The Brutal and Unlawful Persecution of Practitioners in Wanjia Forced Labour Camp, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province: Electric Shocking, Being Forced to Squat or Bend Over, and Being Hung and Tied Up

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Wanjia Forced Labour Camp is located in Wanjia Village, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. It includes a men's team and a women's team. The camp's intensive training team is the place where Falun Dafa practitioners are persecuted the worst. The labour camp mainly handles female practitioners. Male practitioners are usually sent to the intensive training team to be persecuted. They also try to force them to write guarantee statements. If the practitioners refuse, camp authorities torture them and then send them to Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp.

The women's team includes the intensive training team, the 12th team (which will be moved to Qianjin Forced Labour Camp) and the 7th team, which has already moved to Qianjin Labour Camp. The female practitioners are sent directly to the intensive training team. The male directors of the intensive training team include Zhao, Wu, and another man. They are commanded by the head of the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp, Lu Zhenshang, and they brutally torture the practitioners personally. Over 20 female guards assist with the brutal treatment. The guards use many different methods of torture, and sometimes they combine tactics to torture them nonstop. Some practitioners have been tortured to death.

Practitioner Ms. Zhang Hong from Harbin City was tortured to death just a week after she was sent to Wanjia Forced Labour Camp. There were wounds all over her body when she died.

Some of the methods of torture are: hitting, shocking with electric batons, forcing the practitioners to squat, forcing them to sit on an iron chair1, freezing them in winter by opening windows, tying them and hanging them up. Below are descriptions of some of these techniques.

1. Hitting and using electric batons: A guard hits and kicks a practitioner or uses an electric baton to shock her while other guards also use electric batons to shock her. The smaller sized electric batons cause the skin to become swollen and the larger electric batons can cause serious skin swelling.

2. Forcing the practitioner to squat: The police force the practitioner to put her feet close together and parallel to each other while squatting. At the same time, they handcuff the practitioner behind her back. When squatting in this position, it's really hard to stay balanced. After a while, the practitioner's feet become numb and she falls over. The guards then immediately beat her to force her to squat again. They usually use this method to torment the practitioner for a long time, regardless of whether it is day or night.

3. Bending over: The guards force a practitioner to stand with her feet close and parallel to each other, with her legs straight and her entire upper body pressing on her thighs. Then the guards handcuff the practitioner's hands behind her back and don't allow her to move. If she moves even a little, the guards beat and kick her and then force her to bend over again.

4. Forcing the practitioner to sit on an iron chair and freezing her during winter: The practitioner is restrained in an iron stand. Her hands are cuffed to the back of the chair. The guards take off the practitioner's clothes except for her underwear and then open the windows in the winter to freeze her. Or they take off her clothes and force her to squat on the ground with her hands cuffed to the back of an iron chair. Her bare feet sit on the ground. Then they open windows to freeze the practitioner in the winter. This torture is very painful and the person usually has trouble standing up afterwards. After a while, her arms and legs hurt so much that they feel like they are broken.

5. Hanging or tying up practitioners: Hanging someone up involves cuffing both hands to a bunk bed frame so that the practitioner's feet are suspended above the ground. After a long time, the arms can become disabled or malfunction. Tying someone up involves using a rope to tie both hands onto a bed frame and forcing the practitioner to stand on a stool. Then the guards tie her legs together, suddenly kick away the stool, and pull the ropes tied to the legs. The person is swung around and her arms may feel like they're broken. At the same time, they use electric batons to beat the sensitive spots on the practitioner's body.

For example, the guards used electric batons to shock practitioner Ms. Zhang Chunyu and caused her neck to swell. The police also hung her up. Her wrists were injured and the skin on her wrists was all red and swollen. The police also stretched her hands, hung her on a bed frame, and didn't allow her to sleep for more than 20 days. Her feet were very swollen and she could not wear shoes. She was extremely tired and fell asleep. But the guards immediately woke her up. She could not withstand the persecution and wrote the so-called Guarantee Statements2 against her will. Then she was sent to the 12th team to do forced labour.

The 12th team forces practitioners to work from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. Sometimes the long working hours are extended to after 11 p.m. or even after 1 a.m. the next morning. The work is intensive. The team leader of the 12th team is Guo Liqiu. She is very evil. She was the one who instigated the tortures, which were executed by deputy team leaders Huo Shuping and Zhang Aiyuan and guards Wang Nana, Sha Yujin, Liu Baibing (already transferred to the administrative offices), Cong Zhili, and Zhou Yingfan. The methods they use are similar to the intensive training team's.

During April 2006, practitioner Ms. Song Wenjuan refused to attend the so-called "criticising Falun Gong" meeting. The guards forced her to squat for a few hours and didn't allow her to move even a little. Because she didn't corporate, guard Wang Nana dragged her to another room and beat her until she could no longer move. Then Wang Nana handcuffed Ms. Song to a metal chair for a whole night and didn't allow her to sleep. Later, Wang Nana tied her to a warehouse frame and dragged the rope up and down around ten times. Ms. Song fainted due to extreme pain, but Wang Nana still did not stop. In the end muscles in her arm were badly injured.

Guard Zhou Yingfan also tightly handcuffed Song Wenjuan to a metal bed frame. After a short time, her arm turned black and blue. The guards also used electric batons to shock her and hit her face. Song Wenjuan did not compromise. Guard Sha Yujin peeled off Ms. Song's upper clothes and verbally abused her. Song Wenjuan's heels were rotting badly, but the guards still forced her to work in the workshop. They forced her to stand from 4 a.m. in the morning until work time. Then after she finished work at night, they again forced her to stand until midnight. Ms. Song Wenjuan is still being tortured.

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. "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/5/24/155480.html

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