(Minghui.org) The No. 2 Detention Center in Handan City, Hebei Province has been a major facility involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners for the past 15 years.
Organ Trade
There has been indirect evidence showing that the No. 2 Detention Center collaborated with the Handan Court and 285 Military Hospital in organ trade and potentially organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners.
In May 2006, the local media reported a successful liver transplant case. The patient's blood type was RH negative and AB, which can only be found in 0.2% of the population. However, the hospital found a matching liver source for the transplant in four weeks.
A doctor later revealed the local court as the source for the matching liver. He told his patients that they could contact the court in advance for organ matches.
On February 25, 2013, two state-run media, the Xinmin website and Yanzhao City News, ran a story that a prisoner at the No. 2 Detention Center was willing to donate his organs after his execution. Regardless of whether this story was real or fabricated, the fact that this story was deemed newsworthy is an indication of the unlikelihood of the volume of organ transplants is driven by voluntary donations.
Independent investigations have shown that the number of death row prisoners cannot explain the number of organ transplants in China. Experts estimate that between 45,000 and 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been killed for their organs. The Chinese military, prisons, labor camps, detention centers, and courts collaborate with the hospitals and form a business chain of organ trade.
Governments from all over the world are condemning this atrocity with resolutions, petitions, and protests. Most recently the European Parliament passed a resolution in December 2013 condemning China's organ harvesting practice. The Canadian government officially raised the organ harvesting issue at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2014. And the U.S. introduced H. RES. 281 last year that has gained 170 bi-partisan co-sponsors and is currently being sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Death of Practitioner Ms. Liu Huanqing
Ms. Liu Huanqing (刘焕青), 50, a resident from Fuxing District, Handan, was arrested and jailed in the No. 2 Detention Center three times. She was detained for one month the first time and five months the second time.
On September 6, 2000, she was arrested and sent to the detention center the third time. Her husband, Li Ganglin (李刚林), was also arrested.
At the detention center, Ms. Liu had to wear shackles and handcuffs every day. The deputy chief of the center, Cui Shumin (崔树敏), often beat her and shocked her with electric batons. She lost nearly half of her weight, going from 150 pounds to 88 pounds.
Ten months later, when Ms. Liu was on the verge of death, she was released. However, the injuries sustained during detention led to her death a month later.
Ms. Liu Huanqing
The Crimes of Liu Wenming, the Former Chief of the Center
During his tenure as the chief of the center, Liu Wenming (刘文明) often verbally abused and beat practitioners. After his promotion to the head of the police department in Fuxing District, Handan City, he was actively involved in arresting, jailing, torturing and the sentencing of practitioners.
In March 2000, a practitioner jailed at the center attempted to do the Falun Gong exercises. Liu grabbed his hair and slapped him in the face with shoes. Another practitioner tried to stop Liu, but was also beaten.
After the beating, Liu asked two prisoners to carry two large bags of sand, and locked those two practitioners' limbs to the bags, a physical torture that is rarely applied to even death row prisoners. The person subjected to this torture method cannot move at all and they suffer as if they have cramps all over their body after a period of time.
Liu also often asked other policemen, including Wang Cunyin (王存银), and other prisoners to beat up Falun Gong practitioners.
In January 2001, a group of jailed practitioners tried to do the Falun Gong exercises. Liu Wenming and the deputy chief Cui Shumin paired up practitioners, and shackled them tightly together for a long time. Each pair of practitioners had to move their legs at the same time to walk, and they often fell.
On October 1, 2000, 16-year-old practitioner Ms. Du Likun (杜丽坤) was arrested and jailed in the center with her mother Ms. Yang Fenglian (杨凤莲). Since she refused to renounce her belief, Cui Shumin and Wang Cunyin often assaulted this 16-year-old girl with electric batons.
The Persecution Is Still Ongoing
The current chief of the center is Han Ping (韩平) and he also actively tortures Falun Gong practitioners.
On May 8, 2014, Falun Gong practitioner Wang Zhiwu (王志武) was arrested. Since he had severe hypertension and heart disease, the No. 1 Detention Center in the city refused to admit him. But Han Ping agreed to take him in at the No. 2 Detention Center.
Mr. Wang's family and lawyer tried to visit him twice, but Han Ping rejected their request both times.
