Methods of torture and intimidation used at Masanjia to get practitioners to renounce the practice of Falun Gong.

Relentless Brainwashing in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, Liaoning Province

The 1st Branch of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Liaoning Province is divided into three groups. Each group holds over 100 prisoners. The 3rd Group specializes in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. The group was set up on September 29, 2008. The maximum number of practitioners held in the group since November 2008 has been 102. Some of them were transferred by the Forced Labor Dispatch Division of Beijing City, others from Chaoyang City, Huludao City, Fushun City, Jinzhou City, Dalian City, Wafangdian City and Anshan City, Liaoning Province. The 3rd Group is divided into three squadrons. The 1st and 2nd Squadrons hold Falun Gong practitioners, while the the 3rd one holds criminal prisoners. Each squadron is further divided into two squads or two dormitories. Each Dormitory has 24 beds and is assigned two class heads, who are normal prisoners who assist the prison guards in watching the practitioners.

In the 3rd Group the following methods are used in attempts to force practitioners to give up their belief:

1. Creating an atmosphere of horror. Falun Gong practitioners newly sent to the labor camp see over ten prison guards with electric batons in the hall on the first floor. The bursting sound of the electric batons and the prison guards' abusive shouting create an atmosphere of horror for the newcomers. After they have been assigned their groups, they take their luggage and go to a hall on the fourth floor, where they are disrobed and searched. In the process the prison guards interrogate the practitioners. They want to know whether they had written the so called guarantee statement to denounce Falun Gong. They shock the practitioners with the electric batons before they can even put on their pants.

2. Physical punishment. Most victims are forced to stand facing against the wall with their heels joined. They are forbidden from closing their eyes and are closely watched by the class heads or the so-called civil administrators. Normally they are kept standing from 6:00 a.m. to noon without any breaks except for having dinner, using the toilet, or for interrogations. The victimized practitioners included Mr. Chen Yan from Heilongjiang Province and Mr. Sun Shuchen from Anshan City, Liaoning Province.

3. Forced brainwashing. Practitioners are forced to watch videos and other material that slanders Falun Gong created by the Chinese Center TV (CCTV) and other Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents.

4. Electric shocks. Prison guards shock practitioners with 800,000-volt electric batons. Sometimes the victims are shocked by three or four electric batons simultaneously or in turn until the batons run out of electricity or the victims make concessions. Some of the victims included Mr. Zheng Haitao from Chengde City, Hebei Province, Mr. Yu Ming from Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, Mr. Zheng Xujun from Zhejiang Province, Mr. Zhaojian from Hebei Province, Mr. Cuidejun from Wafangdian City, Liaoning Province, Mr. Du Zhiying from Huludao City, Liaoning Province, Mr. Zhao Liankai from Fushun City, Liaoning Province, Mr. Liu Yu from Fushun City and Mr. Luo Chungui from Fushun City.

5. Hanging and shackling. Practitioners' hands are shackled and affixed to the upper bunk of a double-layered steel bed frame for long periods of time. One victim of this torture was Mr. Cui Dejun from Wafangdian City.

6. Bedding torture. The victim is placed between the lower and upper bunks of a double-layered steel bed in a bent-over position with their legs bound and fixed. Their arms are lifted upwards and hang to the upper layer of the steel bed while the prison guards drag their arms with ropes. The cruel torture leads to injuries in the victims' muscles, joints and nervous systems. Consequently, the practitioners' fingers lose all sensitivity and became crippled. It can take a very long time to recover from such torture. Some of the victims included Mr. Cui Dejun, Mr. Li Hailong from Inner Mongolia, Mr. Liu Xuezhi from Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, Mr. Cai Chao from Jinzhou City and Mr. Zhang Lianxing from Dalian City.

Falun Gong practitioners are subjected to all kinds of torture because the labor camp wants to force them into writing the so called Three Statements denouncing Falun Gong. In addition, they are forced to sign their names on a slogan board and read out the texts on it. This is what they call "transformation." The practitioners are subsequently forced to take a writing test, in which they have to answer the same questions denouncing Falun Gong repeatedly. If they fail to answer the questions according to the labor camp requirements they are tortured again, until they make the required concessions.

Aiming to "transform" Falun Gong practitioners, the labor camp rearranged the two squadrons of Falun Gong practitioners in March 2009. They allocated relatively younger practitioners of longer detention to the 2nd Squadron and assigned them the task of producing once-only bathing clothes on the thirty newly-bought sewing machines. Every practitioner was assigned a certain working quota, but the work loads kept rising. Those who failed to finish their quota had to continue working after supper. Those about to be released and the older practitioners were allocated to the 1st Squadron to continue producing plastic flowers. The group heads said that according to labor camp regulations, the workloads of Falun Gong practitioners are 50% of that of normal prisoners, but the actual tasks exceeded the regulated ones. The actual workloads of practitioners have kept rising, and those who failed to finish their tasks were punished. Group head Jing said in a meeting that the current working quota is still far from being enough. For the older and those with poor eyesight and physical conditions, such workloads can result in serious health problems. The situation is made even worse because they are provided with very poor-quality food every day.

Currently, over eighty Falun Gong practitioners are held in the 3rd Group of the 1st Branch of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.