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Practitioner Mr. Chen Lin is Tortured to Disability
(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Chen Lin, and I live in Shizhuang Village, Pingwang Township, in
the South Suburban District of Datong City, Shanxi Province. I became a
carpenter after graduating from middle school in 1979. I once became very sick
from being overworked and since then, have not been able to work overtime. After
a traffic accident in 1981, I became an insomniac -- sometimes I could not sleep
for several consecutive days. My health was generally very poor and I was always
taking medications for one thing or another. My wife, Liu Xiuqing, was afflicted with psoriasis in 1980. When her symptoms
were at the peak of severity, her entire body became swollen, and thick, white,
dry skin would flake off. Wherever she bent her body, the dry, tight skin would
be torn apart, leaving deep, cracks in the skin, which were open wounds that
took longer than normal to heal. Severe itching over her entire body constantly
tormented her, and although we tried many remedies from different doctors, there
seemed to be no cure. There were severe side effects from taking all those
medications all year long as well. Her health deteriorated from all the side
effects caused by the medications, and it seemed like a case in which "the
'cure' was worse than the cause." Her employer stopped paying for her
medical expenses. In April 1997, After feeling she had no hope, a person told
her that practicing Falun Gong had great curative powers and learning it was
free of charge. She was overjoyed to hear about it. Only several days after
starting to learn Falun Gong, her skin became noticeably softer. She would get
up in the morning to practice the Falun Gong exercises, and read Zhuan Falun
in the evenings. One month later, the large patch of psoriasis on her body had
begun get smaller. The dry, white skin and red swollen spots had returned to
normal. "It is a miracle!" she exclaimed. For sixteen years, she had
never worn a dress because of her skin disease. Now she could wear dresses and
her appearance had completely changed. When my wife's skin condition was improving, she asked me to practice
together with her. I did not want to exert myself, so I would pretend to be
doing the exercises for a little while, and then quickly escape. One day while I was working, I suddenly felt ill, and after going back home,
found that I had great difficulty moving around. I was anxious get better
without having to miss any more workdays, so I took some medicine in the form of
injections and pills. They still did not enable me to move well enough, however,
and I had to be helped when lying down or getting up. My wife said, "Since
you can't do anything right now anyway, why not read Zhuan Falun? [main
book containing the teachings of Falun Gong] Maybe you will feel better
after reading this book." She went to work while I stayed in bed and quietly read Zhuan Falun.
The more I read it, the clearer I felt. I had always wondered about so many
puzzles in my life, and this book explained them to me so clearly. As I was
reading, some of the characters on the page became images of Buddha, and that
was truly wonderful! I felt very comfortable with it, like I wanted to keep
reading this book forever. It was so profound! I read Zhuan Falun three
times in seven days. There are profound meanings in the book, of which I had
seen only a little bit, at the time. After reading the book, I discovered I
could get up and down by myself, feeling "a miracle beyond
description." On the eighth day, I went back to work, and also began my true cultivation. I
knew that Zhuan Falun was exactly what I needed. My third eye has been
somewhat open since before the age of twelve, and on the first day of practicing
the exercises after reading the book, I saw a beautiful Falun, about 25
centimeters (close to 10 inches) in diameter. I felt that life was worth living
again. Three months later, my stomach disease and headaches were gone, I could
sleep well again and I no longer felt exhausted from working. I've been
rejuvenated from being weak and sickly, to becoming a stronger, younger man; and
that is truly a miracle! Two years later, on July 20, 1999, Jiang and his rogue regime banned Falun
Gong. Falun Gong practitioners who believe in the principle of
"Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" were suppressed. Overnight,
the government would not allow people to become strong and healthy. They
confiscated their Dafa books and tortured practitioners, depriving them of their
constitutional rights to belief, to appeal and to free speech. Practicing Falun Gong, one can reach the ultimate in heath, and thus
contribute more to the country by having a good thoughts and a strong body. Why
not promote this? In addition, practitioners do not compete with others, but
only cultivate their "mind nature" or moral character, to become the
best person possible. Why, then, is Jiang so afraid of it? Is it because he
fears more people will become good? Therefore, we Falun Gong practitioners all wanted to raise our heartfelt
voices to the government, and appeal for Falun Gong because it was being
unjustly persecuted. To our surprise, speaking the truth was not allowed. They
handcuffed us, and even sent us to forced labor camps. What kind of law they
were following? On December 19, 1999, my wife was sent back to her work unit at a local
chemical plant. The chemical plant's "610 Office"(1) and
security officer Xia Guihe fabricated "crimes" against her and sent
her to a detention center. They withheld her 593 Yuan (2) per month
salary. That was simply an act of robbery, which the rule of law does not
tolerate. My family could not survive without her salary; and my son had to quit
school and help support the family. On August 28, 2000, my wife was sentenced to three years of forced labor for
handing out truth clarifying materials. While ransacking our house, the police
made a point of peeling our "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance"
sticker from the wall. It is strange -- why are these police so afraid of people
being honest and kind? The police stole our water kettle just like common
thieves. All of their behavior was so contrary to our principles. The
authorities had our income stopped, leaving my fifteen-year-old son alone at
home with no money on which to live. We are not allowed to believe in Falun Gong
or conduct ourselves according to the principle of "Truthfulness,
Compassion and Tolerance," otherwise we are accused of "violating the
law." On December 18, 1999, in Beijing, the police at the Shanxi Provincial Liaison
Office extorted money from me, and the next day they returned me to my home
province, to the Shuipoci Police Substation in Datong City. Because I refused to
renounce my belief in Falun Gong, they sent me to the Datong City No.1 Detention
Center. I never violated the law; I was only exercising my constitutional rights and
appealing in Beijing for justice for Falun Gong. Therefore, my detention was
illegal, so I refused to comply with the regulations in the detention center.
The police then instructed some criminal prisoners to torture me. I was robbed
of all my money and possessions, and forced to sit motionless for longer than
ten hours per day (3). I explained the facts about the persecution of
Falun Gong to the prisoners, demonstrated by my own example of conduct that
Falun Gong practitioners are all good people and let them see the cruel nature
of Jiang and his followers. Several prisoners said they wanted to learn Falun
Gong after they were released. I was released after forty days of being detained. I returned to my home,
which had lost all its peaceful feeling, and the persecution continued to
escalate. Village security officer Liu Gui closely monitored me, restricted my
personal freedom and extorted money from me. In April 2000, someone informed my boss that I was a Falun Gong practitioners
while I was working on a carpentry job at the park. As a result, I was fired
from my job as my employer didn't want to attract the wrath of the police for
hiring me. The police confiscated my Falun Dafa books and 400 yuan in cash I had
in my pocket. They also retaliated against my employer and banned him from his
jobsite at the park, thus costing him a huge financial loss. I found myself once again living an inhuman existence in the detention
center, where we were forced to watch television propaganda programs slandering
our Master and Dafa. I had only thin clothes and slippers to wear, regardless of
the season. I had no bedding to use, always sleeping by the door with the cold
wind blowing through it, which was usually very cold. The police forced me to
stand (4) outside on the playground during cold winter days. People were
unaware of the truth, their twisted minds poisoned by lies. I explained the
facts about Falun Gong to them by sharing my personal story, helping many people
in the detention center to learn the truth. I contracted scabies (5), and
was released four months later. Upon my return home, village security officer Liu Gui and two lesser village
officials forced their way into my house, exclaiming, "You are violating
the law if you practice Falun Gong. I will not allow you to stay in my area so
you must leave now!" They called a taxi for me and kicked me out of my home
by force. It was -20¡ãC (-4¡ãF) in the winter and my scabies were bleeding.
After about ten miles, they tried to drop me off in the middle of nowhere, but
the taxi driver persuaded them to let me go to a place of refuge. I decided to
go to my older brother's home in Dongfen Village. Upon hearing my story, Dongfen
Village head, Jiu Shenggen, came to my brother's home and threatened, "I
want to harm you before you can harm me." He assigned Bai Cunshan to
monitor me, causing my brother's family life to be disrupted. I realized that I could not stay at my brother's house permanently, and that
it was more important to continue clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to the
public. As a result, many villagers eventually came to know the truth, that
Falun Dafa practitioners were innocent victims condemned by the police who
followed Jiang's directives, and soon many began sympathizing with the
practitioners. The village police then began to apply pressure to my brother. As the Spring Festival [Chinese New Year] was approaching, I went back
home to spend the holiday season with my son. Under the dictatorship, my life
was restricted, and I was deprived of my freedom. The anti Falun Gong policy
made by Jiang, to "ruin their reputations, bankrupt them financially,
destroy them physically" had made living among the general public become
even more foreboding. The third day after going back home, on January 24, 2001,
the Chinese New Year's Day, Liu Gui came to tell me, "If you want to live
at home, you will need to pay me 300 yuan. Otherwise, I will call some gang
members to break into your house and you won't dare to live here." When he
came again on January 29, I tried to reason with him but he refused to listen,
and he beat me. When he came again on January 31, he said, "The Party is
like this, and because no one will dare to speak up for you, and I can do
whatever I want. Don't you dare try to live here without paying me the
money!" So once again, I was kicked out of my own home. Some relatives were afraid to accept me because whoever let me stay with them
would suffer no peace from the authorities. My northern home town is too cold in
the winter, so I ended up living a homeless life in order to avoid being
arrested at home, and headed south. I was begging for food and sleeping in
fields. Wherever I went, I heard of many Falun Dafa practitioners being
tortured. Jiang used 25 percent of all State financial resources to persecute
Falun Gong, which unfairly created an extremely bad impression of Falun Gong for
ordinary people. I clarified the truth all along the way, exposing the
persecution with my personal story. As a result, many kind hearted people
discovered the truth, and helped me. At 2 a.m. on March 23, 2001, I was walking along a road in Jinan City,
Shandong Province, when several people jumped out of a white van, asked for my
identification and wanted to search me. I thought they were robbers, but they
were actually plainclothes police. They pushed me into the van, sent me to Qihe
County Police Station and handcuffed me to the heating pipes. They sent me to a
detention center the next day without any charge. There were several Falun Dafa
practitioners there whose detention had already been extended for three to six
months beyond the expiration of their terms of sentence. The police allowed us
only two small steamed buns, and a bowl of soup containing only three pieces of
spinach. One of my fellow practitioners kindly saved his steamed buns for me, in
fear that I might go hungry. Several days later, I was sent to Datong City and
the authorities there tried to force me to pay them, 5000 yuan. They were
arresting good people without reason, and still wanted us to pay them money!
They finally stole the last eleven Yuan that I had. In Datong City's Pingwang Police Substation, Officer Luo told me, "If
you pay us ten thousand yuan, our Director said that you can go home. Otherwise,
we will send you to prison or to a forced labor camp." I asked him to
explain the reason for requiring me to pay so much money, and he said that the
order had come from the Provincial level, and that they had no choice but to
comply with the order, simply to keep their jobs. I was sent to East 6, in the Datong City No.1 Detention Center, and locked in
there for four months, where the daily routine included such things as body
searches, bullying, beating, being verbally abused, exposed to the freezing cold
outside for long periods, being forced to "sit army style" for long
periods of time and having all personal belongings stolen. Some Falun Dafa
practitioners were shackled with steel chains weighing over 20 lbs. There were
thirty persons locked in a room smaller than 20 square meters (215 sq. ft.). We
had to eat, drink, wash and use the toilet, all inside that little room. We had
to sleep on our sides, pressed tightly together and would lose our spot if we
had to use the toilet in the middle of the night. We had to take turns acting as
security guards at night. All thirty of us had a total of less than two hours
for bathing and using the toilet for the entire day. When the bathing time was
over, even those of us who were then still waiting in line for our turn were not
allowed to shower or use the toilet for the entire day. I cannot imagine how
many innocently detained Falun Dafa practitioners like myself there must be. One day, I received notice from the authorities for a one-year sentence to a
forced labor camp. They had detained me for four months last time, although my
notice showed that it should have been for only three months! It's really no
wonder they kept me so long because even after stealing my 400-yuan, they still
wanted to extort another 200 yuan from my family. The longer I was detained past
my term, the easier it was to extort ransom money from my family. On July 27, 2001, fellow practitioner Ms. Meng Xianghua and I were both
back-cuffed (6) and sent to Taiyuan Forced Labor Camp. On the ride to the
camp, Ms. Meng began clarifying the truth to the police, and an officer then
elbowed her in the throat and held it there. I tried to persuade the police to
stop, but they continued pressing against her throat for several more
kilometers. They turned the vehicle around and returned us to Pingwang Police
Substation, then locked us in a metal cage overnight before sending us to
Taiyuan City in ankle shackles the next day. As soon as we entered the forced labor camp, the police were instructing the
criminal prisoners how to torture us. They did not allow us to talk and, while
verbally abusing us, denied us our legal rights to fill out a report regarding
the abuse we received. Who is truly damaging the law? Who is truly producing
disorder, violating human rights and depriving citizens of their freedom of
belief?. The police have no oversight within the legal system, so they are allowed to
misbehave with impunity. They force practitioners to curse Master and slander
Falun Dafa with all their might, administering tortures such as forcing a
practitioner to stand facing the wall for a long time and forcing practitioners
to memorize the labor camp regulations within a limited time. Whoever dared to
tell anyone the facts about the persecution against Falun Dafa or clarify the
truth, was pulled aside and beaten. Imagine how great a strain on a person's
heart from being deprived of sleep and then forced to stand for such a long
time! It was actually a way of slowly killing a person! They forced us to sit on
the stool more than ten hours (7), resulting in a loss of equilibrium and
bodily functions. The worst-case scenario would result in rendering a
practitioner disabled. The police forced prisoners to do revolting things. For
example, a practitioner was once forced to eat a piece of steamed bun that had
first been dropped into liquid filth. Practitioners were forced to do
calisthenics under the baking sun. If their movements were not good enough, they
were kicked or beaten, and anyone shouting "Falun Dafa is good!" was
instantly beaten. One day, I lost consciousness in a brainwashing class because I had been
forced to sit all day and was deprived of sleep for a long time. My legs would
not move, so some fellow practitioners carried me to the clinic. However, the
police still assigned me to mop the floor, clean the cells and wash the open pit
toilets. They sent me back to Ward No.3, where they tried to brainwash me again.
By the time they finally released me, I was on the verge of death. On February 15, 2002, I was shocked when first entering the door to our home
after my release. The gate and doors were all standing open. The weeds were
overgrown and as tall as me. And where was my son? The house was completely
empty, dusty and messy, as if no one had lived there for a long time. After
cleaning it for three days, the village thug came around again. He said that my
going to the labor camp had resulted in a financial loss to him of a 2000 yuan
bonus. No wonder they work so hard on the persecution; there's extra money in it
for them! Security officer Liu Gui often came to my place after he had been
drinking, to humiliate me with a body search, beat me or extort money from me.
Police took turns harassing me every several days. They would ransack the place,
threaten me, force me to be fingerprinted and restrict my freedom. One day, the
police climbed the wall into my yard and ransacked the place. I had nothing left
except for my Falun Dafa book. Then they took away my only possession, my
precious Dafa book. I often lost consciousness from the intense pain throughout
my entire body, especially in my bones. Once, when I regained consciousness, I
realized that ten days had passed! Prior to being sent to the detention centers,
I used to weigh 160 pounds but now I weigh only 70 pounds, with nothing left but
skin and bones. Village security officer Liu Gui once told me, "If you
don't give me some money, I can't allow you to live at home." Then he
grabbed me by the collar, spun me around several times, then threw me onto the
bed. It took me a long while to catch my breath again. He returned later with a
number of plainclothes police, unreasonably questioning me and shouting at my
son. When I asked them to which branch of which police force they were assigned,
they walked away without answering. Although I was not tortured to death, I am
now disabled and unable to work. One day, my son was crying, "Daddy, even though you are like this, the
bully still comes to harass us. How can we possibly survive?" I replied, "There is nothing wrong with cultivating Truthfulness,
Compassion and Tolerance. Those good-for-nothings have been decieved by Jiang's
deceitful policies, and they are unaware of the harm they are doing. The wicked
will never reign over the righteous, however. Doing good deeds will be rewarded
with good fortune, and doing evil will be punished with retribution. Whoever
treats Falun Dafa practitioners with kindness is certain to have a good
future!" My wife was released from the forced labor camp on November 29, 2002. Her
employer has now joined the group that harasses our family on a daily basis. The
chemical plant's "610 Officers" tried to force us to write a
"reformed statement"(8). When I then clarified the truth to
them, they had nothing to say and quickly left. They held a brainwashing session
for my wife at her workplace. I have been tortured to the point of disability,
and my wife has had two years of salary withheld from her. I seriously warn all those who would do harm to Falun Dafa practitioners:
Stop persecuting Falun Gong at once! Instead, put those wasted human and
material resources to better use in building the country! Release all the
detained Falun Dafa practitioners! Return to the people their freedom to
practice Falun Dafa! Return my Falun Dafa book! Bring Jiang to justice! Notes:
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