| Index | Previous | Next |
Chapter 2 Detention and Abuse in Mental Hospitals
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2.1 AUTHORITIES SENT PEOPLE TO MENTAL HOSPITALS FOR PRACTICING FALUN GONG
2.1.1 A young practitioner’s sufferings in a mental hospital
2.1.2 Li Yuning detained in mental hospital
2.1.3 Practitioners in Linyi detained in mental hospital
2.1.4 Practitioners in Wuhan detained in mental hospital and imposed fines
2.1.5 Practitioners abused in Mental Hospital
2.1.6 A first rank police supervisor “treated” in Nanjing Mental Hospital
2.1.7 More than 20 practitioners “treated” in Laiyang Mental Hospital
2.1.8 Mother of a Ph.D. student abused in a mental hospital in China
2.1.9 A Judge was persecuted in a mental hospital for practicing Falun Gong
2.1.10 Four Falun Gong practitioners are still detained in a mental hospital
2.1.11 Fifty-two practitioners detained and tortured in the Zhoukoudian Mental
Hospital
2.1.12 How I was forced into a hospital for mental patients
2.1.13 Practitioners trapped and their basic human rights violated
2.1.14 Detained in a mental hospital for 41 days, family broken apart
2.1.15 A group of Falun Gong practitioners tortured
at the Beijing Zhoukoudian Mental Hospital
2.1.16 Parents forced into a mental hospital,
children threatened and left at home with the power cut off
2.1.17 Experiences in a detention center and a mental hospital
2.1.18 Practitioners held at a drug rehabilitation center
2.1.19 Physical and mental tortures against practitioners,
some forced to take sedatives
2.1.20 Practitioners taken to Drug Rehabilitation Center
to prevent them from appealing
2.1.21 A normal Falun Gong practitioner treated as a mentally disordered patient
2.1 Authorities Sent People To Mental Hospitals For Practicing Falun Gong
2.1.1 A young practitioner’s sufferings in a mental hospital
Victim: A 22 years old Falun Gong practitioner
Location of incident: Jining, Shandong Province
Description:
Below is his own statement:
On October 25, I went to Beijing to peacefully appeal to the government. However, I was arrested and escorted back to my hometown 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 a mental hospital in Jining, Shandong province.
I do not have any mental problems. I was sent to the mental hospital because the authorities wanted to destroy me mentally in order to prevent me from practicing Falun Gong.
In order to put 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. They then forced me into the mental hospital. Four male doctors carried a very thick rope and forced me to put on the uniform for the mental patients. When 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 their rope. They gave me a lot of injections. Soon the medicine started to take effect. I tried my best to control myself but I could not keep myself balanced. I felt extremely anxious, very uncomfortable and thirsty. I bumped against the wall and fell to the ground anxiously. Thoughts of death flashed through my mind. 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 of anything. My legs and arms had no strength. My tongue felt stiff and stretched out from my mouth as if something was pulling it out and I could not pull it back. I also felt stiff in my neck, which stretched forward at an extreme angle. However, my main consciousness could hardly control these movements. Being like this, I could not eat at all. Therefore, they inserted a tube through my nose into my stomach and fed me. The nurse said this was the way to persecute the members of “an evil religion”. Later, my nose started to bleed. By that time, they had given me nine injections in total.
On my third day in the mental hospital, they forced me to take perphenazine. At 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 had suffered such inhumane mental and physical tortures like this for 36 days.
Now Jining Mental Hospital has become a place to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. There are still many practitioners being detained there. I hope the international communities and all the kind-hearted people around the world pay attention to our sufferings.
2.1.2 Li Yuning detained in mental hospital
Message received: February 25, 2000
Victim: Li Yuning
Location of incident: Beijing, China
Description:
Several days ago, the police arrested Ms. Li Yuning at her home. Ms. Li had appealed to the government and got arrested many times. This time, she was arrested for a suspected involvement in collecting signatures for the open letter to the National People’s Congress. This time, the police sent her to the Anding Hospital (a Mental Hospital). The detailed situation is unknown.
2.1.3 Practitioners in Linyi detained in mental hospital
Message received: February 21, 2000 [Buohuo Net]
Victim: Sun Weidong, a Falun Gong practitioner
Location of incident: Linyi, China
Description:
Sun Weidong, a practitioner from Linshu County, was sent to the Linyi mental hospital by his local police officers to accept “treatments” because he refused to give up Falun Gong. Whenever Mr. Sun told the hospital staff members that he was not a mentally ill patient, they would torture him using an electric baton or other means of torture. His wife had gone to the hospital to appeal for his release. However, he is still detained in the hospital.
2.1.4 Practitioners in Wuhan detained in mental hospital and imposed fines
Message received: February 21, 2000 [Buohuo Net]
Victims: Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
Description:
Many practitioners in Wuhan who continued to practice Falun Gong outdoors were each required to pay a deposit of 3,000 Yuan. The authorities resumed the “transformation class” for practitioners, who were demanded to write a pledge that they would not go to Beijing to appeal and not practice Falun Gong in public areas. It was said that those who could not be transformed during the class would be severely punished.
Two practitioners were sent to mental hospital. One of them got released a couple of days ago.
2.1.5 Practitioners abused in Mental Hospital
Message received: February 20, 2000 [Buohuo Net]
Victims:
1. Wang Jiming
2. Li Fengzhi
3. Lu Dongmei
and 4 others
Location of incident: China The police officers sent those practitioners who had been detained beyond legal time limit to the local mental hospital and forced them to accept the “treatments”. Many hospital staff members monitored them and forced them to take medicines and injections of large dosage. In a dozen of days, a normal person would be tortured to such an extent that he/she would lose strength and have a wan and dull look. Some would have their tongue pulled out and looked like a real lunatic. A practitioner had been abused in the hospital for over one month, and looked the same as a lunatic upon getting out of the hospital. Without the permission from the public security department, the hospital refused to release the practitioners. Seven practitioners including Wang Jiming, Li Fengzhi and Lu Dongmei had suffered this kind abuse in this hospital.
2.1.6 A first rank police supervisor “treated” in Nanjing Mental Hospital
Message received: February 20, 2000
Victim: Ding Jianhua, female, 47 years of age, and three other Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Nanjing Brain Hospital (mental hospital), 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 of 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 2:00pm to 5:00pm everyday. Practitioners hope that journalists could interview them and expose their sufferings.
2.1.7 More than 20 practitioners “treated” in Laiyang Mental Hospital
Message received: February 20, 2000
Victims: More than twenty Falun Gong practitioners, all residents of cities of Laiyang and Qingdao
Location of incident: Yantai Mental Recovering Center located at Laiyang
Description:
Up to now, more than twenty practitioners have been sent to the Yantai Mental Recovering Center located at Laiyang. 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 was also detained there because when he was sent to the local mental hospital, the local hospital refused to accept him since his mental state was perfect-ly normal.
2.1.8 Mother of a Ph.D. student abused in a mental hospital in China
Message received: February 17, 2000
Victim: Han Jizhen
Location of incident: Nanjing, Jiangsu Province
Description:
The following is a statement by Wang Yongsheng, a PhD student of Physics Department of Houston University, U.S.A.
My mother Han Jizhen is a Falun Gong practitioner in Nanjing of China. She is now being detained in a mental hospital although she is perfectly normal.
On December 23, my mother went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and was arrested by a young police officer who slapped her face madly. Later, she was escorted back to Nanjing and was thrown into the Nanjing mental hospital (now called Nanjing Brain Hospital). In the beginning, the hospital refused to accept her. However, under the pressure from the government authority, they took her in. The doctor said she was sent to the mental hospital because she was a Falun Gong practitioner, even though she had no mental illness. In the hospital, she was forced to take injections and medicines, which made her lose her strength and feel terrible. My family went to the hospital to request for her release, but the doctor said, “Since the police sent her here, we have to give her medicines. Otherwise, if she continues to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in the future, we will be in trouble.”
In the name of saving people from illnesses, the hospital has been utilized for political use in the hand of the Chinese Communist Party to persecute mentally normal people. The hospital has severely violated its working ethics.
Before the Chinese New Year’s Day, under the petition of my family, my mother was able to stay at home for two days. Then, the police sent her into the mental hospital again because she refused to give up her practice of Falun Gong. She is now still being abused in the mental hospital. I feel so sad that innocent people are being treated like that.
I appeal to the world for help.
2.1.9 A Judge was persecuted in a mental hospital for practicing Falun Gong
Message received: February 11, 2000
Victim: Huang Jinchun
Location of incident: Longqianshan Mental Hospital, Liuzhou, Guangxi Province
Description:
Huang Jinchun is a judge in the Civil Court of the Intermediate People’s Court of Beihai. In September of 1999, he went to Beijing to appeal on the banning of Falun Gong. He was caught in Beijing and was deported back to Beihai and detained for 15 days. Because he refused to give up the Falun Gong practice, the Intermediate court dismissed him on November 8. One week later, he was brought to the Longqianshan Mental Hospital in Liuzhou, which is about 300 kilometers north of his home. This Mental Hospital is the largest in Guangxi province. It holds hundreds of patients and is managed like a jail. There, Huang was forced to take various medicines and injections daily.
Huang said, “The doctors and nurses made fun of me, ‘aren’t you practicing Falun Gong? Let’s see which is more powerful, your Falun Gong or my medicine?’”
According to the reports from the Information Center of Hong Kong Human Rights and Democratic Movements, “Huang had no syndrome of mental disease either before or after he was sent to this mental hospital 3 months ago”, as claimed by his previous colleague and nurses.
2.1.10 Four Falun Gong practitioners are still detained in a mental hospital
Message received: January 29, 2000
Victims:
1. Jiang Zhaofang
2. Li Kangqing
3. Zhao Qiaomin
4. Lu Baona
Location of incident: Second Mental Hospital, Xinxiang, 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 of Henan Province because they went to Beijing twice to appeal for Falun Gong, and they refused to give up their faith in Falun Gong.
They are Jiang Zhaofang from Puyang, Li Kangqing who is a doctor, and Zhao Qiaomin who is a nurse, in the tumor hospital of Zhengzhou, and Lu Baona from Jiaozuo. They have been treated as mental patients and abused for different lengths of time, with one month being the shortest and two months being the longest.
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 being questioned about their professional ethics as medical workers, they kept silent.
2.1.11 Fify-two practitioners detained and tortured in the Zhoukoudian Mental Hospital
Message received: January 2, 2000
Victims: 52 Falun Gong practitioners in Fangshan District, Beijing
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, under a variety of fabricated charges, policemen from the Chengguan police station in Fangshan District of Beijing arrested 52 Falun Gong practitioners who were firm about their beliefs. Later, the police station sent all of them to the Zhoukoudian Mental Hospital in order to prevent them from going to Beijing to appeal during the period of Macao’s return to Communist Chinese rule. Also, they demanded that every practitioner pay between 800 Yuan and 1,000 Yuan. It was said that it was up to the chief police officer in the police station when these practitioners were to be released.
The following are statements by practitioners detained in this hospital
On December 6, we were taken to the police station of Fangshan District under a variety of fabricated charges. All of us were sent to the Zhoukoudian hospital without any legal or medical procedures. Now it has been more than 40 days. They also blocked the news about us. The director of the hospital said, “They detain you here because they are afraid that you might go to Beijing to appeal during Macao’s return and on the Chinese New Year.”
At the mental hospital, we have nothing but a bed, a quilt, two bowls and a set of chopsticks. We do not have any other daily necessities such as washing utensils, let alone a change of clothes nor may we take a bath. At night, the staff members in the hospital come to check on us from time to time like overseeing mental patients. They constantly turn on the lights to do a headcount. The walking noise could be heard all night. Moreover, our room is next to a night club. Every night, we have to bear the loud noise and can hardly fall asleep for more than half of the night.” Furthermore, we simply do not have enough food to eat in the hospital.
All 52 practitioners who had been detained at the Zhoukoudian hospital were released on January 22. 21 of them were released after their family members paid the “ransom”. Under the pressure from some American journalists who went to the hospital to interview the practitioners, the authorities had to release the practitioners. However, the government claimed that the practitioners were freed only for celebrating the upcoming Chinese New Year. They might be detained again after the Chinese New Year.
2.1.12 How I was forced into a hospital for mental patients
Message received: December 6, 1999
Victim: Xu Jianguang, 41 years of age.
Location of incident: A village in China
Description:
Below is Xu Jianguang’s statement
On December 6, 1999, I went home after work and found that my wife had been taken away by the District police and the Village Public Security officers for a reeducation class. I went to the village office. There I was told that they were afraid my wife and others would go to Beijing to appeal. And that my wife would be released after Macao was returned to Chinese rule and the New Year’s Day celebrations had past, provided that she paid a penalty of 800 Yuan (about the monthly income of an average Chinese worker).
I hurried back to check the situation of Zhang WenLong (another practitioner). The compound of the Hospital was empty. All the rooms were dark except for one. I went in and found two little girls there - one 14 years old, cooking dinner, and another 12 year old. “My dad was arrested for practicing Falun Gong and I don’t know where my mom is.” said one girl with tears. I took the two little girls to my home.
The next morning, I went to the Police Station. The District police asked me to write a promise “to abandon Falun Gong, not to get in touch with any practitioners and never practice Falun Gong again.” I refused him right away. Seeing my firmness, the police threatened me, “You should also think about your two kids. Don’t ruin their future. If you continue the practice, your kids will not be allowed to join the army or the Communist Party. It will be difficult even for them to find a job.” I said, “I must practice Falun Gong.” The police got angry, “Alright! Alright! I’ll get you to a place to practice Falun Gong. You’ll be released only if you tell me that you will not practice it anymore.”
I was then taken to the mental hospital. I have been detained here for over 40 days now. I’ve lost all my freedom. I have to stay in the room, under the surveillance of the attendants. During the 40 days, I was only allowed to go out twice in order to shovel the snow under the surveillance of attendants. No one here has enough to eat.
2.1.13 Practitioners trapped and their basic human rights violated
Message received: December 6, 1999
Victims:
1. Su Fengxia, female, 52 years of age
2. Liu Yuxiang
3. Song Zhenlan, 48 years of age
4. Li Wanfeng
5. Chen Shuling
Location of incident: Hongshi Village of Chengguan Town, in Fangshan District, Beijing
Description:
1. Statement from Su Fengxia
I work in the Hongshi Village Metal Product Factory as an accounting manager. In the morning of December 6, 1999, I wanted to go to the Tax Office and Post Office to file taxes. I dropped by the Secretary’s Office of the Four Company and asked Zhang Xinying, the accountant to go to file taxes with me. At that time, the secretary, Sun Fu, saw me and said, “You have come at the right time. We need to talk to you for a little while.” Zhang and I both said, “We are about to file taxes at the Tax Office.” Mr. Sun said, “Go there in the afternoon.” Afterwards, we were informed that Liu Yuxiang and Song Zhenlan also came (both are Falun Gong practitioners). Mr. Sun said, “Since everybody is here, let’s go to the village office. There is something to be discussed. We will be back right away.” The three of us were brought to the village office in this manner. After we stepped in, we saw the local police station officer Zhang Xiulin, the head of the village Meng Qingsen, and five to six police officers. Two other Falun Gong practitioners Li Wanfeng and Chen Shuling were already there. The police officer Zhang said, “Mr. Meng, please speak first.” Meng told us that practicing Falun Gong was illegal.
While he was talking, somebody reported that a van had arrived. They formed a circle around us and said, “Go! Get in the van!” I asked, “Where to?” Officer Zhang said, “Don’t ask. Just get in. Don’t ask. Just get in.” I thought at the moment, “We have only practiced Falun Gong to attain a healthy body. We have never done anything wrong nor broken any law. Meanwhile we always do our best to be good people. There’s nothing to be afraid of” So we were surrounded and forced into the van. The vehicle went all the way to the Fangshan Mental Hospital. We were locked up in some rooms in the Mental Hospital. It has been forty some days since we were put there. They didn’t give us any explanation nor did they carry out any procedures. We don’t have enough to eat. There is no wash room and we have not taken a bath yet. We are treated just like criminals.
My 90 year-old mother-in-law did not know anything when I was taken away and nobody took care of her lunch on December 6th. I heard that the old lady was crying everyday ever since I was gone. Two out of her three daughters-in-law are detained here (Song Zhenlan is the other one). My daughter Xie Hong is 11 years old. She is in 5th Grade at Hongshi Elementary School. She is too young to take care of herself, let alone her elderly grandma.
More than ten days after we were trapped, a village supervisor came to my home and asked for money. My family was told that we would be locked up for a month. In addition, since we stayed in hospital rooms, occupied beds in the hospital, and ate meals at the hospital, we had to pay 1,000 Yuan for our board and lodging. My family, being honest villagers, just paid it unreservedly. No receipt was ever given to them. I heard that after New Year’s Eve, the village supervisor went to my home and asked for another 1,000 Yuan for bail. Yet we didn’t pay since we didn’t have any more money.
2. Statement from Song Zhenlan
On December 6, 1999, my boss, Liu Zhensheng, came to my home and asked me to go to the company for a talk. After I got there, two other Falun Gong practitioners, Su Fengxia and Liu Yuxiang, went there too. Then the secretary, Sun Fu, sent three of us to the village office and handed us to the village head, Meng Qingsen, and then left. The village head and the local police officer, whose surname is Zhang, talked to each of us briefly. Soon after a van arrived, we were forced to get on it without any explanation. At that time my child was sleeping at home and I had locked the door. I had to give the key to others. We did not know where we would be sent to at that time. I did not have any money or extra clothes with me. After we got off the bus, we found out that we had arrived at the Zhoukoudian Mental Hospital. We did not break any laws and we don’t know why we have been kept here for more than a month. Our mother-in-law is over 90 years old at home and she needs to be taken care of.. Our two daughters-in-law were kept in the mental hospital, too. After we were sent here, the director of the hospital said we would be sent home after Macao’s return to China and after the New Year’s Day. But now it is already January 15 and we are still here. We don’t know what crime we have committed and why we are kept here illegally. We have lost our freedom and can not take care of our families. We were tortured both physically and mentally. I hope we can get a reasonable answer.
Moreover, we were kept illegally, and the police station, via the village head, required a boarding fee and deposit. My spouse had to pay 1,000 Yuan.
Song Zhenlan, January 15, 2000
2.1.14 Detained in a mental hospital for 41 days, family broken apart
Message received: December 6, 1999
Victim: Yang Shufang, 50 years of age
Location of incident: Chenguan South St., Beijing
Description:
At around 9:00am of December 6, Ma Lianzhong, the village head, came to my house and asked me to go to the village office to have a conversation with a local police officer called Qing Gang. I went to the village office without any preparation. The police officer talked about some irrelevant matters. Near noontime several agents in plain clothes suddenly arrived and forced me to get in a vehicle.
I asked, “I told you I won’t go to Beijing. Why are you still arresting me?” A police officer said, “You said you won’t go, but I am stilled concerned.” I asked, “You police officers should deal with bad people. Our Master Li teaches us to be good people. Our village head also knows very well that we donated money out of our own pockets to disaster areas, and we built village roads voluntarily. We are righteous people.” The police officer said, “Some practitioners went to Beijing and you are the scapegoats.”
I only had thin clothes on and did not have any money. I was dragged into the vehicle. At that time no one was at home. No one knew my whereabouts. The security officer of the village came along. We were sent to the Zhoukoudian Mental Hospital like criminals, and my family was never notified. They blocked the news and did not allow people to find out where we were being kept. Each meal we had one bun and very little vegetables. We were treated like criminals. From December 6 to January 16, we have lost our freedom and have been in custody illegally for 41 days. We don’t know when we will be released.
Because my child and husband were left unattended, my husband has already asked for a divorce. A good family was separated like this. I don’t know what crimes I have committed and why I was tortured like this without any reason.
2.1.15 A group of Falun Gong practitioners tortured at the Beijing Zhoukoudian Mental Hospital
Message received: December 3, 1999
Victims: 7 Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Beijing
Description:
It was reported that on December 3 the Beijing Intermediate People’s Court was going to hold an open trial of members of the former Falun Gong Research Society and that the public was allowed to observe. On the morning of December 3, we went to the court and requested to observe the trial. We were told that the trial was not on that day. We were about to go home when we found that police were everywhere on the street. Without listening to our explanations, they forced us into a transit bus. Along with several hundred other Falun Gong practitioners from other places we were taken to Shijingshan Sports Stadium.
After some interrogation, the Public Security Bureau officers took us to Fangshan Detention Center. We were all given 10 or 15 days of detention under the charge of “disturbing the social order.” We thought we’d be released after the 10 or 15 days of detention. Yet, 4 days later, the police put us onto a bus without any explanation. They then drove us to Beijing Zhoukoudian Mental Hospital and locked us up in a room that looks very much like a jail cell. Soon the director of the hospital summoned us and said, “The reason you are kept in the hospital is because the return of Macao to Chinese rule and the Chinese New Year are approaching and they are afraid that you Falun Gong practitioners would go to Beijing to appeal. Don’t you even think about escaping from here because we have facilities similar to prisons.” It was at that time that we knew why we were there.
2.1.16 Parents forced into a mental hospital, children threatened and left at home with the power cut off
Message received: December 1, 1999
Victims:
1. Su Xiurong, 45 years of age
2. Liu Shuxing
Location of incident: Raolefu Village, Fangshan District of Beijing
Description:
Statements from victims:
On the evening of December 1, 1999, the District police came to ask my husband and me to have a “chat” at the police station. They took us to the Fangshan Detention Center, claiming that we were to be detained for 15 days. Six days later, we were sent to the Zhoukoudian Mental Hospital. The director of the hospital told us, “ the District Police sent you here and asked us to keep you here until Macau is returned to Chinese rule.”
We don’t have any mental illnesses, but we are kept here with no freedom, very little food and we are being treated like criminals. We’ve been kept for over 40 days, without any legal procedures. No one has ever come to talk to us.
Keeping us in the hospital also made our kids suffer. Our 18 year old and 13 year old kids are under great pressure at home. The electric power supply at our home has been cut off for over a month now. They were also threatened with being thrown into the mental hospital. Our oldest daughter had to quit her job to take care of her young brother and sister. We are not only suffering economically, our kids are also pressured to an unbearable extent.
There is another villager named Liu Shuxing. She was forced into the mental hospital while staying at a relative’s home. She was kept there for over 20 days before being bailed out by her family. Because of this, her husband keeps abusing her physically and mentally. She is devastated.
2.1.17 Experiences in a detention center and a mental hospital
Message received: November 5, 1999
Victim: Niu Jingping
Location of incident: Beijing
Description:
Below are Niu Jingping’s statements:
1) On October 28, my daughter and I went to the Great Hall of the People to appeal. At one o’clock in the evening of October 30, I was sent to a detention center with some other practitioners. We were stripped of our clothes and left in the cold weather for one hour. The police ordered the criminals to beat us up. I then introduced Falun Dafa to them. The criminals were all moved. One of the criminals said, “If I had learned Falun Dafa earlier, I would not have been in here today.” I was released two days later.
2) At 7:00am of November 4 when I was doing the laundry, several people came to my home, claiming that they wanted to do a physical examination on me. They thus brought me to the Huilongguan Mental Hospital. I was thrown into a special care ward for treatment. I was forced to take medicines three times a day. About 100 medical workers conducted a joint-examination on me. After half a day’s examination, they concluded that I was “normal”. During that period, I sincerely introduced Falun Dafa to them, telling them how Falun Dafa has brought me better health.
I was detained in the mental hospital for 7 days. Moreover, I was forced to take medicine everyday in the hospital. I know that 4 more practitioners are still being detained in this mental hospital.
2.1.18 Practitioners held at a drug rehabilitation center
Message received: October 15, 1999
Victims: 30 Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Dalian, Liaoning Province
Description:
On October 15, 1999, about 30 practitioners who refused to give up their beliefs in Falun Dafa were thrown into a so-called “close-up through transformation” class taught by some policemen. This class was held in a drug rehabilitation center. The family members of these practitioners cannot understand why the class is being held at a drug rehabilitation center.
2.1.19 Physical and mental tortures against practitioners, some forced to take sedatives
Message received: October 12, 1999
Victims: Some Falun Gong practitioners, Wei huayu; Tan Guihua, and others
Location of incident: Jiaozhou, Shandong Province
Description:
The government of Jiaozhou city, Shandong province, arrested over 50 Falun Gong practitioners on September 8, so as to prevent anyone from appealing in Beijing during the national celebration of 50 years’ anniversary. As of Oct 12th, 1999, they have not been released.
In custody, they suffered various tortures and degrading treatments. Some were forbidden to sleep for five days and nights; some were not allowed to eat for 3 days. Some were threatened not to reveal the incident to anyone after being severely beaten. Some practitioners were sent to mental hospitals and locked up together with mental patients. Wei huayu, who worked for the Jiaozhuo Accounting Firm, and Tan Guihua, who was an employee in the Third Shoe Factory of Jiaozhuo, were forced to take sedatives (or sleeping aid) injections for over 20 days in a mental hospital.
2.1.20 Practitioners taken to Drug Rehabilitation Center to prevent them from appealing
Message received: September 27, 1999
Victims: Many Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Dalian, Liaoning Province
Description:
On September 27th, to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from going to Beijing to appeal to the government during the October. 1 anniversary celebration, the Police Department has started to take many practitioners into custody in the Dalian Drug Rehabilitation Center without any explanation.
2.1.21 A normal Falun Gong practitioner treated as a mentally disordered patient
Victim: Chen Zhong, 55 years of age
Location of incident: Menghe Town of Wujin County, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province
Description:
On the afternoon of July 25, the local police and officers from the Civil Affairs Bureau asked Chen Zhong to go for an interrogation. Without any legal procedure, he was actually brought to the Treatment Center for Mental Diseases in No. 102 Hospital in Changzhou for an examination. Without any disguise, they claimed, “ If you continue to practice Falun Gong, we could make you crazy even you are not.” I did not give in.
On the afternoon of September 28, with the excuse for an interrogation, the police again brought Chen Zhong to the Mental Hospital in No. 3 People’s Hospital in Wujin County. He was forced to be hospitalized and to take medicines for mental patients. Chen Zhong refused to take the medicine, so they proceeded to electrocute him. They repeatedly electrocuted him (5 times) and then forced him to take the medicines. This lasted for more than 10 days.
Recorded in an audiocassette, he 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?!”
| Index | Previous | Next |