Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Yang Jisheng lived in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province. He was sentenced to forced labor in 2002, and was tortured in the Jinzhou City Labor Camp. The torture resulted in his having severe headaches caused by fluid on the brain, and he had to have an operation. He died in June 2005.

Mr. Yang, 54, lived in the Liuhua neighborhood of Linghe District, Jinzhou City. He started cultivating Falun Gong in 1996. The police confiscated his personal identification after the persecution began on July 20, 1999. He went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong on July 19, 2002. The bus he was on stopped at a check point ten miles from Beijing. Mr. Yang and four other Falun Gong practitioners were arrested due to having no personal identification. The police from Jinzhou City took them back to Jinzhou the next day.

These practitioners refused to report their names, and the police brutally beat Mr. Yang and another 53-year-old practitioner in the 610 Office. They shocked them with electric batons, slapped them, beat their heads with a shoe, and their private parts with sticks.

Mr. Yang was later detained in the Jinzhou City Labor Camp. He refused to accept the brainwashing, and guards (all male) Zhang Jiabin, Li Songtao, and Yan Guosheng deprived him of sleep and forced him to sit on a wooden board for a long period of time. Guard Li Songtao beat prisoner Guo Tieshan in the Fourth Ward, forcing Guo to beat Mr. Yang to make him accept the brainwashing, saying that otherwise he would extend Guo's term. Therefore, Guo beat Mr. Yang cruelly, causing Mr. Yang to have such a severe headache that he could not talk, and had no strength.

On November 29, 2002, Mr. Yang's family picked him up so that he could get medical treatment. On December 2, 2002, Yang Jisheng was visiting Jinzhou City 205 Hospital (Military Hospital). Jinzhou City Labor Camp Clinic Head Shi Zhenshan (male) and Warden Yang Tinglun (male) were present. Mr. Yang was diagnosed with fluid on the brain and the doctor said he could die at any time, and must have an operation. He was operated on December 4, 2002.

Mr. Yang's health quickly declined after June 2004. He lost the sight in both eyes, and his whole body was swollen, including his legs, which prevented him from walking. The doctor said he was suffering from complications of diabetes. Yang Jisheng died in June 2005.

My name is Lu Demei. I'm a Falun Gong practitioner from Hebei City, Heilongjiang Province. During my illegal detention at Jiamusi Labor Camp in Heilongjiang Province, I developed hemiplegia due to torture. I was carried out of the labor camp by my family members.

On Jan. 25, 2005, I clarified the facts about Falun Gong to a person called Liu Lijie. Unexpectedly, Liu reported me to An Hefang, the director of Yuefeng Factory where I work. An Hefang immediately called the police station. Tian Gang and two other police officers came and took me to the 610 Office. The head of the 610 Office, Guo Shujun, sent police officer Zheng Wenshan and others to ransack my home, took all the Falun Gong books and materials, and left a mess. They detained me at the detention center for a month and five days and extorted more than 1000 yuan from my family as so-called "room and board fee." Then they sent me to Heigemu Labor Camp in Jiamusi for two years of forced labor.

In Heigemu Labor Camp, the food and living conditions were horrible. We were only given soup for all meals, with nothing but a few vegetable leaves or chunks of turnip in the soup. One day, I even found a dead mouse in the soup. Besides the horrid living conditions, we were forced to do 10 hours of labor every day. To do the labor, we were forced to sit in a dark, cold workroom for a long time and no one was allowed to move or talk. If one couldn't finish the task, one had to work overtime. And the guards would constantly beat and verbally abuse us every day. I was under intense mental and physical stress for a long time.

My health deteriorated in these circumstances, and as a result, my diabetes came back. On top of that, one side of my body became numb, and others had to support me when I walked. Despite this, the guards didn't allow me to get bed rest. Instead, they ordered two to three people to take me to the workroom every day. Even if I couldn't do any labor, they ordered me to sit on the cold bench all day, and my hands and feet froze.

The team leader, Hong Wei, thought that I was pretending. One day, while practitioner Ms. Fan Xiaohua was supporting me, Hong Wei pushed her away, grabbed my arm, and shoved me against the wall. When I could not hold up any longer, Ms. Fan Xiaohua would come and stand by me to support me. The guards didn't allow me to have a medical exam until two days after that. The results showed my blood sugar level was as high as 18, which resulted my having very serious hemiplegia. The guards, though, didn't tell me of the results, nor did they release me. To extort money from my family, they made me take injections and medicine, which didn't work.

In the end, I could not walk whatsoever, even with support. One day, I was lying on the bench in the workroom, and the guard on duty, Zhang Yan, pushed me to the floor and kicked me. To earn credits from Zhang Yan, inmates Zhang Cuimei and Hu Zhanfen then dragged me to the dining hall. The next day, guard Hong Wei dragged me to the dining hall again. One day when I was reading Master Li's article, guard Li Bo took it away.

I was so sick that I could not take care of myself. Other practitioners had to take care of everything for me, including washing my face, hair, and clothes and helping me use the bathroom. The hospital's diagnosis suggested medical parole, but the labor camp authorities delayed it again and again. They did not release me until my condition became even worse. They also extorted more than 10,000 yuan from my family before allowing them to come get me.

I was carried out of the labor camp by my family members.