June 23, 2008 | By the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group
(Clearwisdom.net) The 8th session of the UN Human Rights Council was held in Geneva from June 3rd to the 20th, 2008. Different human rights organizations around the globe reported on human right violations taking place. Because the Chinese communist regime’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has long been a grave concern of UN human rights’ organizations, Ms. Lu Shiping, a practitioner who has endured cruel torture in Wanjia Forced Labor Camp in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, was invited to testify at the session about the persecution of Falun Gong.
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Ms. Lu used to work with the Harbin Pharmaceutical General Factory as an export manager, but she was arrested four times because she insisted on cultivating Falun Gong and clarifying the facts to the Chinese people. She was detained in the notorious Wanjia Forced Labor Camp in Harbin City for 20 months, where she was cruelly tortured physically and mentally. After being released, she had no choice but to leave her family behind and find temporary work elsewhere. Luckily, she escaped China in 2007.
The persecution Ms. Lu underwent was listed in the UN Human Rights Persecution Record in 2002. During the session, officials of the UN Human Rights Council noted that they were pleased that Ms. Lu was able to escape China. It was uncommon for a victim whose persecution case was included in the UN Human Rights Persecution Record to testify in a session of the UN Human Rights Council. This was truly a measure of their achievement. Some of the UN officials asked her in detail about the persecution relating to the areas under their supervision.
A huge number of Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to death
Lu testified to the UN officials in charge of the investigation regarding arbitrary death sentences: “Though Falun Gong practitioners have never been sentenced to death by Chinese courts, a huge number of Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to death in prisons, forced labor camps, detention centers and even brainwashing centers and public security bureaus. The publicized number is only a small portion of the actual total.”
At least three of her fellow practitioners were persecuted to death, including Mr. Wang Honggang, Mr. Li Wenrui, and Ms. Yin Anban. All of them were well-educated intellectuals, in their 30s when they were persecuted to death. Wang Honggang was beaten to death within 24 hours after being arrested by the police, and the Public Security Bureau has yet to give his family any reasonable explanation of his death.
Mr. Li Wenrui, who held a masters degree from Harbin Industrial University, was a civil servant. He was beaten so severely by Beijing Mentougou Police Station officers that his head was seriously deformed. As it turned out, the police proclaimed that Mr. Li committed suicide. When claiming his remains, the family saw how horrible he looked and wanted to appeal to higher authorities, but the police threatened that if they wanted to appeal, the entire family would be regarded as anti-revolutionary criminals. The family could do nothing else but give in. The entire family was stunned, and his 11-year-old daughter has been extraordinary quiet ever since.
Ms. Yin Anbang, who used to be a lecturer in law at a university, was persecuted multiple times and detained in the notorious Zhanglinzi Forced Labor Camp. In the spring of 2006, she died as a result of persecution in Tailai Prison in Qiqihaer at the age of 36. Recalling the days when the four of them practiced the Falun Gong exercises, studied, exchanged cultivation experiences, and looked inside to find their respective shortcomings together when conflicts suddenly arose, Ms. Lu sobbed uncontrollably. A UN official was so moved that he put down his pen.
Every Falun Gong practitioner’s freedom of speech has been violated
The new official in charge of “Freedom of Speech” is a young man. Lu Shiping told him in detail about how people are forbidden to tell truth within Chinese regime’s judicial system, about forcing people to lie, and the systematic brainwashing that uses brutal torture and all kinds of means to force people to renounce their belief. For example, in the labor camp, they first use violence to force you to give in, Later they force you to watch the videos that slander Falun Gong and its founder, and then they force you to tell lies. As long as you have your own thoughts, want free expression, or even simply want to keep silent, you are brutally tortured. The official was visibly shocked and saddened as he listened, and he kept asking questions and writing notes.
The Chinese Communist regime ignores legal procedures for Falun Gong practitioners
A female official was concerned about the Chinese regime’s judicial procedures. Lu Shinping testified to her that the Chinese regime’s forced labor camp system follows no legal procedures. Anyone from a public security bureau or 610 Office that manipulates things behind the scenes can decide to imprison a Falun Gong practitioner in a forced labor camp, and no one notifies you of your rights and no lawyer dares to defend you. In addition, they can easily imprison practitioners for 15 days for “administrative detention.” During this time, no phone calls to families are allowed, but the families are forced to pay for the practitioner’s food. Many practitioners are imprisoned long-term in detention centers until admitted to a forced labor camp. In the forced labor camps, practitioners are not allowed to see their families unless they have “transformed.” If there is a health checkup or “improvements” in their living conditions, the practitioners have to pay for it themselves.
Brutal torture results in long-term lingering effects of fear
Responding to the official in charge of “Brutal Torture” issues, Ms. Lu Shiping described the tortures she personally experienced: electric batons, hanging, long term solitary confinement, sitting on an iron chair, brutal beatings, verbal abuse, high decibel noise, brutal force-feeding, enduring freezing temperatures, prohibition against going to the toilet, and so on. Due to her experiences during the eight-year persecution in China, even now she can’t escape the shadow of fear. Even today, in this free environment, she gets nervous when someone knocks on the door. She said this was the lingering effect of the times she was hunted down by the police when she lived in rented housing. Under that kind of “red terror,” the police could knock at her door anytime.
The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners may affect the entire Chinese population
When talking to the UN officials in charge of “The Persecution of Religion,” “Slavery,” “The Persecution of Women,” and “Homelessness,” Ms. Lu testified on the nine-year persecution against numerous innocent and compassionate Falun Gong practitioners, based on the suffering she personally experienced in China. This persecution has never unabated since it began. Tens of thousands of practitioners have been imprisoned, and hundreds of thousands of families have been affected, while over one hundred million people that practice this righteous belief are persecuted.
Ms. Lu urged the UN Human Rights officials to help rescue the persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China, “because they have been confronted with life or death situations every moment of every day and night over the past nine years.”
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