February 6, 2004

(Clearwisdom.net) The Helongjiang Women's Prison in Helongjiang Province has been rampantly persecuting Falun Gong practitioners with extremely cruel methods of torture, especially in section no. 8 of the prison.

On the evening of September 5, 2003, after guards confiscated practitioners' new copies of Master's scriptures, some of the practitioners detained in section no. 8 enlightened that they shouldn't covertly study the Fa and decided to openly practice the Falun Gong exercises. That same night, Ms. Wang Juyan was put in a solitary cell. The next day, all Dafa practitioners started to practice the exercises together. The section gathered over 30 criminals with sticks, wooden boards, and ropes. They tied practitioners to the headboards of their beds, with their legs tied separately. Ms. Zhang Chunhua, the captain of the guards for that section, took the lead and stepped on practitioners' faces, feet, and bodies with her high-heeled shoes. The ferocious criminals were encouraged to punch and kick practitioners. Two of practitioner Zhang Yanfang's teeth were broken. Many practitioners became disoriented because continuously having their faces slapped. Some were beaten with wooden boards so that their faces were covered with bruises. However, that was only the beginning.

After being forced to sit on the ground for two days, the director of the prison came in with over 40 people from four different prison departments--the department of investigation, political affairs, accommodation, and sanitation--as well as guards and criminals from section no. 8. She claimed that they would bring practitioners in section no. 8 under control in a few days. The same day, they used deceptive means to lure some practitioners to the clearing in front of the male prison building. Over 40 guards and criminals took batons, electric batons, handcuffs, sticks, bamboo strips, plastic tubes, and half-filled mineral water bottles and formed a half-circle guantlet. They forced practitioners to run laps within the circle. Those who ran slow were beaten, regardless of whether they were young or old, and whether they were good health or poor. The people from the sanitation department just waited outside the circle. If any practitioner became exhausted and fell down, they would pour some medicine in her mouth and make her continue to run. There were six practitioners who had symptoms of hypertension and their systolic pressures reached 220 mm Hg (Note: this is an indication of high pressure) from the running. However, they were force-fed some medicine and forced to run some more. This continued until they were not able to run any more. Yet, this was not the end. They were forced to stand or squat with their hands holding their heads. They were also beaten and shocked with electric batons. After that, they were forced to run again. This cycle repeated many times, so that afterwards many practitioners' muscles hurt and they could not walk.

Ms. An Ling was not able to walk because of the serious injuries she suffered. The guards in the sanitation department found a long needle and asked a criminal, Ms. Wang Fengchun, to stab An Ling's legs, toes, and the bones in her feet. An cried aloud and the sound was gut-wrenching. The thugs, however, said they were curing An Ling's illnesses. Practitioner Ma Shuhua was 52 years old, had nervous neuritis, and could not usually walk. Several criminals also tried to force her to run. She passed out and was dragged to the fifth floor of the male criminals' building. They said she was pretending, beat her, and dragged her back to the clearing. To escape the torture, Ms. Ma Shuhua clenched her teeth and walked on her own, which made her feel as if with each step she was stepping on broken glass. They still wouldn't let her go. They specifically stepped on Ma's feet so that her feet were soaked with blood and her socks stuck to her feet. She could not take her socks off until 11 days later. Guards also didn't allow practitioners to drink water and didn't provide them with enough food. Every day, guards only provided half of the food they should have. Sometimes, they just gave one small steamed bun for several practitioners to share. All practitioners were tortured to the point of nearly dying. Sixty-seven-year-old Wang Xiulan was so thirsty that she was about to pick up a bottle of dirty water to drink, however, the guards kicked the bottle away.

Practitioners who were not able to run suffered even worse. They were hung from and cuffed to windows and were shocked with electric batons, beaten, slapped, and kicked. Criminal Ms. Wang Chunfeng even shamelessly used a stick to stab practitioners' genitals. Ms. Piao Shuying had problems with one of her legs but was also hung up. All of her bodyweight was put on her wrists so that the handcuffs cut into her flesh. Since she was hung for several days, the cuts on her wrists were quite severe.

In the evening, practitioners were detained in a small makeshift room that was originally a section of the hallway, and had been temporarily constructed. The brick-wall was only half of the height of an ordinary wall and there were no windows. Practitioners were handcuffed and sat on the concrete floor, where they were exposed to the cold wind. Guards didn't allow practitioners to sleep, wash, or go to the restroom. Practitioners who were menstruating were not allowed to use sanitary pads. Several inhuman criminals (all female), including Wang Chunfeng, Zhu Yuhong, Li Guixiang, Li Guihong, Huang He, and Wang Wei, didn't allow practitioners to sleep. They used match sticks to prop up practitioners' eyelids, syringes to inject water into their eyes, needles to stab their feet, wooden boards to bash their faces, and plastic hoses to whip their feet. Many practitioners' mouths were swollen from the beating. The criminals mocked practitioners and said that it looked like they had the mouths of pigs. Many practitioners' feet were swollen and could not wear their shoes but were still forced to run. Guards stepped on and twisted practitioners' feet. Male guard Wang Liang stomped on the arches of practitioners' feet so that the toenails of Gao Xiuqin and Li Xiuru were torn off. Many practitioners' toenails turned purple. Guards trod on the Achilles heels of practitioners. They also used socks and shoe pads to gag practitioners mouths, and stripped off their clothes to beat their buttocks. They shaved practitioners' hair in strange and ugly styles, stepped on practitioners genitals, and punched their chins. Ms. Zhang Shuqin's four teeth were loosened and the inside of her thighs were pinched. Ms. Jia Shuying's legs still have the scars now. They also used a torture method known as "carrying a cross" to torture practitioners, in which several persons were tied to a horizontal pole with a vertical pole in the middle. If anyone in the chain moved, everyone else could not sit straight, which was very painful. They also banged a gong near the ears of practitioners. Ni Shuyun lost the hearing in one ear. Many practitioners' suffered ringing in their ears after this torture.

In order to beat practitioners and exert the smallest amount of effort, guards found a two-meter-long bamboo stick. They could then sit down and whip practitioners without having to move around. The bamboo stick became the tool of female guard Nana [her last name is not identifiable because this article was written on a piece of toilet-roll and the handwriting is not clear here]. Guards persecuted practitioners like this for 11 days. There was no time for rest--they forced practitioners to run during the daytime and at night they interrogated them. They didn't allow practitioners to close their eyes. Every practitioner was tortured to the point that bruises covered their entire bodies and until they almost passed out.

Wang Jianping and Guan Meihua even became mentally disoriented receiving such abuse that they started to speak incoherently. Xu Youqin lost consciousness. Those who were tortured most were Wang Aihua and Zhang Yanfang. It was in Wang Aihua's living space that guards found Falun Dafa articles. In the first three days, guards confined her in an office and forced her to squat. When she lost consciousness, guards poured some medicine in her mouth and forced her to squat again. After another three days, they dragged her out to the clearing and made her run. Since she had a heart problem and could not run, guards dragged her to make her run. After that, they hung her from a window and beat and shocked her with electric batons. Mr. Chen, the head of the department of investigation shamelessly shocked her breasts. At one point, Wang Aihua felt she couldn't endure any longer. But she thought, "I cannot die like this," and used her righteous thoughts to pass the test. In the evening, Wang was beaten by guards. Because she didn't want to say she would give up practicing Falun Gong, guards constantly beat her. During the last half of the night, 58-year-old Zhou Chunzhi was beaten on her lower back by guards Wang Wei and Zhu Yuhong. The beating was accompanied by a loud snap and after that, Zhou could not stand up. However, female guard Zhu Yuhong ordered Zhou to stand up, otherwise she would beat Wang Aihua. Zhu Yuhong slapped Wang once, as she was asking Zhou. Immediately Wang's face rapidly swelled with red welts. Seeing this, Zhou tried hard to stand up but she failed. While Zhou was unconscious, Zhu Yuhong hung her from a window and then continued beating Wang Aihua. Wang's face swelled to the point that she could not open her eyes. Guards then started beating practitioners Zhang Yanfang and Shang Xiufang. They stripped off the clothes of these three practitioners and used wooden boards to beat their buttocks, backs, and necks. Criminal Li Guixiang used a toothpick to stab a hole in Wang Aihua's face. When the toothpick was broken, she poured salt water on the wounds. When the second morning came, guards again dragged practitioners who were tortured all night outside and forced them to run. Ms. Zhang Yanfang's hands had many blisters because of the electric shocks. Yet, guards wanted to exchange the electric baton with one having higher voltage. They put Zhang Yanfang and Shang Xiufang in solitary cells for four days. Practitioners found the director of the prison. The director said, "If you agree to be transformed [renounce their belief in Falun Dafa], I will stop it." Practitioners said, "We just want to be good people. What do you intend to transform us into? As people who carry out the law, how could you act like this?"

Facing this cruel persecution, the majority of practitioners held righteous faith in Dafa and broke through it. The eight most steadfast practitioners, Zhang Shuzhe, Wang Hongjie, Liu Liping, Zhao Xin, Guan Yingxin, Tian Guiqing, Li Yushu, and Ding Yuzhi were separately tortured and were hung high in the air. At some point, they were also forced to sit on the floor with their legs straightened and their mouths touching their knees, that is, they were bending at the waist and forming a circle, which was very painful. If they moved a little, criminal Wang Wei would beat them on any area of their bodies. Every practitioner was soaked with sweat from the pain. One more hour later, guards feared that the torture would result in death so they took the practitioners down. The righteous actions of the eight practitioners frightened the evil. After that, Dafa practitioner Guan Yingxin almost could not walk.

On day 11 of the torture at the clearing, Liu Liping and Zhao Xin were also taken to the clearing. When Liu and Zhao saw a crowd of guards all with electric batons circling the practitioners, Zhao Xin suddenly shouted, "Fellow practitioners, we shouldn't passively tolerate this any longer. Falun Dafa is good!" Their shouting awakened all practitioners who had been tortured for 11 days and were mentally and physically exhausted. They all raised their arms and shouted loudly, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is the righteous law!" These words echoed in the sky.

All guards on the spot were dumbstruck. Then they all rushed to the practitioners and madly beat them. Guard Niu Tianyang used shoes to hit practitioners' faces. Wang Fengchun used a plastic tube to beat practitioners. A female guard from the riot control unit used her feet to stomp on practitioners' stomachs. She also beat practitioners all over their bodies. Practitioner Liu Liping kept shouting, "Falun Dafa is good!" The evil exhausted its means but still could not stop her. They had to use a piece of tape to seal her mouth, and pulled her to the foot of the wall. Zhao Xin was sat on by criminal Song Libo, who weighs over 80 kilograms. Zhao almost couldn't breathe. She was pushed to the corner of the wall with her hands tied behind her. Guards shocked her with batons and beat her. Her hands turned purple from the tightness of the ropes. The ropes on practitioners were so tight that many times the guards almost couldn't loosen them. The evil could not reach their goal after 11 days of torture so they had to give up. They sent Zhao Xin and Liu Liping to solitary cells. On the way back, a guard said, "They are heroes! Heroes!"

After the 11 days of torture every practitioner had a swollen face covered in bruises. They limped, and their entire bodies were covered with wounds. Everyone had disheveled hair and a dirty face, and looked like they were dressed in rags. The steadfast righteous deeds of Dafa practitioners allowed those criminals who had some remaining conscience to understand what is good and what is evil, what is true and what is false, as well as the nature of this persecution.

After two days, the guards again pulled practitioners to the clearing. Jia Shuying was beaten because she didn't cooperate with the guards. Guard Xiao Lin kicked at her ribs, making it so that she could not take a deep breath for a month afterwards. Even when it rained, the guards still had practitioners stand outside so that they got soaked. Guards told them to sing songs and shout propaganda slogans. No practitioner followed these orders. They then beat practitioners. Wang Shuling and other practitioners refused to yell "The government is great!" so female guard Zhao Yan grabbed Wang Shuling's hair and slammed her head on the bed frame. She told Shuling to write her will. Practitioner Shang Xiufang was kicked by Li Guihong on her neck and she lost consciousness on the spot.

The torture campaign lasted until the middle of October and had to be ended up with no outcome. Besides the eight most steadfast practitioners, guards sent another six practitioners to solitary cells for further torture. Zhang Shuzhe and Wang Fangchun's feet were beaten and they immediately swelled up. However, Zhang Shuzhe showed no emotion on her face. The guards dared not to beat her any more. The second day, Zhang and Wang held a hunger strike to resist the persecution. The hunger strike lasted until November 2. During the hunger strike, they sat on the floor with their hands cuffed behind their backs all day. They were not allowed to wash and had feeding tubes left in their bodies. Guards left the tubes in their bodies even when the tube was corroding. When doing force-feeding, sometimes they fed four practitioners 250 grams of salt (over half a pound).

Wang Juyan started a hunger strike as soon as she was detained in the solitary cell. She had a tube inserted into her body and was forced to sit in an iron chair for over a dozen days without being allowed to go to the restroom by herself. Liu Liping and Zhao Xin were only wearing long underwear in the cell. They were detained like this in the cell for over 40 days, which included the coldest days of the year, before the heat was turned on.

Wang Aihua and Zhang Yafang were detained in a cell that was leaking water everywhere so that even the bed was wet. Everyday, practitioners were only given two bowls of corn gruel. Because of the cold, hunger, and physical pain, Wang Shuhua had a fever and her blood pressure also was not normal. But, she was still detained in the cell for over 40 days.

Wang Yali, head of the patrol squad, and Zheng Jie, head of section no. 8, said, "We are the law. Simply put, we are evil guards. We have no regard for the law." Whenever a guard beat a practitioner, the guard would say, "Who saw me beat you?" Criminals used cuffs and guards used batons to beat practitioners. However, guards were carefull not to admit that it was from their orders. One criminal didn't want to beat a practitioner with full strength. Guard Niu Tianyang used a bottle of mineral water to hit the criminal and slapped her. Guard Zhang Chunhua claimed, "If I beat you to death it will be counted as suicide or, it might be counted as a natural death." When force-feeding, guards asked criminals who didn't have medical training to do it. Some guards also said, "Push it down hard. Push it down till she dies. Give her stomach cancer!" Zheng Jie, the new director of the prison, was watching the persecution she personally directed. She denied that she ordered criminals to beat practitioners. However, practitioners knew that she was the head criminal. She wanted to pursue her personal interests and hence gave up any sense of conscience in her new job.

There is a long history to section no. 8's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. In March, Dafa practitioner Zhang Yuzhen didn't allow guards to imprint the word "prisoner" on her clothes, and guard Xiao Lujian ordered criminal Wang Fangchun to beat her leg, and she became lame as a result. Dafa practitioners Zhang Shuqin, Pu Yingshu, Wang Hongjie, and Ren Shuxian were tied with limbs stretched straight and hung up with only the tips of their toes touching the ground for 22 days because they refused to do the labor in protest of the unjust treatment of Dafa practitioners. Zhang Shuqin was also hung in the air. Practitioners' arms went numb for a long time after that long period of hanging, and they could not even eat without the assistance of others. Practitioner Ren Shuxian was hung up for over 20 days. She jumped out of the building, which resulted in the shattering of her feet bones and a lumbar fracture (a doctor said that it would cause paralysis). Facing the brutal persecution, many practitioners in section no. 8 didn't renounce their belief, and became more steadfast, mature, and clearheaded. They didn't passively endure this persecution. They held a collective hunger strike to resist and to gather behind the practitioners in the solitary cells until they were all sent back. During the hunger strike, Jia Shuying was beaten by female guards Li Guihong and Zhu Yuhong until her mouth and nose were bleeding. Currently, the persecution still continues.

In November, practitioners in section no. 5 were forced to go through a "drill" and a "freezing drill" because they refused to wear the prison uniform and didn't put on their name tags since they were being unjustly incarcerated and not criminals. Some practitioners were stripped of their clothes and forced to stand in the snow while barefoot. It was said that snow covered their feet. Some got frostbite. Some had their hair cut in a weird and ugly style. Seven steadfast practitioners were persecuted even worse. They were later put in solitary cells because of their serious injuries. Practitioners in section no. 7 were also tortured. To support practitioners imprisoned in other sections and to support practitioners in the same section who were holding hunger strike, practitioners in section no. 8 held a hunger strike again and also openly practiced Falun Gong exercises. Because of that, four practitioners were sent to solitary cells. Female guard Cao Jingyun, who was on duty that day, stripped practitioner Zhang Xiuzhi's clothes off, only leaving her underwear. Zhang was cuffed with her hands behind her back for 24 hours a day. Dafa practitioner Ding Yu was hung up by guards. Guards poured cold water on her, soaking her cotton pants, and forced her to stand in the water. She wasn't released until January 2004 after a long hunger strike. The other over 20 practitioners in section no. 8 were cuffed with their hands behind their backs and sat on the ground. They also held a hunger strike for over a dozen days. The persecution is still going on.

On January 10, 2004, Han Ying and Yan Huijian were tied up and beaten for three days. On the third day, criminal Niu Yuhong used needles to stab Yan's face, feet, and shoulders, leaving dozens of wounds. Even now the holes created by the needles are still marked with blood.

Posting date: 2/24/2004
Original article date: 2/23/2004
Category: Eye Witness Accounts
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/2/6/66772.html

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