Inhuman Brutality in the Botou City Detention Center: Forced Ingestion of Large Buckets of Water, Excrement and Urine

(Clearwisdom.net) Dafa practitioner Mr. Fu Qimou, an employee of the Food Administration Bureau in Botou City, Hebei Province was illegally detained in the city's detention center from May 2001 to March 2002 for his belief in Falun Dafa. Because he firmly maintained that he was innocent of any crime, during his detention Mr. Fu refused to put on a prisoner's uniform and refused to respond to roll call. Meng Qingzhong, the director of the detention center, hung him up for three days and nights by handcuffing his hands and feet with two sets of handcuffs, and hanging him from the wish mesh ceiling with a rope looped through the handcuffs. After he was taken down, Mr. Fu could not move. However, he was then tortured again for several days after being taken back to the prison cell.

Beatings and verbal abuse are routine in the detention center. Meng Qingzhong's special skill is his use of electric shock batons. He once even ordered others to get three full lunch boxes of excrement and urine from the sewer. Then Meng Qingzhong pinched Fu Qimou's nose and ordered a male prisoner named Dai Yong to force-feed him the excrement and urine. In the process of being force-fed, Mr. Fu Qimou's whole body was covered with excrement and urine. Swarms of flies were attracted to the filth and flew all around him. The scene of this torture was awful to witness.

Sometimes, practitioners were force-fed with two whole buckets of water. Each bucket of water was large enough to fill up two washbasins. Ingesting this quantity of water made the stomach as big as a drum; this torture was followed by the practitioner being shocked with an electric baton.

A torture method known as "getting on the bed" was also often used on Mr. Fu Qimou. This torture involves handcuffing a person's hands and feet to a rusted metal bed with the four limbs outstretched so that the body cannot move at all. Having been exposed to the sun in the summer, Mr. Fu's teeth were the only white parts left on his whole body. Mr. Fu was also locked outdoors, subjected to freezing weather in the winter. He was later illegally sentenced to three years of forced labor, and was sent to the Shijiazhuang City Forced Labor Camp.

Practitioners detained in the Botou City Detention Center are forced to make matchboxes. The daily quota per practitioner was over 8,000. If the quota was not met, one had to work two more hours at night. If the work still was not completed, the police would beat the practitioners. They would punish and torment practitioners by hitting practitioners' toes with wooden paddles, forcing practitioners to balance their lunch boxes on their heads, and shocking them with electric batons.

In July 2003, Zhang Yonggang and a team from the Botou City Police Department went to arrest practitioner Zhao Aifang from her home. Finding no one at home, they stole more than 9,000 yuan* in cash, as well as a synthesizer, a TV set and a VCD player, a computer and a printer. They also took away Dafa books and did not leave a receipt for any of the confiscated items. The villains, nothing more than a gang of common bandits, even pried open the dropped ceiling. So far they have returned only 5,000 yuan and nothing else. They also demanded a receipt for the returned 5,000 yuan from the workplace of Zhao Aifang's husband.

In 2002 Yang Shuzhen was sentenced to 10 years; Qi Wenzhao to 12 years, Xia Zhongjie to 12 years, Zhang Shuicai to 3 years with a probation period of 5 years and Zhang Hua was sentenced to 5 months of forced labor.

In August 2003, practitioner Zhang Baokun was sentenced to 4 years, and in November 2003, practitioner Zhao Aifang was sentenced to 4 years.

When practitioners legally appealed their sentences, they ran into strong resistance from the Botou City Detention Center. The result of all of the appeals was that the original court decisions were upheld. The authorities do not abide by the law when they detain and persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

Responsible peoples' phone numbers: (Country code 86, area code 317)

Meng Qingzhong, Detention Center Director: 8269926 (home)
Feng Huanchen, Assistant Director: 8296355 (home)
Shang Tielin, Political Instructor of the Detention Center: 8263794 (home)
Botou City Detention Center: 8222672

Botou City Police Department
Chief's office: 8181198, 8186433
Zhang Yonggang: 8295986 (home)
Liu Fang, Huang Chunzhu

*500 yuan is the average monthly income of an urban worker.

January 7, 2004

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