Practitioners Receive Vicious Treatment at the "Transformation Class" in Wuchang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province

1. District Party Secretary Forsakes his Conscience Under Pressure

According to official sources, around the 2000 Chinese New Year, the number of practitioners from Wuchang District going to Beijing to appeal was the highest among all the districts in Wuhan City, causing District Party Secretary Yang Xianglin to be criticized by his superiors. As a result, Secretary Yang made up his mind to "transform" Falun Gong practitioners using any and all available means. On March 20, 2000, the "Wuchang District Key Practitioner Transformation Class" began. This class lasted half a year, and ended in mid-September 2000. The class was run completely by officials from the District Party Committee and District government (including officials from the Office', a branch set up specifically to deal with Falun Gong issue).

2. Illegally Detained Practitioners Filled the "Class"

Around 7:00 pm on March 19, 2000, dozens of cars from the police department and local government offices filed through the town in a line the length of a couple of hundred meters and heading for the suburbs. Many citizens were watching in the dark, realizing that this massive movement could only be meant for arresting Falun Gong practitioners. People sighed in sympathy. The cars arrived at the "Transformation Class" after more than one hour of driving. The building was already full of practitioners and policemen from the Qinlin Detention Center. After a speech by the detention center director Xiong, the police searched each practitioner. The practitioners sent to the "Transformation Class" came from three sources: some had been illegally detained and were sent to the class after their sentence was up instead of being released; some were taken directly to the class from their homes, and some were from another "Transformation Class" held at the Wuchang District Party College.

The family members of the detained practitioners were not notified of their detention, nor were they allowed to visit or send clothing to the practitioners. The rules of the "Transformation Class" were the same as those of prisons. Practitioners were treated as prisoners, completely deprived of personal freedom and all other rights. The so-called "Transformation Class" is essentially a prison in a different building.

This "Transformation Class" held by Yang Xianglin in the name of the district government violated the Constitution and many other laws. The compulsory nature of the class alone violated Article 37 of the Constitution, which states: "The personal freedom, of citizens of the People's Republic of China is inviolable." and "Unlawful detention or deprivation or restriction of citizens' personal freedom by other means is prohibited, and the unlawful search of citizens is prohibited." The behavior of Yang Xianglin and others involved in the "Transformation Class" violated Article 238 of the Criminal Law, which states: "Anyone who unlawfully detains, deprives or restricts citizens' freedom by other means shall be put under criminal detention, surveillance, or sentenced to a prison term of no more than three years."

3. The Major Task of the Transformation Class: Persecution with Brutal Torture

Studying the Fa and practicing the exercises were strictly forbidden in the "Transformation Class", the police monitored the practitioners day and night. If any practitioner was found studying the Fa or practicing the exercises, he would be hung up by his handcuffs (handcuffed so high up that one's tiptoes can barely touch the ground) or otherwise brutally tortured. Director Xiong was one of the worst persecutors. He often inhumanly hung practitioners on the doorjamb, with the tips of their toes barely touching the ground, for 3-6 hours; even overnight in certain cases.

Practitioner Cai Mingtao (who was a teacher at Wuhan Education College, but has since been murdered) was hung on a window frame overnight several times, and was once left hanging continuously for 27 hours. Once Cai was brutally tortured by Secretary Li Wujun, one of the leaders of "610 Office" and "Transformation Class", simply because Cai Mingtao said "Falun Gong is not a ... [Chinese government's slanderous phrase]." Secretary Li beat Cai's face, breaking his nose and jaw. His clothes were soaked with blood. Another time Cai was caught practicing the exercises by a short policeman, and was beaten brutally until his face was swollen and bruised.

Practitioner Chen Yanwen was illegally detained at the detention center before he was sent to the "Transformation Class". In the detention center, he was beaten by criminal inmates at the instigation of the guards. They broke three of his ribs. In the "Transformation Class", Chen was forced to run long distances every morning. When he reported that his ribs were broken, Director Xiong not only forced him to continue running, but also hung him up by his handcuffs for violating the rules, then threatened that he would be treated more brutally if he dared to tell anyone his ribs were broken.

A female practitioner Gui Hong was illegally detained in the detention center for one month while she was still breast feeding her baby. This detention was illegal since she was still breast-feeding. She was sent to the "Transformation Class" directly from the detention center, where she was hung up by her handcuffs several times. Once, she was hung up by Secretary Li Wujun for several hours because she refused to cut off her hair. She was even inhumanly hung up in the air with her body completely off the ground for more than 20 minutes.

Another female practitioner Zheng Cuihua was also hung up several times for practicing the exercises. Once she was hung from an iron bar for more than 8 hours, the handcuffs were so tight that she turned pale and lost consciousness. She didn't recover for a couple of months.

There were banners and slogans slandering Dafa and our master at the "Transformation Class". One day Gao Bizhen, Cai Lianqin, Liu Guangzhen, Wu Keyan, Xu Daoxiu took down most of the banners in their cell and at the gate. They were brutally tortured, hung up, and sent to a detention center for a month. They were sent back to the "Transformation Class" after being released from detention center.

All these evil deeds were viewed as good job performance at the Qinlin "Transformation Class". To greet the officials from Wuhan City reviewing their class, these vile people hung some big banners slandering Dafa in the yard. All the banners were blown down by strong winds. Gods would not allow such evil! Zhang from Wuchang District Procuratorate ordered practitioner Chen Jianhong to hang the banners back up with nails, but Chen firmly refused. A policeman Jiang (from the Wuchang District Traffic Control Department) forced him to squat halfway down and keep the position for more than an hour as punishment, while cursing him all the time, until he lost control and fell. Once Chen was caught by Director Xiong reciting "Lun Yu", and was punched so hard that his right eye was swollen.

Another policeman often used a punishment called "backpacking sword", whereby both hands were handcuffed from behind, with one hand coming over the shoulder pointing down the back, and the other arm bent under the shoulder pointing upwards. Female practitioners Hu Xiaolin and Gui Hong were handcuffed in the "backpacking sword" position for more than 4 hours respectively. More than half of the 45 practitioners in the "Transformation Class" were punished that way, and many were hung up and tortured.

At the "Transformation Class", the behavior of Director Xiong and other officials violated Article 238 of Criminal Law: "Anyone who unlawfully detains, deprives or restricts a citizen's freedom by other means shall be put under criminal detention, or surveillance, or sentenced to a prison term of no more than three years. Anyone who commits torturing or humiliating of others shall be punished more severely." Article 245 of Criminal Law states: "Anyone who unlawfully searches the body or residence of any citizen, or breaks into anyone's residence without a warrant shall be put under criminal detention, or surveillance, or sentenced to a prison term of no more than three years." Article 248 of Criminal Law: "Guards of prisons, detention centers and other similar organizations who torture or physically punish prisoners shall be put under criminal detention, or surveillance, or sentenced to a prison term of no more than three years. For the serious offenses, the sentence shall increase to not more than ten years but not less than three years." They committed "unlawful detention", "unlawful searching" and "insulting prisoners", and should be held legally responsible for their behavior.

4. Mental Persecution was Also Rampant

1. Slandering Dafa and Master Li Hongzhi, Forcing Practitioners to Believe Evil Lies.

Huang and other superintendents repeatedly read newspaper articles slandering Dafa. They forced practitioners to watch video tapes produced by CCTV, Wuhan TV,and the 610 office containing fabricated news items and the stories of the "transformed" practitioners. They also invited professors from the Party College to give special lectures slandering Dafa. Any resistance from practitioners was punished with torture and by being hung up by their handcuffs.

B. Deputy leader of Wuchang District, Wu Tianxiang, gave two transformation lectures there, reiterating fabrications, maliciously slandering Dafa and Master and attempting to transform practitioners.

C. The superintendents of the "Transformation Class" also took practitioners for one-on-one 'talks' in which they were persuaded to give up their cultivation. They used arguments such as "the central government decided Falun Gong is... [slanderous label], it is illegal if you keep practicing." In addition, they threatened practitioners saying "you will not be released until you are transformed." and pressured practitioners with threats of labor education, prison sentences, firing, and similar threats.

D. Persuading practitioners to "transform" by giving them 'quizzes' or forcing them to copy slanderous headlines.

Several times, they quizzed the practitioners or forced them to copy newspaper headlines slandering Dafa to induce "transformation". On April 20, the called all the practitioners together at 9:00am, announcing that all of them must copy two headlines slandering Dafa and Master ten times. Nobody followed the instructions. The situation lasted from morning until midnight, when the practitioners were released to their cells. This is one of many instances of mental persecution.

E. Organizing "Transformation Lecturing Group" to give lectures, attempting to cheat practitioners into "transformation"

Many religions in history such as Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Christianity, and Judaism were all righteous cultivation methods. Falun Dafa is not religion, but also a righteous cultivation method. It is a higher level cultivation method from the Buddha School, it is the great law of the Universe; it is pure cultivation.

The purposes, methods, and process of Wuchang Qinlin "Transformation Class" violated the following Articles of the Constitution:

Article 35: "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration."

Article 36: "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religion."

Article 37: "Personal freedom of citizens of the People's Republic of China is inviolable."

Article 38: "The personal dignity of citizens of the People's Republic of China is inviolable.

Insult, libel, false accusation or false incrimination directed against citizens by any means is prohibited."

Article 5: " The state upholds the uniformity and dignity of the socialist legal system. No laws or

administrative or local rules and regulations may contravene the Constitution. All state organs, the armed forces, all political parties and public organizations and all enterprises and institutions must abide by the Constitution and the law. All acts in violation of the Constitution and the law must be investigated. No organization or individual is privileged to be beyond the Constitution or the law."

To preserve the honor of our country's Constitution and other laws, any one who violates the laws should be held responsible, no matter whom he is. To follow Article 33 of the Constitution: "Everyone is equal in front of the laws of the Peoples Republic of China."