(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Chen Weiyuan. I am 53 years old. I live in Building 25 in the Longdong Community District, Longtan Area, Jilin City. Since I started practicing Falun Gong at the end of 1995, I have benefited greatly in mind and body. When the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999, I went to Beijing to appeal and distribute materials, which explained the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. I have been arrested many times for helping the public learn the truth. I was put in Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp three times and suffered a lot from the many tortures imposed on Falun Gong practitioners. I also witnessed other practitioners being tortured. I experienced some memory loss because of the overwhelming trauma to my head and brain. Only after I left the labor camp and recovered for a long time, did my memory begin to recover. I cannot remember anything before July 20, 1999, and can only remember roughly what happened afterwards. I don't remember all the details but I will tell you what I can recall. I will to reveal the brutal conduct of the guards that I do remember to the world so that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
Witnessing practitioners being beaten to death; being sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp even though it meant breaking the law
In December 1999, I went with practitioner Wang Xiulan to appeal in Beijing. (Please see clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/5/30/36322.html for details on how Wang Xiulan was eventually tortured to death). Before we arrived in Beijing, we were arrested in Shenyang and escorted back by the police of Jilin Province. We were detained at the City Detention Center. On the afternoon of December 28, 1999, a female practitioner was carried into our cell. I can't remember her name. Later I learned that she was from Erdao County in the Fengman District, Jilin City. She had been severely tortured and had to be carried. She was lying on the floor, barely breathing. Other practitioners in the cell called for the guards again and again, but none responded. The inmates in the opposite cell also called the guards, telling them that she was dying and that she needed to be hospitalized immediately. Finally, a guard gave us a few aspirin tablets and left. It was impossible for her to swallow the tablets. At our insistence, the detention center agreed to send her to No.222 Hospital. But by then, she was no longer breathing.
Wang Xiulan and I carried her into the van that took her to the hospital. The effort was only a formality. Her heartbeat was no long detectable. The doctor gave up, asking why resuscitate her when she was already dead? Wang and I saw that her body was dirty, so we asked the doctor to allow us to wash her body. The doctor reluctantly agreed, but urged us to be quick. While we were cleaning her body, we found that there was a deep imprint of the sole of a shoe on her chest right near her heart. It was very clear. The doctor of the No. 222 Hospital can verify this. Because we had seen this, the detention center authorities did not let Wang Xiulan and I leave. They wanted us to testify that the practitioner was not beaten to that extent in the detention center; rather she was already in poor physical shape when she arrived from the Erdao County Police Station who had her first. Later, practitioners in my cell went on a group hunger strike to press Erdao County Police Station for an explanation.
On January 4, 2000, Erdao County Police Station said her family agreed to accept money as compensation for her death. They asked us not to file a lawsuit. It would have been no use even if we had filed a suit. Later, any of the people who knew about the incident, including several criminal inmates, were sent to labor camps or jails. They were sentenced quickly because the police wanted to silence them. As two eye witnesses to the state of the dead woman's body, Wang Xiulan and I were not allowed to be involved in the investigation at all. Therefore, Wang Xiulan began a hunger strike to protest. She lost consciousness while being force-fed and was on the verge of death. They sent her back home. Yet several days later, afraid that she might tell others what happened, they brought her back. Both of us were sentenced to one year in a labor camp. However, according to their rules, only those who were detained twice and who had gone to Beijing three times meet the conditions for being sentenced to a labor camp. Although Wang and I had only gone to Beijing and been detained once, in order to cover up the atrocity of beating a practitioner to death, the City Detention Center broke their own rule and sent us to a labor camp.
Witnessing Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp brutally persecuting firm practitioner Wang Xiulan
At the end of 1999, I was detained in Team Four when I was first sent to the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp. Wang Xiulan and I were detained in a room on the fourth floor. At that time, there were various methods used to torture practitioners. For example, having practitioners stand on the cold cement floor in bare feet in winter (there was no heating in the old building at that time) or holding a certain position for a very long time, sometimes for half a day, sometimes for a whole day; bashing their faces with a bamboo board; cuffing their hands behind their backs, chaining them to a door knob and using electric batons on them; filling the sink with water and putting practitioner's heads in the water for long periods of time; forcing them to sit with legs crossed in the lotus position for a long time; depriving them of sleep or use of the bathroom. There were many different instruments used to beat people. Almost anything could be used, such as the pole used to carry a water bucket, a shoulder pole, three thick strands braided into one thicker piece, thick and thin rubber pipes, and electric cables. Many practitioners were thrown from the upper bunk bed directly to the floor for reciting passages and articles from Falun Dafa texts or practicing the Falun Gong exercises. Seldom could anyone get up after being thrown to the floor like that. Shang Zhongxia was a female practitioner in her 30's. She was often tied to a bed and beaten and subjected to shocks from an electric club for practicing Falun Gong exercises. She, too, was thrown to the floor from an upper bed and sustained a concussion, which caused her to experience nausea and vomiting everything she ate.
Because I led others in practicing the Falun Gong exercises, I was beaten severely and my right leg was broken. I was tied to a bed for over ten days in a row. The policewoman Hou Zhihong (now the chief of Team Seven) said, "Only she deserves it. The rest of you, even if you want to be tied up, you wouldn't have a chance." This policewoman tortured many practitioners and left them handicapped. She liked to shock people with the electric baton. She didn't hesitate for a second before torturing practitioners. For exhibiting this nasty trait she was promoted to a higher position.
In April 2000, Wang Yunkun, governor of the province, came to the labor camp and gave a speech. After his visit, each team in the camp started escalating the torture of practitioners. The Minister of Public Security also visited the labor camp and said he required a "transformation rate of at least 90%" [refers to number of practitioners who will publicly renounce their belief in Falun Dafa and affirm the Party's persecution policies against Falun Dafa as being correct]. They sent people to learn "transformation" techniques from the guards in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Liaoning Province. They also gave a large sum of money to the labor camp to purchase high-voltage electric clubs, all type of handcuffs, and other implements of torture. They created more "special confinement compartments," and increased the number of guards.
During the period of the labor camp's "crackdown," the whole labor camp became a living hell for practitioners. From the top floors to the bottom floors, each team and every cell became a place to torture practitioners. From dawn to dusk, you could hear practitioners' screams reverberating everywhere, the sound of electric clubs discharging, and the sound of whips and beatings conducted with various instruments on human bodies. In a couple of days, I saw some practitioners heads were swollen, others had black and blue bruises on their faces, their walking was impaired, and others had to be held up by the arms by one or two people, or carried on the backs of people.
Wang Xiulan was severely tortured by several police officers, including Lian Guangri (male), head of the managing office, Officer Liao, Officer Xu, Chief Wang Limei of Team Five, Guard Wang Lihui, Chief Zhang Guimei, and Chief Guan of Team Four. She was tied to the "Dead Man's Bed" (1) [a special torture device), locked up in a confinement compartment, and force-fed countless times. She lost consciousness many times and was on the verge of death due after being force-fed. (She used to have heart problems and was healed after she started practicing Falun Dafa.) Officer Liao of the Managing Office had tied her to the bed and stuck the high-voltage electric baton into her mouth to shock her. Liao also used several electric batons to shock all the sensitive places on her body. The flesh on her chest, back, and thighs was burnt. Because she didn't cooperate during the force-feedings, her face was slapped with a bamboo board. The guards also used an electric club to pry open her mouth. Her front teeth were all pried out. Wang Xiulan's left hipbone was dislocated once during a beating, causing her to lose consciousness on the spot from the intense pain. Her whole body was soaked in blood. Because she was severely injured and on the verge of death, Fan Youlan, the head of the labor camp, and another evil policewoman, came to check the situation. Yet they never really gave her any medical treatment.
One time, Wang Xiulan tore a poster that defamed the founder of Falun Gong off the wall. For this she was locked up in a confinement compartment and experienced all sorts of torture for over a month. On many occasions, she vomited blood and was left barely breathing. The labor camp was afraid she might die there, so they decided to let her go home. Four people carried her down the stairs. In order not to attract too much attention, when they got to the main entrance, only two people held her arms and brought her out. At that time, Fan, the head of the labor camp, sarcastically said to her, "Wang Xiulan, you won't die. You have your Master protecting you. Your Master said that breaking away from Falun Gong is wrong." Before that, they had tried many times to press Wang Xiulan's fingerprint onto a "repentance letter" (2) composed by other people, but failed. Some police were admiring her from their hearts. Due to the force-feeding, Wang's stomach and esophagus had been seriously damaged. She couldn't eat anything when she was finally at home. During the last few months of her life, she didn't eat at all. Even though she was abused to such an extent, the police from Yushugou Police Station in Longtan District of Jilin City often went to harass her and stayed for a long time at her home to arrest practitioners who went to there to visit her.
Seeing the firmness of practitioner Liu Guiru, the police said, "The labor camp could do nothing to change her. Send her anywhere you want, but we won't accept her."
During the period that the police were trying to force me to give up my beliefs, I don't know how many times they used the electric clubs on me and beat me. Because I recited the articles from Dafa texts, Guard Jiang Hong shocked my armpits, heels, and other sensitive place for over an hour. I was lying on the ground, unable to move, and couldn't get up. I also lost control of my bowels, often wetting my pants. I had to ask for people's help to use the bathroom. My body was covered with bruises from the beatings and electric shocks. More seriously my brain was severely damaged and I lost almost all of my memory. I often felt my head was not clear and I vomited blood. Even now, I cannot eat meat or poultry. I cannot use the electric fan. When it is turned on, I twitch and my body becomes stiff.
In the labor camp's "crackdown" in May 2000, Team Six was an evil den of torture. All the firm practitioners were sent there. Practitioner Liu Yuli from Changchun was a university teacher in her 60's. When she was in Team Six, her thighs were covered with large blisters and she lost control of her bowels after receiving many shocks to her body. For more than a month she was shocked all the time. As long as she expressed her opinion, the guard would shock her with and electric club. Eventually, a guard tried to force her to write a "repentance letter" while threatening her with an electric club. If she didn't follow his instructions, the guard would shock her hand. The blisters on her body took a long time to heal. Practitioner
Liu Guiru in Team Five was put in Team Six for only one day and one night and still, she had to be carried back to her cell. The police did not allow her to sleep and asked a drug addict inmate, Shan Yanhong, to fiercely punch her heart, after which she couldn't get up for seven days. During the first three days of that week, the guards still carried her to the guard's room "to be tortured," and then carried her back. Yet no matter how they tortured her, they could not change her firm belief in Falun Dafa. She practiced the exercises and recited Falun Dafa's teachings constantly, even on the night before she left the labor camp. The labor camp couldn't force her to renounce her belief her. Guard Wang said, "If you were all like Liu Guiru, the labor camp wouldn't be able to keep you here." After she was set free, Liu Guiru actively validated Dafa and was arrested again. The labor camp refused to accept her. She was then sent to a prison, where the officer said, "If the labor camp couldn't do anything with her, you can send her anywhere you like, we won't accept her." The police didn't know what to do, so they sent her home. They also returned her three Dafa books.
Practitioners Liu Xiujuan and Jin Lifen were tortured in Team Five of the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp until they suffered a mental collapse
Practitioner Liu Xiujuan from Dehui City is in her 50's. She was one of the most severely tortured practitioners that I encountered in the labor camp. During her seven months being detained there, she never stopped being tortured for practicing the Falun Gong exercises. She was put in various special confinement compartments, tied to the "Dead Man's Bed," heavily handcuffed and shackled, and hung up and beaten. Officers Lian and Liao in the managing office, Xu, and Chief Wang Limei in Team Five, all tried different ways of torturing her. Once Liu Xiujuan was put in a confinement compartment for practicing the exercises. Her hands were pulled behind her back and tied to her feet. In such a position, she could not sit or stand. In addition, the guard used high-voltage electric clubs to shock the sensitive areas of her body. A drug addict inmate beat her fiercely with a club and a bamboo board. The sounds of the beating could be heard in the corridor. Such torture lasted for over a month until she suffered a mental collapse.
Once, Officer Lian in the managing office and Chief Wang of Team Five put Liu Xiujuan under torture in Team Five. They did it in a room down a deep corridor. I didn't know how long she was tortured. I just saw Liu Xiujuan run out. She was not herself since that. I went to clean up the room. Seeing me coming in, Chief Wang yelled at the guard, "Why did you let her in?" I saw a lot of hair and fresh blood on the floor. Chief Wang drove me out. When I returned to the cell and helped wash Liu Xiujuan's body, I found that her body was deformed from the torture. She was covered with wounds. There was no intact part. Her chest, back, and neck were black and blue. From her legs down to her feet, it looked like a washing board, covered with narrow ridges one after another. Her head was extremely swollen, so were her arms and thighs. Her fingertips were burnt from the electric shocks. Whenever I touched her body, she shuddered with pain. It was outrageous, a dreadful sight. Tears ran down my face as I washed her body. All the inmates were crying. In my 50 years of life, I have never seen or heard of anyone being devastated to such an extent. Whenever I think about it, I can't hold back my tears.
Two months later, Liu Xiujuan's wounds were running with pus and she was in extreme agony. Even now, she is in a confused mental state. When she sees someone in a police uniform, she'll hide behind others. Practitioner Jin Lifen from Shulan suffered a nervous breakdown on the same day. Liu Xiujuan broke down in the morning, Jin in the afternoon. She still hasn't recovered. Practitioner Zhu E from Jilin City also received electric shocks and her face and neck were covered with wounds. Her head was severely swollen. These are just some of the things that occurred during the period of the "crackdown" in Team Five, the team of the old, weak, sick, and handicapped in the labor camp. That is what I can recall. There is also a lot that I cannot remember clearly. As to how many practitioners were tortured to death, maimed, driven insane, or hurt in one way or another is beyond my knowledge. The preceding is a small part of what I witnessed when I was first put into the labor camp.
I went to Beijing to appeal and was arrested for a second time
In November 2001, I was arrested for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. They gave me an injection of bad medication, which made me vomit black blood. Without any legal procedure, I was sent from Beijing to the labor camp in Changchun. This time, I spent 22 days in the labor camp. For 20 days I was forced to remain in an awkward and tiring position. There were only two days that I wasn't tortured this way. Chief Wang said it was meant to expel the poison from my body. The police gave directions for the criminal inmate, Feng Lingling, to torture me. She beat me and tried to force me to break away from Falun Gong. She first beat me with a bamboo board. I grabbed the board from her. Then she used handcuffs to tie me up. I don't understand how the guard could give the handcuffs to that drug addict.
I was forced to maintain a position from five o'clock in the morning until the lunch break, and had to resume the position after lunch. Sometimes when others went to bed, I was still forced to hold that position. I felt dizzy. My head became swollen. In the last few days I couldn't eat. I vomited whatever I ate. My eyes protruded like a goldfishes' eyes. In the end, I threw up even when I didn't eat anything. During that period of time, a policewoman whose last name was Liu felt it was unfair for Feng Lingling to treat me so harshly. She stopped Feng several times, and told me I could move out of that position. After the guard heavily scolded Liu she dared not interfere any more.
Guard Xiao Aiqiu asked about my changes, what I said, and what I did every day. She inquired if I had broken away from Falun Gong. I can't remember if she used an electric club on me or not. I only remember that she insisted on making me stand in one place for long hours as punishment. The next day my body collapsed and I couldn't get up. Two days later I was sent home.
I was sent to a labor camp by the police via vicious means
In March 2002, I was sent to the labor camp for the third time. It was because I was reported to the police for distributing truth-clarifying materials in the Tiedong District of Jilin City on February 9, 2002. I was taken to the North Wuhan Road Police Station in the Longtan District, Jilin City. Instructor Mao was drunk when we got there. He kicked me heavily with his sturdy, leather shoes. He whipped me with a bamboo rod from a small flag, pressing me for the source of the truth-clarifying materials I had been distributing. I told him openly where the materials were from. He didn't believe me and kept on beating me. I lost consciousness twice.
After that the authorities went to search my home. They turned everything upside down in my home, and confiscated all the Dafa books. My husband (a non-practitioner) asked them why they were so savage. They tried to handcuff him but couldn't. So they surrounded and beat him. A vertebra in his spine was dislocated during the beating. He couldn't move for three days. They only stopped beating when my mother-in-law asked them why they beat good people. Later my husband called the Longtan Police Branch and District Court, reporting on the violent conduct the police from the North Wuhan Road Police Station. Those government offices just evaded their responsibility, saying that a holiday was coming and they would handle it after the holidays. Yet they didn't do anything and just dismissed the case. My husband went to the police station himself to talk to them about what happened. Qin Yuze said, "Do you have a witness? We don't beat people." My husband pointed at him and said, "It was you who beat me." And he pointed at another policeman whose last name is Che and said, "...and him." They pushed my husband out and hailed a taxi for us, which we had to pay for.
Because they never dealt with the beating case, I went to the front gate of the police station and told people about how we were persecuted. I distributed flyers and asked the police to return my Dafa books. They were afraid that I might get people to pay attention to this incident, so they sent me to a labor camp. The labor camp refused to take me, as I didn't pass the medical examination. They sent me to No. 222 hospital and the physician determined that my health wasn't suitable for the labor camp. However, I was sent back to the labor camp anyway, but the labor camp just refused to accept me. In the end the police paid a 3,000 yuan bribe(3) to the labor camp so they would accept me.
On the way there I had been calling out "Falun Dafa is great." A policewoman covered my head with a winter jacket and a plastic bag. She pushed me to the ground and stepped on me. She also took my Dafa books from me, which were later returned to me. I struggled not to give them to her. Four or five police immediately came and pressed me to the ground. I was nearly suffocated. I couldn't even make a sound for quite a while. They used all sorts of nasty methods to send me to the labor camp.
Witnessing various vicious methods used to torture practitioners in the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp
I was again sent to Team Five. Chief Wang and Guard Wang Lihui took turns shocking me with the electric clubs for seven days, and tried to force me to write a report of my thoughts. After they shocked me, they gave me food, just to show to others how good they were to me. Seeing that, someone said to me, "See how nice the guard treats you. Why don't you listen and break away from Falun Gong?" When I told them how they had shocked me with electric batons, they didn't say anything else. Chief Wang learned what I had said and kicked me saying, "Who saw me shocking and beating you? You liar. See how good I am to you. The whole team knows I am good to you." Once, others reported that I was spreading Dafa articles. Chief Wang used an electric club to shock my head. She just didn't take the club away from my head and held it there for so long I lost track of time. I was rolling on the ground from the electric shock. While she was shocking me, she also kicked me and frantically beat me with her fist until I lost consciousness. Then she asked people to carry me out. I went through countless times of being tortured like that.
In another "crackdown campaign" in June of 2002, one practitioner in each team was singled out for "special education." I was the first one in our team to be given that treatment. First, several people surrounded me for the so-called education. Then I was separated from the others, deprived of sleep, given limited use of the bathroom, and physically punished by making me maintain all sorts of tiring positions. They also forced me to watch video programs defaming Falun Dafa and tried to make me write papers denouncing Falun Dafa. On the third day, I was taken to the guard's room to be shocked and beaten. They tried to force me to break away from Falun Gong. Seeing I didn't follow their instructions, they just shocked me more and more severely. In two weeks, the five guards took turns shocking me. They ordered Gao Xiuying to write a repentance letter for me and to put my fingerprint on. I wouldn't do as they asked. I told them I would not do it even if it meant I had to die. I would not betray Dafa and my teacher. I received so many benefits from my teacher, without whom I would not exist. Hearing that, the five of them stopped shocking me. Still, they handcuffed me and pressed my fingerprints onto the repentance letter. Then they reported to higher officials that I had "broken away from Falun Dafa." For those who didn't give up their faith in that "converting campaign," the guards would force-feed them even if the practitioners only refused to take one meal. Many practitioner's stomachs and esophagi were severely damaged.
Practitioner Gao Yuqin from Jilin City is 58 years old. She lives in Fengjiatun. She was arrested at Lishu County for validating Dafa. When she went on a hunger strike at the Lishu County Custody Center, she was force-fed for 40 days and then sent to the labor camp. Many times she was tied up on a bed and beaten for doing the Falun Gong exercises. Officer Lian, head of the managing office, had beaten her so severely that she couldn't get up for many days. Because she refused to write reports about her thoughts, Guard Xiao Aiqiu used an electric club on her face for a long time, which left her unable to move. Chief Wang gave her another beating when she cried out "Master, help me." She was on a hunger strike when she was put in the labor camp and hence, was force-fed for another 40 days. Sometimes, they inserted the tube into her stomach twice a day. Once they inserted the tube into her trachea and almost choked her. When they pulled the tube out, it was covered with blood. After that she couldn't eat anything solid. She had to eat water-soaked steamed bread. She often felt her chest was congested and it was hard for her to breathe.
In Team One there was a small room under a staircase, which was damp and cold. One had to bend forward at 90 degrees just to enter. Many firm practitioners were shut in there for a long time. Practitioner Liu Yunxia from Shulan didn't give up her belief and was tortured by all sorts of instruments and measures by the head of the managing office, deputy head, Chief Wang, and the guards. She was shut in that small damp room for at least two months. She was chilled to the bone when she was finally dragged out. Anyone who wouldn't break away from Falun Gong was shut in that awful place. When they were allowed out their bodies were very swollen and stayed that way for a long time.
There were countless other methods of torture used on us. One torture instrument was an electrified needle that came in various sizes and was used to make the flesh jerk. It caused extreme misery. Chief Wang tortured me with that instrument, so was Zhao Ru of Jilin City. After Liu Guiru was tortured with that instrument, she had to be carried back to the cell. In addition, Chief Wang put the probe of that instrument on my head and I collapsed immediately. The instrument did not leave a bruise as it uses sound waves or particle vibration, but it can severely damage the internal organs. My brain was thus damaged and I lost much of my memory. I often felt my head was not clear and I vomited. Chief Wang also used it on my chest. I felt extreme pain in my body but couldn't tell which part was hurt. It was a kind of torture instrument that's only allowed to be used by the chiefs. It was so dangerous that ordinary guards were not allowed to use it.
The guards used various ways to torture practitioners and they kept on creating new ones. For example, they put practitioners outside to freeze in the winter and exposed them to the hot sun in the summer. They stripped practitioners of their clothes and handcuffed them to a bed. They used all sorts of physical punishments, injected drugs, forced them to do intense workloads, etc. Practitioner Zhou Yongping from Changchun is in her 50's. She was put outside in January wearing only a shirt and pants for three days and nights. Her fingers froze and became deformed. She often fainted and collapsed, and her mind was not very clear afterwards. Practitioner Fan Xiuying refused to have drug injections. Drug addict Shan Yanhong forced them on her. Otherwise she would strip off Fan's clothes. Later, they tied Fan naked to the bed and handcuffed her. They tied her in that way and asked people to feed her for three months. Practitioner Gao Yuqin from Jilin was tortured and couldn't get up from the bed by herself. Still, Guard Xiao Aiqiu forced her to work. Practitioner Li Yanru is in her 60's. Chief Wang and the chief in Team Six took turns shocking her face, mouth, and neck with electric clubs, which caused her skin to turn black and blue and peel off. Her face and neck became swollen. Guard Wang Lihui deliberately shocked the sensitive parts of Li's body. Because she often called out "Falun Dafa is great," her mouth was sealed for a long time. She was isolated in a small dark room and tied to a bed with a leather belt. But once the seal was broken, she would call out again. Later, she was driven to a mental collapse under the torture. She would even drink urine and eat feces if ordered to do so.
Sleep deprivation was one of the most commonly used forms of torture. Almost every practitioner in the labor camp was deprived of sleep. When they arrived, the so-called "education" started. Anyone that didn't give up Falun Gong was not allowed to sleep for at least a month. Several people would take turns watching you. If you closed your eyes, they would beat you or hit the table to keep you alert. Professor Zeng Lingwen of Jilin University in Changchun was in her 70's. She was detained separately and deprived of sleep for nearly a month when she first arrived at the labor camp. There were countless cases of extended detentions and indefinite detentions of practitioner who did not give up their beliefs. Fan Xiuying's term was one year, but was extended for another 360 days. Li Yanru's term was extended for 340 days. Practitioner Chen of Shijinggou of Jilin City's term was also extended by 300 days. Even Professor Ceng Lingwen's term was extended twice for reading the Dafa articles, even though she is a senior citizen, the second extension was for 40 days.
Practitioner Hou Yanjie from Changchun is 30 years old. After the TV interception occurred in Changchun on March 5, 2002, police found truth-clarifying materials in her home. Her husband was also a practitioner (I cannot remember his name) and police in the Changchun Police Department beat him to death. Their one-year-old baby was sent to her mother to look after. During the two months Hou was in the custody center, she received all sorts of torture and insults. She was always interrogated at night and carried back to the cell at dawn. The "tiger-bench" (4) torture that they used was specially made. She was tied up in the most miserable position. Several policemen used electric clubs in her mouth and vagina, and they shocked her breasts and other sensitive areas. There were also many indescribable insults shouted at her by the male police. A young woman like her was surrounded by several demonic policemen, being tortured and insulted in the most inhuman way. What kind of trauma is left on her body and mind? All this happened right after she lost her husband and was forced to separate from her baby. How can a young woman bear such devastation?
The preceding is what I witnessed and experienced. It is not something I made up. It happened in my life and is still happening. Can someone carry out an investigation? It is a reflection of the torture and persecution of hundreds and thousands of practitioners. It is also hard evidence of Jiang Zemin's group slaughtering people and treating human life as inconsequential. Although it is only the tip of the iceberg, it reflects the tragedy prevailing China.
Written on May 22
(1) Dead Man's Bed - The four limbs of the practitioner are stretched out and tied to the four corners of an icy-cold metal bed. The practitioner cannot move at all. Neither is he allowed to get up to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom. This treatment would last from several hours up to more than a dozen days. This type of cruel torture causes severe damage to the practitioner both mentally and physically.
(2) repentance letter - In this statement the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practicing Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.
(3) yuan - 500 yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.
(4) tiger-bench - Practitioners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead. They are not allowed to turn their heads, close their eyes, talk to anyone or move at all. Several inmates are assigned to watch over the practitioners and force them to remain motionless while sitting on the bench. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioners' lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse (see illustration on <http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html>)
