The Torture and Death of Practitioner Mr Liu Zhibin at Jinzhong Prison

Following orders from the "610 Office," the guards at Jinzhong Prison (also known as the First Prison of Shanxi Province) in Qi County began a three-month torture campaign against Falun Gong practitioners. Driven by money and the enticement of job promotions, the prison guards grossly abused and tormented practitioners, threatening the use of force if practitioners didn't give in to their demands and renounce Falun Gong.

Practitioner Liu Zhibin from Xiguan Village, Wuling Town of Lingqiu County, Shanxi Province was tortured to death on July 20th, 2004. More details follow.

At first, the guards forced practitioners to watch videos slandering Falun Gong over and over again. Noticing no results, they started to take tougher measures, employing some of the felons incarcerated there (for such crimes as murder and robbery) to beat up the practitioners.

On the evening of July 12th, Liu Hongbin, political instructor of the Seventh Prison Ward, personally ordered six practitioners to be locked up in Cell No. 9. Liu then ordered seven criminal inmates to monitor the six practitioners and force them to stand at attention facing a wall, beating and threatening them if they relaxed their posture. Except for going to the toilet or at meal times, the practitioners were forced to stand for thirteen or fourteen hours a day, and sometimes rest was not allowed until one or two o'clock in the morning. Among those tortured in this way was a 68-year-old practitioner. Prolonged standing caused their legs and feet to become swollen and their bodies to be severely injured. This abuse continued for over 70 days.

On July 20th, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Liu Zhibin, 50 years old, who was detained in the Eighth Ward, was tortured to death.

Liu Zhibin was from Xiguan Village, Wuling Town, Lingqiu County, Shanxi Province. His family was notified that he had passed away from heart disease. But they found out differently when they went to the prison to view the body. Mr. Liu's body was covered with cuts and bruises; handcuff marks were clearly visible on his wrists as were many scars from electric batons and wounds from cruel beatings. His remains were heartbreaking to look at.

Another Falun Gong practitioner was also severely beaten and injured during this campaign and had to be hospitalised.

The Fourth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth prison wards, where Falun Gong practitioners were detained, carried out cruel abuses against the practitioners. There was only one Falun Gong practitioner in the Fifteenth Ward.

The Thirteenth Ward was the prison's group training team. Most of the practitioners were detained there when they first entering the prison. Upon arriving, Falun Gong practitioners would be tightly monitored. They were locked up in a small room, which was monitored and controlled. No interaction or talking was allowed among practitioners, nor was it allowed for a practitioner to talk to the criminal inmates (this rule was made in order to prevent others from learning the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution). Zhang Feng, political instructor of the Thirteenth Ward, has been responsible for coercive brainwashing since the persecution began over five years ago. He has ordered criminal inmates to tightly monitor Falun Gong practitioners and to physically abuse them.

Wang Wenzhen, political instructor of the Seventh and Eighth Wards, has carried out coercive brainwashing on Falun Gong practitioners several times. In the winter of 2003, Wang once gave personal instructions to try to "reform" practitioners by forcing them to stay up for four consecutive days and nights. The practitioners were not given enough food, and the criminal inmates beat them and threatened them, and otherwise physically punished them by forcing them to stand at attention. In 2004, Wang put a practitioner from the Eighth Ward into confinement and beat him up, leaving cuts and bruises all over his body.

Five Falun Gong practitioners, Liu Xinmin, Li Guozheng, Pei Xubin, Li Xin and Liu Xiliang, all from the Seventh Ward, have solemnly declared that whatever they said or wrote under pressure during this persecution, that was not up to the standards of Falun Dafa, are all null and void.

Jinzhong Prison is a provincial prison. More than 2,000 male inmates are detained there. Warden Yang Huirong took office there in the spring of 2004. Other than the Falun Gong practitioners who are illegally sentenced, most of the inmates are criminal prisoners who have received life, or commuted death sentences. Since July 20, 1999, more than 100 Falun Gong practitioners have been detained there, in violation of the Chinese Constitution. Among them there are Falun Gong practitioners from throughout the province. Practitioners from other provinces who had come to Shanxi Province to do truth-clarification work are also being held at Jinzhong Prison.