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Bakery Owner Brutally Tortured in a Detention Center: “I Didn't Think I Would Come Home Alive”

August 29, 2014 |   By a Minghui correspondent from Hebei Province, China

(Minghui.org) Mr. Wang's wife couldn't believe the man standing in front of her was her husband. Once healthy and strong, he was now emaciated and hunchbacked and he limped.

In the first three days after Mr. Wang Haijin came home, he didn't say anything about what had happened to him during the past three months at the detention center.

When his wife asked, he only told her, “I didn't think I would come home alive.”

Mr. Wang at the grand opening of his bakery

Mr. Wang after his release

This 5'10'' tall man lost 60 pounds in the detention center, weighing only 140 by the time he was released. He often vomited after eating, and even if he just drank water. His wife suspected that the guards had drugged him when they force-fed him.

Even a month after he returned home, Mr. Wang couldn't sleep at night. He kept having flashbacks of being tortured during his 90 days in detention. While lying in bed to rest, his limbs would involuntarily stretch out to the sides, as if he were being force-fed.

Unable to eat or sleep well, he remained very weak.

When the phone rang, he got scared and nervous, worried that it might be the police.

Encouraged by his wife and other family members, he gradually opened up and told them the story.

Force-feeding

Mr. Wang Haijin from Funing County, Qinhuangdao, was arrested for his belief in Falun Gong on April 22 at his bakery and taken to Funing County Detention Center. During the 90 days he was held there, he was force-fed, savagely beaten, sexually abused, and made to do forced labor.

In the first few days at the detention center, he refused to wear the inmate uniform. Three inmates struck him and knocked out his front teeth. They finally forced a uniform on him and took him to the cell.

Mr. Wang held a hunger strike to protest the unwarranted arrest and detention. On the fourth day, the guards began to force-feed him. Unable to bear the pain of having the feeding tube inserted through his nose, he gave up and began to eat.

Torture illustration: Force-feeding

Detention center guard Zhang Qiang made him to do manual labor before he had fully recovered from the hunger strike, and they kept increasing his workload.

On May 13, about a month after he was arrested, Chen Yingli and Chen Dedong from Funing Domestic Security Division interrogated him in the detention center.

Mr. Wang staged a hunger strike again to protest. Guards and inmates took him to an empty cell and force-fed him. Several inmates held down his arms and legs, while another inmate covered his mouth, breaking one of his teeth in the process. A doctor inserted a thick tube through his nose into his stomach.

Blood gushed from his nose and mouth. Even the doctor could not stomach the gruesome scene and she vomited.

They kept the tube in his nose for days. Inmates force-fed him every day during that time, causing excruciating pain.

Beating and Sexual Abuse

The guards locked Mr. Wang with death row prisoner Yan Wei on a “Death Bed.” Yan beat Mr. Wang with his handcuffs and his hands became badly swollen.

Torture re-enactment: Death Bed

Torture re-enactment: Beating

On May 21, five inmates tortured him after most of the guards had gone home, attempting to force him to quit his hunger strike. Head of the inmates Li Long ordered inmate Gao Naichang to pinch Mr. Wang's penis. Li said that the guards had instructed them not to leave any visible wounds.

Health Deteriorates Due to Forced Labor

In early June, the guards began to force Mr. Wang to do manual labor. His assignment was to make 2,000 paper cups every day. If he couldn't finish, the guards made him clean the restroom or stand in one place all night.

Most inmates make 2,000 to 4,000 cups daily. The detention center never provided enough food for the laborers despite the heavy workload.

Due to exhaustion and malnutrition, Mr. Wang's heartbeat accelerated and he had difficulty breathing. His body began to swell. He felt very weak and lost his appetite.

Mr. Wang asked to see a doctor in mid-July. The detention center ignored him because he couldn't afford treatment. They gave him some pills and continued to force him to work.

His health deteriorated within a few days. His legs were badly swollen, and he couldn't eat or sleep. He again asked to go to the hospital, and the guards finally took him on July 15. He was diagnosed with heart failure and admitted to the hospital.

Released on Bail

Chen Yingli, head of Domestic Security Division, went to Mr. Wang's home on the afternoon of July 21 and told his family that the police were releasing him on bail.

His family went with Chen to the Niutouya Police Station to fill out the paperwork. They paid 2,000 yuan to bail him out. They took Mr. Wang home that evening.

Before they left, Chen Yingli kept saying that they weren't done with him and that if his case was submitted to the Procuratorate, Mr. Wang will have to appear in court.

Denied Family Visits

When Mr. Wang was detained, his wife went to the detention center several times to visit him. She was turned away each time. Yang Kejun, the head of the detention center, kept telling her that Mr. Wang was doing well.

Because of his wife's efforts to rescue him, she and their two daughters were constantly harassed by the authorities.

Related:Bakery Owner on Hunger Strike to Protest Illegal Detention, Police Threatens 7-Year-OldPractitioner Wang Haijin Illegally Detained for Over a Month; His Bakery Operation Forced to Close