Passed On By Many Hands, A Letter from A Labor Camp Is Finally Revealed

[Minghui Net] This is a letter from the Chaoyanggou Labor Camp in Changchun, Jilin province. Passed on by many hands and through many places, it has eventually reached our editors. The letter reveals the extremely inhumane treatment the Falun Gong practitioners have suffered every hour and every day at this labor camp. By publishing this letter as the UN Human Rights Commission meets in Geneva, we hope to evoke people's righteous thoughts, which are vital to the future of human beings. Since the persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999, many things even worse than those mentioned in this letter have occurred, as our strong-willed practitioners have broken through all barriers and suffered tremendously in order to spread the truth. If compassion and conscience still exist in people's hearts, please, let this voice be heard, no matter how insignificant it may seem. It is very precious to us because it is the voice of righteousness. We sincerely and whole-heartedly appeal to the consciences buried deep in people's hearts. No matter what happens or what lies ahead of us--even as many people lose the courage to stand up for righteousness in this world--we will always keep our beliefs in "Truthfulness- Compassion- Forbearance." We would rather die upholding righteousness than live as pawns of the evil forces. My fellow practitioner, How have you been since we parted in Daguang (a detention center that illegally confines Dafa practitioners)? I have been in the Chaoyanggou Labor Camp (Jilin province) for several months now. I have seen and experienced a lot here. The labor camp has imprisoned 120 to 130 practitioners. Half of them are from the Fenjin Labor Camp. Most practitioners are not released when their sentences are completed. The situation here has been devastating since March, much worse than during the Spring Festival (Chinese traditional New Year). To receive recognition from higher authorities, the labor camp resorts to violence to force practitioners to comply. The camp has put pressure on various levels of its disciplinary officers and criminal prisoners to force Dafa practitioners to renounce their beliefs. In June and July of 2000, policeman Wang, the head of the camp, ordered criminal prisoners to brutally beat practitioners and not allow them to sleep for days. Many practitioners were badly wounded and maimed. I also heard that several practitioners have died from the torture. Recently, the labor camp has repeated this brutal treatment of practitioners. The Agriculture Group uses violent force as its sole means of dealing with practitioners. Practitioners in the 4th group were beaten so hard that some of them vomited blood for two weeks. Many practitioners' families are suffering too. Both parents from some families have been sent to labor camps, and their children left home alone. If practitioners bear the torture and cruel beatings and do not renounce their belief in Dafa, they are given unlimited sentences with no hope of release. For every day one stays here, the legal bureau adds two more days to the sentence. The longer one stays here, the longer the sentence will be. It is precisely a sentence of unlimited term. This is the order from the Department of Political Education in the Legal Bureau of Changchun. It is said that the department is following the "good example" of other labor camps. Chaoyanggou Labor Camp officials are trying everything they can to force practitioners to give up. In addition to the violence, they also use deception by saying that if practitioners will denounce Dafa in the meetings, they will give back everything they have taken from practitioners and grant their immediate release. Practitioners refused this ridiculous request. We are imprisoned because we stepped forward to validate the Fa; how could we now denounce the Fa in their meetings? We will never trade the reputation of Dafa for any personal gain! Currently, what we are facing is not only violence, but also pressure from many other angles. You can imagine how many families have been involved in this terrible persecution. We have been sentenced to unlimited terms. Our families have no hope that we will be released at all. Very few families can understand and support us. Many are deceived by the false propaganda from the government-controlled media and regard practitioners as strange people who do not care about their families. Some families have even become tools helping Jiang and his followers to slander Dafa. That is why those vicious people can make unbridled attacks on Dafa and its practitioners. One high-ranking disciplinary officer once threatened, "In a moment, I will have a prisoner kill you." One criminal yelled, "I will beat you! I am the bad person. A bad person can beat a good person--just watch the government support me!" Some even shouted shamelessly, "Killing is too easy. We will make your life worse than death!" The vicious beings use criminals to torture practitioners--two criminals for each practitioner. They follow and monitor the practitioners all the time: eating, sleeping, going to the restroom, and washing. They do not allow practitioners to talk with each other. The criminals take charge of the "evaluation" of the practitioners' performance. They give a grade to each practitioner every month (lower marks result in the addition of more days to the practitioners' sentences.) Thus the extra days accumulate endlessly. To encourage the "re-education" of practitioners, the camp encourages these criminals to treat practitioners this way by reducing the criminals' sentences. It is not our death and blood that the evil ones fear. What the evil ones fear is our firm and unshakable belief in Dafa. They say, "If I kill you, it will be reported that you committed suicide." It is so common and easy to torture a person to death in here, and many practitioners have been tortured to death already. We face the real test of life and death every day. It would be scary if practitioners could not study the Fa and follow the Fa, because only the Fa can solve all problems. Hopefully, practitioners here will pay attention to it. Hundreds of practitioners are here. No matter what happens to us, we will always keep our firm belief in Dafa. Practitioner in China March 2001