Unrelenting Violence at the Pingantai Labour Camp in Lanzhou City

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Gansu Province

I am a Falun Gong practitioner. Because I was determined in my faith in Falun Dafa and in practicing "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," I was illegally detained at the Pingantai Labour Camp in Lanzhou City. There, I witnessed the unrelenting violence used against Falun Gong practitioners by the labour camp guards. It is my responsibility to expose these crimes to the kind-hearted people around the world; so that Jiang's shameless lie of, "Now is the best time for human rights in China" can be more fully brought to light. In fact, Amnesty International has already called Jiang a "human rights scoundrel."

1. There were some practitioners at the Pingantai Labour Camp who had stopped practicing Falun Gong under the tremendous pressure. When they came back to their righteous minds and realized their mistake, they started practicing Falun Gong again in October 2000. A policeman from the Fifth Division of the Labour Camp became very angry upon hearing this, and he ordered some detained drug addicts to take these practitioners outside on a hill and torture them severely. A 50 year-old practitioner named Li Jiankui was forced to run up and down the hill while carrying a huge rock. If he became too tired to run, policeman Wang Shengming would kick him very hard in the chest. Another practitioner, Zhang Luchan, was beaten until his teeth were knocked out and he fell unconscious.

2. Near the end of 2000, policemen illegally extended the duration of a few practitioners' labour camp sentences because they had refused to comply with the persecution. These practitioners were Chai Qiang, Wang Maolin and Xing Yuangui. When the policeman announced the illegal extension during a meeting, Chai Qiang and Jin Jilin stood up and denounced the policemen's unfair and unjust decisions. As a result, they were taken away and beaten brutally.

3. Some Falun Gong practitioners were beaten many times because they refused to recite the labour camp's despicable rules and songs out loud. The policemen ordered drug addicts to conduct the beatings.

4. After the 'Tiananmen Self-immolation' incident in February 2001, policemen tried to force practitioners to watch the CCTV videotape version of the immolations. The practitioners resolutely refused. Practitioner Wang Maolin from the Fifth Division called out, "I want freedom! I want to do the exercises!" When the policemen started beating him because of this, another practitioner, Li Tianxiao, called out, "Don't beat people!" The practitioners who ended up watching the self-immolation videotape pointed out the several discrepancies and false information it contained, and expressed their firm determination to continue Dafa cultivation practice.

Beginning in March 2001, the policemen began to persecute the practitioners even more madly and used violence to force them to attend brainwashing classes. Division leader Dai beat a practitioner named Li Fuzhi brutally in a psychotherapy room. His forehead was swollen, and there were wounds all over his body; not even a single square inch of him was spared. Practitioner Zhang Luchan was handcuffed to a toilet and deprived of sleep. A drug addict named Liu Cheng kicked Zhang's tightly cuffed hands and said: "You want De (virtue), right? I'll give you virtue!" Another Falun Dafa practitioner, Li Wenming, was often handcuffed with his hands behind his back and strung from an iron rope.

A group leader and drug addict named Ma Yousan demanded Zhang Luchan to do ridiculous things. Zhang said to him, "How could you be so unreasonable?" Ma Yousan waved his fist and hit Zhang in the face, saying, "This is the reason!" Another practitioner, Lu Baoliang, was beaten up in a similar way. Practitioner Wang Yichao was handcuffed and also beaten viciously in the security room by a team leader named Huang.

When practitioner Qian Shiguang was forced to watch the CCTV propaganda video "Focused Lies" (a video designed to defame and demonise Falun Gong), he shouted out, "Falun Dafa is a Righteous Way! Restore the reputation of our Teacher!" Upon hearing this, a vice division leader named Kang Shicheng, a team leader named Bao Ping, and another guard handcuffed Qian Shiguang behind his back and hung him from an iron wire. As he was hanging, policemen and drug addicts beat him viciously for long periods of time. When his condition became very serious they were forced to take him to a hospital out of fear that he would die.

The criminal responsible for the vicious brainwashing classes was a detachment instructor named Wang Wenchang. The drug addicts referred to him as "Crazy Wang."

5. Falun Dafa practitioner Song Yanzhao was considered to be a particularly difficult case by the labour camp policemen because he was so determined to not give into the persecution. He was beaten brutally in the bathroom, and his rib was broken so badly that one could feel it jutting out with one's hand. During this period of time, Song had been assigned to work in the tomato yard of the labour camp. The policemen tortured him throughout the night and forbade him to sleep. During the day, team leader Bao Ping tied his hands behind his back and hung him up until the day ended. They did this to him day in and day out.

One day, Song Yanzhao decided to expose the persecution in the labour camp and asked to go to the hospital to have a medical check-up. The vice division leader Kang Shicheng was afraid that evidence of his persecution would leak to the outside, so he denied Song's request. After his request was denied, Bao Ping, team leader Huang, division leader Wang Yumin, and team leader Zeng ordered some drug addicts to hold Song's body still while thugs hit him and jabbed the wounded places on his body. The agony for Song was unimaginable. When practitioner Zhang Luchan came over to try and stop these vicious people, Bao Ping said that Song Yanzao was sick and that they were giving him "treatment." Team leader Huang then said sarcastically to Zhang, "You are a university student, don't you know that massage is also a kind of treatment!" In the end, Song Yanzhao was tortured to death.

6. On July 1, 2001, practitioners in the Fifth Division of the labour camp practiced the Falun Gong exercises together. They were: Li Wenming, Li Tianxiao, Zhang Feng, Niu Wanjiang, Qian Shiguang, and others. As a result of their practicing, they were placed in solitary confinement. Li Wenming was placed in confinement for 27 days. Niu Wanjiang had very strong righteous thoughts and courageously exposed the polices’ crimes. The policemen at the labour camp feared and hated him because of this.

7. In October 2001, practitioner Zhang Luchan realized that he should (…) not accept the persecution. So, he went on a hunger strike and refused to work. Li Wenming and other practitioners in the labour camp supported his actions.

In November 2001, the Fifth Division policemen suddenly forced the practitioners that supported Zhang Luchan to do hard labour. On their way to work, a policeman beat Zhang Feng, and Li Wenming called out in defiance, "Don't beat people!" The policemen then placed all of the practitioners back into solitary confinement and tortured them endlessly, saying that it was “self-examination." Together with practitioner Shen Shiyong, who had already been placed in confinement beforehand, the four practitioners were persecuted like this day and night for more than 20 days. Sometimes when a warden got drunk, he would beat Zhang Luchan viciously for long periods of time. He would also rub the dirt from the sole of his shoe into Zhang's face. Before his detainment, Zhang Luchan had been a strong man, but by the time he was released from the labour camp, he was so weak he couldn't even carry a small TV set....
Now, I have left the Pingantai Labour Camp, a dark den of evil. When the night is dark and quiet, I can always recall the faces of those determined practitioners, their endurance, and their solemn, moving cries for justice. I can also recall all of the unforgettable brutalities that I witnessed. Just for remaining steadfast in cultivation practice, Falun Dafa practitioners have been forced to give up their jobs, families, money, and comfortable lives. They have been able to face the injustice calmly and sacrifice everything they have --- even their precious lives --- for their sacred faith in Dafa [Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance].

Source;
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/2/22/19106.html

Chinese version available at
http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/2/12/24834.html

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