Having Suffered 8.5 Years of Torture in Custody, Heilongjiang Man Arrested Again for His Faith

(Minghui.org) A 60-year-old Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, man has been detained since his arrest on August 4, 2022, for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

While details about Mr. Guan Wenlong’s current status aren’t clear, this article details the torture he suffered before.

Mr. Guan used to have a bad temper and often engaged in drinking and gambling. At home, he beat his wife and child. But soon after he took up Falun Gong in early 1999, he turned his life around and his family enjoyed a harmonious life. Prior to Mr. Guan’s latest arrest, he served seven years in prison, as well as one and a half years in a labor camp simply for not renouncing Falun Gong.

Seven Years of Prison Torture

Mr. Guan was arrested at home in January 2002 and sentenced to seven years by the A’cheng District Court. He was held at four different prisons, including a new prison in construction, Yuquan Prison, Harbin No. 3 Prison and Mudanjiang Prison.

At Yuquan Prison, Mr. Guan was monitored by eight inmates around the clock, including when he was sleeping, eating, or using the restroom. The inmates beat him at will. During the day, he was forced to work in a quarry. At one point he injured his feet and was unable to walk, yet the guard still forced him to work. Upon seeing that he was indeed reaching his limit, an inmate threw him into a water dungeon and left him in the water for an entire day. 

Torture illustration: Water dungeon

After the inmate pulled him out, he left Mr. Guan on a big stone where wind frequently blew through. With his clothes soaking wet, Mr. Guan shivered from the cold. The inmate didn’t allow him to take off his wet clothes until it was almost dark.

Mr. Guan was transferred to the Harbin No. 3 Prison in April 2003. Because he refused to write a statement renouncing Falun Gong, he was forced to sit on a square wood stool from early morning until midnight. The inmates beat him if he moved a little or talked. 

Mr. Guan was later taken to a solitary confinement cell. He was starved on the first day. At night, he slept on a bare wooden board without any bedding or comforter. Starting the second day, he was given one spoonful of cornmeal in the morning and evening. He was starving and emaciated after two weeks. 

A year later, in April 2004, Mr. Guan was taken to the eighth ward of Mudanjiang Prison. The inmates injured him during a torture session in early September 2004, rendering him unable to do the forced labor. Guard Wu Xuejun beat him again with an electric baton and forced him to work despite his injuries. Two more inmates beat him a few more times on November 22 that year. 

Mr. Guan was hospitalized on November 4, 2005, as he was severely injured due to the beating by guard Wu. Only two days later, another guard Zhang Jian forcibly took him back from the hospital. On November 17 that year, they held him in solitary confinement for seven days. He was only allowed to wear very thin clothes, even though there was no heat in the solitary confinement cell. He was given two small pieces of sponge cake every day.

Guards Chen Zhanfeng and Wu shocked Mr. Guan with electric batons and beat him on February 23, 2006. 

The next day, Wu and Liu Bo dragged Mr. Guan to the restroom (which didn’t have a surveillance camera), shocked him with electric batons, and beat him with rubber batons. After one hour of torture, Mr. Guan’s right leg was injured and the inmates had to carry him out. Wu walked behind him and stabbed his back and right leg with an awl. The guards took him back to the restroom around noon and beat him until all the other inmates finished lunch. His face was swollen and bruised.

When Wu returned to work a day later, he dragged Mr. Guan to the restroom and tortured him with an awl for another half hour.

Due to the pain in his legs, Mr. Guan was unable to work on July 23, 2008. The guards took him to a small room and shocked his fingertips with an electric baton, while verbally abusing him. 

When Mr. Guan refused to wear the inmates’ uniform on July 31, 2008, the guards said to him, “We didn’t straighten you out with the 10,000-volt baton last time. Today we are going to use a 30,000-volt baton.” 

The guards ordered over ten inmates to hold Mr. Guan down. One sat on his head, while others held his hands and legs. They took off his clothes and then guard Wu Jizhe shocked him on the chest, abdomen, and then all over his body. The electric shock torture lasted from morning to noon. The room was filled with the smell of burnt flesh. When the inmates dragged Mr. Guan to his cell, his right ankle was severely injured and the bone was exposed.

Torture illustration: dragging on the ground

Mr. Guan was released in January 2009.

One and a Half Years in Labor Camp

On December 29, 2009, only eleven months after Mr. Guan was released, the police arrested him again and ransacked his home. He was held at the A’cheng No.2 Detention Center and then given 1.5 years of forced labor.

Mr. Guan was taken to the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp on January 14, 2010, and transferred to the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp a few days later. The guards beat him as he resisted the persecution.

After the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp was shut down, all Falun Gong practitioners detained there were transferred to the Suihua Forced Labor Camp on October 8, 2010.

The guards also frequently beat Mr. Guan. One guard, Fan Xiaodong, often beat Mr. Guan after getting drunk, hitting him in the face and chest. Another guard Shi Jian once hit Mr. Guan’s head and caused him to become dizzy.

The police continued to harass Mr. Guan after he was released on June 25, 2011.

Related report:

Mr. Guan Wenlong Subjected to Forced Labor After Seven Years of Unlawful Imprisonment