The Persecution of Practitioners in Tumuji Forced Labour Camp in 2009

Over 20 Falun Gong practitioners are detained in the men's section of Tumuji Forced Labour Camp in Jalaid Qi, Xinganmeng, Inner Mongolia. On January 20th, 2009, 46 inmates were transferred there from the Beijing Dispatch Department. Thirteen of them were practitioners. After it became known that the Tumuji Forced Labour Camp didn't allow practitioners to make phone calls home and forced them to work extra hours at night to weave carpets, and practitioners resistance of the persecution were exposed, the labour camp eased up a little, although they still did not allow practitioners to make phone calls home. They even checked the luggage of those inmates who were released in case any practitioners' letters were taken out.

In July, two procurators from the Baoanzhao District Procuratorate went to Tumuji Forced Labour Camp to investigate an incident in which guards from the second team beat practitioners. This was after the Supreme Procuratorate received an anonymous letter complaining that the guards in the Tumuji camp beat practitioners and demanding an investigation. The Supreme Procuratorate forwarded the letter to the Baoanzhao District Procuratorate. The two procurators were Lv Jingping and Mr Li. They met practitioners Mr. Wang Zhanqing, Mr. Li Jianqing, Mr. Ma You, Mr. Lin Wenhui, Mr. Song Zhiyu, and Mr. Wu Nanjie, who had all been beaten and put in solitary confinement. However, there were several other practitioners there that they did not see. They made a thorough investigation, even investigating the witnesses who saw that practitioners had been handcuffed behind their backs and hung up.

Following is the account of the incident:

In February, practitioners refused to work extra hours in the carpet workshop and demanded that they be allowed to call home. Many practitioners had spoken to the supervisors and the team leaders, but nothing was done. Then six practitioners--Mr. Ma Zhanqing, Mr. Li Jianqing, Mr. Ma You, Mr. Lin Wenhui, Mr. Song Zhiyu, and Mr. Wu Nanjie--didn't do the extra hour work. Mr. Song spoke to Political Instructor Wang Liwei and Secretary Chen Qiang several times about this matter. They didn't reply about the overtime work and didn't allow practitioners to make phone calls home.

On the morning of February 27th, Team Leader Huang Zhigang took Mr. Song, who was working in the carpet workshop, to Chen Qiang's office. They threatened and beat him. Mr. Song resisted. Chen Qiang handcuffed him behind his back and then to the heating pipe in the north-eastern corner of the hall on the fourth floor. They didn't let him go down for lunch. When practitioners downstairs didn't see him for the whole afternoon, they asked the team leader about him. He said he didn't know what had happened, but practitioners learned of Mr. Song's situation from another source. Before the afternoon work started, nine practitioners asked to see Mr. Song. The team leaders in the office were Bi Guorong, Huang Zhigang, and Wu. The practitioners wanted to know why Mr. Song was handcuffed to the heating pipe. They were not given a reasonable reply, so they refused to work in the afternoon. The guards then took out electric batons and rubber clubs and beat the practitioners. Later, Political Instructor Wang Liwei also beat them. The practitioners then were returned to the hall, but team leaders ran after them, beating them with electronic batons.

They put the six practitioners in solitary confinement, two in each compartment. Policeman Chen Qiang entered the solitary compartments and ordered the practitioners to take off their clothes but their underwear. There is still snow in February in Tumuji. Two practitioners were handcuffed with one handcuff. Though the heat was turned on later on, it was sometimes cold and sometimes warm. No bedding or quilts were provided.

Three days later, Chen Qiang called practitioner Mr. Wang Zhanqing to the office on the fourth floor. Chen Qiang told Mr. Wang that he would need to work extra hours at night. He refused. Chen Qiang then handcuffed him behind his back and to the heating pipe on the fourth floor. Team Leader Yang oversaw him. For four days Mr. Wang was handcuffed to the heating pipe on the fourth floor during the day and sent back to the solitary compartment at night. His wrists became very swollen and painful. He couldn't move his arm as it would cause heart-wrenching pain in his wrist. At night he was unable to sleep because of the pain, but he didn't give in.

On the fifth day, Team Leader Yang took practitioner Mr, Li Jianqing to the fourth floor. He handcuffed him behind his back for a whole day. The next day he hung Mr. Li up by handcuffing him to the bar above the door. After a whole day, Mr. Li's arms became very swollen. On the third day, he was hung up for half a day. Later, Mr. Wang Zhanqing was handcuffed and hung up for half an hour and Mr. Wu Nanjie for over an hour.

Many inmates saw how practitioners were tortured. In the solitary compartments, practitioners were not allowed to lie down. While the team leaders were on duty, they forced practitioners to stand facing the wall. If the practitioners didn't obey or walked around, team leader Bi Guorong would shock them with electronic batons.

Practitioners were locked in solitary confinement for as long as 14 days, the shortest time for over 10 days. They developed various ailments after they were beaten. Mr. Ma You suffered from high blood pressure and dizziness, and his wrists were covered with bruises that didn't heal. His wrists were very painful. Mr. Wang Zhanqing suffered from high blood pressure and dizziness as well. Mr. Li Jianqing was hit on the face with rubber clubs. The lump on his face didn't go down, and he suffered from headaches. Sometimes it was so painful that he woke up at night. Mr. Li Liandong was hit on his back with rubber clubs and his spine was very painful. The vertebrae then started to protrude. He spoke to the team leader several times about it but he didn't get a reply. Mr. Xin Yongxiao had his arms beaten and he had difficulty moving them for quite some time. Mr. Sun Zhiqing's arms were also beaten with rubber clubs and became numb. The forced labour camp didn't reprimand the officers who beat practitioners and refused to provide medical treatment. It wasn't until mid July that two procurators came to investigate these incidents.

Since the exposure of the above incidents, guards at the Tumuji Forced Labour Camp have become a little more restrained. However, the persecution of practitioners continues; they've merely changed the methods. Currently there are two ways they use to torment practitioners.

First, they don't allow practitioners to make phone calls home or send letters home. This has been the case for over half a year.

Tumuji Forced Labour Camp at one time detained more than 60 practitioners, and two or more inmates oversaw and persecuted each practitioner. At that time, the persecution was very severe.

They gave different reasons for their inhumane actions. They told practitioners that it was an order from a superior, but they didn't say who gave the order. They told practitioners' families that they were not allowed to make phone calls if they were not "transformed¹," or that the practitioners themselves didn't want to make phone calls or write letters. When practitioners' family members went to see them in the forced labour camp, they had limited visitation. Practitioners weren't allowed to speak freely. They even didn't allow one practitioner's family member to speak in the meeting, because the family member was also a practitioner.

Second, they force practitioners to do hard labour. After the above incident, there wasn't any overtime work, but they treat practitioners as criminals and force them to do hard labour.

During the investigation the procurators were biased. They didn't record in detail how practitioners were injured. They were only concerned with who wrote the anonymous letter, how the incident was exposed, and who revealed it. They have yet to get any replies.

Personnel involved:

Wang Liwei, political instructor and team leader of the Male Team
Police ID Number: 1519069
He is the key person in persecuting practitioners.
His phone numbers: 86-13948896724 (Mobile), 86-482-6710417

Fu Aili, deputy team leader of the Male Team

Huang Zigang, team leader of the Second Team
He is directly involved in beating practitioners.
Police ID Number: 1519096
Phone Numbers: 1519096 86-13948287582 (Mobile), 86-482-6710474

Chen Qiang, secretary
Police ID Number: 1519074
He is in charge of trying to force practitioners to write the three statements to give up Falun Gong. He was once on the list of "evildoers."
His phone number: 86-13948627104 (Mobile)

Bi Guorong
He beat practitioners
His phone numbers: 86-13948187769(Mobile), 86-4826710325

Note

1. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/9/15/208365.html