(Minghui.org) Continued from Part 2.
Procedures Used to “Transform”
A practitioner newly arriving at Masanjia was usually placed on a special team where she was subjected to intense brainwashing for at least a month before being re- assigned to a regular division.
There was a set of established procedures for “transforming” Dafa practitioners on this special team. Besides brainwashing, each practitioner was monitored around the clock by those who renounced the practice. These former practitioners pretended to care about the newcomers, and tried to earn their trust and weaken their will by repeating the CCP’s lies slandering Dafa.
If a practitioner was not “transformed” after going through these procedures, the persecution was escalated. The guards sought these practitioners out for “talks” and threatened to torture them if they still did not give up the practice.
The resolute practitioners were sent to the torture chamber located at the East Tower, as it was the labor camp authorities’ last resort. Having used them on so many practitioners, the guards compiled a list of torture methods, with each indexed. After studying each practitioner and analyzing their weaknesses, the guards formed a plan and picked out specific torture methods to apply for the particular practitioner.
Ms. Liu’s education helped her think logically and independently—she was not fooled by the CCP lies. The authorities at Masanjia put in a lot of effort and hoped to transform Ms. Liu, because they felt her renunciation would shake the faith of other practitioners and make their job easier in getting other practitioners to renounce Falun Dafa. They figured they could use her popularity among the practitioners to transform others.
Ms. Liu was isolated from other practitioners since she arrived in October 2009 and was monitored around the clock. She was denied visitation rights and was not allowed to buy any necessities from the camp store. The plan was to transform her before the end of the year. When all failed to change her mind, guards Zhang Xiurong and Zou Xiaoguang took turns having “talks” with her, and threatened to torture her.
When several session of these “talks” did nothing to intimidate Ms. Liu or change her mind, guard Zhang Xiurong realized that their plan had failed. She told Ms. Liu that Captain Fang Yehong would have a “conversation with her,” implying that torture sessions were to begin.
Captain Fang was the lead of a small team that specialized in torturing Dafa practitioners. Fang graduated from the police academy and had many tricks and torture methods up her sleeve. She studied the correlation between the intensity of torture and the injuries they caused, and used that in transforming Dafa practitioners. She is known to be vicious and has no mercy.
Torture Sessions
After a month on the special team, Ms. Liu was transferred to Division No. 3 where about 150 other practitioners were held. There were also about 40 practitioners in Division No. 1 and Division No. 2.
There were eight unyielding practitioners, including Ms. Liu, who would not renounce their belief in Falun Dafa. The authorities made a plan in late 2009 to coerce them into giving up the practice.
Zhang Jun, the head of Division No. 3, along with guard Zhang Xiurong, Fang Yehong, and Zou Xiaoguang started a round of torture targeting Ms. Liu in December.
The Split
Guard Zhang Xiurong made one last offer, “If you recite the labor camp rules you’ll be off the hook. Once we start, we will not let you off so easily even if you change your mind.” Ms. Liu said “no.”
She was taken to East Tower and pushed to sit on the ground against a wall. While one of her legs was pinned straight to the wall, the guards pushed the other leg toward the wall on the other side of her. Once her legs were in a straight line along the wall, they were raised. The pain was excruciating. Ms. Liu sweat profusely and couldn’t breathe. She passed out from the split.
Torture reenactment: the split
Practitioners Ms. Li Jinqiu from Jinzhou, Ms. Zhou Ping from Anshan, and Ms. Yu Jie from Dalian were also subjected to the same torture. Ms. Yu Jie passed out from it. Both Ms. Yu and Ms. Liu limped afterward and couldn’t climb into their beds at night, but neither gave in.
The Stretch
The torture resumed soon after the Chinese New Year in 2010. Ms. Liu was put on “The Stretch” torture for the first time. The guards enticed Ms. Liu by promising to reduce her term if she agreed to renounce Falun Dafa. Ms. Liu solemnly stated, “I’d rather have my term reduced but I will never compromise.” Division lead Zhang Jun, Political Instructor Zhang Zhuohui, guard Zhang Huan, Zhang Lei, Fang Yehong, Zhang Xiurong, and Ye Ling took Ms. Liu to the East Tower.
Ms. Liu’s hands were cuffed separately to two beds, one up high and one down below. The two groups of guards then pulled the beds in opposite directions. Ms. Liu screamed—she felt as if her body was torn in the middle. While being stretched and in a great deal of pain, a transformed practitioner Yuan Shuzhen talked to her and tried to persuade her to give up the practice. The guards also had another detainee who has a college degree in psychology try to talk Ms. Liu into renouncing Dafa.
Torture reenactment: The Stretch
Intensified Torture Causes Health Issues
Another round of intense brainwashing and torture was coming Ms. Liu’s way toward the end of 2010. Guards Zhang Zhuohui and Zhang Lei put Ms. Liu in the big stretch position and put a chair in front of her, with a metal bowl upside down on the chair and an agreement to renounce Falun Dafa on top of the bowl.
The bowl was to catch any vomit during the torture session and the agreement was there to remind Ms. Liu while they inflicted excruciating pain that she could always put an end to it all by giving in.
After multiple tortures sessions, Ms. Liu’s systolic blood pressure regularly read 180mm or above, which would be considered a hypertensive crisis, and her heartbeat was irregular. The guards put a sphygmomanometer on Ms. Liu to monitor her blood pressure during torture sessions. When her blood pressure went up, they stopped and waited until it fell into a safe range before resuming.
Ms. Liu lost control of her body once while being stretched. She lost consciousness and suddenly fell backward. Guard Zhang Lei pricked her between her nose and upper lip using a sharp key until she bled. Zhang picked up a dirty rag on the floor and wiped off the blood. When Ms. Liu regained consciousness, Zhang showed her the stained rag and threw it back on the floor as an insult.
Ms. Liu was asked during another torture session whether she would prefer to be tortured or to sign the agreement. Ms. Liu responded, “Neither.” The guards attacked her, pushed her to the ground and put her in a big stretch. These torture session left Ms. Liu with chronic pain in her arms and shoulders. She has difficulty lifting common household items such as broom and dustpan up to this day.
Ms. Liu was once put through a week of prolonged torture sessions. She was taken to the East Tower at 4:00 a.m. and didn’t get back to her cell until 11:00 p.m. Only during meals, one of her hands was uncuffed briefly. She was not allowed to use the bathroom unless she signed the agreement. Ms. Liu protested, “If you don’t let me use the bathroom, I will have to urinate here and it will get all over the place. Why don’t you reconsider it.” Zhang sneered, “I thought you went to college and are an educated person. Why would you do such a thing?”
Zhang Zuohui put a pen in Ms. Liu’s hand, forced her hand closed and sketched on the agreement which she called signed. Zhang filed the paper and declared Ms. Liu transformed. Ms. Liu was finally allowed to use the bathroom. Even then she was only allowed to use the bathroom at 4:00 a.m. when she got up, and at 11:00 p.m. when she returned to her cell. She avoided drinking water or having liquid foods during the day so she didn’t have to use the bathroom.
Because she refused to recite the camp rules and to renounce her belief, Ms. Liu was put on the big stretch on February 14, 2011. For reportedly having written in her notebook “FLDFH,” the abbreviation of the phrase “Falun Dafa Hao (means Falun Dafa is Good),” Mr. Liu was taken back to the East Tower and her term was extended. She was also tortured and confined to the “triangle room” for not filling out a camp survey, and later for possessing Dafa scriptures.
The guards took away her winter jacket on a cold winter day and left her in a thin layer of clothes, cuffed to a metal fence with her arms spread out until the wee hours of the night. She was tortured for “inciting” other practitioners to not cooperate with the guards and uphold their belief.
The long and frequent torture sessions caused Ms. Liu’s heart to be overloaded, and she started to experience irregular heartbeats. And Ms. Liu was not alone. Practitioner Ms. Sun Shuping from Lushun, Dalian had elevated blood pressure and was forced to take medication which caused her blood pressure to decrease rapidly. Ms. Sun felt that her head was about to explode—it was so dangerous that she was released on medical parole. Practitioner Ms. Wan Xiaohui from Dalian also had heart problems. Guard Zhang Huan said sarcastically, “Look at you three. You refuse to give up on your practice yet all three of you are sick.”
(To be continued.)
Related reports:
Ms. Liu Ronghua Sentenced to Two Years of Forced Labor
Masanjia Labor Camp Uses “Stretching Torture” and Forced Drug Injections to Persecute Practitioners
Guards Abuse Practitioners in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Liaoning Province
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