(Clearwisdom.net) Eleven Falun Gong practitioners are being held in Ward Four of the Panjin Prison. They are Yang Benliang, Zhang Wei, Wang Xiaomin, Ge Weidong, Liu Huaxin, Qi Jikang, Ye Mingxi, Li Quanchen, Liu Wanli, Qi Xiang and Wang Tao. Following are brief descriptions of their suffering during the past several years.

1) Mr. Yang Benliang, 36 years old, lives in Shahekou District, Dalian City, Liaoning Province. Mr. Yang was a Chinese language teacher at the Dalian No. 51 Middle School. In mid-September 1999, he was removed from his teaching position for refusing to give up Falun Gong, and his salary was stopped. Sanchunliu Police Station officials then sent him to the Yaojia Detention Center when he indicated he planned to appeal for Falun Gong in Beijing. They detained him for 35 days and fined him 1,000 yuan. He eventually ended up at the Dalian Drug Rehab Center to undergo brainwashing. He did travel to Beijing on December 29, 1999 and did the Falun Gong exercises in Tiananmen Square. That led to his arrest and 15 days of detention.

On Chinese New Year Day in 2000, Mr. Yang participated in a group exercise in Xinghai Square. For that he was detained at the Dalian Drug Rehabilitation Center, along with nearly 70 other practitioners. The authorities eventually sent him once again to the Yaojia Detention Center for 45 days. On August 1, 2000, he was sentenced to one year of forced labor and sent to the Dalian Forced Labor Camp.

On October 13, 2005, Yang Benliang was arrested again, this time by Dalian National Security Police. They tortured him for a week, during which he was forced to sit on a metal rack and forbidden to sleep. They transferred him on October 22, 2005 to the Liaoyang Detention Center.

Police from the Liaoyang Domestic Security Division interrogated him under torture, such as punches, kicks and forced leg splits. More than a dozen officers were involved. Liaoyang Domestic Security Police deputy head Gao Fenghua led the physical assault. Policeman Shao Yingge took notes. The security head said, "All of the 'infamous four from Liaoyang' named on the Minghui website are here." Some police supervisors watched the torture. They appeared to be officers from provincial or national level agencies.

A few days before the Chinese New Year 2006, Liaoyang County Court agents gave an 11-year prison sentence to Mr. Yang. Officials sent him to Division Eight of the Dabei Prison in Shenyang City on May 18 or 19 of 2006. On May 20, 2006, they transferred him to Division Six of the Yingkou Prison in Liaoning Province. This prison uses hard labor, harsh living conditions and brutal torture to pressure Falun Gong practitioners to give up their belief. The prison authorities also take away the practitioners' basic rights, such as meeting with their families, writing letters and making phone calls, in complete violation of the Chinese constitution. Officials at the Yingkou Prison and Panjin Prison also forbade practitioners to do the Falun Gong exercises and all forms of communication among practitioners.

On December 20, 2007, Yang Benliang was transferred to Team Six in Ward Four at the Panjin Prison, where he remains until this day.

2) Mr. Zhang Wei, 41, lives at 103 Jiqing Street, Zhongshan District, Dalian City. He was a small business owner prior to the persecution. He had gone to Beijing in September 1999 to appeal for Falun Gong and was arrested. On November 5, 1999, he was sent to the Zhongshan Branch of the Dalian Police Department and later held at the Dalian City Detention Center for 26 days. On December 16, 1999, he did Falun Gong exercises outdoors, and he was arrested again and detained by Dalian police. He spent 15 days in a detention center.

In February 5, 2000, Mr. Zhang openly practiced the Falun Gong exercises in Xinhai Square. Dalian police arrested him and held him in a drug rehab center for 20 days before transferring him to the Dalian Detention Center. Officials sentenced him on May 24, 2000 to two years of forced labor. Shortly after that they moved him to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang City.

Following his release, on June 10, 2001, Mr. Zhang traveled to Jilin Province on personal business. However, he was arrested by agents from Songyuan City Police Department and held at the Songyuan Detention Center. He was handed another two years of forced labor on August 5, 2001.

On October 13, 2005, Dalian City National Security agents arrested Mr. Zhang Wei again. They sent him to the Liaoyang City Detention Center on November 22, 2005. In April 2006, Liaoyang County Court agents sentenced him to 10 years in prison and transferred him to the Yingkou Prison on May 20, 2006 to serve his sentence. On December 20, 2007, he was again transferred to the Panjin Prison for intensified persecution.

3) Mr. Wang Xiaomin, 40, is a farmer from the Taihe District in Jinzhou City. More than 30 officers from the Xiaolingzi Police Station and from the Taihe Police Branch in Jinzhou City arrested him on August 20, 2007. When he was at the Taihe Police Branch, a policeman repeatedly kicked him. He was eventually sent to the No. 1 Detention Center in Jinzhou, where center head Xing slapped him in the face twice. In December 2007, agents from the Taihe District Court in Jinzhou sentenced him to four years in prison. On February 26, 2008, the authorities transferred him to the Nanshan Hospital in Jinzhou City. A month later on March 27, 2008, he ended up in Division Four at the Panjin Prison, along with practitioners Li Jingfang and Liu Jincheng from Lingyuan City.

4) Mr. Ge Weidong was born on June 28, 1967 and lives in Xiajiabao Town, Qingyuan County, Fushun City of Liaoning Province and was employed at the Xiajiabao Middle School. Mr. Ge's home was illegally searched on August 13, 2004. Police incarcerated him in the Qingyuan County Detention Center, where he was forced to perform hard labor for more than 10 hours a day. A secret trial on December 31, 2004 resulted in a four-and-a-half year prison sentence. Mr. Ge was transferred to the Shenyang Prison for New Prisoners on March 1, 2005, and on April 1, 2005, he was transferred to Panjin Prison and remains there as of today. While incarcerated, he wrote a letter of appeal to the Fushun City Intermediate Court. The prison officials told him that they had sent the letter, but he has heard nothing about it. While at the Panjin Prison, the authorities told the criminal inmates to monitor Falun Gong practitioners' activities and conversations closely and around the clock. They recorded everything Mr. Ge did and said on a daily basis, and they had to regularly submit the daily reports to the prison authorities. His family and friends were forbidden to visit him and were prohibited from sending anything to him. He remains there as of this writing.

5) Mr. Liu Huaxin was born on February 15, 1973. He lives in Shihe Town in Jinzhou District, Dalian City. He was employed at the Floating Glass Company in the Dalian Economic Development Zone. In July 2000, Mr. Liu visited Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He was arrested and sent to the Dalian Drug Rehab Center for a month. The police eventually fined him 6,000 yuan and released him. During the month-long detention, Mr. Liu was forced to watch videos that defamed Falun Gong. He also had to sit up for extended periods of time. On December 10, 2001, Mr. Liu was arrested again at his rented home in the Jinxin Residential Area of Jinzhou District. Participating in the arrest were agents from the Dalian Police Department's First Division. The head police officer making the arrest was Li Guojun. Jinzhou District Court agents charged Mr. Liu and sentenced him to ten years in prison and sent him to the Yaojia Detention Center in Dalian. His appeal to the Dalian Intermediate Court was denied. While incarcerated, Mr. Liu staged a hunger strike, but he was punished with forced-feeding and solitary confinement, and his hands and feet were chained together for nearly a month. He could not even lay flat on his back while sleeping.

Mr. Liu was sent to the Wafangdian Prison on November 20, 2002, where he was checked into the newcomers section and forced to perform hard labor. He had to work for over ten hours daily, and was forbidden to wash his face or brush his teeth. Normal breaks were forbidden to him. On November 28, 2002, the authorities transferred him to the Huazi Prison in Liaoyang. There he was subjected to a body search and had his head shaved. He was forced to do slave labor, sit on a bench to read assigned materials, recite prison rules, write a summary report and watch video programs that defamed Falun Gong.

Mr. Liu and other practitioners refused to comply with the prison guards' abuse. As a result, they were denied visitation, and were forbidden from buying anything in the prison canteen and from taking a shower for several months. The guards assigned criminal inmates to follow the practitioners 24 hours a day, even when they used the toilet. The main responsible persons were Ward heads Li Chengxin and Xu Chenghai, and team leaders Wang Jianjun and Wang Boda. On December 19, 2007, Liu Huaxin was transferred to the Panjin Prison's Division Four, where he was subjected to a forced physical exam.

6) Mr. Qi Jikang was born on February 28, 1939. He lives at No.108, No.8 Building of Yuci Lane, Gongyue Street, Dandong City, Liaoning Province. Mr. Qi Jikang was arrested on April 25, 2004 by police officers from the Liudao Police Station in Dandong City. He was detained at the Detention Center in Dandong and was originally sentenced to three years of forced labor by the domestic security bureau. Police officer Han Feng from the Liudao Police Station thought that the sentence was too light and managed to have the judge of the Zhenxing District Court sentence him to eight years in prison. Qi Jikang was first detained for one year in the Dandong Detention Center. During that period, he was forced to sleep near the door of the restroom and suffered from various tortures from inmates, such as being pricked with needles, having water poured into his ears, and having his feet burned with lighters. In March 2005, he was sent to the Shengyang Prison and then transferred to Panjin Prison on April 1 of the same year. While in Panjin Prison, because his appeal letter was intercepted by the head of the division, Chen Yongming, he was denied family visitation in the entire year of 2007. Even in 2008, when family members visited him, they were not allowed to give anything to him or send things by mail. Qi Jikang's wife is also a Falun Gong practitioner and is currently being detained in the Shenyang City Women's Prison.

7) Mr. Li Quanchen, 36 years old, is a small business owner from Guangming Village, Tongguang Town, Zhenan District, Dandong City, Liaoning Province. He was arrested on November 22, 1999 by police officers from the Zhanqian Police Station while he was doing the Falun Gong exercises at the Qingnian Square in Dandong City. They detained him in the Dandong Detention Center for one month.

On August 26, 2002, police officers from the No.1 Division of the Dandong Police Department arrested Li Quanchen. They interrogated and tortured him at several different locations. Three thugs from the Zhanqian Police Station, Jiudao Police Station and Qidao Police Station were called in to take turns torturing him day and night. He was deprived of sleep and tortured for half a month, covering his body with cuts and bruises. They poured cold water on him to wake him up and then continued to torture him when he lost consciousness. When he was sent back to the detention center, even some of the guards said the torture went way too far. Ignoring the fact that Li was extremely weak due to being tortured, police officers from the No.1 Division continued to interrogate him by force. Once they sent him back to the detention center in an unconscious state, and the guards at the detention center were afraid to accept him. But they had to take him back eventually under pressure.

While in the detention center, Li Quanchen was not allowed to do the exercises or study the Fa. He was forced to do hard labor for long periods of time. In June 2003, officials from the Zhenxing District Court in Dandong City sentenced him to eight years in prison in a covert trial without informing his family. The false crime that they charged him with was supposed to result in a three to seven year jail sentence. However, he was sentenced to eight years. Even the guards in the detention center said to him that he should appeal his case. When Li appealed using the normal appeals procedure, he was sent to the Dabei Prison in Shenyang City on July 24, 2003 and then transferred to No.2 Shenyang Prison on August 5, 2003.

The No.2 Prison is a notorious prison that held inmates convicted of murder. The practitioners are not allowed to do the exercises or study the Fa. There are 20 internal rules, and any violations would cause the practitioner to be sent to solitary confinement. Several practitioners have died due to being tortured. At the end of 2004, Li Quanchen was extremely weak due to maltreatment. To avoid responsibility, prison guards sent him to the Tieling Prison Hospital. He was detained there for several months. At that time, he weighed only 35 kg. He was still ordered not to do the exercises, study the Fa, or talk to other inmates. Later, when Li did the exercises again, his health improved tremendously. When the prison guards found out that he did the exercises, he was sent to solitary confinement and later back to the No.2 Prison on October 11, 2005. Because an international organization requested a public investigation of the No.2 Prison, all of the practitioners were transferred to other prisons in Liaoning Province. On December 20, 2007, Li Quanchen was sent to the No.8 Division in Panjin Prison and then to the No.4 Division. Currently, he still suffers from maltreatment in that place.

8) Mr. Liu Wanli lived at the Bumengtai Group, Xishan Village, Qiuzhigou Township, Suizhong County. On April 29, 2002, Liu Wanli was arrested in Beijing because he went there to appeal for Falun Gong. He was slapped in the face and had both hands handcuffed to a desk overnight in the local 610 Office in Beijing. On May 10, 2002, he was tightly handcuffed and sent back to the Suizhong County Detention Center. He was detained there for 45 days and suffered from a torture method called "sitting on a small bench". On June 6, 2002, without any legal procedure, he was sent to the Huludao Forced Labor Camp for three years. The authorities at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp conducted brainwashing sessions on practitioners. He suffered from both mental and physical torture. During one of the torture sessions in November 2004, almost all of the guards were involved. They lined up in two rows. There were about 50 electric batons on a bed. Two inmates (one of them was Zhang Chenghe) held him to the ground. The prison guards started to shock him with electric batons all over his body including his armpits, private parts and mouth. His mouth and nose were bleeding due to the shocks.

Once prison guard Liu Guohua slapped his face so hard that his ears were buzzing and he lost hearing in his right ear. Once he was forced to sit on a small bench for over ten days. In the labor camp, he was watched by assigned inmates around the clock and even while he was in the restroom. He suffered from such tortures while in the labor camp for three years.

At around 9 a.m. on November 17, 2005, Liu Wanli was again arrested at home and sent to the Suizhong County Detention Center. Without any legal procedures and without informing his family members, officials from the Suizhong County Court sentenced him to four and a half years in jail. He was first sent to the Jinzhou Prison for 40 days and then to the Panjin Prison on March 6, 2006.

In the Ward Branch No.5 of the No.4 Ward, a prison guard ordered inmates to watch Liu Wanli. He was not allowed to talk to others, nor was he allowed to walk out into the courtyard of the No.4 Ward. He was beaten by inmates, including Zhang Tingfu, Liu Jinghai, Wu Cunming and Sun Xingquan. The inmates were ordered to watch him around the clock and had to report everything he said or did to prison guards regularly. Once Liu was practicing the exercises in a kitchen, and inmate Li Jinghai tried to stop him. He called Sun Xingquan and they dragged Liu from the kitchen to the cell. Liu continued practicing the exercises, so they used bed boards and sticks to stop him. They also took away his personal items. Currently, Liu is still under close watch. He is not allowed to be visited by his family members nor accept items from them.

9) Mr. Qi Xiang is a practitioner from Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. Around May 2006, he and his wife were arrested at home by police officers of the domestic security division. Many personal items including two PCs, a printer, 800 yuan cash, souvenir coins valued at 200 yuan and all of his Dafa books were confiscated. His wife was released after they had extorted 2000 yuan from her, but Qi is still being detained in the Panjin Prison.

Inmates at the Panjin Prison are Instigated to Persecute and Torture Falun Gong Practitioners

After Falun Gong practitioners were transferred to the Panjin Prison from various other prisons, the prison authorities started to strengthen their control. Two inmates were assigned to watch one practitioner. They were ordered to write down everything the practitioner said or did on a daily "thought log." The practitioners were not allowed to talk to each other. Those inmates with assignments were usually the ones on duty or with special connections. Prison guards used high-voltage electric batons to exert control.

The practice of using inmates to watch and control others is a violation of the rules defined in Prison Law, Rule No.14, Chapter 2, which states that it is illegal to transfer administrative functions to others.

On March 27, 2008, four Falun Gong practitioners were transferred from the Jinzhou Admission Division to Panjin Prison. They were Wang Xiaomin (from Jinzhou), Li Jingfang (from Lingyuan), Liu Jincheng (from Lingyuan) and one whose name is unknown (also from Lingyuan). Wang Xiaomin is currently detained in the No.1 Ward Branch of the No.4 Ward.

On December 20, 2007, 11 practitioners were transferred from the No.2 Prison to Panjin Prison. They were Bai Ronghua, Ma Ronghua, Ha Enli, Wang Hongfeng, Wang Tao, Xue Jun, Jiang Bo, Gao Yuqin, Sun Yongsheng, Li Quanchen, and Xu Zhengqiang. Four practitioners including Zhang Wei, Yang Benliang, Lu Kaili and Lu Guanglin were transferred from Jingkou Prison to Panjin Prison. On December 21, 2007, five practitioners were sent to Panjin from Huazi Prison. They were Qu Lianxi, Chang Wanliang, Liu Hongbo, Liu Huaxin and Hua Shuangyu.

Wards (Divisions) of the Panjin Prison are located in separated places. The general office building is a big 18-floor building that cost 2,000,000 yuan. It is said that this building is the best office building in Liaoning Province. The money borrowed to build it has not fully been paid back to the bank. Therefore, money in Panjin Prison is tight, which affects all inmates, including practitioners.

Every ward in Panjin has their own courtyard and is quite far apart from each other. It is hard to know the situation in other wards. Here is a partial list of Falun Gong practitioners detained in different wards.

No.1 Ward: Chen Binli, Tian Yunhai, Xu Zhengqiang, Liu Deqing, Song Zhengdong
No.2 Ward: Gao Tianhong (from Dandong City)
No.5 Ward: Gao Yuqin, Lu Kaili, Zhang Mingzhu (from Benxi City)
No.7 Ward: Zhao Liang, Zhao Lei (from Huludao)
No.4 Ward: total of 10 practitioners
No.1 Branch: Wang Tao (from Dalian City)
No.2 Branch: Qi Jikang (from Dandong)
No.3 Branch: Ge Weidong (from Fushun)
No.4 Branch: Liu Huaxin (from Dalian)
No.5 Branch: Liu Wanli (from Huludao)
No.6 Branch: Yang Benliang (from Dalian)
No.7 Branch: Zhang Wei (from Dalian), Li Quanchen (from Dandong)
No.8 Branch: Qi Xiang (from Chaoyang), Ye Ximing (from Banqin)

Currently, all prison guards at the Panjin Prison are studying an official document called "Chinese Qigong and Cults." It is distributed to every ward branch.

Head of the Panjin Prison: 86-427-5637744
Administration and Education Section: 86-427-5638134