Photos Reveal Electric Shock Torture Commonly Used on Falun Gong in China

NEW YORK (FDI) – Photos of 36-year-old Ms. Gao Rongrong, whose face was severely disfigured from seven hours of electric shock torture, were obtained from sources inside China last week. (photos at www.faluninfo.net) WARNING: These photos contain graphic content.

The photos offer a glimpse of the systematic beatings and torture of Falun Gong practitioners in police custody and inside labor camps throughout China. This type of torture is widespread under Jiang Zemin’s regime, but rarely documented on film because officials closely guard any evidence as “state secrets”.

Accountant’s Face Burnt, Disfigured

Ms. Gao was an accountant at the Luxun Fine Arts College in Shenyang City. Because she persisted in her practice of Falun Gong, she lost her job shortly after former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin launched the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. Gao made peaceful appeals in Beijing to call for an end to the persecution and was detained by authorities for several months.

In July 2003, Gao was sent to the Longshan Forced Labor Camp. During her detention, Gao had been beating by camp officials, according to sources familiar with her case.

At approximately 3:00pm on May 7, 2004, Tang Yubao, the deputy head of the No. 2 Brigade along with team leader Jiang Zhaohua, called Gao to the duty office and began to torture her with electric batons for 7 hours, according to these sources. Those detained with Gao in the labor camp say she sustained burns on her face, head and neck, which caused her face to swell and become disfigured. Her face was covered with blisters, and her hair was matted with pus and blood. Gao could only open her eyes a crack because of her swollen face and her mouth was severely swollen and deformed.

In a desperate attempt to escape her torturers, Gao jumped from the 2nd floor office window, fracturing her pelvis, thigh and legs.

Gao was hospitalized for her fractures making it possible to secure photos of the scars on her face, neck and body.

According to sources familiar with the Longshan Forced Labor Camp, the camp director Li Fengshi often personally participates in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

According to an investigation by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners (WOIPFG), in late 2001, the Longshan Labor Camp received a 400,000 Yuan reward for its “achievement” in persecuting Falun Gong – a bonus often handed down to labor camps who exhibit a proficiency for forcing Falun Gong practitioners to sign statements renouncing their faith.

In April 2004, sources reported that 52-year-old Ms. Wang Xiuyuan was detained in the Longshan Forced Labor Camp and tortured to the brink of death. Fearing she would die in the labor camp, officials released her, and she died from her injuries 7 days later on April 27, 2004.

There are over 30,000 documented cases of severe abuse and torture of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Most reports come from eyewitnesses who were detained in labor camps and then later released or escaped, while some originate from information provided by family members who, on rare occasions, are able to capture photos of their injuries or in cases of those tortured to death, the corpse.