Beijing– Many people in China face many cruel treatments. A lawyer said he was tortured with a electric baton and spent 3 years in solitary confinement. In a exclusive interview he said “I thought about giving up and giving my life to my family.” They didn’t just inflict physical punishments on him but mental punishments as well. He also said that he was left in a 8 x 8 cell for 3 years and they installed a loudspeaker in his room and would send out propaganda on socialist values for 68 weeks straight. Despite all the cruel treatment he vowed to not leave China. Many questions have been asked concerning his current condition but no questions have been answered.
It’s without a doubt that China is a one party dictatorship. Anybody who decides to speak out against that will be penalized. Intimidation by local authorities takes place there daily. Many of the people being tortured are civil right advocates and unionists. Some tortures they use are hitting, kicking and electric shocks. Other abuse consist of cigarette burns, suffocation, as well as stretching of one’s body parts. They wouldn’t just hurt you physically but they would refuse to give you your medicine that you need, or refuse medical care all together.The tortures take place in police stations, and as well as prisons. The lawyer that was tortured was tortured in and out of jail. A law in China can require people to work in camps for three years members of the ISHR said that over 1000 camps have been identified and four million people are said to be in them. Hundreds if not thousands of Chinese people have been victims of these cruel acts. There has been many attempts to end the cruel tortures in China for example a journalist was trying to see the cruel treatments they faced but he said that government officials would try to restrict and impede his efforts on finding out any information.
China admits that it is common for police officers to force confessions out of people and aren’t punished for it. Maya Wang said “If police officers are penalized for torturing people they would think twice on doing it.” Some people are even saying that we learned a thing or two from China! One user even posted that “Those people who work in the justice system and created wrong cases are just as evil as terrorists.” Many people who get involved in the crimes or even speak out when they witness getting tortured are the ones who end up getting these bizarre charges against them. One example of that is Huugjilt, he heard someone crying and went to go investigate what was happening he then reported to the police on what he saw, he then was charged later with raping and murdering a woman. After hours of interrogation he confessed that he did it but after a few years doubt was raised when a serial killer came forward and told local law enforcement he was the one who did it. So an innocent man was in jail for about 9 years for a crime he never committed just because he spoke out.
Lawyers from across China told Amnesty international of the retribution they faced when they challenged local law enforcements. All they did was just point out that they should prevent tortures used to get confessions out of people. A mistake that they will never forget. One Chinese lawyer even said that “I was strapped to an iron chair, slapped in the face, kicked on my legs and hit so hard over the head with a plastic bottle filled with water that I passed out.” But the government claims that they have always encouraged and supported lawyers on performing their duties. Up to twelve lawyers are being held under residential surveillance in a designated location. Residential surveillance in a designated location is a law that was established in 2013 and anybody who was suspected of terrorism, major bribery, or state security offences would be held at an undisclosed location for up to six months. Despite several attempts since 2010 to end tortures under Chinese laws it’s been almost impossible. Still local law officials continue to pull strings in the justice system despite defense lawyer’s best efforts the tortures used are still ignored just because it’s “simply” a convenience. Amnesty International has been investigating the cases on the People’s court database, they found 590 cases in which allegations of torture were made but only 16 of them were actually investigated but ended up leading to nothing.
A campaign has been made and it’s called Stop Torture in Tibet. This campaign has found that Tibetan prisoners are still tortured but those who do actually afflict these cruel punishments are the one’s going unpunished. China claims that they have more restrictions placed to prevent cruel treatment but not for this man. Golog Jigme who was arrested for being involved in a film project. He said that they would hang him by his handcuffs so his feet would barely touch the floor and they would then beat him. They didn’t stop there though they would put him in a electric chair and begin sending shocks all over his body all because of a film project? China claims they stopped all tortures used but several people have come forward on what happened to them while they were in jail. People like Gongpo Thinley, Tenzin Namgyal, Kelsang Tsundue, and Tsering. The list could go on for forever. Even big campaign like this can’t fix something that is hundreds of years old. Many people have tried to end it and have gotten no where and anytime they are close the Chinese government puts a stop to it. But if everybody keeps pushing the Chinese government to make a change they will.
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