(Minghui.org) Throughout the 10 years of Mr. Jin Jilin's prison sentence, he was subjected to excruciating tortures and intense brainwashing in various detention facilities. Despite all this, Mr. Jin remained firm in his faith and refused to renounce Falun Gong.
Mr. Jin, 48, was arrested after he was reported for informing people about the persecution Falun Gong. He was subsequently taken to court on trumped up charges and heavily sentenced.
While in detention, his wife died and the prison officials did not inform him of her death, nor were his son or others allowed to visit him.
After serving his sentence, he was sent to a brainwashing center, and was finally released three months later, returning to his home in Jiya Town, Yuzhong County, Gansu Province.
1. Tormented Since the Persecution Began
Mr. Jin's ordeal began in July 1999, when Falun Gong was banned by the Communist regime in China. Right away, he went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong, and was arrested and detained.
He was arrested again while was clarifying the truth in villages in September 2000. He was sent to Yuzhong County Detention Center. Under the orders of guard Chen Wengang, inmates covered his head and brutally beat him, almost suffocating him.
In November 2000, he was sentenced to one year of forced labor and sent to the Pingantai Forced Labor Camp in Lanzhou City. The guards hung him up with hands cuffed behind his back for 40 minutes, an excruciating torture method that can result in paralysis.
Torture illustration: Hanging with hands cuffed behind the back
Mr. Jin was released from the Pingantai Forced Labor Camp on October 5, 2001.
2. 10-Year Prison Sentence
Mr. Jin Jilin was reported to the police while talking to people about the persecution of Falun Gong. On December 12, 2001, Several officers from the Yuzhong County Political Legal Affairs Committee, 610 Office, Jinya Town government, and local police station were looking for him at his home. He escaped and became homeless to avoid arrest.
However, Mr. Jin was arrested on May 3, 2002 at a practitioner's home by two plain-clothes officers. He was taken to the Xiguoyuan Detention Center that afternoon.
He was transferred to Yuzhong County Detention Center on October 27, 2002 where guards ordered inmates to beat him.
Several Falun Gong practitioners, including Mr. Jin, were tried in Yuzhong County Court on October 28, 2002. Although Mr. Jin had not committed any crime, the trial was just a formality and he was sentenced to a 10-year prison term.
Head of the Detention Center Responsible for Beatings
After the trial, the practitioners were taken back to the detention center. That night he was tortured by being forced to remain sitting on the cold floor.
Four inmates beat him the next morning, with two pressing him against a wall and the other two beating his head, chest and stomach.
The head of the detention center, who was responsible for the beatings, came to get a head count. Mr. Jin had to be held up by two inmates because of the beating. When he refused to respond to his name being called, he was beaten again until he passed out. The beating lasted for three hours, until 11 a.m.
Then, on orders from the head of the detention center, his hands were cuffed behind his back and he was transferred to the Xiguoyuan Detention Center.
Tortured at the Xiguoyuan Detention Center
Every time Mr. Jin asked to see his family he was tortured. Once, Wang Yanhui, the head of the detention center, and Wang Zhenya, guard from the No. 8 Division chained his hands and feet together for five days.
Torture illustration: Hands and feet chained together
When this torture is used, one can only kneel. One's wrists are pulled down, which is very painful.
Tortured at Lanzhou Prison
Mr. Jin was transferred to Lanzhou Prison on November 4, 2003, where he was beaten by guards and inmates. They forcibly took off his clothes and replaced them with a prisoner's uniform. A guard kept slapping his face. The inmates put handcuffs and shackles on him and tied the handcuffs and the shackles together with a 10-inch metal wire. Then, he was forced to sit on the cold concrete floor from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. for seven days.
Tortured with Electric Batons in Kingxi Prison
Mr. Jin was transferred to Kingxi Prison in March 2004, where he refused to perform hard labor or to cooperate with the brainwashing. Therefore, guard Zhang Jianying tortured Mr. Jin with an electric baton for more than three hours on March 26, 2004.
He was tied to a tiger bench and Zhang shocked his face, neck, inside his mouth, and lips with an electric baton.
Torture re-enactment: Shocking with electric batons
Mr. Jin was put in a solitary confinement cell by Yao Xiaoqiang, head of the education section and several guards on March 28, 2004. He was also tied to a tiger bench and five guards shocked his sensitive parts with electric batons for more than four hours.
He was detained in a filthy solitary confinement cell for more than 52 days. His injuries from the torture were not treated. Family visits were not allowed to prevent anyone from seeing his injured body.
Handcuffed Behind the Back and Hung Up
Wang Ji, head of No. 4 Ward, and several guards took Mr. Jin to the workshop on the morning of May 19, 2004. He was handcuffed behind the back and hung up to the hook of a crane in the workshop. Wang pressed the control button to raise the crane arm, lifting Mr. Jin high into the air. This torture lasted for about 40 minutes.
Torture illustration: Handcuffed with arms behind the back
Four inmates were assigned to monitor him day and night. He was not allowed to contact anyone and was monitored constantly, even when going to the restroom.
Sleep Deprivation and Other Torture
Mr. Jin was transferred back to Lanzhou Prison on December 14, 2005.
He was taken to a solitary confinement cell in the No. 9 Ward on November 29, 2006, where the light was on around the clock. He was detained in the guards' office during the day and subjected to brainwashing. Deputy prison head Zhang Haijun and guards used materials that slandered Falun Gong in attempt to force him to renounce his faith.
To “transform” a practitioner, he/she would be held in a solitary confinement cell and deprived of sleep for seven days. After one week of this torture they allowed Mr. Jin to sleep for one hour daily.
Inmates forced him to watch the videos that slandered Falun Gong and beat him frequently, beginning on December 22, 2006.
Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, he was deprived of sleep from December 26, 2006 to January 7, 2007, beaten and had to listen to the videos that slandered Falun Gong.
While undergoing sleep deprivation, Mr. Jin was prevented from closing his eyes. Each time he closed his eyes, the inmates would stab their fingers into his eyes and pierce his body with pins. Then they poured cold water on him and beat him.
Torture re-enactment: Piercing the body with pins
He was subjected to a number of tortures. They once tried to choke him and put his head into the toilet, nearly suffocating him. The beatings and tortures were relentless.
Inmates Licensed to Kill
Mr. Jin reported the inmate’s savage beatings to Zhang Haijun, deputy head of the No. 9 Ward.
However, the beatings then got worse. The inmates told him that their orders to torture him came directly from prison officials. “They told us, if you died, they would prevent the doctor from reporting the injuries,” said the inmates.
Mr. Jin appealed for help to He Baijin, deputy head of 610 office on February 12, 2007. He Baijin said to him, “So what?”
Inmate Yan Xiangyang was released before the end of his term on March 3, 2007 to reward him for torturing practitioners. This led other inmates, including Wang Fenga, Chen Hui and Su Shiqin, to beat Mr. Jin even more viciously.
Inmates Invent New Torture Method
The inmates invented a new torture method in April 2007. They filled a stainless steel cup with boiling water. While holding him against the wall, they rubbed the cup against his body just like ironing clothes, burning his skin. When the burnt skin started to heal they hit him and caused the wounds to open up again.
In the evening, they took off his clothes and poured cold water over him. The window was opened to let cold air in.
Torture re-enactment: Dousing with cold water
Mr. Jin Remains Steadfast Despite Intensified Abuse
Mr. Jin was seen as a key figure to be “transformed.” Therefore, two inmates Wang Xiaojun and Wang Pingji were brought in during October 2007. The torture became more vicious.
The inmates often pulled Mr. Jin's shoulders down and kneed him in the chest and stomach, causing extreme pain.
During the daytime, the inmates poured hot water down his neck. At night, they took off his clothes and poured cold water on him.
His family managed to visit him on November 27, 2007 and saw the scars around his neck. They questioned Zhang who in turn forbid any more family visits.
Cruel Emotional Abuse
Four new inmates from the No. 4 Ward were assigned to torture Mr. Jin starting in January 2008.
They continued to keep him in a solitary confinement cell and deprived him of sleep. His family was not allowed to visit and letters about his grandmother's death and his wife's impending death were kept from him.
Gao Shengrong and Zhang played a video clip that showed the health condition of his wife on December 5, 2008, attempting to get him to renounce Falun Gong in exchange for release to see his wife.
His wife died on December 22, 2008 without a chance to say goodbye to her husband. His son and some villagers came to the prison and asked to see him that day. The authorities shamelessly claimed that Mr. Jin refused to see them and that he did not care about the family.
Transferred to Jiuquan Prison
Zhang and Ye Qiang put handcuffs and shackles on Mr. Jin and transferred him to Jiuquan Prison ten days after his wife's death, where he was made to sit on a small stool for long hours.
He appealed to Gansu Province Procuratorate because of his mistreatment at Lanzhou Prison on September 8, 2009.
Wang Minsheng and Zhang from the Lanzhou City Procuratorate came to see him on October 12, 2009. Mr. Jin described what he had experienced in Lanzhou Prison and showed them the scars on his body. They noted it, but that was the end of it.
3. Sent Directly to Brainwashing Center When Prison Term Expired
Mr. Jin was to be released on May 2, 2012 after serving the 10-year prison term. Instead, Gao Yanlin, head of the Yuzhong 610 Office, and police were waiting for him outside the prison doors. They took him to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Center in Lanzhou City.
To brainwash practitioners, several so-called brainwashing experts were hired by the 610 Office and the Political Legal Affairs Committee in mid-July 2012.
Nonetheless, Mr. Jin still refused to renounce Falun Gong.
He was told about his brother-in-law's death on August 25, 2012, during a family visit. This man had supported his family including taking care of his elderly parents and his children and handled his wife's funeral arrangements.
Mr. Jin then demanded to meet with officials in the brainwashing center. He told them about the torture he had suffered during his 10-year detention, and how he was not told about his wife’s terminal illness and her death while he was detained at Lanzhou Prison.
He told them that what they did to him was beyond any human conscience.
Eventually, Mr. Jin was allowed to go home.
Summary of Key Persecution Facts:
Name : Jin Jilin Gender : Male Age : 48 Address : Jinya Village of Jinya Town, Yuzhong County, Gansu Province Occupation : farmer Date of Most Recent Arrest : May 3, 2002 Most Recent Place of Detention : Gongjiawan Brainwashing Center (龚家湾洗脑班) City : Lanzhou Province : Gansu Persecution Suffered : Electric shock, sleep deprivation, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, physical restraint, detention, denial of restroom use, brutal beatings, denied visitation
