(Clearwisdom.net) Dear International Court of Justice, world human rights organizations, and the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong:
We are Falun Gong practitioners who were illegally detained and brutally persecuted at the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp for men in Beijing, China.
During the past three years, since Jiang Zemin began the ruthless persecution against Falun Gong in July 1999, as bona-fide citizens of the People's Republic of China, we exercised our freedom of belief and freedom of speech endowed by the constitution of China, and we made suggestions, criticisms, appeals, protests and filed lawsuits, for we have these basic rights as citizens. As a result of our righteous actions, we were violently kidnapped for exercising our constitutional rights and clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to the government and people, and were sent to Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp.
In attempts to force us to "reform," meaning to write statements claiming relinquishment of Falun Gong practice, to write criticism that slanders Falun Gong and its founder and to read it aloud in public (this process is videotaped by the labor camp for later use to slander Falun Gong), labor camp authorities continuously and severely violated our human rights by torturing us physically and mentally and depriving us financially.
Li Aimin, the deputy chief of Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, announced in public at a labor camp meeting held in late May 2002: "Falun Gong practitioners, don't even think about leaving the labor camp if you don't (reform)!" With relentless trampling of our human rights and the horrific reign of terror under the name of "the law," several practitioners were brutally tortured and disabled for not giving up Falun Gong practice. Some highly educated practitioners had mental breakdowns under tremendous psychological pressure, and many practitioners were cruelly tortured. The torture methods used on us include: being continuously shocked with high-voltage electric batons for hours at a time; being secured to a wooden bed for weeks; being forced to do many types of slave labor for an extensive period of time; being deprived of sleep for more than 10 days; having our labor camp terms illegally extended; having our valuables robbed; etc.
The persons directly responsible are Beijing City Bureau of Forced Labor Camp, Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, related brigades of Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp and police and guards of Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp who work under direct order of Jiang Zemin and the "610 Office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] to persecute Falun Gong. They abuse their power and severely violate the basic rights of Falun Gong practitioners.
As the international community began to pay more attention to the condition of human rights in labor camps in China, the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp devoted large amounts of money to make superficial improvements in the environment to delude visitors from the outside. It's hard for the visitors and media to learn about the true story of the persecution. In fact, the conditions in the camp have not truly improved at all. The lawless thugs have only become more efficient in hiding their persecution.
Many of us wrote to higher government agencies, People's Procuratorate, and People's Court to reflect, expose and seek prosecution of those responsible for the illegal persecution here at the labor camp, but we received no response. Our appeals were rejected. The laws of China became merely words on paper on the issue of prosecuting persecution.
What is especially worrisome is, according to the "tradition" at Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, every Falun Gong practitioner who could not be "reformed" would be placed into solitary confinement one or two months before their terms expire, during which time they are forced to write "reform" materials against their true will so the labor camp can complete their "reform" assignment.
Zhao Ming, a former student of Qinghua University and currently a graduate student studying Computer Science at Trinity College, Ireland; Wei Rutan, former employee of Chinese Ministry's Railways Design Institute; Qin Wei, an outstanding art teacher at Bayi High School in Beijing; and Yu Ming, the former owner of a fashion business in Shenhe District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, all suffered this brutal torture. The guards tied them to beds and brutally shocked them with electric batons. Usually the guards would hit the practitioners with seven to eight high voltage (10,000 watt) electric batons for several hours in a row until the practitioners' bodies were burnt all over in order to coerce them into writing a "reform" statement against their will. The labor camp officials would make a videotape of the practitioner reading the statement in order to deceive people in the world who don't know the truth, in order to justify the persecution against Falun Gong, to illegally extend the term and to continue persecution. For example, Li Chunyuan, a lecturer of philosophy and religion in the Central Folk University, Lu Weidong, an engineer in a Shanghai Architectural Design Research Institute and Lu Mingqiang, Fang Yingwen, Yu Ming and other practitioners' terms were illegally extended by 10 months in June 2002.
Right now, Falun Gong practitioners Zheng Libin (31 years old, from Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, whose term expires in April 2003), Gong Kun (28 years old, from Jiangxi Province, a Ph.D candidate in the mathematics department at the Chinese Academy of Science, whose term expires in March 2003) and Li Xupeng (28 years old, from Shanxi Province, former lecturer at Shenyang Administrative College, whose term expires in March 2003) are all facing the expiration of their labor camp terms and their conditions are extremely severe; Li Chunyuan and Yu Ming have been transferred to the Youth Brigade of Beijing City Female Labor Camp; Lu Mingqiang, Fang Yingwen, Lu Weidong, Lu Xingdu and some other Falun Gong practitioners all have terms that expire in April 2003. They are faced with the threat of extension of their terms and they are in extremely dangerous and difficult conditions! We call for the international community and all kind-hearted people to pay serious attention to their personal safety and their whereabouts after they are released from labor camp. The guards of Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp publicly threatened Falun Gong practitioners, saying: "If you don't reform, we'll send you to the concentration camp in the northeast, and have you detained for life!"
For all the above reasons, we request the International Court of Justice, world human rights organizations and the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong to pay careful attention to the serious violation of Falun Gong practitioners' human rights at Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp for men in Beijing, China. We hope they can record and investigate these cases and bring to justice the evil thugs who persecute the innocent and who willfully trample human rights, in order that justice and righteousness in the human world are restored. If further evidence, witness accounts, material or manpower support is needed by the International Court of Justice, world human rights organizations and the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, please make it known through Minghui.org, because all Falun Gong practitioners around the world who have been persecuted at Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp will do their best to help!
At the same time, we sincerely invite the International Court of Justice, world human rights organizations and the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong to come to Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp for further and deeper investigation, and we sincerely hope we can provide you with many face-to-face, truthful, thorough and detailed first-person accounts about the torture we received at Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp.
Sincere thanks!
Falun Gong practitioners who were illegally detained and persecuted at Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp in Beijing, China
February 9, 2003
