(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Chen Guoqing, a Falun Gong practitioner in Guangxi Province, was illegally sent to a labor camp in early 2002. She was mistreated and tortured there. The following is her statement.
On January 15, 2002, I put up some truth-clarification posters in Qiaoyu Town, Guigang City, Guangxi Province. Officers from the Nanqu Police Department in Guigang City arrested me and held me at a local detention center. In early March, Nanqu police officers sent me to a forced labor camp for three years without following any legal procedures. They attempted to force me to sign my name, but I refused. They then signed my name for me and put me in Guangxi Women's Forced Labor Camp.
In the camp were two division heads, one surnamed Liang and another surnamed Li. The detainees' main jobs were to link light bulbs together, connect beads, weave belts, and more. Practitioners were forced to work 13 to 14 hours a day without any days off. In addition to the physical abuse, labor camp officials used even more brutal methods to torture practitioners.
For determined practitioners, labor camp officials detained them in solitary confinement, exposed them to high volume speakers, and deprived them of the use of the toilet. Officials confiscated money that was sent by family members, and even the toilet tissue. For practitioners who did not wear prison uniforms or admit to being prisoners, officials extended their terms. They also tied up practitioners who did the exercises. For example, I did not wear a uniform, did not admit to being a prisoner, and did not succumb to the efforts to "transform" me. Consequently, I was kept in a solitary cell without light for three days and three nights.
Soon after arriving at the labor camp, I handed a paper slip with Master's poems to a practitioner, but she dared not take it. The inmate accompanying her saw it and reported me to a supervisor as well as division head Li. From that day on, I was forced to stand a long time every day for 15 days, except while eating or sleeping.
Before practicing Falun Gong, I had several illnesses, including throat cancer, neck osteophytosis, and a stiff shoulder, as well as gastric and intestinal diseases. All these disappeared after I began to practice. In the labor camp, we had to do intense hard labor. At the age of 47, I was forced to finish the same workload as a young person. As a result, either I had to work overtime, or other practitioners helped me finish it. We were punished if the assignment was not finished on time. Therefore, every day we got up after 5:00 a.m. and began to work at 7:00. Except for one hour for lunch, we were forced to work until 10:00 p.m., and sometimes even until 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning.
During my detention, I clarified the truth to prisoners who were assigned to watch me. In the end, they all understood and agreed that Falun Gong was good. Because of that, guards often assigned different prisoners to watch me. A total of five prisoners were assigned to watch me, one after the other. I also clarified the truth to the two division heads, but they were unreceptive.
After I was detained in the Guangxi Women's Labor Camp for one year and two months, the cancer I had earlier recurred. In addition, my gums often bled. I was released on medical parole.
