(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Li Deshan, who was a teacher in Dezhou, Shandong Province, was severely tortured in Wangcun Labor Camp. The tortures he suffered include sleep deprivation, beatings, being hung up, being force-fed water and alcohol, and mental abuse. He suffered a mental collapse from the torture and forced brainwashing, which lead to his death in August 2002. Policemen held a conference after he died, in which they claimed that Li Deshan's death had nothing to do with the labor camp.

Falun Gong practitioner Li Deshan

The guards in Wangcun Labor Camp used all kinds of torture on Li Deshan. According to an inside source, in order to force Li Deshan to renounce Falun Gong, guards ordered collaborators to cruelly torture him. They shackled Li Deshan's limbs to two iron beds, then pulled the beds in two opposite directions. This caused excruciating pain, as his body was torn apart. They filled three glass bottles with boiling water, then tied the bottles to one end of several strings and hung the bottles right above Li Deshan's head. If his head moved, he would be scalded, as the boiling water would spill on his head.

Another torture Li Deshan suffered is called "Half-flying." His arms were stretched out with his hands shackled to an iron bed frame. He was hung up with only his toes barely touching the floor. He was hung up like this for half a month. Mr. Li was also force-fed with alcohol by guards and criminals [Note: Falun Gong practitioners do not drink alcohol]. He was jailed in a solitary compartment, monitored by criminals, allowed only 2 hours of sleep every day, and criminals slapped his face for an hour every day. The tortures were repeated almost every day for half a year.

Besides the torture of sleep deprivation, beatings with electric batons and force-feeding, guards Shan Yewei and Liang Junling also made a torture instrument called the "strict control stool" with steel cables. Li Deshan was eventually tortured to death by this torture. The guards forced him to sit on the stool for a long time, and forced him to stay awake. Several collaborators watched him in rotating shifts. They brutally beat him if he changed his sitting position.

Besides the physical torture, the mental torture Li Deshan suffered was even more unbearable. They did not allow Li Deshan to sleep for long periods of time. When his mind was not clear due to the sleep deprivation, they asked Li Deshan to read aloud material that had been written to defame Falun Gong, and recorded his reading, and then they finally let him go to sleep. When he woke up with a clear mind, they played his recording in public. Li Deshan denied that it was his own statement, so the policemen deprived him of sleep and forced him to read the materials again when his mind was not clear, and recorded it and played it again.

Under the extreme physical and mental torture, Li Deshan suffered a mental collapse and eventually died in tears, leaving behind his parents, wife and young children.

In the torture of Li Deshan, collaborator Li Conglin was an active participant. He reported Li Deshan's information to the guards, and targeting Mr. Li's weaknesses, he came up with several methods to torture him. In order to get out of the labor camp himself, Li Conglin tricked his own wife, who is a Falun Gong practitioner, into undergoing brainwashing, and coerced his wife into telling the police that she had produced truth-clarifying materials. The local 610 Office took her away instead of keeping their promise to "let her go home and help her find a job," and they unlawfully sentenced her to 9 years in prison. When he heard this news, Li Conglin was devastated and cursed the local 610 Office for breaking their promise.

Guards in the Wangcun Labor Camp who used all kinds to tortures to persecute Falun Gong practitioners include Zhao Yongming, Zheng Wanxin, Shan Yewei, Zhang Bo, Liang Junling, Luo Guangrong, Sun Fengjun, Wang Xinjiang, Li Qinfu, Liu Lin, and Liu Guowei.

February 23, 2005