(Clearwisdom.net) Harbin Prison detains about 70 Falun Gong practitioners. In their propaganda to the outside, the prison describes how well they care for and look after the detained Falun Gong practitioners. But what is the truth about the treatment inside this so-called "Modernized and Civilized Prison"? The following are personal experiences written by a Falun Gong practitioner who was detained there:

Soon after I was imprisoned here, the police deprived me of sleep around the clock, and they instructed four criminal prisoners to take turns monitoring and torturing me. Beating and kicking us is their daily work, and they use even more vicious methods to torture us, such as violently beating the ankle bones and kneecaps with an iron club; twisting hard objects between the fingers while squeezing the fingers together, flicking the eyeballs, etc. They spare no methods and are vicious to the extreme.

During the cold winter of 2002 in Harbin, they threw me into a cold-water pool and then pulled me out to expose me to the cold wind from a fan. At the same time they poured icy cold water on my body. They did this to me in December, the coldest month in Harbin. [Note: Harbin is the capital city of Heilongjiang Province in the far north of China where in winter the temperature can be as low as -20ºF.] In August of 2003, they sharpened the tips of chopsticks and pounded the chopsticks into my fingernails; afterwards they shocked me with electric batons and used plastic bags to cover my head so that I would suffer the pain of being suffocated. They used many other methods to torture me, which even they themselves thought were cruel.

All of these crimes were committed under the direct or indirect orders of the prison police, and they blocked all information about these crimes from leaking to the outside. They forced us Dafa practitioners to say and to do things against our conscience, and they shamelessly depicted their crimes as "forced education." Some Dafa practitioners detained in the prison were tortured to death by the so-called "education." Verification of death by coroner included diagnoses such as cranial bone fractures, massive cranial hemorrhage, broken fingers, swollen legs with extravagated blood and body covered with wounds and bruises, etc.

In the intensive training team, Dafa practitioners who refused to write the "Three Statements" (1) were sent to small confinement cells to be beaten, insulted, and brutally tortured.

In the small confinement cell they cuffed my hands, shackled my feet, and locked me to the ground. The criminal inmates included Zhang Yong (death sentence with reprieve), Zhang Kejun (death sentence with reprieve), Zhang Xiaofeng, and Ni Jie, who dug at my eyeballs. The inmates stuffed my mouth with a towel and tortured me viciously; they violently kicked my chest and back as well as my head, and even more viciously grabbed my testicles. They said if I was tortured to death the government would take responsibility; if I survived the torture they would be rewarded, as long as they could "fix" me.

Among the twelve wards in the prison only the seventh ward does not hold Dafa practitioners. Two Dafa practitioners in the second ward were tortured to death.

We hope all the people who learn of this situation pay attention to what is happening here and help stop the persecution of these innocent, kindhearted people.

Address: (No. unknown) Ward, POB 801, Xiangfang District, Harbin City, Zip 150010

The phone numbers of different wards of Harbin Prison and the "610 Office:"

(Dial country code 86 and area code 451 before each number below)

The "610 Office": 5511-4173
The 1st Ward: 5511-1240
The 2nd Ward: 5511-1743
The 3rd Ward: 5513-2174
The 4th Ward: 5511-1470
The 5th Ward: 5511-0405
The 6th Ward: 5513-4042
The 8th Ward: 5513-0214
The 9th Ward: 5513-2074
The 10th Ward: 5511-2460
The 11th Ward: 5513-0234

Notes:

(1) "Three Statements" - Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write these as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the "610 Office," the three statements consist of a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practice Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.

June 19, 2004