New | Tales of torture: time spent in Chinese police custody leaves victims permanently scarred
Strapped to a chair hanging above ground; strangled, shackled and barred from using the toilet… China's activists recount their traumatic ordeals under police detention
When lawyer Cai Ying recounted how he was tortured during 87 days of secret detention, tears welled up in his eyes.
Accused of bribery, perjury and fraud – charges that he insisted were trumped up in retaliation for having sued local judges – Cai was detained incommunicado by Yuanjiang city prosecution authorities in Hunan province in a hostel from July to October 2012 in the name of “residential surveillance”.
During his time in detention, Cai said he had suffered torture of unimaginable cruelty that made him feel “living was worse than being dead”. He even contemplated suicide three times.
“I was humiliated so badly I thought of ending it all, but then, I thought of my daughter,” said the 50-year-old as he shed tears.
During his ordeal, Cai was questioned for long hours while restrained in an “interrogation chair”, which was suspended more than 1.2 metres off the ground, with his hands cuffed onto a wooden board while his feet were left hanging.
Cai said the physical abuse had resulted in him suffering rectal bleeding. He had also faced threats, verbal abuse, sleep deprivation, and was starved of food and water at times. The authorities did not inform his family, nor were lawyers allowed to see him, he said.