November 2, 2001

(Clearwisdom.net) Once, a friend of mine told me about what he had heard and seen in the Echeng No. 1 Detention Center, which astonished me very much.

My friend said that Falun Gong practitioners there based their behavior on the principles of "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance." They always thought of others, but the authorities sent them to the detention center one after another.

The authorities tortured the practitioners brutally, using both hard and soft tactics, just to force them to give up their practice and beliefs. The guards in the detention center under the leadership of the head, Wang Shengli, were especially keen on beating people. They were even more cruel to practitioners and wanted to beat them to death. The vicious Huang Mingzhu was the most vicious among the guards. It was said that this person had a special "interest" in that he preferred to beat women!

Once, an old lady went on a hunger strike for more than two months to secure unconditional release. During that period, she was force-fed many times with a thick mixture of salt and water until her life was in danger, and had to be sent to the hospital for emergency intervention. Because of being force-fed with the salt water mixture for such a long time, she became so emaciated that her bones could be easily seen. She could not eat, and her health had been severely damaged.

Two young practitioners were often dragged out to be brutally beaten for safeguarding Falun Gong. The wounds all over their bodies were too awful to look at. The guards put shackles and handcuffs on them, which were normally applied to criminals sentenced to death, and wouldn't take them off for several months. Each shackle or handcuff weighed about 15 or 20 kilograms [33-44 lbs.], and caused them to have difficulties eating and using the toilet.

What was even worse, knowing that practitioners do not believe in killing, the guards forced them to kill, requiring each of them to kill 10 flies each day. If the practitioners didn't meet their requirement, the guards would force the other ordinary criminals to beat them. If the criminals didn't want to do it, they would be deprived of food. It was said that one detained woman [an ordinary criminal] was forced to persecute practitioners against her will by the guards so harshly that she had a mental collapse.

Even so, Falun Gong practitioners never gave up their beliefs, never fought back when they were beaten up, and never cursed back when they were sworn at. They were undoubtedly much to be admired and esteemed!

My friend said that since he came out, he started to learn "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance" to be a truly good person, correct his evil deeds, and return to a righteous way of living. He was lucky that Falun Gong saved him.

A group of extremely corrupt and degenerate guards have detained a group of good people who practiced "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance!" I sincerely voice this injustice for Falun Gong practitioners! I truly wish the country could offer them justice, and I thank the practitioners who changed my friend into a good person.