At five o'clock in the evening on December 15, 2000, six policemen from the north police substation of Shulan City suddenly broke into the home of Falun Gong practitioners Yang Guoshu and Lin Songbai's. They were cooking dinner at that time. Without saying anything and with no search warrant, the policemen began to ransack their home. After finding 4 Falun Gong leaflets, they dragged Yang Guoshu and Lin Songbai out. Yang Guoqu did not even have a chance to put on shoes and a coat before the policemen dragged him down from the sixth floor. He had to walk to the police substation barefoot in the snow. Upon arriving at the police substation, they hung Yang Guoshu up and started to torture him inhumanely. First, they handcuffed his two hands to the top railing of a double decker bed, his feet attached to the lower deck of the bed with strings. His whole body was then hung up with buttocks hanging down. The officer Li Shuhua, vice officer Du Yuzhuo, director Wang Jin, policemen Li Zhuo and Zhu Zhao, and handyman Jiang XX started to beat him in turn. They covered Yang Guoshu's head with a cloth and punched and kicked his head, chest, back and limbs. They forced him to reveal the source of the 4 leaflets. Yang Guoshu told them again and again that the leaflets were picked up on the street but they did not believe him; they force-fed him with vegetable oil and pressed his body down while he was still hung up. They even sat on his abdomen to "play on a swing"; they also put an office desk on his body. Although they found only 4 leaflets while illegally ransacking Yang Guoshu's home, they produced 16 leaflets in the police substation, and tried to force him to admit that all the leaflets were his. They tried to extort the source by torture. When facing the fabricated charge and torture, Yang Guoshu did not fear at all. They hung him up and tortured him for over 20 hours; the torture caused him to suffer a lumbar sprain. The handcuffs cut into his flesh, bloodying both his arms. There were many wounds on his body; his two legs were especially tortured until they lost all feeling. He was in a state of paralysis and could not walk. He became incontinent and lost control of his bowels after the torture. Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon on December 16, they released him from the hanging state. They then dragged him into a police vehicle and sent him to Shulan detention center to change clothes without telling his family. Until now, he cannot walk on his left leg; the part below his hip remains completely numb. He is still in a state of paralysis.
Lin Songbai also suffered torture in the North police substation. After they had tied her two feet to heavy shackles, the handyman Jiang XX kicked the right half of her face, then grabbed her hair and threw her head against the wall. Some of her hair was pulled out. They tied two ends of a bunch of rubber belts together, forming a knot, then used it to whip her face and hands. They kicked her on her legs and arms, threatening to break her ribs. Policeman Li Zhuo beat her on her back with a water bottle full of water, and stabbed her face using a spoon.
Policeman Zhu Zhao told Yang Guoshu and Lin Songbai while torturing them that: "We got permission from the higher authorities to torture Falun Gong practitioners as much as we want, as long as they are still breathing."
The policemen from the North Police Substation have committed the following crimes: illegally ransacking a resident's home, illegally detaining and arresting, bringing false charges, and extorting confessions by torture. Policemen are supposed to enforce the law, but they have violated the law. Their behavior goes unpunished under the so-called socialist "legal system". There is no place for justice! Yang Guoshu's two sons went to the procuratorate to appeal after their parents were arrested. The staff in the procuratorate registered their request but told them: "We will not process your father's case, because it is involved with Falun Gong. You can go to the supervisor's department at the public security bureau". However, after they went to the supervisor's department at the public security bureau, the reply was, "Your father's injury is not serious after legal medical expert's examination, so it is not enough to set up any case." Bureaucrats shield one another; there is no place for people to appeal for justice.
The Ministry of Public Security sentenced Yang Guoshu to one year in a labor camp. Because he cannot walk, let alone work, he is still detained in the Shulan detention center.
In today's China, there are far more instances than those encountered by the Yang Guoshu couple.
Provided by practitioners from Mainland China
January 21, 2001
