to various prisons often to visit me. My wife brought our child up alone and endured huge stress and hardship. She was often threatened by the police and her health deteriorated.”

The following is Mr. Lang's personal account of his ordeals.

First Arrest, Sentenced to Forced Labor

Several practitioners and I planned to go to Beijing in December 2000 to appeal for Falun Gong. We were reported, arrested, and taken to the Xinghai Police Station in Dalian City.

I was detained at Yaojia Detention Center for 90 days and sentenced to three years of forced labor. I was taken to Dalian Forced Labor Camp.

Subjected to Brainwashing in Dalian Forced Labor Camp

The labor camp guards tried everything to try to make me give up my belief. In March 2001, Yu Mei from the Ganjingzi Police Department in Dalian City brought six collaborators to the labor camp to indoctrinate me with fallacies and absurdities in an attempt to make me stop practicing Falun Gong. I remained steadfast in my faith.

One day, Yu Mei told me that my parents and family had food poisoning and had been taken to the hospital for emergency treatment, that their condition was serious. I asked to call my family. She said if I agreed to give up Falun Gong, I would be allowed to call home. She threatened to torture me if I did not submit. She said I had to slander Master in front of his portrait and hand-copy prepared documents defaming Falun Gong and Master.

I agreed to being “transformed” against my will because I was worried about my family.

I realized after making the call that my family had been out of danger for a long time. Yu Mei had deceived me and I deeply regretted what I had done.

Two months later, the labor camp wanted me to write thought reports to check on the status of my "transformation," so I wrote a solemn statement refusing to be "transformed." I handed it to guard Chang Wangqi. A dozen practitioners also wrote their solemn statement refusing to be "transformed."

All of us were locked up in individual cells the next day. We were subjected to brainwashing singly for 24 hours.

Immediately afterwards, we were sent to different divisions and again locked up separately. I was taken to the Fourth Division and watched closely by four convicts.

Slave Labor in Guanshan Forced Labor Camp

I was transferred to Guanshan Forced Labor Camp in Changtu County, Liaoning Province, in August 2001. The labor camp head ordered convicts to bring me and 12 other practitioners to a large empty room. Our hands were handcuffed behind our backs. The guards threatened to torture us with electric batons. We were made to sit on the cement floor overnight and not allowed to sleep.

Everyone was driven outside at around 3 a.m on the third day. We were made to squat out in the open air wearing only trousers and a singlet, barefooted. We squatted until 7 a.m.

I was made to work in the quarry for three months. Temperatures in the quarry were extremely high and I toiled barefooted, wearing only a singlet and pants. Blisters erupted all over my body as a result of the heat. I was scorched for over a month and became emaciated beyond recognition.

My body was swollen from the end of 2000 to May 2002. Due to the humidity inside the cells, I got scabies filled with pus all over my body. It was so itchy I could not sleep at night. This went on until August.

The labor camp was moved to the outskirts of Changtu County in July 2002. I was locked up in a room with other practitioners from July to October. We were subjected to various types of brainwashing and made to sit on small stools from 7 a.m. until past 9 p.m.

After October we were forced to move big rocks every day to pave the yard.

Shocked with High Voltage Electric Baton

Torture Re-enactment: Shocked with an electric baton

Once, a practitioner stepped forward to stop a convict from bullying another practitioner and ended up being sent to solitary confinement. I stopped working to protest the unfair treatment. Head guard Gao and Yang Fan handcuffed my arms behind my back at 7 p.m. Two convicts helped them hold me down. The guards poured water on the ground around my body, then shocked me with a 15,000-volt electric baton for half an hour. The current was so strong that I was lifted off the ground and rolled about in pain.

My neck, back, chest, armpits, and head were covered with large blisters as a result of being shocked for such a long time. The pain was unbearable. Yet, the two guards continued to shock me for another seven minutes or so. I had injuries all over.

Second Arrest, Interrogated under Tortue

I was arrested again on the night of February 9, 2007. Officers from the Dadong Police Department followed me as I drove a car to deliver Dafa books, a DVD burner, and other equipment to practitioners. Fellow practitioners Yu Chune and Zhang Qinggui who were with me were arrested. The officers searched me and took the 1,305 yuan in cash I had with me. Zhang Qingkui was robbed of 3,000 yuan in cash. My van and all my belongings in the car were confiscated.

At the police department, four officers held me down and beat me for more than 10 minutes. Officer Xu held me down on a chair and shackled my hands behind the chair. Xu sat on the table, stepped on my head, and lit two cigarettes. Then he stuck the cigarettes into my nostrils. I was smoked with four cigarettes in total. My nose kept running nonstop afterwards. I was sent to Donggang Detention Center at 4 a.m.

Torture Re-enactment: Cigarette in nostrils and mouth covered.

Subjected to Brainwashing

Zhang Qinggui and I were locked up together in Weining Forced Labor Camp on April 12, 2007. Both of us were placed in an empty room for a month. For 14 hours, from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m., around eight guards working in shifts forced us to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong and Master. They kept repeating he Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) fallacies and lies.

A week later, I was separated from Zhang Qinggui. During the day we had to do slave labor and when we finished after 9 p.m, we were sent to be brainwashed.

Secretly Tried

Officers from the Dadong Police Department took us back to Donggang in early October 2007 and put us in the detention center. They planned to sentence us to heavy prison sentences.

Zhang Qinggui and I were tried on Donggang City Court on December 25, 2007. No one listened to us nor did anyone defend us. Half an hour later our sentences were read out to us.

Zhang Qinggui and I were each sentenced to six years in prison. We appealed to the Intermediate Court in Dandong City, but the court upheld the original sentence.

Persecution Driven by Personal Gains

In May 2008, Zhang Qinggui and I were sent to Dabei Prison in Shenyang.

I was transferred to Dongling Prison in Shenyang on June 12, 2008. There, I was made to work like a slave gluing gemstones. This requires high temperatures and the iron rod has to be very hot before the gemstones can be affixed to the surface. Every time I did this, my hands were burned and developed blisters. As time went by, a thick layer of white callus formed on my hand. Six months later, I refused to do slave labor to protest the persecution.

Fuard Tian Kuncheng locked me in a room on July 6, and a few convicts were ordered to monitor me. For two days and nights in a row, I had to squat in the same spot without moving. I was forbidden to sleep and whenever I closed my eyes, the convicts would beat me.

Two days later, my legs swelled up and I started to feel dizzy. The doctors checked me and said my blood pressure had increased to 220. Knowing that I was disoriented, Tian Kuncheng made me sign documents renouncing my faith. I was muddleheaded and signed. When my mind became clear, I was extremely distressed by what I had done.

Tian Kuncheng was thrilled to get my signature. He said, “I'm very grateful to you! Before, I was not sure if I would get promoted to deputy prison guard, but because of your 'transformation,' I'm now 80% confident.”

Later on, I learned that Dongling Prison gave him “third grade merit” and rewarded him with 3,000 yuan. He was also promoted to deputy head of the prison ward.

One day, Tian Kuncheng came to me and gloated, “I must thank you.” He said the prison had agreed to reduce my sentence by 3 months and asked me to cooperate with them.

I knew they were trying to tempt me. I replied, “I don't want my sentence to be reduced and I will not give in to you.”

Tian Kuncheng brought me to his office at the end of July 2012. He told me that the Shenyang Court was going to send someone over to verify that I had indeed given up Falun Gong. He said that he decided to reduce my sentence and asked me to cooperate with him. I turned him down once again.

I wrote a solemn declaration to the prison on October 26, 2012, stating that the document I was forced to sign under duress was null and void. Tian Kuncheng angrily threw me into a room. I was not allowed to move or talk, and two convicts watched me. Tian came to see me often, threatening and abusing me. He tried to make me give up practicing, but I refused! This time I was tormented for six months.

I finally returned home on February 9, 2013.