(Clearwisdom.net) I started to practice Falun Gong in April 1997. Late at night of July 20, 1999, the police forcibly called me for interrogation and ransacked my home. I was placed under house arrested after being allowed to go home on the 21^st. While I was under house arrest, the police monitored my home around the clock and I lost my personal freedom for over ten days. In March 2000, I went to Beijing to peacefully appeal for a stop to the persecution of Falun Gong. In April, I was arrested at a local practitioner's home. On that night, the local police cuffed my hands behind my back and then hung me up for the whole night. Once I had arrived at the detention center, the police interrogated me. I told them that I wanted to practice Falun Gong with all my heart, and as a result they used many methods to try and make me give up my belief, such as being forced to wear foot shackles that weigh a few dozen kilograms, being beaten and kicked, showered with cold water, sleeping next to the toilet, among many other things. I went on a hunger strike for nine days to appeal against the persecution. In early May, I was transferred to another detention center. The police at this center joined together to brutally torture me for more than ten months. To protest against this illegal prolonged detention and persecution, I once again conducted another hunger strike. I was tied to the Dead Person's Bed [The four limbs of the practitioner are stretched out and tied to the four corners of an icy-cold metal bed. The practitioner cannot move at all, and he is not allowed to get up to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom. This treatment can last from several hours to more than a dozen days. This type of cruel torture causes severe damage to the practitioner both mentally and physically] for more than 20 days. I refused to denounce my practice, so I was then illegally sentenced to three years in jail.

In 2001, after I was released from the Dead Person's Bed, I was sent to the No. 2 Section of Deyang Jail, where I once again experienced the brutal persecution towards Falun Gong practitioners. In order to force practitioners to give up their beliefs, the Deyang Jail instigated violent criminals to implement inhuman tortures affecting both the mental and physical state of Falun Gong practitioners, and in exchange they shortened the criminals' sentences.

Because I refused to write the "guarantee statement" [A statement to declare that he or she is remorseful for practicing Falun Gong and guarantees not to practice Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.] to stop practicing Falun Gong, I was tortured by a few dozen criminals and knocked to the ground again and again. The guards stood on the side and watched, and the sound of beating and scolding was so great that it even alarmed the armed police that were patrolling near the wall. When they found out that Falun Gong practitioners were being tortured, they simply walked away. Then I was taken to the office used by the Strict Discipline Team. They used a toilet rag to gag my mouth, and then they grew even more violent. They fiercely beat me, kicked me and hit my head with bamboo sticks. They used so much force when they beat me that a bunch of bamboo sticks were shattered. As a result, the swollen areas on my head didn't subside for half a year. On many occasions, they forcibly pushed a pen into my hand so as to make me copy out their written guarantee statement. After I had refused their demands one time after another, I suffered from more brutal torture. My bloodstains were everywhere, on my clothes, underpants, the floor and the wall. I was tortured to the point where I was continually bleeding, and I spat blood for more than a month. I suffered from a huge pain whenever I walked, and had a lot of trouble sleeping. The coughing was very diificult to bear, and every time I coughed, my body was wracked with pain.

Because I did not give up the belief of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," I was cruelly tortured on four separate occasions in one year. Later I was transferred to another prison section. This section used the excuse of military training to physically punish and torment steadfast practitioners. We were woken up at 5:00 a.m. every morning and forced to stand facing a wall for a long period of time while all other prisoners were still sleeping. After breakfast, we were forced to do millitary training in the sun. Sometimes, once we lifted up a foot, we were not allowed to put it back down again. We were exposed to the burning sun and not allowed to rest .They then continued the military training in the afternoon. At night, we stood until 10 p.m., we were then allowed to bathe and go to sleep one by one after all the other prisoners had rested. On the second day, the same thing happened. I successively suffered twice from gang torture. After I was tortured the first time, I found the guards and pointed out that it was illegal for the prisoners to beat people. At noon a few days later, I again suffered from the brutal torture inflicted by more than six prisoners in turn, while almost one hundred prisoners surrounded and watched. I felt unconscious from the pain. I later strongly requested to see the guard to present the situation, but was pushed to the ground by the prisoners. They stomped on my head and chest, forcibly stripped off my clothes and pants, took turns beating me, and stole my currency that is used in the jail, which was valued at 200 Yuan [Yuan is the Chinese currency. The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan]. I clearly indicated to the guards that I would go on a hunger strike to protest if the torture happened again, only then did they stop the violent torment. Nevertheless, the police adopted other means to cause difficulties to practitioners such as not allowing communication between practitioners and their relatives and friends. However, when my families and good friends came to see me, the police made up a lie, saying that I refused to see anyone because I practiced Falun Gong, causing my family to misunderstand me. I was not allowed to talk to anyone else, even just some chatting would be seen as breaking the rule. After we had finished work for the day, other prisoners could go and rest, but many Dafa practitioners and I were forced to stand facing a wall in the freezing winter, suffered in the meeting room situated on the top floor in midsummer, worked overtime, even for the whole night.

I persisted in practicing Falun Gong, and was again transferred to a section with other fellow practitioners for the so-called "centralized transformation." The prison police sent a few fellow practitioners and me to the "Strict Discipline Team" that was specialized in torturing Falun Gong practitioners. We were forced to march continually, listen to lies that slandered Dafa every night, and only allowed ten minutes to wash ourselves before we slept. Therefore, the fellow practitioners and I together filed a report to request an interview with the government cadre, but were tortured again by more than ten prisoners under the police's presence. They teamed up to brutally beat us, cuffed our hands behind our backs, pushed us to sit on the ground, used towels to gag our mouths, forced us to listen to the Jiang regime's fabricated lies while pulling our ears, eyebrows and noses, tightening the handcuffs and then forcefully stretching our cuffed hands to sides with their feet. We were then forced to put on foot shackles that weighed about 15 Jin (16.5 lb) and locked up in a small cell. To protest against all the persecution that was happening in Deyang Jail, I conducted a hunger strike for five days. Some government official has given the instruction to destroy Falun Gong practitioners both mentally and physically, so it is not hard to imagine what we had to endure. Every morning, we were given half a portion of steamed bread and a mouthful of porridge, and less than 150 grams of rice at both noon and night. The military training during the daytime included a lot of intensive movements, we had to run with empty stomachs. Under the burning sun, our clothes were wet and then dry, and then wet again. At night, we slept on the floor, which carried the odor of sweat and urine, and was also full of mosquitos. After only three months, I had been tortured to the point where I had become emaciated, and was even taunted by the police.

After we left the "Strict Discipline Team," we were sent to a brainwashing class. Two prisoners supervised one practitioner for a period of 24 hours. The prison police who especially persecuted Falun Gong practitioners lived in the jail, two police officers watched one practitioner, and used all means to "transform" practitioners so that they could get a bonus. They left televisions on that repeatedly broadcasted the fabricated lies so as to torture us mentally. In the midsummer of July and August, the sun was burning hot. At 1 p.m. every day, the prisoners were divided into four groups, implemented physical punishment under the name of military training, and forced us to run in the field. The prison police used the excuse that we were talking to stop us from sleeping. I hurt my back during the military training, but I was not allowed to take a break, even though I couldn't walk, step or run, I was still forced to march in the intense heat.

Posting date: 9/22/2003
Original article date: 9/21/2003
Category: Eye Witness Accounts
Translated on 8/30/2003
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2003/8/17/55742.html

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