Jail authorities ordered cellmates to pour buckets of ice water daily on a believer imprisoned after a Christmas get-together of church members.
On December 25, 2015, Wang Dong (pseudonym) and over ten other Christians of the Life Church were holding an annual Christmas get-together at a family dormitory building in Tianshui city, Gansu Province. Ten local police officers and employees of the Religious Affairs Bureau stormed into the gathering place and arrested all attendees for “holding an illegal gathering.”
At the police station, officers conducted body searches of each of the Christians and confiscated more than 1,400 yuan in cash from Wang Dong. At 5:00 p.m., the police transferred the arrested to the Drug Addiction Treatment Center for interrogation, which lasted until the next morning; they were then moved to a local detention center.
Since Wang Dong refused to sign the interrogation transcript, he was detained for one month on the charge of “disturbing social order.” According to Wang Dong, disciplinary guards intentionally confined him in the same cell as several convicts with death sentences who were instructed to give him a “shower” every afternoon. The convicts forcibly dragged Wang Dong into the washroom inside the prison cell, stripped off his clothes, and poured bucket upon bucket of ice-cold water over his head. This ordeal lasted about 40 minutes to an hour each time. Since this happened in the winter, Wang Dong suffered a great deal of pain.
On January 25, 2016, Wang Dong was released, the guards warning him not to believe in God anymore, or else he would be incarcerated. He felt constant tightness and pain in his chest after his release, so he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with rheumatism.
Wand Dongs was arrested for the first time in November 2011 and was detained for seven days. After his second arrest, he now has a criminal record. To date, he remains under surveillance by the authorities, deprived of personal freedom. Officers summon him to the local police station for interrogations or visit him at home on a regular basis, especially on major Christian holidays.
Reported by Ma Xiagu
