Mr. Sun Jianfeng Repeatedly Persecuted, Faces Unjust Trial

Name: Sun Jianfeng
Gender: Male
Age: 40
Address: Zhongwei City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
Occupation: Employee at the Lanzhou Railway Bureau (power supply section in Yinchuan City)
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 30th, 2012
Most Recent Place of Detention: Detention Centre in Zhongwei City
City: Zhongwei
Province: Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
Persecution Suffered: Electric shocks, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, dismissal from workplace, physical restraint, interrogation, detention.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Sun Jianfeng, from Zhongwei City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, has been repeatedly persecuted and mistreated by authorities. Mr. Sun now faces a trial. On March 30th, 2012, police officers from the Domestic Security Brigade in Zhongwei City arrested Mr. Sun and two other practitioners, Ms. Chang Xiu'e and Ms. Huang Yuxia, in Ms. Chang's house. This was the fifth time that Mr. Sun has been arrested.

The police tapped Mr. Sun's phone in 1999, after the the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched its persecution of Falun Gong. Mr. Sun made a phone call to a practitioner in Beijing and the police arrested him. He was taken to a detention centre in Zhongning County, Ningxia, where he was tortured. Mr. Sun went to Beijing in October 2000 to appeal to the central government. He was arrested on Tiananmen Square and put in a forced labour camp in Baitugangzi Village, Lingwu City. His term was supposed to be eighteen months, but was extended six additional months. During his incarceration, he was forced to do slave labour, was force fed, and almost froze to death in the cold weather. In 2002, Mr. Sun posted fliers to expose the brutal suppression of Falun Gong. He was consequently put in a forced labour camp for three more years.

Mr. Sun's term was up in 2005, and his employer attempted to force him to write a statement denouncing Falun Gong. He refused, and as a consequence his employer had him monitored for almost two years. During this time, he was being watched at work and at home. His activities and freedom were restricted. On politically sensitive days and holidays, his employer didn't give him the days off and mentioned no reason. He could not make phone calls at will and a CCP member was appointed to live with him and follow him when he went out. His supervisor held a meeting to humiliate him and forced his coworkers to stay away from him. In 2006, during the National People's Congress, his employer gave him a demerit and suspended him from work for three months with the excuse that he didn't follow orders at work. In fact, his employer wanted him to go home so that he would not appeal during the session of the Congress and “cause problems.” Mr. Sun appealed to the Labour Dispute Arbitration Committee in Yinchuan City. Authorities from the Ningxia Personnel and Labour Department interfered with the arbitration and Mr. Sun's case was never settled.

On January 9th, 2007, a group of people from Mr. Sun's workplace, Public Security, and the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), abducted him from his dorm, and took him to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre in Lanzhou City. The guards force-fed him with food and unknown drugs, handcuffed him and left him in the snow to freeze him, handcuffed him to the bed in solitary confinement for two months, and tortured him by hanging him from his handcuffs. In the torture called “hanging handcuff,” Mr. Sun was handcuffed hanging from a door frame with his toes barely touching the grounds for 72 days. While being hung up for such an extended period of time, Mr. Sun's shoulders lost feeling and his entire body became swollen. While he was enduring the excruciating pain, the guards poured cold water on Mr. Sun and slapped his face. The staff in Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre also tortured Ms. Liu Zhifang from Gansu Province with “hanging handcuffs” and she died as a result. Ms. Lo Qingshu was tortured there with this method for 12 consecutive days and she went into shock four times. Mr. Niu Wanjiang was tortured there with this method for 81 days.

After being hung up for 72 days, Mr. Sun was released from solitary confinement. His hair was a mess, he was incoherent, the back of his jacket was worn out, the part of his pants on his buttock were worn out, his feet, legs, and knees could not bear any weight, his toes were disfigured, and a thick callus had grown under his feet. He stayed bedridden for more than two months before he could barely walk again. Mr. Sun's wrists still have many scars from this handcuff torture method.

Mr. Sun and Ms. Huang went to visit Ms. Chang at her house on March 30th, 2012. Li Cunshan from the Domestic Security Brigade in Zhongwei City and several police officers pried open Ms. Chang's door and broke into her house. They searched Ms. Chang's house and confiscated her personal belongings, including a computer and a printer. The three practitioners were taken to the Zhongwei City Public Security Bureau and interrogated. Li handcuffed Ms. Huang, viciously beat and slapped her, and tortured her with the tiger bench¹ torture. That same night, Li brought a group of people with him and broke into Ms. Huang's house. They confiscated her computer and printer, and other belongings.

While these practitioners were incarcerated in the Zhongwei City Public Security Bureau, the police took them to a local hospital for a health examination. Ms. Huang was found to be physically unable to sustain imprisonment and was released on March 31st, 2012. Ms. Chang was also later released. Mr. Sun was still locked up in the Zhongwei City Detention Centre at the time of this report. It has been four months, and the court in Zhongwei City is planning to put Mr. Sun on trial.

Person responsible for Mr. Sun's persecution:
Li Cunshan, instructor of the Domestic Security Brigade in Zhongwei City in Ningxia

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.