Eyewitness Account of the Tortures in the Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp

(Clearwisdom.net) The Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp uses extremely inhumane methods to torture Falun Gong practitioners. The following are some of the experiences of a practitioner that spent time in the Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp.

On October 28, 2003, the camp guards forced all of the Falun Gong practitioners to answer questions that slandered Falun Dafa. Most practitioners didn't answer the questions in the way the guards wanted them to. The police beat these practitioners, tightly bound them with rope to cut off the blood circulation, or shocked them with electric batons. Li Xia, a practitioner from Shijiazhuang, was shocked with six electric batons at the same time for three hours one night and for two hours two nights later. The police tied up a 65-year-old practitioner from Beijing with a rope. Liu Yuzhen, over sixty years old, was electrically shocked until she lost control of her bowels and fainted. Liu was later admitted to the Gaoyang hospital for emergency treatment. On March 28, 2003, representatives of the Provincial Forced Labor Bureau came to the camp, and at noon we were made to answer the same questions as before. Everyone answered without slandering Falun Dafa. Eventually other prisoners (non-practitioners) were asked to answer the questions. People from the provincial forced labor bureau were there and saw this happen.

Using a hand-cranked phone to administer electric shocks to the practitioners was one of the worst torture methods we experienced. Wei Hongling and other guards used this method to torture practitioner Liu Yuzhen, who was over sixty years old. The police cuffed her hands to two metal rings staked to the ground. She could only squat half way down. The police put copper wires around her thumbs and connected the wire to the electric circuit of a hand-cranked phone and started to rotate the handle (to generate a current). A huge current ran through her hands and body, and Liu started shaking. The convulsions caused the handcuffs to abrade her flesh, which started bleeding. Liu suffered immense pain and it was painful to even watch.

In April 2004, the police took practitioner Yang Shufen, from Hengshui, to a house in a vegetable garden and brutally beat her and electrically shocked her with a hand operated phone for over an hour. When officer Zhang Yanyan saw practitioner Qu Xiaoying, from Anping County, sending righteous thoughts, he shocked her and whipped her with a belt. Officers Zhang Ying, Li Sulin, and Yang Na often tortured practitioner Xiao Changrong. They ordered two prisoners to run with Xiao and would beat Xiao when Xiao couldn't keep up. Eventually, one of the prisoners became exhausted from the running, started vomiting blood, and was hospitalized for days.

Often, the police would take practitioners to a remote area so there wouldn't be any witnesses to the beatings. The practitioner's screams would echo in the open air. The police will stop at nothing to force the steadfast practitioners to renounce the practice. Practitioner Wang Chunmei was tortured numerous times, but she did not give in. So the police put a poisonous snake on her body, but she remained calm nonetheless.

The police often try to transform the practitioners late at night so the other practitioners won't know about it. The police often roused sleeping practitioners who had not renounced Falun Gong and took them to a dark, cold place that was used specifically to persecute practitioners. They cuffed the practitioner's hands onto the sides of a wooden bed and immobilized them with iron rings. Then, the torture began. At least ten police officers would electrically shock a practitioner at the same time for 2-3 hours. The cumulative current was very high. If the practitioner passed out, the police would pour water on the practitioner. When they revived, the officer would again ask the practitioner if he would renounce Falun Gong. If the person refused, the shocks would start again. Sometimes the police would use rope to tightly bound the practitioners for a long time, which seriously restricted blood circulation. Some practitioners were tied up on four occasions. After being tightly tied up for a long time, when released, the practitioner's shoulders, hands, and back would be totally immobilized, their eyesight would be blurry, and some practitioners would vomit. The practitioner's bodies would ache unbearably and for many days the practitioners could not move their hands and were unable to move or pick things up. The practitioner would have an abnormally high heart rate or even go into shock. It was also common to force-feed practitioners with hot chili pepper water or stuff soiled toilet paper into the practitioner's mouths.

In 2001, a policeman from the Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp force-fed six practitioners with water mixed with excrement, and every practitioner lost consciousness after this torture. Afraid that the practitioners would die at the camp, the police sent them to the Gaoyang Hospital. When the doctor asked the police to explain what happened, the police refused to answer. After the doctor asked the question many times, the police finally admitted what they had done. The doctor told the police that force-feeding people with large amounts of excrement would cause 50 to 60 percent of the recipients to die.

In May 2004, three practitioners were transferred to the Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp. All of them were brutally beaten. Ms. Bai (63 years old) was shackled to a wooden board and couldn't move. Guard Hu (first name unknown) stuck a leather shoe into Bai's mouth and rotated it, saying that there was dirt on the shoe and he was using Bai's mouth to clean it.

Female officer Zhang Yanyan beat and kicked practitioner Wu Xiumei while Wu was writing a statement. Zhang even electrically shocked Wu's mouth until it was encircled with blisters. Wu could not eat after that, so the police injected unknown substances into her veins.

A practitioner from Chengde was very steadfast. She wouldn't renounce Falun Gong even when she was brutally beaten by the guards. In the end, the police used an electric baton to shock her eyes, which resulted in her losing her eyesight and severe pain.

A young lady from Shijiazhuang, Xu Haili, was tortured until her face was badly deformed. The police stuck an electric baton into her mouth and shocked her tongue. After that, Xu could not eat for a long time. Eventually she stopped talking. This lasted for a year and half, until her term was over.

The police tortured a college student, Li Wensu, so badly that she was unable to get out of bed . Ms. Li had a life-threatening heart condition. The police asked other prisoners to watch her, even though she couldn't even manage to go to the toilet. In the end, Ms. Li was near death and the police told her family to take her home. Ms. Li died 40 days later.

Practitioner Song Guixian was tortured numerous times because of her beliefs. In July 2003, the police forced her to sieve sand for construction usage everyday under the burning sun. The hot weather lasted 2 months. The police sat in the shade and ridiculed her while she did this. The police even stuck soiled toilet paper in her mouth and force-fed her with urine. Song stopped talking and went on a hunger strike. The police even tried burying Song up to her neck. Song wouldn't compromise, so officers Ma Li and Ye Shuxian moved her close to a fireplace to burn her back. The police force-fed her every day. Fearing that she'd die in the camp, they finally told her family to take her home.

Practitioner Chen Hongping from Huailai County refused to renounce Falun Gong and was tortured for more than a year and half; and even now, one of her legs doesn't function very well. On March 5, 2003, Chen had a bad fever because of the torture and malnutrition. She lost consciousness and was taken to the Gaoyang Hospital for emergency treatment. She died after that, and the police blocked the news. It was six months later when the outside started to learn that she had died. Chen Hongping and her brother, Chen Aizhong, both died from the persecution and drew the attention of the United Nations Education Development Organization. Their cases were presented at the UN World Human Right Meeting on April 1, 2004.

When the police tried to force practitioner Yan Shumei, from Chicheng County, to answer a questionnaire, she refused. Officers Duan Guanghui, Fan Miaolu, and Zhang Limei dragged her to the strict discipline room, stripped her naked, and electrically shocked her nipples, chest, back, and legs. Officer Li Xuejun and captain Yang Zemin were the most evil and brutal. They participated in the torture of most practitioners. Yang was the chief and often ordered the guards to beat practitioners. Yang seldom tortured practitioners himself but when he did, his methods were crueler than anyone else's. Practitioner Chen Yali had a heart attack again because of the repeated torture she endured for remaining firm in her belief. She was too weak to do anything. The police punished her twice by tying her up with a rope. Once Yang Zemin ordered Li Xuejun and Dr. Li to dislocate Chen Yali's shoulders. The severe pain caused Chen to pass out. The police later put her shoulders back in place. Within a few days, Chen Yali could not walk, could not use her hands, and could not work for a long time. Once, 20 guards, including Duan Guanghui and Fang Chai, shocked Chen Yali with at least 20 electric batons. The guards would shock Chen for a while, and then Dr. Wei Hongling would check Chen's pulse to see if her heart was still beating. The shocks would continue until Chen's pulse became very weak. Many practitioners were tortured like this.

There was a new male practitioner who would not renounce Falun Gong after being tortured many times with the electric batons. In the end, the police took this practitioner to a vegetable garden and beat him brutally. His screams were heard everywhere, which caused the female practitioners who were working in the field at that time to shed tears for him. The police saw them crying and started scolded them. The male practitioner passed out because of the beating. The police poured water on him to wake him up and then continued the beating.

Officer Duan Guanghui hated practitioners who would not renounce Falun Gong and often shocked such practitioners with electric clubs. She participated in torturing the practitioners in the Gaoyang forced labor camp on many occasions. She would shock the practitioners and at the same time say, "You refuse to renounce Falun Gong. If I don't treat you like this, I will lose my job."

Officer Yie Shuxian always slapped practitioners on their faces. Yie electrically shocked practitioner Wu Guifang from Chicheng county on her legs, soles of her feet, and face. As a result, Wu was covered in dark bruises. Officer Yie Shuxian would take Wu Guifang outside during the bitter cold winter, cuff Wu to a pole, and leave her to freeze in the cold. After Yie had tortured Wu for more than a month, Dr. Wei Hongling ordered Wu to be cuffed to a bed night and day. When Yie was the captain of the second middle team, most of the practitioners were subjected to her brutal tortures.

A female practitioner who had been transferred from Shijiazhuang was shocked with electric batons so much that she had scars and festering sores all over her back. Every time she moved, the pain stabbed her like dozens of needles. She had more than 100 scars on her back and neck. Both Li Xuejun and Duan Guanghui participated in shocking her.

An elderly practitioner from Chengde, Xu Shuxia, said "Falun Dafa is good" to an inspector who passed her in the corridor, and was thus beaten and electrically shocked by the guards because she had caused the guards to "lose face" in front of the inspector. The police told the higher authorities that they were doing well in making practitioners renounce Falun Gong. Every time an inspector came, the camp would not let practitioners talk, walk around, or use the toilet. The meals were acceptable when an inspector came, but on regular days the practitioners only had soup containing a few vegetable leaves and dirt at the bottom of the bowl. One time the practitioners had to dig a ditch that was approximately 1 meter deep. The practitioners became so exhausted from the physical labor that they could barely breathe and their vision started to blur. Officers Zhang Yanyan and Niu Li ordered the practitioners to continue working without any rest. The practitioners could barely hold on to their shovels and still had to keep working. There was no time to rest and practitioners had to work until nightfall. After the practitioners got back to the camp, they were sick and could not get out of bed for three days. Their bodies were swollen and racked with pain, and they could not eat. There was blood in their urine and it took three days to recover. The police often made the practitioners do labor that was beyond their physical endurance.

Practitioner Wu Shouzhi wrote a statement declaring that he would continue to practice Falun Gong. The class leader Niu Li reported this to the captain, Duan Guanghui. That same night, they tried to make Wu take back the statement and sign a retraction. Wu refused and so was electrically shocked. Zhao Erhong and other police captains participated in the torture. They shocked her mouth and slapped her face. All this brought her immense mental stress and she started to act abnormally. For three months, she was tortured badly. Officer Niu Li kicked her mouth, which caused Wu to bleed a lot. The blood even dripped down and stained her shirt. Her face was so swollen that people could barely recognize her. The police feared that she would die at the camp, so they ordered her family to take her home, and to pay 4,000 yuan.

The Clearwisdom website has reported many cases on how the Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp brutally tortures Falun Gong practitioners. The camp has been called a "hell on earth" and this has not changed. Many practitioners are still there suffering from relentless torture.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/1/6/92946.html

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