(Minghui.org) Brainwashing sessions have been held in different cities in Zhenjiang Province since the persecution of Faun Gong began. Practitioners detained there are subjected to brainwashing and other tortures.
Claiming it was a necessary strategy for “maintaining order” during the G20 meetings in 2016, the authorities arrested practitioners and took them to these brainwashing centers in April and then again in August.
Officials at the Hangzhou City 610 Office ordered officers from the local Domestic Security Divisions and police stations, along with officials from the local residential committees, to go to practitioners' homes or workplaces to arrest them, by force if necessary.
Most of the time, over 15 people went after a single practitioner. When a practitioner resisted the arrest, they simply carried the practitioner into their vehicles. Some practitioners were in their pajamas and some were without shoes when they were arrested. A few elderly practitioners were hurt during the arrests.
In the brainwashing centers, all the windows were equipped with steel bars and video cameras were installed in every room. Each practitioner was accompanied around the clock by a judicial system officer and an officer from his or her local residential committee, even when they slept and ate.
The practitioners were forced to watch videos that defamed Falun Gong and its founder all day. At night, they had to write reports that slandered Falun Gong or write a repentance statement. They were also coerced to give the names of practitioners that they contacted. The people that accompanied the practitioners pressured them to provide information.
Then the practitioners were forced to read their write-ups in front of everyone in big meetings, including officials from 610 Offices, judicial system officers, and police officers. They were video recorded.
The first wave of arrests took place in April 2016. Acting on orders from the Hangzhou City 610 Office, the police took over a dozen practitioners to the brainwashing center in the Yuhang area, including Shou Jianfeng, Feng Yingzi, Xu Weihua, Ms. Zhou (given name unknown), Ms. Lin (in her 70s, given name unknown), and Feng Xiaojun's mother from Funyang City.
As one example, over 20 people went to the home of Ms. Shou Jianfeng to arrest her and take her by force to the brainwashing center on the morning of April 25, 2016. Ms. Shou held a hunger strike to protest the detention. On the third day of her hunger strike, over 20 police officers came to torture her. Four policewomen tied her up. Her blood pressure was so high that she had to have an IV injection.
In August 2016, another round of arrests took place in Hangzhou. Eleven practitioners were taken to the brainwashing center in Yuhang: Fu Huiya, Qian Liyun, Feng Qinying, Shen Zhangmei, Shen Jie, Fu Yue, Huang Jiaying, Chen Hong, Bao Longyi, and Ke Yuanhong. Zhao Mi from the Yongkang area was taken to the brainwashing center in Shaoxing City. Zhang Zhengmei was taken to the brainwashing center in Taizhou City.
When Ms. Zhang Zhengmei was arrested on August 16, 2016, the police broke into her home and went to upstairs to take her away. Because she resisted, two of them held her by her arms. One covered her mouth, and two carried her by her feet. She was put in a police van, between the seats, with one hand cuffed and the other tied. Two officers immobilized her feet and one held her head. She had lost feeling in her arms by the time they arrived several hours later. There were bruises on her wrists.
Tang Fengjie was detained in their local residential brainwashing center for 10 days in October.
Because Fu Xiaolian, Fu Yue, and Ke Yuanhong refused to renounce Falun Gong, they were detained for two more months after the brainwashing session was over.
People Responsible for Brainwashing Sessions:
1. Zhejiang Province Police Department and Political and Legal Affairs CommitteeXu Jia'ai, director2. Zhejiang Province Maintaining Social Security OfficeWeng Gangliang, head3. Zhejiang Province 610 OfficeZhu Hengyi, directorZhang Bingfu, Party secretaryJin Guohua, deputy director4. Hangzhou City Political and Legal Affairs CommitteeMa Xiaohui, Party secretary5. Hangzhou City Prison Management Bureau, General OfficeZhang Yulong, chief6. Hangzhou City Police DepartmentJing Jie: 136058169797. Hangzhou Fuyang Drug Rehabilitation InstituteMa Fujun, session head of brainwashing center8. Hangzhou City Xihu District Political and Legal Affairs CommitteeWang Miao, member, brainwashing center, 13868072613
