Guangdong Province Legal Education Center — A Black Jail Created to Torture Falun Gong Practitioners
Based on original report from Minghui.org
“Guangdong Province Legal Education Center,” also known as the “Guangdong Province Legal Education School”, and “Sanshui Brainwashing Center”, is a black jail operated in the Sanshui District of Foshan City by the 610 Office in Guangdong Province. The institution’s sole purpose is to persecute steadfast Falun Gong practitioners, using brutal techniques to coerce them to give up their belief.
Background
The Guangdong Province Legal Education School was established in May 2001, specifically for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners working in provincial offices and higher education. The institution expanded in April 2003 and became the Guangdong Province Legal Education Center, affiliated with the Provincial Administration of Reeducation through Labor. The labor camp system was discontinued in 2013 and the institution has since operated directly under the Guangdong Province Justice Bureau—all the Center’s employees are police officers from the bureau and the director of the facility was appointed by the bureau. The Center is also affiliated with the Guangdong Province Drug Administration Center.
Today the center employs over 100 people, including assistants and security personnel. About 60 to 70 of them are police officers.
Mafia-style Operation
According to statistics, at least 1,240 practitioners were persecuted in the Center as of August 2012. The number of practitioners who were taken to the center increased after the labor camp system was discontinued in 2013. It is estimated that over 3,000 practitioners have been persecuted at the center during the past 20 years.
Practitioners are usually arrested by the security departments where they work and their coworkers are assigned to monitor them. Practitioners who went to Beijing in the past to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong, were previously detained, or are thought to be steadfast in the practice are sent to the Center to be persecuted. No legal procedures or proof is required to admit the practitioners to the brainwashing center, and the terms of detention are not fixed.
If the authorities are unable to take legal action against the practitioners due to lack of evidence or if the practitioners refused to be “transformed” after their detention or prison terms end, the practitioners will continue to be sent to the center to be persecuted further.
Violent Brainwashing
The following details the brainwashing process…
The center first creates a profile for each practitioner. The profile has a detailed analysis of the practitioner’s reason for practicing Falun Gong and their personality type. It also lays out in detail the persecution history of the practitioner. Practitioners who remain steadfast in their practice and those who refuse to be “transformed” after their prison term ends are listed as “Difficult to ‘transform’” and are targeted specifically.
Those practitioners are the held in isolation and two assistants are assigned to monitor them around the clock. The assistants also use a combination of deception and violence to try to force practitioners to renounce their faith. Practitioners cannot leave their rooms and there is no privacy as every room is equipped with surveillance cameras. Food is brought in by the assistant.
The length of the corrective education stage varies. It ends after the practitioners writes their learning experience and “Five Statements,” namely, a guarantee statement promising to stop practicing, a repentance statement to show regret for having practiced Falun Gong, a denunciation statement to sever ties with Falun Gong, a condemnation statement to criticize Falun Gong, and a confession statement.
After the practitioner writes the “Five Statements,” the assistants submit a request to have the practitioner transferred to the “Strengthening Stage.” The practitioner enters the strengthening stage after the corrective team and the authorities at the brainwashing center give their approval.
At this stage, the practitioner has some freedom and can participate in culture and sports activities, but they still have to undergo brainwashing. The practitioner is forced to provide in-depth criticisms of Falun Gong, take tests, write a weekly experience on what he or she has studied and the process of being “transformed.” The practitioner is also forced to betray practitioners he or she is close to. The authorities then use this information to persecute more practitioners.
This stage ends when the brainwashing center thinks that the practitioner is qualified to go to the next stage.
The team has to put in a request for the practitioner to enter the “Assessment Stage.”
At this stage, the education department submits a request for “certification” to the director for approval. The brainwashing center then informs the local 610 Office where the practitioner lives to pick up the practitioner, who will be allowed to leave after passing the certification check.
Brutal Tactics
When practitioners first arrive at the brainwashing center, the police officers appear kind and understanding as they chat with the practitioners. The purpose is to create fake rapport and prevent practitioners from resisting. A staff person then interacts with them while an assistant plays videos that slander Falun Gong.
The authorities then show their true colors and start using violence on the practitioners once they start to resist the brainwashing.
Mr. Wu Chaoqi of Maoming City was arrested by officers from the Tianyuan Police Station on January 16, 2017, for posting informational stickers about the persecution of Falun Gong. He was held in the Tianhe District Detention Center for a month before being taken directly to Guangdong Province Legal Education Center. He was held in a room where two assistants monitored him around the clock.
An assistant played a video that slandered Falun Gong’s founder and increased the volume. When Mr. Wu refused to watch, the two assistants dragged him to the chair and forced him to sit down. Once, they dragged him off the bed when he tried to meditate.
Ms. Cao Liping of Lechang City was arrested on April 13, 2018, for seeking the release of her husband, Mr. Liang Jianjun, who had been arrested for practicing Falun Gong. After she was taken to the Guangdong Province Legal Education Center, the authorities told her that there is no one in the brainwashing center who was not “transformed” and that someone had “transformed” after being held in the center for a year and a half. They threatened to send her to the detention center, prison, court, or to a psychiatric hospital if she refused to be “transformed” by June.
The police often swore at Ms. Cao and pushed her around, making her nervous. After returning home, Ms. Cao was in a poor mental and physical state. Her memory declined and it took her a long time to recall some past events.
The practitioner is force-fed as soon as he or she goes on a hunger strike. One end of the feeding tube is pointed on purpose in order to stab the throat or stomach. Sometimes, a piece of flesh is pulled out through the nose by the feeding tube.
Ms. Zou Xuemei of Zhanjiang City was arrested in February 2004 and taken to Qizhong Brainwashing Center. She was transferred to Guangdong Province Legal Education Center when she resisted the persecution. When Ms. Zou went on a hunger strike, the pointed feeding tube was inserted into her nose, and she started to bleed. Ms. Zou cried out in pain when the tube was inserted into her stomach. The deputy director threatened to force-feed her once every day. If she refused to eat or be “transformed,” they said they would force-feed her two or three times a day.
Mr. Luo Dongsheng from Meizhou City was transferred from Meizhou Detention Center to the Guangdong Province Legal Education Center on February 18, 2011. Over the next five months, he went on three hunger strikes totaling 70 days to protest the torture. The guards force-fed him every three to four days. They used force-feeding as a way of torturing him, roughly pulling the tube up and down through his nose, causing bleeding. He vomited each time. He was only 40 years old at that time and lost a significant amount of weight.
Known to be a martial arts technique, the “touch of death” affects the body’s pressure points and can disable a person or even cause death. The brainwashing center uses the touch of death to torture practitioners who are steadfast in their practice.
Ms. Yang Zai of Zhanjian City was arrested in September 2003 and taken to Suixi Brainwashing Center. When she refused to give up on her faith, she was transferred to Guangdong Province Legal Education Center at the end of 2003 and held for three months.
Ms. Yang recalled that she was often beaten by three assistants. While beating her, the assistants also pressed the pressure points on her head, heart, and hands, causing her to lose consciousness. She also felt dizzy. At that time, her hands, feet, head, and many parts of her body had black marks and her body was swollen. Her face became yellowish-black. She also had no appetite.
The authorities poison the practitioners’ meals or inject them with unknown drugs to try to get them to “transform” while they are delirious. Some practitioners died from the chronic poisoning after they were released.
The police mixed toxic drugs into the meals of Ms. Liang Xiaoxia of Maoming City when she was in Guangdong Province Legal Education Center. She did not know it at the time. After returning home, she was mentally disordered and confused. She destroyed all the household necessities, pots, gas stove, rice cookers, and electric fans at home and threw away the food. In the end, the family borrowed money to get her treated.
On May 28, 2007, Mei County 610 Office agents and police officers broke into the home of Ms. Liu Dong’e of Meizhou City and arrested her. They held Ms. Liu down on the ground, handcuffed her, and took her to Guangdong Province Legal Education Center.
At the center, Ms. Liu went on a hunger strike and was force-fed while being pinned down by nearly ten officers. An instructor hit Liu in the head, face, and body repeatedly with the heel of a shoe. Later Liu was taken to a psychiatric hospital and injected with unknown drugs. Her head swelled up, her body turned black, and she could not see. The authorities released her three months later, after she had been tortured to near death.
Death an Severe Injuries
Ms. Wu Baimei, a 48-year-old entrepreneur from Foshan City who owned several companies, was admitted to Guangdong Province Legal Education Center on November 9, 2011. Her husband asked for her release but was told that she had connections with practitioners in several provinces. Therefore, her case was directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Government, and the local authorities could not make the decision to release her.
She was released on March 27, 2012 and died mysteriously two days later. Both her lips and fingernails were purple. She also had an extremely swollen abdomen.
When she was released, she looked pale. The next day, she had pain in her chest but did not take it seriously. On March 29, when she was at the supermarket with her husband, she suddenly felt weak in her legs and was unable to lift them. She told her husband, “I cannot make it,” and then passed out. Her husband took her to a hospital immediately, but she never regained consciousness. She died a little past 9:00 p.m. that same night.
Ms. Wu Yuyun, in her 60s, was a retired teacher from Jiangmen City First Middle School of Guangdong Province. On August 14, 2003, she was arrested and taken to Guangdong Province Legal Education Center. When all the brainwashing tactics failed to “transform” her, the authorities added poison to her meals. When she became ill from the poison, the police did not arrange for medical care. Instead, they had other practitioners brought to Ms. Wu’s room so that they could witness her suffering. Afterward, she became seriously ill and was sent home. She passed away in September 2004.
Ms. Yang Xueqin, a 65-year-old retired official from Guangdong Province Transportation Department, was taken into custody at work in August 2002. She was often surrounded by a dozen officers who tried to brainwash her. She was also deprived of sleep and punished by standing. She died in September or October that year.
After Ms. Yang died, a Minghui correspondent contacted authorities at the transportation department and the 610 Office. The authorities at the transportation department said that Ms. Yang died of a cerebral hemorrhage while the 610 Office said that Ms. Yang died of a hunger strike while she was attending a law class. The officer didn’t explain why Ms. Yang went on a hunger strike or why she was not treated in time.
Ms. Wen Fenhua of Jiexi County was arrested on June 24, 2004, and taken to the Guangdong Province Legal Education Center. She had just given birth and needed to nurse the baby. After her husband and mother-in-law made repeated demands on her behalf [Chinese laws states that it is illegal to detain nursing mothers], she was released the following day.
On May 30, 2005, Ms. Wen was arrested by vice-secretary of the Jiexi Political Committee Chen Jihua, head of the first branch of the police department Lin Shaoxin, Mianhu Government Office agent Guo Lewei, and a dozen or so other policemen. The reason given was that Ms. Wen’s child was already a year old. She was once again taken to Guangdong Province Legal Education Center.
At about 10 p.m. on June 17, chief Huang of the Public Security Office went to Ms. Wen’s home and told her husband to open the door, saying Ms. Wen was on her way. Her husband opened the door but did not see her. Huang said Ms. Wen was in a van. Her husband went to the van and saw a woman helping Ms. Wen to sit up. Ms. Wen was leaning against the side of the vehicle, unable to move. Her husband called her name several times and she could only answer once faintly. It took her husband, two other men, and another woman to carry her into the house.
Her husband asked what was wrong with her and Huang said it was because she went on a hunger strike. Ms. Wen then struggled to say, “I did eat.” They put Ms. Wen down, but she was too weak to support herself.
In the two days that followed, Ms. Wen needed help to eat and go to the bathroom. She needed help to turn over, and her eyes were closed all the time. When others called her name, she could only respond with a feeble hum. In addition, there were many bruises on Ms. Wen’s legs, and some wounds were still seeping blood. Her wrists and the backs of her hands were covered with needle marks and dark blue scars. It is very likely that she was injected with unknown drugs.
Ms. Wen has four children (the youngest only a year old) and an over 70-year-old parent, all of whom she is no longer able to look after.
