May 20, 2013 | By a Minghui correspondent from Liaoning Province, China
(Minghui.org) After the Mainland Chinese magazine Lens published the article “Walking Out of Masanjia,” it received a lot attention both inside China and abroad. The New York Times and Deutsche Welle published follow-up reports on the atrocities that took place in the Masanjia camp. The brutality against the detainees that was reported, especially women, was truly horrendous. While attention was focused on female practitioners, the persecution of male Falun Gong practitioners detained at Masanjia has largely been ignored. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has denied the existence of male detainees at the labor camp. However, the following information provides details to suggest that this is not true.
Male practitioners detained in division 6
Thirty-four male practitioners were detained in the “Division for Newcomers” at Masanjia from November 19, 1999, to early August 2000. Five of them were then transferred to Division 6 of the labor camp for brainwashing sessions.
More than 10 male practitioners and more than 10 female practitioners were taken to Masanjia on February 29, 2000. Their heads were shaved and the male practitioners had to hold their pants up with their hands as no belts were allowed, and despite the cold weather, they were only allowed to wear a thin pair of slippers. The male practitioners were taken to Division 6, which was not far from the women’s divisions. When they entered the cells, the practitioners were searched. Their bags were also searched, and they had to hand in all their money.
Practitioners were forced to read books, watch videos, and listen to recordings that slandered Falun Gong. They were also made to stand for long periods of time bent over, their hands touching their feet. The practitioners were not allowed to look at each other or greet each other.
When officials from the central government, provincial government, and reporters came to Masanjia before the Chinese New Year in 2001, the guards gathered all of the practitioners who refused to renounce their belief and hid them. When foreign reporters later came to visit the camp, all of the male practitioners were taken to detention centers in their hometowns, so no male practitioners were to be found there.
Refusing to be brainwashed
In 2001, the guards gathered the detained male practitioners, about 30 of them, in the women’s division to watch programs defaming Falun Gong. When the program was about halfway through, Dalian practitioner Mr. Feng Gang, who sat in the front row, stood up and shouted, “You must not defame my master!” His voice rang like a thunderclap. It not only shocked everyone in the room, but also stopped the program. Another male practitioner then stood up and walked out of the room, saying, “This is too cruel.” When other practitioners got up and walked out, they were stopped by some of the officials. The guards beat Mr. Feng. One young female practitioner shouted at the guards to stop beating him. All the male practitioners were taken back to the male division.
Intensive forced labor led to practitioners falling unconscious
Located in the Yuhong District of Shenyang City, Masanjia Forced Labor Camp had a farm, about 330 acres, consisting of rice paddies, dry land, and vegetable fields. Prior to the persecution of Falun Gong, labor camp officials hired local villagers to work the farm, and inmates would help. In October 1999, after many practitioners were taken to the camp from different regions in Liaoning Province, only male practitioners and inmates worked on the farm. When they worked in the paddy fields, they had to work immersed in water up to their waist for several hours each day.
Due to the intensive hard labor and beatings by the guards, 29 male practitioners sustained varying degrees of injuries, and some even lost consciousness. They included Mr. Peng Geng, Mr. Feng Gang, Mr. Liu Qingming, and Mr. Yang Chuanjun. Mr. Yang Chuanjun collapsed and fell into a coma for over 10 hours, and Mr. Peng Geng had injuries on his face and fingers.
The guards also ordered practitioners to kneel on the gravel with very heavy weights on their shoulders. Mr. Peng Geng was tortured like this many times, until he became disfigured.
Female practitioners were also forced to work on the fields beginning in June 2000. Ms. Yan Shuqin fainted in the paddy field due to her poor health and old age.
Carried in a basket to work the fields
The male practitioners had to work the cornfields. Female practitioners were also made to do this at a later date. According to local villagers, labor camp officials used to pay 30 yuan a day to hire people for this work, but hardly any of them were willing to do it.
Labor camp officials required all practitioners, regardless their age or physical condition, to do this work. They had to work at least 14 hours every day, sometimes even longer. This often lasted for 15 days straight. The practitioners were exhausted and had many injuries, either from being beaten or from the rigors of the job. Many guards often said, “If you don’t do this work, how can we make any money?”
Dalian practitioner Mr. Lu Kaili was taken to Masanjia in 2000, for a term of one year. He was once ordered to stand under the baking sun for a long period of time and was not allowed to move. Other practitioners detained with him included Dalian practitioners Mr. Han Fei, Mr. Feng Gang (who later died as a result of torture) and Mr. Tian Jun. Guards took away Mr. Tian’s labor camp uniform, so that he was totally exposed to the sun. They also did not allow him to have any water to drink. When his mother came to visit him, he asked her for water because he was so thirsty.
Mr. Lu Kaili
Male practitioners were forced to do hard labor every day. They had to grow corn and rice, but were given minimal food to eat each day. As a result of the long term malnutrition, physical fatigue, and mental stress, Mr. Lu Kaili’s feet swelled and he was unable to walk. Nonetheless, guards still forced him work in the fields, and ordered inmates to carry him in a basket to the cornfield to work. In protest of such cruel treatment, Mr. Lu and several other practitioners went on hunger strikes a few times during their one-year detention. One of the hunger strikes in April 2001 lasted for more thanane month. Guards force-fed them with food, alcohol, hot pepper powder, and salt.
Practitioners were often beaten to the point of bleeding. Salt would then be poured into the wound and they would be forced to stand under the baking sun for long periods of time. Sometimes, inmates were ordered to beat practitioners for 18 days at a time. As a result of these beatings, the practitioners were covered with bleeding sores. The blood caused their clothes to stick to their flesh, and the sores often bled as they worked in the fields.
Mr. Lu is currently detained in Jinzhou Prison. It has been two years and eight months since he became paralyzed due to the persecution, and he is unable to take care of himself. His family is not allowed to visit him, nor is he allowed to seek medical treatment or legal advice.
Pus and maggots ooze from ulcerated wound
When one practitioner protested the torture in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, the guards struck him hard across the back with a wooden board. With no treatment, the injury became ulcerated, and over a period of time, pus and maggots started oozing out of it.
When Mr. Cui Chuanjun was detained at Masanjia, the guards hung him up on a wall for more than three weeks. They also put rope around each of his limbs and stretched him out.
“Riding on a wooden block”
In August 2000 practitioners saw the torture called “riding on a wooden block.” Each block was made of hard wood about 5 inches wide and 1 yard long and had sharp edges. Three practitioners were forced to sit on one block, with their legs on either side. From sitting on the block, especially if not wearing thick clothes, one’s buttocks soon start to hurt and bleed. The sores turn into scabs and then callouses.
Forced to clean the street and dumpster inside the camp
One practitioner who was previously detained in Masanjia said, “I was held for three months at the Masanjia Juvenile Labor Camp. It was August 2000 and there were 34 of us. Soon afterward, we were transferred to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. For about a year, male practitioners were responsible for cleaning the main street and dumpsters inside the camp.”
Shocked with electric batons
Division 3 in Unit 1 of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp was a place specifically set up to torture practitioners. After it was opened on September 29, 2008, all male practitioners from Units 1 and 2 of the camp, as well as practitioners from other cities, were transferred to Division 3. Over 100 practitioners were detained there, and the guards used various methods to torture them. Officer Wang Yanmin said many times that he had two death allotments and would give them to anyone who needed it. All the electric batons used to torture practitioners had a voltage of 800,000 volts.
When Mr. Luo Cungui, 55, was tortured, he shouted, “Falun Dafa is good!” Guards then shocked him in the mouth for half an hour. His mouth was swollen and his teeth were loosened. Despite his obvious injuries, the guards did not stop and continued to shock his face, neck, and other parts of his body for more than two hours. Because he refused to give up his belief, the guards made him stand and handcuffed him to the upper level of a bunk bed for three days.
Mr. Zheng Xujun, a PhD graduate from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was shocked with electric batons by five guards for more than an hour. Guard Li Meng then tortured Mr. Zheng himself, and made him stand facing a wall in the hallway. Other than eating and the use of the toilet, Mr. Zheng had to stand there from 5:20 a.m. till midnight. This was repeated every day for one week. Another practitioner, Mr. Sun Shuchen, mentally collapsed as a result of intensive electric shocks.
Brutal stretching torture
Mr. Cai Chao, 22, once had his feet tied to the beam of the lower bunk bed and his legs were against the head of the lower bunk. His hands were cuffed and his body was bent forward with his arms stretched out. The guards used a rope to stretch his hands forward. If the guards felt that his hands had gone numb, they released him and then repeated the torture 10 minutes later. During that time, guards also shocked his neck, hands, stomach, and back. They tortured Mr. Cai this way three times over five hours. After he was let down, he could not raise his arms or stand up, and it took him one and a half months to recover. Mr. Li Hailong was also stretched three times over three and a half hours. Even two months later he could not walk normally.
Mr. Sun Yi was shocked with electric batons and beaten and then was forced to stand for two months. His legs swelled and bled from many open sores. He became very thin and extremely weak.
Chinese version available
CATEGORY: Imprisonment & Forced Labor
Wonderful Falun Dafa ! 