By a regretful person who persecuted Falun Gong practitioners

(Clearwisdom.net)

I was a criminal in the female team of Heilongjiang Drug Rehabilitation Center (also known as a female forced labor camp). During my time in the labor camp, I was used by the guards to persecute steadfast Falun Gong practitioners. Having committed this intolerable sin, my conscience is deeply plagued. In order to wash myself clean of the sins I committed in the past, I would now like to tell people about what I witnessed and experienced in the forced labor camp, and about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in which I participated.

In the forced labor camp, practitioners who resisted the persecution, requested to be released unconditionally, and who conducted hunger strikes for long periods of time were tied to steel chairs and force-fed. The inserted tubes were not pulled out for a few days. Practitioners who refused to greet the guards were cuffed in various positions including being hung up and cuffed, cuffed behind the back, and cuffed in the squatting position. Moreover, they executed the torture everywhere: classrooms (bedrooms), storerooms, toilets, duty officer observation room, and the guard's chamber. One Falun Gong practitioner always refused to cooperate, so she was continously hung up and cuffed for more than 80 hours. When she was let down, one of her hands was unable to hold or grasp things. According to the law, the period of confinement cannot surpass 7 days, however she was confined for more than 20 days after she was let down.

On the afternoon of November 12, 2002, the forced labor camp held an "all out assault" meeting. In the evening, dozens of resolute practitioners were not allowed to eat, and they were taken to the original production workshop in the basement. The ground was covered with worn out steel windows, as well as iron hoops embedded in the cement. The practitioners were forced to squat cuffed to the iron windows and hoops, and thus began the inhumane torture which lasted for three days and nights. (They changed the basement back into the production workshop and storeroom afterwards so as to not slow down production.) The guards tortured practitioners who refused to squat down with electric shock batons. Whoever sat on the ground and did not get up was forced into a cold water basin. A male guard called Zhang Xu carried an electric baton and club in the basement. He immediately tortured practitioners with the electric baton whenever he saw them moving or closing their eyes and when they failed to obey his commands. The spark would crackle as he simultaneously yelled at and electrically shocked practitioners. One night, the guards stuck a piece of metal on the backs of practitioners, and two guards wearing mouthpieces and gloves took practitioners out one by one to torture them with electric shocks. Each practitioner's mouth was tightly gagged by a cloth strip with a big knot tied in the middle, and then covered by yellow adhesive tape. Therefore their saliva always dripped out from the mouth, and was especially foul smelling. Because many practitioners refused to be "reformed," the guards tried everything possible to intensify the electric baton torture; they even found the most painful spot to administer electric shocks which lay at the base of the neck. They also used the piece of metal that was previously mentioned, and filled individual practitioners' mouths with unknown medicines. Some police officers even forced practitioners to sit in the washbasin, drenched their body with water and tortured them everywhere with the electric baton. And what was more, they forced practitioners to stand in the washbasin while they poured water on their bodies, then a few guards would torture them with electric batons all at once. They also put a big metal pot on practitioners' heads the beat the pot with sticks, and tried to force them to write "Three Statements" [promising not to practice Falun Gong, appeal, or associate with other practitioners]. After an elderly lady in her fifties was tortured by police to the point of becoming unrecognizable, she was forced to squat and was cuffed to the iron window by criminals. Then we took off her winter coat and pants, leaving only her underwear, and poured a pot of cold water from her head to her feet, and made her stand and freeze in a drafty place in the basement. Then the guards went to eat. After they came back, they tortured the frozen elderly practitioner with the electric baton, and asked her "Will you sign [the three statements]?" The elderly woman always shouted, "No!" Then the guards forcefully pressed her fingerprint on the "Three Statements" and "Exposing and Criticizing Statement," then two people lifted and dragged her to the square hall of the basement. By this time, she had been tortured to the point of losing all her strength and could not even put her clothes on. Then this elderly woman was again forced to squat and was cuffed for 24 hours without sleep. She was watched by the criminals, and as soon as she closed her eyes, she was puched, kicked, and hit with batons. Later, her eyes began dripping blood, and her ankles were also bleeding from the squatting. Climbing the stairs had become a very strenuous task for this originally healthy elderly woman. It was said that her son was tortured badly because he practices Falun Gong, and that both his legs were so deteriorated that you could see the bones and tendons. He lost the capablity to take care of himself and needed the care of others, while his elderly mother was also inhumanely tortured in the forced labor camp. Later this woman was again tortured many times together with others.

Forcing practitioners to squat became the most common torture method in the forced labor camp since the so-called "all out assault" was launched in November 2002. People who squatted for too long could not straighten their lower backs or legs; even when they stood up, their body was bent forward and the legs were curved. To the best of my knowledge, the longest period of squatting was 4 to 5 months. It made a person who had previously been energetic and healthy lose their human appearance, and become nothing but skin and bones by the time that they were finally released. Fortunately her family members came to take her home. If she was not tortured to death, her legs would have been disabled as a result of the squatting.

Practitioners who did not concede to the forced signature were tortured again on the ground after they came out of the basement. As long as they were not "reformed," the guards would find excuses to torment them. Some practitioners were taken to the basement for a second time to be tortured. Practitioners who refused to attend brainwashing classes, or to slander their teacher and Dafa were also tortured. They were often cuffed on their own or together with a few others, and forced to squat on the worn out iron windows on the ground or specially welded metal stands that were similar to the metal windows. The guards even forced them to squat on the metal windows welded by steel bars that were the thickness of a finger. They did not let them wear shoes in the winter, and left them wearing only underwear. They also forced practitioners to sit in an metal basin with cold water, lifted up their underwear, poured cold water on their backs, and then opened up the windows to freeze them.

Under the instruction of the guards, we pinched practitioners inner thighs, armpits and breasts. Someone imparted to us the best method: use finger nails to pull a bit of skin and twist and the skin will come off. Then rub the broken area with salt water or refined salt. The practitioners were in so much pain that some of them screamed, cried and fell to the ground. Some of the criminals still did not stop. When policewoman Yin Na heard the shouts, she opened the door and said, "Whoever shouts again, take off her socks and put them into her mouth!" A criminal took advantage of the situation to say, "Whoever shouts again, take off her underpants and put them into her mouth." In the so called "all out assault" on practitioners, the forced labor camp incited us to mistreat Falun Gong practitioners. Some officials also clearly indicated that we could maliciously hit practitioners and they would take the responsibility if there was a accident. Some guards also told us, "It is better to let them suffer in great pain than to have them die, but only on the condition that they can be reformed." Therefore every one of us became like devils that had lost control. We once stripped off a practitioner's clothes, cuffed her hands, and pulled her around in the room. We once pushed the practitioners to the ground and pulled down their pants to show their bottoms. Then we opened the door to display it to the people who lined up in the corridor to eat. Even a 57-year-old woman had her underpants forcibly pulled down. In order to not let them sleep, we all used our own methods. Some of us hit them with wooden sticks and brooms all over their bodies so as to prevent them from closing their eyes. Some pinched them on the neck, poured cold water on them, poured a cup of cold water on their heads, lifted their collars to pour water into their clothes, or put ice cubes into their clothes. Some criminals also dipped the broom in the chamber pot and wiped it on the practitioner's mouths.

During these days of relentless torment, the guards did not allow the practitioners to wash their clothes or themselves, therefore their bodies smelled badly, making them suffer even more. On a few nights, we used string to tie a practitioner's hair to the bed ladder. Because this practitioner's hands were cuffed to the bed, she could only raise her head up, but could not move. We slept in shifts while watching the practitioners for 24 hours as they squatted for 24 hours. They had to keep their eyes open, and sometimes they were too sleepy to squat, so we punched them. We often kicked them, trampled them, or slapped them on the face. Sometimes we did not want ot hurt our hands, so we hit them with the soles of our tennis shoes and pounded their faces with hard leather shoes. Those who were not cooperative were pushed to the ground and brutally beaten with the stick, bamboo, or a big brush and broom. No matter whether they were 30, 50 or 60 years old, they could not escape this torture! If one moved, she was hit even more ruthlessly. The monitoring device was turned on 24 hours, and the police who were patrolling in the corridor could assist us at any time. One Falun Gong practitioner was deprived of sleep for 7 days and nights. On the eighth night, she was cuffed to the bed ladder and slept while she squatted. It was allowed by the guards, otherwise we would not have dared to let her close her eyes.

Some male guards not only used electric batons, but also slapped practitioner's faces with their hands or with rolled up magazines. The sound of the slaps, "whack, whack" was very loud. Some even stepped on the heads and backs of practitioners who were squatting on the ground with their big boots, and one guard brought a large black spider to put into practitioners clothes. In our words, the vice-brigade chief (who was also the Squadron 2 commander) Li Jinming was the most dangerous, ruthless and vicious person. She had two primary assistants: one is Dong Shaoxing who likes beating and scolding people, and the other was vice-squadron commander Liu Zhujie.

Since November 2002, Heilongjiang Province Drug Rehabiliation Center has launched the "all out assault" three times, and each time they used various inhumane ways to torture Falun Gong practitioners. I saw in Falun Gong practitioners their great benevolence and tolerance, and their excellent moral qualities in holding firmly to the truth, while never submitting to the evil. I deeply regret participating in the persecution. I wrote about my experiences to let people learn about the persecution that Falun Gong practitioners are suffering, and I hope that this can lessen the sins I have committed.

The truth is in people's heart. I believe that the persecution and humiliation practitioners suffer will certainly be redressed one day.

Posting date: 7/10/2003
Original article date: 7/9/2003
Category: Eye Witness Accounts
Translated on 7/2/2003
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/6/26/52891.html

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