Tortured in Prison after Vision Recovered by Practicing Falun Gong
(Minghui.org)
Summary of Key Persecution Facts:
Name: Dai Guoyu (代国玉)
Gender: Male
Age: 45
Address: Xiaokuang Village, Meihuashan Community, Laixi, Qingdao City, Shandong Province (山东青岛莱西市梅花山街道办事处小夼村)
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 31, 2008
Most recent place of detention: Shandong First Prison (山东第一监狱)
City: Jinan
Province: Shandong
Persecution Suffered: Detention, interrogation by torture, brutal beatings, brainwashing, sleep deprivation, forced long-term squatting, food deprivation, knocking head with an iron bucket, illegal sentencing, imprisonment, forced slave labor, soaking with cold water, brutal torments, torture.
Mr. Dai Guoyu previously had a serious eye disease which blinded his left eye and infected his right eye. When doctors were about to remove his eyes, he started practicing Falun Dafa. As a result, his health recovered, and his right eye became normal. Mr. Dai Guoyu was arrested by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) personnel in late July 2008, and sentenced to three years in prison. During this period, he was tortured in a brainwashing center and prison.
Miraculous Recovery from Eye Disease After Practicing Falun Dafa
Mr. Dai Guoyu previously had severe viral keratitis, which multiple hospitals could not cure. When his left eye could not receive any more injections, the surrounding skin was discolored and terribly painful. His right eye was also infected. Doctors told him that they would have to remove both eyes to prevent the virus from infecting other parts of his body. As the breadwinner for his elderly mother and two school-age children, the diagnosis brought them despair.
One of his relatives then introduced him to Falun Gong. After he finished reading the book Zhuan Falun the first time, he told his family, “It is good. These are all teachings of truth, and how to be a better person.” When he read it the second time, the penetrating pain in his eyes gradually disappeared. As he continued the practice, a piece of rotten flesh slowly emerged from his blind left eye, and the surrounding area became normal again. His right eye recovered completely! After several years, Mr. Dai Guoyu got his drivers license with the normal eyesight of his right eye.
Three Years of Torture in Prison
Mr. Dai Guoyu joined other practitioners for an experience sharing conference one week before the 2008 Olympics. They were arrested by police. Mr. Dai Guoyu was tortured in a brainwashing center, then sentenced to three years in prison. He was taken to prison on May 11, 2009. The following is Mr. Dai Guoyu's testimony about the torture that he suffered in prison.
I. Starved and Head Injured in Police Station
I was arrested by police from the 610 Office, the police department and the Qingdaolu Police Station in Laixi City on July 31, 2008. Police officer Zhao Pengcheng and another officer surnamed Wang from the Meihuashan Police Station injured my head with a chair while they were interrogating me. I was transferred to the Xinzhuang Brainwashing Center in Wangcheng Township on the afternoon of the second day. Chief Shen Tao and Deputy Chief Li Weikui, Officer Sui Guoqing and Officer Xu from the Laixi City Police Department took turns interrogating me. They did not allow me to go to sleep, but I did not give in. They subsequently forced me to squat for a long time, and starved me.
Torture re-enactment: Beaten with a chair
Officer Yu Xingyi from the Qingdaolu Police Station covered my head with a steel bucket. The bucket was so deep that I felt suffocated. He then used an iron hook to scratch the bottom of the bucket on top of my head, and continuously hit the bucket. The penetrating noise made me confused, and I nearly lost my hearing.
Torture re-enactment: Banging on an iron bucket on one's head
II. Inhumane Torture and Slavery in Detention Center
I was transferred to the Laixi City Detention Center three days later. Once I arrived in my cell, more than ten prisoners brutally beat me. The guards witnessed the scene but did nothing. I was forced to work for 15-16 hours per day, plus two hours at night. When I could not finish the assigned quota, I was beaten, punished, and deprived of food. I sometimes did not get any food for two consecutive meals.
One day, Shen Tao, Li Weikui and Sui Guoqing tried to force me to give my finger prints [as signature on a document], but I refused. Then Li Weikui used a broom to beat my arms, hands, and back. Finally, several people held my hands down and took my fingerprints.
My nose was injured by the prisoners on the first day they beat me. When Sui Guoqing saw me spitting out blood, he threatened to allow prisoners to beat me at will if I did not provide them with information.
Practitioner Mr. Shi Hongjie was tortured to death in this detention station. He was from Sunjiacheng Village, Wubei Township, Laixi City. A prisoner told me that he witnessed the torture last time he was detained there, because he was detained in the cell next to Mr. Shi Hongjie's and could see and hear everything. That day, Mr. Shi was beaten so hard that he could not walk, but he continued to sit in meditation. He was dragged by prisoners to an iron cage. While he lay on the ground, the prisoners grabbed the rails on top of the cage, then jumped down onto his body. Mr. Shi's ribs were fractured and his lung pierced, causing his death. He died several hours before being taken to a hospital.
III. Torture Suffered in the Shandong First Prison
I was transferred to Ward No. 11 in the Shandong First Prison on May 11, 2009. Falun Gong practitioners there were systematically persecuted in strict control groups, strengthen groups, transition groups and stable groups. Ward No. 11 was the main concentration camp for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.
I was taken by prisoner Wang Kedong, a Triad (Chinese organized crime society) felon, to his strict control group. Six or seven prisoners, including Wang Kedong, Zhao Yuekui, and Li Xiao, surrounded me, and ordered me to immediately write statements renouncing my belief, which I refused. They beat me, then forced me to squat. Three prisoners sat on small tools that were just a few centimeters away from me. As soon as I felt numb or moved my body, they beat me. When I was not able to stay in the squatting position because of the beating, they used the soles of their shoes to slap my face, pinched my acupuncture points to cause pain, and used various ways to insult me. The door was shut, and the guards never came in.
Torture re-enactment: Brutal beating
The prisoners went out periodically to report the situation to prisoners Yao Yunxia and Han Shaolei, who were specifically in charge of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. The torture escalated continuously according to their instructions. At night, I shouted “Falun Dafa is Good!” which made them panic. More then ten prisoners held me to the ground. While Wang Kedong stepped on my neck, other prisoners held my body down and stuffed a rag in my mouth all the way down my throat. Then they carried me to the bathroom. I struggled, threw away the rag, and shouted “Falun Dafa is Good!” several times.
In the bathroom, they threw me to the floor. many people immediately came and held my whole body down. Wang Kedong still stepped on my neck, others held my cheeks and stuffed a rag into my mouth. Fingernails dug into my flesh. Someone scratched the inner side of my thighs. Two people stepped on my feet and ground them back and forth. All this was accompanied by brutal beating, until I passed out.
They then poured cold water on me to wake me up. I woke up soaked in cold water. I was in so much pain that I could not move at all. They carried me to another strict control group, then threw me to the ground again. It was so painful and cold (since I was only wearing underpants) that I convulsed severely. They claimed that I was pretending to be sick. This strict control group was headed by Zhang Fengshun (a Triad member and sentenced to death with reprieve), Bi Yuzhen (Triad) and Liu Bin.
Torture re-enactment: Dousing with icy cold water
These prisoners were following so-called “instructions from the government” to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, and were rewarded with special treatment, including food, drinks, and even reduction of their prison terms. The more they tortured practitioners, the more they were rewarded. They took no responsibility for injuring or killing practitioners, which made these already vicious Triad members even more cruel. With the windows and doors tightly shut, seven or eight prisoners brutally beat me at the same time. They hit my entire body with hard slippers, scratched my ribs with shoe brushes, and cut the backs of my hands with bamboo so deeply that the bones were exposed.
When I could no longer sit, they pushed me to a wall, with several prisoners kicking and hitting my chest and abdomen. They then threw me to the ground, kicking and stepping on my back and waist, leaving me disabled even after I returned home in 2011. They took turns torturing me in different ways. They usually beat me in the bathroom, and physically punished me in the hall.
In the bathroom, a newcomer prisoner surnamed Fang told me with tears in his eyes, “My brother, write the statements quickly. I have seen practitioners who were tortured even worse than this. My mother also has belief. I really don't want to participate in this. But I will be punished if I don't follow their orders. I was arrested for stealing. I have never seen more terror than this. My brother, if you believe Falun Gong is good, you can do it after you are released, not here. You take good care of yourself.” I told him, “You must remember that Falun Dafa is good. Good will be rewarded. Evil will receive retribution.”
Every cell has a lobbyist, who is usually better educated than others. They force practitioners to watch DVDs that slander Falun Dafa. No matter how sympathetic they appeared to be, they still urged practitioners to give up their belief, and did not allow practitioners to sleep, eat, drink, or use the bathroom. After a period of time, victims could barely control themselves because they were physically exhausted and mentally in a trance. At that time, these prisoners would force and urge victims to copy the written statements that they prepared. I thus copied the statements when I was mentally unclear, which fulfilled their so-called “transformation” goal. It is a stain on my path of cultivation.
I was bedridden for a long time. Other prisoners had to drag me to the bathroom. I could barely open my mouth for meals, so I just stuffed small bits of bread into my mouth. It was also difficult for me to drink water since my ribs were in so much pain. I could not take deep breaths for more than a month. The persecution did not end after I got out of the strict control group. I also went through the strengthen group, transition group and stable group. I had to sit on a small stool for more than ten hours per day, reading or watching materials that slandered Falun Dafa, with prisoners monitoring me and preventing me from speaking. Practitioners were not allowed to talk to each other even when they had meals or used the bathroom.
Within a month after I was taken to this prison, practitioner Lu Zhen was tortured to death in Ward No. 11. Li Wei, the ward director, always refused to admit that they beat practitioners. He even claimed that Lu Zhen died from a heart attack.
Since there were so many practitioners detained in the prison, in November 2009, Ward No. 11 had to transfer some practitioners to other wards. I was taken to Ward No. 2. There we had to work every day in workshops, which gave me an opportunity to talk with other practitioners. We recited the Fa, wrote statements to reclaim our beliefs, and wrote letters to the prison officials about the persecution that we suffered. For a period of time, the mail box was filled with our letters. They took all the letters, but we never got any response.
We knew that detaining us there was illegal, and that we should not help make profit for them, so we refused to work. The guards then restricted our activities and deprived our family visits and rights to purchase necessities. Some practitioners were tortured by prisoners. Some were even taken back to the strict control group in Ward No. 11.
Six months before I finished the prison term, in February 2011, I was taken back to Ward No. 11. Every Falun Gong practitioner was taken back to Ward No. 11 six months before their scheduled release date. It was the called “to-be-released group.” Practitioners there were ordered to write statements to thank the prison, and slander Falun Dafa. The statements had to be checked and modified until they were satisfactory. Then the statements were recorded as videos and audios, and saved on DVDs. One copy was sent to the local 610 Office, and the other copy kept in the prison to fool or persecute other practitioners. If practitioners with reduced prison terms refused to write the statements, the prison guards threatened to reinstate the reduced terms
Prisoners Wei Ancheng and Zhang Zhijia were in charge of the to-be-released group. When I refused to cooperate with them, they shouted, "Where do you think you are? You will not be released if you do not write it!" From that point on, they did not allow me to leave the cell, buy necessities, or get in touch with my family. I was detained and persecuted in a strict control group until I was released.
Practitioner Liu Weixian from Qingdao City was also taken back to Ward No. 11 and persecuted for nearly two years there. He lost all his teeth due to the torture, and got a hernia because his intestine was ruptured from torture. His buttocks festered for years from the "sitting on a small stool" torture. Mr. Liu was tortured in a strict control group for several months beginning in October 2010, which caused him to develop hypertension. He was then hospitalized, yet was still not allowed family visits.
Practitioner Cong Peiqing from Longkou City was also returned to Ward No. 11. Prisoners stripped him and held him down on a wooden stool. They held his head and legs down, twisted his arms, then used shoe brushes to scrub his ribs and spine. They also inserted toothbrushes between his fingers, which were tightly squeezed together, then rotated all the way up to his fingertips, scraping off the flesh and exposing the bones. The prisoners used shoe bottoms to hit his buttocks, bruising a large area. They hit and kicked his chest, stomach, head, and face, and forcefully broke his fingers. The scars are still obvious even today.
Practitioner Wang Liang from Zhangdian District, Zibo City was taken back to Ward No. 11 multiple times. Wang Hongzhang, who was in his eighties, was tortured so badly that four mop handles were broken while prisoners beat him. He urinated blood as a result and was once rushed to a hospital.
The tortured Falun Gong practitioners included Gong Maohai, Dong Chuanyan, Shi Zenglei, Zhang Aiquan, Zhang Chuanzheng, Liu Bofu, Wang Hongzhang, Liu Xitong, Shao Chengluo, Huang Min, Zhang Lejin, Song Tao, someone surnamed Jiang with “wen” at the end of his first name, Jiang Guobo, Fan Yanqi, Teng Defang, Zhao Weidong, Wang Qingde, Gao Hongjie, Li Yufu, Wang Fengyu, Zhao Chuanwen, Wang Mingliang, Hao Wudong, Zhang Huirong, someone surnamed Qu, Meng Xiangbiao, Xu Hongliang, Wang Yunchong, Wu Jinyuan, Ma Shuguang, Zhao Changsheng, and more.
Practitioners who were killed by torture included Qian Dongcai (from Qingdao City), Wang Xinbo (from Zibo City), and Lu Zhen (from Mengyin City)
The tortures used included locking up in a small cell, physical punishment, brutal beating, hanging by handcuffs, violent force-feeding, "death bed" torture, brushing one's ribs with shoe brushes, pressing fingers against tooth brushes, inserting burning cigarettes into the nose, burning with cigarettes, feeding with hot pepper oil, slapping the face with shoe bottoms, piercing with needles, cutting back of hands and feet with bamboo, grinding legs with wooden sticks, etc.
Police officers who participated in the persecution:
Li Wei, director, Ward No. 11
Chen Yan, deputy director, Ward No. 11
Hu, political instructor, Ward No. 11
Niu, police officer, Ward No. 11
Zhang, police officer, Ward No. 11
Li Yukun, director, Ward No. 2
Zou Dayong, political instructor, Ward No. 2
Zhou Jun, political instructor, Ward No. 2
Li Yuan, special instructor, Ward No. 2
Li Tianmin (used to be a practitioner. He was extremely vicious. He physically and mentally tortured many practitioners.)
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