Ms. Wang Hongyan's Personal Account of Being Tortured in the Shulan City Detention Centre and Heizuizi Women's Labour Camp

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Ms. Wang Hongyan, a Falun Gong practitioner from Jilin Province, was arrested on March 3rd, 2007, and her home was ransacked by police. She suffered inhumane persecution at the Shulan City Nanshan Detention Centre, and was later sent to Heizuizi Women's Labour Camp where she was ruthlessly tortured again.

Below is her personal account.

My name is Wang Hongyan. On March 3rd, 2007, after I finished distributing Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution and was on my way home, several officers from the Pingan Police Station stopped me, knocked me to the ground, and beat me. They threw me into a police car and took me to the police station. They took away my cell phone and house key and tied me to a chair. Then they colluded with the Shulan City National Security Division and ransacked my home.

It was 1:00 a.m. in the morning when they ransacked my home. They took away Falun Gong books, and leaflets. They went back for a second time to get my mother, brought her to the police station, and handcuffed her with me. They didn't allow us to sleep or use the toilet for that entire night. My mother and I were forced to sit up all night.

Persecution and extortion in the Shanlan City Nanshan Detention Centre

The police used everything they had confiscated from my home against us as "evidence" and sent us to the Shulan City Nanshan Detention Centre. On the way I heard that each one of them received a 5000 yuan1 bonus for arresting the four of us. Upon arriving at the National Security Division, they separated us and tortured us individually.

A police officer called Li Jiazhe was the last one that tortured me. He closed the curtains and beat me. He first tied me to an iron chair2 to immobilize me. Then five officers took turns beating me. They included Gu Erhe, Li Jiazhe, and Wang Da. When they got tired, Li Jiazhe brought over a pot of boiling water and threatened that he would pour it over my head. Then he poured a whole bottle of hot pepper liquid into a tube and said they were going to insert it into my nose. He splashed the liquid into my eyes, and I couldn't open them anymore. Fifteen days later my eyes were still red.

The Detention Centre authorities forced everyone to pay 200 yuan a week for meals. They charged 50 yuan for the Saturday meal, which consisted of nothing but a big bowl of potato soup and some pieces of fatty meat. They intercepted every package my husband sent me from the outside.

They told my family that if they gave them 16,000 yuan, then my mum and I would both be released. My father gave them the money, but they didn't release us. Instead, they sentenced me to a year and a half of forced labour and my mum to one year, and took us to Heizuizi Women's Labour Camp. My father asked them for the money back several times and they finally returned 12,000 yuan to him.

Torture in Heizuizi Women's Labour Camp

We were taken to Heizuizi Women's Labour Camp on March 27th, 2007. My mother was kept in the First Division and I was kept in the Seventh Division. My mother suffered a heart attack as soon as she was admitted. She was down to skin and bones, but they kept her sitting for long hours and wouldn't allow her to sleep until after eleven o'clock every night.

In the Seventh Division, they tried to brainwash me. They would change the inmate "helper" assigned or move me every couple of days. The head of the division, Liu Hu, cursed and shocked me with an electric baton on my neck, ears, arms, breasts, and other sensitive spots while cursing me.

The labour camp authorities enforced slave labour for long hours. From 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., everyone was forced to work except for mealtime and toilet breaks, regardless of age or health. Prior to the Olympics, there was an "inspection" by the supervising organizations. The guard, Zhang Yunxue, warned us not to expose what really went on in the camp. They told us to tell the inspectors that we only needed to work four or five hours a day and had Saturdays and Sundays off.

At about 9:00 a.m. on July 24th, 2008, the guards isolated a practitioner in a closed room. Before long I heard the sounds of electric batons and the practitioner's screams. I opened the door and saw Hou Zhihong and Wang Lihua torturing the practitioner with electric batons. I tried to stop them, but Hou hit me with the electric baton. I grabbed it. She switched it on to shock me and then kicked me and beat me. Five guards rushed in and handcuffed me. They cursed me and said that my term would be extended for at least three months for attacking a guard. They said the electric baton was broken and they would make my family pay for the damage.

One evening, when guard Zou Jialin was on duty, she had two inmates put me on an iron bed and lock me up in a small cell on the second floor. They cuffed my hands to the head rail and tied my feet to the foot rail for days. They wouldn't untie me so I could use the toilet, so I had to soil the bed. Zou Jialin specifically ordered the two inmates to watch me and not to untie me for toilet breaks.

The labour camp authorities didn't release me until a month after my term expired.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

2. 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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/12/2/190892.html

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