(Minghui.org) Harbin City in Heilongjiang Province has two detention centers. The Harbin No. 1 Detention Center holds male Falun Gong practitioners, while the Harbin No. 2 Detention Center holds female practitioners. Both detention centers are located on 158 Gongnong Rd., Daili District of the city.
Since November 2017, brainwashing sessions have been conducted on a regular basis in both detention centers.
The purpose of the brainwashing classes is to force Falun Gong practitioners detained in the centers to renounce their faith, and write the “Three Statements,” namely, a repentance statement to show regret for having practiced Falun Gong, a denunciation statement to sever ties with Falun Gong, and a guarantee statement promising to stop practicing Falun Gong. Both physical and mental methods are used to torture the practitioners if they refuse to write the statements.
When practitioners first arrive at the detention centers, they are usually stripped of their clothes for a humiliating body search. They are usually under strict management control, in which they are forced to sit still, not allowed to talk or move and are restricted from using the restroom. Their families aren’t allowed to make cash deposits for them to buy daily necessities.
Every cell has a big bed and a small bed. The big bed is shared by many people, who have to sleep on their sides and would lose their space if they get up to use the restroom. The small bed is shared by very few people, who are usually the inmates assigned to transform practitioners.
Below are some specific tactics the No. 2 detention center has been using in order to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their faith.
Forced to Practice Yoga
The No. 2 Detention Center requires every inmate to practice yoga. Time is set aside to do yoga. This is to force Falun Gong practitioners to stop practicing Dafa and switch to yoga.
Setting Up “Studios”
The center sets up studios that focus on transforming practitioners.
Wu Yanli studied psychology and has worked on brainwashing practitioners before. The No. 2 Detention Center promoted her to the deputy director and established a studio under her name in February 2018.
“Humane” Management
The center touts its “humane” management, which translates as deception, enticement, threats, pressure, and humiliation.
Using the “humane” management, Wu often tells practitioners that the detention center only cares for them and there is no persecution.
Torture re-enactment: Beatings
Practitioner Ms. Zhang Guizhi from Tonghe County, who believed Wu's words, started doing the Falun Gong exercises, only to be beaten up. Her eyes were bruised and swollen. The guards then forced her to practice yoga.
Implication
Guards order the practitioners to memorize the detention center regulations. If the practitioners refuse to do so, the guards say, “If you don't, everyone will think that you are creating trouble for them.” The guards also repeatedly tell practitioners how much pain their arrest has caused their family, and, that if they cared for their families, they should write the three statements so that they can go home to reunite with their loved ones.
For practitioners who refused to be transformed, the guards say, “A practitioner went on a hunger strike and refused to be transformed. As a result, the practitioner wasn't released despite being on the verge of death.”
Further Mental Coercion After Writing the Required Statements
The police officers tell practitioners that everything will be over once they write the three statements. But if a practitioner does write the statements, the police take her to a separate location to be videotaped holding the statements and reading them, line by line, in front of a camera.
Pretending to Care
After practitioners with high blood pressure were still admitted by the detention center, the guards usually force them to take anti-hypertensive drugs or even force feed them if they refuse to take it. Many practitioners nearly collapsed after being forced to take the medicine. Some practitioners were ordered to open their mouths for the guards to check that they had swallowed the medicine.
Sitting on Edge of the Bed
Anyone who violates the rules would be made to sit on the edge of the bed, which was made of metal. After sitting for a long time, the person's legs would become cramped.
Two Handcuffs
In March 2018, when a lawyer went to the detention center to visit a practitioner, the lawyer saw that each of the practitioner's hands was cuffed separately to the table legs, preventing the practitioner from signing legal documents.
Related report:Harbin Detention Center Now a “Transformation” Base
Related report in Chinese:
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Category: Accounts of Persecution
