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2. Detention and Abuse in Mental Hospital
Case 1
Victims: Numerous Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Dalian City, Liaoning Province
Description:
On September 27, in order to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from going to Beijing to appeal to the government during the October 1 anniversary celebration, the Police Department began to take many practitioners into custody. The arrested practitioners were detained at the Dalian Drug Rehabilitation Center.
Case 2
Victims: Several Falun Gong practitioners, including Wei Huayu and Tan Guihua
Location of incident: Jiaozhou City, Shandong Province
Description:
The government of Jiaozhou City, Shandong Province, arrested over 50 Falun Gong practitioners on September 8, and did not released them as of October 12, 1999.
Several practitioners were sent to mental hospitals and locked-up with mentally ill patients. Wei huayu, who works for the Jiaozhuo Accounting Firm, and Tan Guihua, who works for the Third Shoe Factory of Jiaozhuo, were forcibly given tranquilizer injections for over 20 days while detained at the mental hospital.
Case 3
Victim: Cheng Zhong (male, 55)
Location of incident: Menghe Town of Wujin City, Jiangsu Province
Description:
Mr. Cheng Zhong is 55 years old and in good health. He began to practice Falun Dafa in October 1998. Since July 22, 1999, the local police spoke to Cheng Zhong many times and warned him not to practice Falun Dafa anymore. He refused to give up his practice since it was very beneficial to him.
On the afternoon of September 25, a group made up of policemen and members of the Department of Civic Affairs detained him in order to have a conversation with him. After they got him in the police car, they took him directly to the “Center for Mental Diseases” - Hospital No. 102 in Changzhou under the pretense that it was for an “examination”.
After the examination, the policemen tried again to persuade him to stop practicing Falun Dafa, but Cheng Zhong still refused. Mr. Cheng was then threatened, “We will make you become mentally ill even if you are currently not.”
On the afternoon of September 28, policemen took Cheng Zhong to the Third Hospital of Wujin City, which is a mental hospital. In that hospital, he was forcibly medicated. He tried to refuse because he had no health problems. The doctors (or possibly the policemen, the author is uncertain) tortured him with an electric instrument for a total of five times. Finally Cheng Zhong was forced to accept the medication. This situation continued for more than ten days.
Recorded in an audiocassette, Mr. Cheng said: “I am feeling very cold as I only have a T-shirt on me. My family does not know my whereabouts. I do not have a change of clothes, nor can I shave. In fact, the hospital, whose name is ‘humanitarian hospital’, is detaining many people who appealed to the government for various injustices they received. Compared to the detention centers, the hospital is an even worse place with many more cruel mental and physical tortures. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner and also a law abiding citizen. I practice ‘Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance’ that is beneficial to both the state and society. Why am I treated like this?!”
Case 4
Victims: 12 Falun Gong practitioners
Message received on October 12, 1999.
Location of incident: Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province
Description:
According to an officer in Jinzhou, since the Chinese leadership declared Falun Dafa an “evil religion”, the Jinzhou City government will take an extreme measure by sending 12 jailed practitioners currently on a hunger strike to a drug rehabilitation center.
Case 5
Victims: 30 Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Dalian City, Liaoning Province
Description:
October 15, 1999, about thirty practitioners who refused to give up their belief in Falun Dafa were thrown into a so-called “close-room” class that was held in a drug rehabilitation center. While there, policemen gave them an “education for changing their thoughts”. The policemen said that these practitioners would be released as soon as they would not do anything related to Falun Gong. The family members of these practitioners do not understand why the class is being held at a drug rehabilitation center.
Case 6
Victim: Niu Jingping (male)
Location of incident: Beijing
Description:
On November 4, at noon, three people wearing white long gowns came to the home of Beijing practitioner, Niu Jingping. Niu was just released from the detention center. The three people claimed that they were from the police station and asked Niu to go with them. When Niu asked them where they would take him, they told him they were going to the police station.
According to Niu’s brother, the Beijing Chaoyang district police station issued a certificate that Niu had a mental disease. These three people took Niu to a mental hospital. Another Falun Gong practitioner also witnessed this.
Personal Account:
At 7:00am, November 1, 1999, while I was washing clothes, several people came to my home, claiming that they wanted to give me a health examination. They then brought me to the Huilongguan Hospital (a hospital for mental illness). I have been arrested, beaten up and detained. Moreover, I was forced to take medicine for seven days in a mental hospital. When asked for a certificate of diagnosis, the hospital refused and told me, “We will detain you again if you go to appeal.” I personally know that there are four more practitioners still being detained in this mental hospital.
Case 7
Victims: Name (gender)
Liu Wen (Unclear) Wang Fenglong (male) Yang Yong (male) Wang Shuzhen (female)
Chen Shumei (female) Yang Xuehua (unknown) Yang Xiuru (female) Liu Shengzhi (unknown) Xu Shufen (female) Wang Yingyuan (female) Zhang Yuzhen (female) Zhang Shihong (female) Cao Xiufen (female) Ren Shufen (female)
Bai Xiulian (unclear) Jiang Xianglian (female) Su Fengxia (female) Yang Fenglian (female) Liu Yuxiang (female) Zhao Guomin (unknown) Jiang Shufen (Female) Li Wanfeng (unknown) Shi Zhiguo (male) Hu Yajing (female)
Xu Jianguang (male) Song Zhenlan (female) Cui Hongxia (female) Liu Shuying (female) Yu Huanfeng (female) Li Xiujuan (female) Cui Chuanzhong (male) Liu Xiuchen (male) Fan Xiuzhen (female) Zhang Cuihua (female) Li Huixin (unknown) Xu Hemin (male)
Su Xiurong (female) Chen Shuling (female) Niu Shuzhen (female) Jiang Jingfang (female) Liu Chunhua (female) Gao Zhenxue (male) Liu Fengxia (female) Wang Xiuhui (female) He Guizhen (female) Yang Shufang (female) Liu Zhixia (female) Li Ruilian (female)
Li Huiyun (unknown) Cui Xiuzhen (female) Liu Shuxin (female) Chen Wentong (male)
Location of incident: Zhoukoudian Psychiatric Hospital, Fangshan District, Beijing
Description:
At the beginning of December 1999, the Chengguan police station in the Fanshan District of Beijing arrested fifty-two Falun Gong practitioners under a variety of charges. Later, the police station sent all of them to a local mental hospital on the excuse of preventing Falun Gong practitioners from going to appeal during Macao’s return to Chinese rule. Also, every practitioner was ordered to pay 800 to 1,000 Yuan (1,000 Yuan is more than one month’s salary for an average employee in China). It was said that it was the responsibility of the chief of police to decide when these practitioners were to be released.
Personal Account:
We fifty-two practitioners are being detained in the Zhoukoudian mental hospital. On December 6, the Fangshan District police took us to the police station under the pretense of attending “re-education” classes, having a meeting, filling out forms, having conversations, etc. Later, all of us were sent to Zhoukoudian Mental Hospital without any legal or medical formalities. It has now been more than forty days. They have also censored all news about us. The hospital director said, “They detain you here because they are afraid that you might go to appeal during Macao’s return and on New Year’s Day.”
The conditions of our detainment are quite poor. For all of us we have only one bed, one quilt, two bowls and one set of chopsticks. We do not have any other personal articles such as toiletry items, extra clothing nor can we take a bath. At night, they take a head count and we are routinely checked on by the hospital staff members. We can hear them walking all night. Moreover, the room where we are detained is situated right next to an entertainment facility that does Karaoke throughout the night. Every night, we can hardly fall asleep for more than half the night from the loud noise.
Everyday they feed us one bowl of cereal, a steamed bun and several pieces of pickle for breakfast and dinner. For lunch, we are given half a bowl of rice and a little boiled cabbage. We simply do not have enough food.
Personal Account:
Two of us that were detained are a married couple. Our detention has brought a lot of hardship to our family. The government has threatened our 18-year old and 13-year-old children. They have shut off the power of our apartment for one month. They also threatened that they would send our two children to the mental hospital and torture these children. My elder-daughter has had to quit her job. She cannot go to work because she must stay home to take care of her younger brother and sister. We have suffered severe financial losses in addition to the inhumane mental and physical suffering. These two children have suffered unbearable mental pressure.
Personal Account:
On December 6, the police arrested me. My elderly mother-in-law was not informed of my whereabouts. At noon on the day of my arrest, I was not at home and there was nobody to take care of her lunch. After I was taken into custody, I heard that my mother-in-law cried at home everyday. One of my sisters-in-law is also being detained here which has caused much worry and hard-ship for my mother-in-law. My daughter is only 11 years old and could not take care of herself, let alone her aged grandmother.
Not only did the police cheat us but they also swindled us. Ten days after I was detained here, the official of my village went to my home to ask for money. He said that we would be detained for one month, and we have to pay 1,000 Yuan (more than one month’s salary for an average employee in China) to cover our living expenses while we were being detained. My family members, who were trusting and honest, gave him 1,000 Yuan without any argument and without any receipt. After New Year’s Day, the official went to my home again to ask for money, saying that we had to pay a deposit of another 1,000 Yuan. I heard that my family has not paid that money yet because they could not afford it.
Current Situation:
All 52 practitioners who had been detained in the Zhoukoudian mental hospital were released as of January 22. Twenty-one of them were released after their family members paid the “deposit”. The rest of them started a hunger strike yesterday morning. Meanwhile, American journalists went to the hospital in order to interview the practitioners. The Chinese government had to release the practitioners under the pressure from the media. However, the government claimed that the practitioners were freed only to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year. It is possible they might be detained again after the Chinese New Year.
Case 8
Victim: Anonymous (age 22)
Location of incident: Jining City, Shandong Province
Personal Account:
I am 22 years old. On October 25, I went to Beijing to peacefully and quietly appeal to the government. However, I was arrested and escorted back to my home-town on my third day in Beijing. I was first given 15 days of detention. Then, on the seventh day of my detention, I was sent to the mental hospital in Jining City, Shandong province.
The following is an account of my detention and torture while in the mental hospital. I do not have any mental problems. I was sent to the mental hospital because the authorities wanted to destroy me psychologically in order to prevent me from practicing Falun Gong and striving to be a better person under the guidance of Falun Gong.
To get me into the mental hospital, the police department forced my father and the officials of my workplace to sign a statement saying that I had mental problems. Then kidnapped me and took me against my will to the mental hospital. On the afternoon when I was admitted, four male doctors carrying a very thick rope forced me to put on the hospital uniform. While I was changing clothes, a female doctor gave me an injection. I struggled desperately, but the four male doctors tied me to a bed with that rope. They gave me a lot of injections. In a short while, the medication started to take effect. I tried my best to control myself but I could not stand well. I felt extremely anxious, very uncomfortable, and very thirsty. I bumped against the wall and the ground anxiously. I thought of death. Later the doctor gave me another injection. I fell asleep. On the second day, my head became a blank. I had a headache and I fainted. I could not think about anything. My legs and arms had no strength. My tongue felt still, and stretched out like it was being pulled out by something and I could not pull it back. My neck also felt stiff and it stretched forward to an extreme extent. I could hardly control these movements. Being like this, I could not eat at all. Therefore, they fed me through my nose. The nurse said this was the way to persecute the members of “an evil religion”. Later, my nose started to bleed. They had given me nine injections in total.
On my third day in the mental hospital, they forced me to take perphenazine. In the beginning, they only fed me one pill. Later they fed me 4 to 5 pills because I practiced Falun Gong. The symptoms of taking perphenazine were the same as being injected. I suffered inhumane psychological and physical torture like this for 36 days.
Presently, the Jining mental hospital has become a place to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. There are still many practitioners being detained there.
Case 9
Victims: Jiang Zhaofang, Li Kangqing, Zhao Qiaomin, Lu Baona
Location of incident: Xinxiang City, Henan Province
Description:
As of January 29, 2000, four Falun Gong practitioners are still being detained in the Second Mental Hospital of Xinxiang Medical Institute in Henan Province. They are being detained because they had gone to Beijing twice to peacefully appeal for Falun Gong, and had refused to give up their faith in Falun Gong. They are Jiang Zhaofang from Puyang City, Li Kangqing who is a doctor, and Zhao Qiaomin who is a nurse, from the tumor hospital of Zhengzhou, and Lu Baona from Jiaozuo City. They have been treated as mental patients and abused for one to two months.
When the worried family members asked the doctors on duty why they treated normal people as mental patients, the shocking reply was, “We do not care about that. We just follow the instructions from the police department.” When asked, “where are your professional ethics as medical workers?” they remained silent.
Case 10
Victim: Huang Jinchun (male, 34)
Location of the incident: Liuzhou City, Guangxi Province
Description: BEIJING, Feb 11 (AFP) - A Chinese judge has been sacked and locked up in a mental asylum because he refuses to renounce his belief in the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a rights group said Friday.
The Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said Huang Jinchun, a civil court judge at the Beihai Intermediate People’s Court in the southern Guangxi autonomous region, was picked up at his house on November 15.
The Hong Kong-based rights group said the 34-year-old judge had been detained at the Long Qianshan asylum in the city of Liuzhou, and had been prevented from seeing his family for three months.
The centre said Huang was injected with tranquilizers after he continued to practice Falun Gong meditation at the institution.
A statement from the centre said Long Qianshan was run like a prison, and that patients were only allowed two hours of exercise per day and received no treatment.
It said Huang had been allowed out of the institution for 10 days over the Lunar New Year holiday during which he urged his family to publicize the detention of Falun Gong practitioners in asylums.
The statement said Huang had insisted he was perfectly “normal”.
An official at Beihai Intermediate People’s Court confirmed Huang was sacked in October, saying it was “possible” he was now in detention.
Nobody was available for comment at the Long Qianshan asylum.
The centre also said 50 Falun Gong practitioners detained at the Zhoukoudian psychiatric hospital near Beijing had been released on January 23 after widespread publicity about their cases.
It said up to 500 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in a Lunar New Year clampdown following a high-profile mass protest in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square last week.
Chinese authorities admit more than 35,000 members of the banned group were detained while attempting to make similar protests between July and mid-November.
Case 11
Victim: Hang Jizhen (female)
Location of incident: Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province
Personal Statement:
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Physics at the University of
Houston and my mother Hang Jizhen is a Falun Gong
practitioner in Nanjing. ... On December 23, She went to
Beijing to appeal to the Central government in the hopes
of communicating the truth about Falun Gong. ... In
Tiananmen Square she was arrested and beaten.
Policemen escorted her back to Nanjing and detained her
in Nanjing Mental Hospital (now called “Nanjing
Hospital for Brain Diseases”). Initially, the hospital
refused to commit her but under pressure from the local
government they had no choice. The doctor told the family that Hang Jizheng was committed involuntarily
because she insisted on practicing Falun Gong, despite
the fact that she has no mental illnesses. While in the
hospital she was forced to receive injections and pills,
which left her feeling sick and extremely weak. When
family members requested her release, they were told:
”We have no choice. As long as the police sent her here
we have to medicate her. She was released for only two
days for the Chinese New Year and brought back to the
mental hospital by the police because she still insists on
practicing Falun Gong. Up until now she is still suffering
inhuman torture in the mental hospital.
Case 12
A First Rank Police Supervisor “Treated” in Nanjing Mental Hospital
Message received on February 20, 2000
Victim: Ding Jianhua (female, 47)
Location of incident: Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province
Description:
Ding Jianhua, female, 47, a first rank police supervisor and the head of the Department of Health Care of the Public Security Bureau of Jiangsu Province, was sent to the Nanjing Brain Hospital (mental hospital) on October 3, 1999 to accept forced treatments because she refused to give up her belief in Falun Gong. The abusive “treatments” have been very detrimental, slowing her reaction and blurring her eyesight. Currently, she is being detained in the 27th Bed of Sixth District in Nanjing Mental Hospital. Three other practitioners are also being detained and abused there. They could be visited from 2pm to 5pm everyday. Practitioners hope that journalists could interview them and expose their sufferings.
Case 13
More than 20 Practitioners “Treated” in Laiyang Mental Hospital and Demanded Expensive Fees
Message received on February 22, 2000
Victims: More than 20 Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Laiyang City, Shandong province
Description:
Up to now, more than twenty practitioners have been sent to the Yantai Mental Recovering Center located at Laiyang City. They were forced to take medicines and injections. The hospital would force-feed them if they refused to take medicines. The Chinese authorities attempted to disturb the mental abilities of practitioners. Moreover, they were required to pay the expensive medical fees.
Among them, there were teachers from the Laiyang School of Medicine, teachers from the Laiyang Higher Education through Broadcasting and TV, and doctors from the Laiyang Central Hospital, etc. A practitioner from Qingdao City was also detained there because when he was sent to the local mental hospital, the local hospital refused to accept him since he is perfectly normal mentally.
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