Zhang Chunfang Repeatedly Persecuted, Her Husband Died as a Result of the Persecution

Ms. Zhang Chunfang, 56, from Yongle Village, Shuangta District, Zhuozhou City, Hebei Province, was arrested at her home by officers from the Shuangta District Police Station at around 8 p.m. on June 12th, 2010. The officers also confiscated some of her private belongings. Ms. Zhang was sent to the Zhuozhou City Detention Centre and then sentenced to one year of forced labour. Her family members have not been allowed to visit her.

Ms. Zhang and her husband, Li Heng, began practising Falun Gong in 1996. Their family life became harmonious and their illnesses disappeared as a result of the practice.

However, since the former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Jiang Zemin initiated the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, they have been repeatedly arrested, sentenced to forced labour, held in detention centres and tortured by the authorities.

Husband and Wife Repeatedly Persecuted

CCP officials broke into and ransacked the couple's home when Ms. Zhang and Mr. Li were not there on the evening of April 17th, 2001. The officials asked their son and daughter, who were home alone at the time, about the whereabouts of their parents. When the children said that they did not know, the agents slapped and kicked them and then held them in custody in order to get to the parents.

Shortly thereafter, Ms. Zhang and Mr. Li were arrested by officers from the Babaoshan Police Station and sent to the Shijingshan Detention Centre in Beijing City. When Mr. Li refused to provide his name, officers forced him to sit on a tiger bench¹ and beat his toes with wooden bats. His toes became so swollen that he could not walk. They also handcuffed him to a chair and inserted lit cigarettes into his nose.

Ms. Zhang began a hunger strike to protest the persecution, but was brutally force-fed on the eighth day. Several guards held her down, pulled her head back by her hair and forcefully inserted a feeding tube into her nose. She was dropped on the floor of a small cell after the force-feeding in a weak, near-death state. The officials then gave her a blood transfusion to revive her.

Ms. Zhang and Mr. Li were subsequently transferred to the Zhuozhou Detention Centre, where the guards tried to extort 20,000 yuan² from the couple's family. After being detained there for 3 months, Mr. Li was sentenced to three years and Ms. Zhang to one year of forced labour at the Balizhuang Forced Labour Camp in Baoding City.

The guards in the forced labour camp ordered inmates to monitor Ms. Zhang 24 hours a day and to not let her sleep. She was also held outside in the summertime, where she was bitten by mosquitoes. She became very weak and thin as a result of the persecution and was released at the end of 2001.

Mr. Li also suffered brutal torture in the forced labour camp, including being forced to squat down with hands over his head for three consecutive days. He developed incontinence and high systolic blood pressure of 220 mm Hg as a result of the torture, and suffered a stroke that left him paralysed and unable to speak. He was released in the beginning of 2002 but remained bedridden until his death in May 2005 at the age of 51.

The CCP officials from the Shuangta District Office continued to harass the couple at their home following their release from the forced labour camp.

On October 16th, 2007, several officers from the Shuangta District Police Station and over 20 officers from the National Security Group of Zhuozhou City came to Ms. Zhang's home and arrested her again. She was sent to a detention centre for 15 days and transferred to another detention centre, the Zhuozhou Detention Centre, thereafter. She was sentenced to one year in the Shijiazhuang Forced Labour Camp in Zhuozhou City on November 15. Ms. Zhang did not pass the physical examination for hard labour, however, and was released after officer Li Hongjun from the Shuangta District Police Station extorted 1,500 yuan from her family.

Officers from the Shuangta District Police Station and the National Security Group of Zhuozhou City also arrested Ms. Zhang, her daughter Li Meirong, her son Li Zhanfeng, and her daughter-in-law Fang Jing in August 2008 prior to the Beijing Olympics.

Individuals involved in the persecution:

Ye Jun, head of the Domestic Security Division: 86-13333126638 (Mobile), 86-13703361286 (Mobile)

Li Dongliang, chief of the Zhuozhou City Public Security Bureau, Hebei Province: 86-312-3853866 (Work), 86-13932298008 (Mobile)

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/6/20/225688.html