My experience in the "transformation" class where Ms. Chen Zi-xiu was tortured to death

[Received on March 3, 2000]

Greetings! My name is Pu Yu, female, 22 years old. I live in the dormitory of the West-end Miao-pu Health Bureau. On Jan. 1, 2000, I was detained by the Criminal Department of the Public Security Bureau of Weifang City for doing Falun Gong exercises outdoors. On the afternoon of Jan. 24, a group of four practitioners including Yingxia, Song Weixing, Xu Chuanfang and myself were sent to the so-called "Falun Gong Transformation and Education Class" held by the Cheng-guan Street Office.

It was around 5 PM when we entered the building. Practitioner Song was pushed to the kitchen, while the three females of us were forced into a small room in the south side of the building. 30 minutes later, I heard a burst of banging sounds, as if somebody was playing fireworks, along with a series of dirty verbal abuses. I saw very clearly from the window that Liu, a police officer from the South-end Police Station, Zhang, director of the Cheng-guan street Political and Legal Committee, Deng Ping, who was female and the director of the street office, and another officer, Han, were beating Song at the same time. Officer Liu was holding an electric baton. Officers Zhang and Hang were holding police rubber sticks, and officer Deng was busy beating and kicking practitioner Song. Later, officer Liu said that the electric baton he used was one with 1000 V high voltage. Electric batons of such high voltage were prohibited by law. As they tortured practitioner Song, they were also slandering at Falun Dafa and Teacher Li. The demanded practitioner Song to pledge that he would not practice Falun Gong anymore. The torture lasted for about 20 minutes. When I saw practitioner Song the next day, half of his head had festered and appeared in yellowish green due to the torture. Because his hair was short, I could see clearly even at a quick glance that a layer of sticky secretion was hanging on the skin of his head and continued to come out and clog in his hair. His forehead and the bridge of his nose were badly swollen. Both of his eyes were so swollen that he could hardly open his eyes. His face was full of bruises. So was his body that was hurt even more, which rendered him unable to walk.

After practitioner Song was beaten, practitioner Yingxia (who was Song's wife) was called into the room. Officer Liu ordered her to take off her overcoat and shoes and sit down on the floor with both legs stretched out. Officer Liu then stepped on her feet and asked her if she still wanted to continue to practice Falun Gong. As soon as practitioner Yingxia said she would continue to practice, they started beating her. Officer Liu used the 1000 V electric baton to shock her head, body, and hands. Officers Zhang and Han used rubber batons to strike at her back, the inner sides of her legs, and her ankles, while officer Deng beat and kicked her. Practitioner Yingxia kept crying miserably - too miserable to hear. The torture lasted about half an hour until practitioner Yingxia almost lost her consciousness and said she would stop practicing Falun Gong. Then they stopped torturing her.

Afterwards, they called me into the room. Practitioner Yingxia managed to get up from the floor painstakingly. Shivering in her entire body, she put on her clothes and shoes and walked out of the room slowly. After shocking both practitioners Song and Yingxia, the 1000 V electric baton ran out of power and was being recharged. The four people including officer Liu who tortured us had been so tired that they sweated all over their faces, with their arms trembling too. As soon as the electric baton got powered up again, they started to shock my body and head in the same way as they did to practitioners Song and Yingxia. I started to scream because of the extreme pain, feeling that my head had been inserted with many needles and my whole body was numb. The pain was so unbearable that I almost fainted. They tortured me like this until I almost entered into a state of coma and said I would stop practicing Falun Gong. Both of my legs became limp and my whole body was shivering. I was pushed to the room in the south side of the building as I cried. Then practitioner Xu was called in.

Practitioner Xu was an elderly lady over 50 years of age. However, they were not lenient on her. Loud screaming came to our ears one wave after another, which was so miserable that practitioner Yingxia and I held each other and cried loudly. 20 minutes after, screaming stopped and it was dark outside. Three of us were led to the yard. We were forced to stand in the chilly winds without anything to eat or drink.

Later, I saw that the entire back of Yingxia and the inner side of her legs appeared blackish purple. It was difficult for her to turn aside during sleep and even harder for her to walk. Because her head was severely shocked by the 1000 V electric baton, she could not put a pillow under her head. Practitioner Xu was hurt even more severely. Even her ankles were beaten to blackish purple, not to mention her body. She could hardly walk. Her head and face had been so severely injured that she could hardly talk.

The next day, officer Liu pointed to a corner of the building and said, "Have you seen it? The head of the district has already bought the rope for you to hang yourself. If you do not want to live, just let us know. If you do not know how to hang yourselves, we will teach you how to do it." He also said, "There are seven "Falun Gong Transformation and Education Classes" like this one in Weifang City. The legal medical doctor is on duty 24 hours. As soon as somebody is beaten to death, the doctor will come over right away to examine and categorize it as normal death, so you will just die in vain. You will have nowhere to appeal, since nobody will care." He continued saying, "Luo Gan, the head of the Political and Legal Committee of the State has faxed to us, to Mr. Wu Guan-zheng [a chief official of the Shangdong province, by translator], as well as to everywhere in the country. Luo Gan said it would never be overdone no matter how you do it in terms of forcefully cracking down on Falun Gong followers."

There were another two practitioners from Chang-Le, Liu Liangmin and Xu Qingrui, who were sent to the class several days before us. At that time, they had bruises all over their bodies. In addition, they were often forced to curse themselves in the way officer Liu demanded. Failing to do so would incur more tortures. According to the handicapped practitioner, Ms. Wei Dehui, who had long been detained, she had encountered the same treatment. Her bottom was so beaten up that she could not lie down to sleep for many days. Once she was forced to stand on the snow barefooted and at the same time beaten up until she passed out in the snow.

The authorities praised officer Liu as a role model for others to follow in "educating and transforming" Falun Gong practitioners.

Later, the district office ordered us to pay the fees for the "Falun Gong Transformation and Education Class", 2000 Yuan RMB for each detainee. It was said that the money was so divided that half went to the district office and the other half went to the street office. Since we did not have the money to pay for it, officer Liu told us, "You better hurry up and pay for the fees. Wang, the head of the District office, had called us saying that if you do not pay the fees, we should shock you with the electric baton everyday, and we should not let you eat anything." On February 2, I was released. Upon arriving home, I got to know that following the instructions from the district office, the West end street office forced my mother to pay 2500 Yuan RMB, which she managed to borrow from various sources, so that I could be released.

On February 12, five of us including practitioners Xu Chuanfang, Yingxia, Wei De-hui, Ding Youlan and myself were called back to the street office as demanded by the District office. Later, I left the Weifang City alone. I heard that on February 21, a veteran practitioner called Chen Zixiu was beaten to death in the Cheng-guan street office. The whereabouts of the other 4 fellow practitioners who went to the office together with me are unknown. I am deeply concerned about their safety.

Although we are Falun Gong practitioners, we are also citizens of the People's Republic of China. We have not violated any laws. The Constitution states explicitly that our lives and properties should by no means be infringed upon, our human rights should not be violated, and our dignity should be respected.

[Translated from Chinese original on March 4, 2000, Minghui Net]