The Severe Persecution of Practitioner Mr. Zhou Jiangang at Qinduankou Prison, Hubei Province

Imprisoned for Explaining the Facts about Falun Dafa

Zhou Jiangang, who lived at Zhongshan Road, Wuchang City, started practising Falun Gong in 1997, and his previously broken family relationships became harmonious. When the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, Zhou Jiangang explained the facts about Falun Dafa to people. For this, the authorities arrested and persecuted him many times, and he was finally sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.

Beaten to Disability

Zhou Jiangang was put in the strict monitoring team at Qinduankou Prison. On April 25th, 2006, Zhou Jiangang, while handcuffed and shackled, was forced to stand facing a wall. Xiao Weihua, a prison administrative section officer, Qin Lin, deputy director of the strict monitoring team, and other staff then ordered prisoners Li Min, Wang Zhonghuan and others to strike Zhou Jiangang from behind with heavy objects. This caused compound fractures on his sixth and seventh vertebra. He lay on the ground unconscious.

Contrived Scenes to Cover Up Crimes

To cover up their crimes, the prison guards fabricated the following scene: They put a bucket on the ground and said that Zhou Jiangang stood on the bucket to reach things on the upper level of a bunk bed and accidentally fell. The guards then discovered that the lie would be groundless, since falling accidentally could not cause vertebral compound fractures. Thus, they made up a new story, saying that because Zhou Jiangang could not endure the strict monitoring team, he jumped from the top of bunk bed himself, causing the compound fractures.

Collusion to Kill the Victim

After the beating on April 25th, the prison officials took Zhou Jiangang to Tongji Hospital. To evade responsibility for a possible homicide, the officials concocted several schemes. They assigned Team Leader Yan of the strict monitoring team and five prison guards to watch Zhou Jiangang, who had already lost consciousness, around the clock, to prevent him from disclosing any of the persecution. According to a witness, when Zhou Jiangang was recovering in the hospital, he had dark bruises on his back and thighs from heavy blows.

When Zhou Jiangang's condition was more stable, but his mind was still not clear, the prison lost no time and sent one female and two male prison guards to film him. They tricked him into answering questions according to their needs. The guards told Zhou Jiangang and his family that if they answered according to the prison's requirements, Zhou Jiangang would be released and receive treatment at home, and if they resisted, the consequences would be severe.

In this way, they coerced Zhou Jiangang and his family members to sign and fingerprint a document titled, "Zhou Jiangang's Punishment for His Crime and Suicide Attempt." The guards did this to evade responsibility and to conceal the details of the assault. Furthermore, Zhou Jiangang and his family did not know that according legal statutes, those who purposely injure themselves have no right to medical treatment outside prison or at home, so the guards planned to use this trick to prevent Zhou Jiangang from receiving treatment outside the prison. They also wanted to keep Zhuo Jiangang in prison to make sure he would die, insuring that their crimes would be concealed. Thus, they were willing to murder to conceal the assault.

The prison also demanded that Zhou Jiangang's wife not tell their child and Zhou Jiangang's aged father about his becoming disabled from the brutal beating. One of them even pressured Zhou Jiangang's wife to divorce him. Zhou Jiangang has only three living relatives. His wife, his daughter and his elderly father. (His mother died miserably from all the suffering inflicted on their family during prior years). The prison officials tried to prevent the outside world from learning how Zhou Jiangang was persecuted. The prison staff is currently holding Zhou Jiangang in solitary confinement, and they will not permit visits by the relatives or any medical treatment outside the prison. They fear being exposed.

Intensifying the Persecution

After Zhou Jiangang and his relatives signed the document, the prison guards revealed their true intent. They reduced Zhou Jiangang's food rations and transferred him to the Hongshan Prison Hospital on June 1st, 2006, forbidding any visits from relatives. At the Hongshan Prison Hospital, they stopped his medical treatment. At that time, Zhou Jiangang could only take little liquid food, was barely conscious, and he could only move his eyes and mouth. He could not relieve himself. It was summer and Zhou Jiangang developed bedsores all over his body since he did not receive any care.

Later, when overseas media exposed Zhou Jiangang's persecution, the fearful prison officials sent him back to Qinduankou Prison to further isolate him. They put him into a ward for monitoring prisoners who had shown suicidal intent, where he was watched around the clock. They also made sure that no one could get close to Zhou Jiangang, except for the prison doctor and several prisoners who were assigned to monitor him. They had written guarantees not to reveal any news concerning Zhou Jiangang.

Zhou Jiangang has been persecuted to near death, and his feet were even tied to prevent him from moving. The prisoners and guards with consciences could not stop their tears when talking about Zhou Jiangang's suffering.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/2/13/148862.html