Recent Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners by the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province

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On December 16th, 2006, twelve Falun Gong practitioners in Heilongjiang Province were sent to the intensive training team at the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp in Harbin City. Four of them were forced to sit on the iron chair1 that day and were tortured, and the other eight were hung up by their handcuffs, beaten, and shocked with electric devices on the afternoon of the following day, all because they refused to write the three statements2 promising to give up Falun Gong. Practitioners were also shocked on their mouths with electric devices for shouting "Falun Dafa is good!" In order to assist in the persecution, the nurses and doctors in the forced labour camp worked overtime, and more guards were dispatched to provide support. During meal times, eight or nine guards holding batons monitored the practitioners. Those who have directly participated in the persecution include Wu Hongxun, Yu Fangli, Zhou Muqi, Han Shunshan, and Zhao Yuqing, among others.

Practitioner Ms. Li Ping from Mishan City was arrested and sent to the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp by some Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members on October 19th, 2006. She was hung up, beaten and shocked with electric batons on that day by the 13th team (the intensive training team), for refusing to write the three statements. The main person responsible is policewoman Yu Fangli. Practitioners Liu Shuzhen and Diao Yuqin became disabled as a result of the torture, and their family members have filed a lawsuit against the criminals.

As soon as an arrested practitioner is sent to the labour camp, he or she will be forced to write the three statements. If the practitioners refuse to write them, the guards will brutally torture them, including forcing them to sit on the iron chair, shocking them with electric batons, cuffing both hands to the wall, and forcing them to squat while kicking them repeatedly. The guards force practitioners to watch videos and read books that defame and slander Dafa and Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa. They run propaganda to promote the atheism of the CCP, quote Teacher's words out of context to attack Dafa, and attempt to forcibly brainwash practitioners. Those who are brainwashed are then sent to the 7th team and the12th team, where they are forced to recite the "disciplines" and "three vows" to reinforce the brainwashing. The "disciplines" were created by the department of forced labour education, while the "three vows" were created by policeman Yao Fuchang and those who have been brainwashed. These "vows" and "disciplines" defame Master and Dafa and are extremely wicked. The police attempt to force practitioners to obey these as guidelines in their behaviour.

At 6:00 a.m on October 25th, 2006, when practitioners were forced to recite the "disciplines," female guards Guan Jie and Yu Fangli felt that the practitioners' voices were not loud enough. They ordered the practitioners to recite the "three vows," but the practitioners refused. The two guards then asked each practitioner to recite them individually. Practitioner Ms. Yan Tingzhen refused, and so Guan Jie forced her to stand up. Ten minutes later, female guard Yao Changfu came over and forced her to squat. When Yan Tingzhen again refused, Yao Changfu rushed over and violently grabbed her hair, and then jerked her head backwards. As a result, Yan's lower back was injured and she was unable to move under her own power. She did not recover until a week later.

November 12th was a family visiting day. Practitioner Yan Tingzhen's family member removed Teacher's portrait from the visiting room (which was being used by the police to force practitioners' family members to defile Teacher's image), but the police forcibly took it back and declared that she would not be allowed to be visited for three months. The main people responsible for this were Liu Tao and Zhao Yuqing. Whenever practitioners were injured as a result of torture, in order to cover up their crimes, the guards cancelled their visitation. The guards also force practitioners' family members to step on Teacher's portrait, or they are not allowed to visit.

In addition to being physically abused, the practitioners are forced to perform heavy labour, especially in the 7th team, where the most intensive tasks are assigned to practitioners. They were not allowed to sleep until the tasks were completed, and it is very common for them to work until 10 or 12 o'clock at night. The workload is the same regardless of age. The youngest practitioner is 17 years old and the oldest is 69 years old. For example, every day each person has to pick through three boxes of toothpicks, make six boxes of Popsicle sticks, seal 500 rice bags, and make 1200 fireworks labels. They are also forced to make slippers. If the task is not completed during the day, they have to bring the work back into the cell and continue at night. Every day they get up at 5:00 a.m., take about ten minutes to wash their faces and brush their teeth, then start to do the forced labour. Except for doing forced military drills, reciting the "disciplines," and severely limited times for using the toilet and having meals, the rest of the time is for doing forced labour. Practitioners are kept so busy that they don't even have time to wash their faces and brush their teeth at night before they go to sleep.

The Wanjia Forced Labour Camp also subjects practitioners to loud noises. Around September 2001, six female practitioners including Hu Aiyun, Lu Shiping, Li Lan, Lin Xiuru and others were locked up in six solitary compartments of about two metres long and one metre wide in the 9th team, which is a team for male detainees. For several days, policewomen Zhou Muqi and Jia Cuiyan put a boom box outside the solitary compartments and played grating noise and "music" at the highest volume. They turned it on at about 8:00 a.m. and did not turn it off until about 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. The practitioners, who were confined in the restrictive, dark, and damp environment, were severely disoriented by the continual bombardment.

Guard Yao Fuchang from the 13th team has been actively participating in the persecution of Dafa practitioners since 1999. The methods he uses are extremely cruel. On October 1st, 2006, during the national holiday period, he had a conflict with the female team leader in his own team. He violently fought with her, and was punished by his superiors. If he treats his colleagues this way, one can easily imagine how he handles the practitioners under his control.

Note

1. Iron Chair: The "Iron chair" is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time, see illustration at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html

2. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.


Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/1/17/146997.html

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