Never Recovering from Torture, Elderly Falun Dafa Practitioner Mr. Zhang Shushan Dies Two Years Later

Mr. Zhang Shushan, 61 years old, was a Falun Dafa practitioner who lived in Changchun City, Jilin Province. He was sent to a forced labour camp because of appealing for Falun Dafa in Beijing. After being tortured repeatedly, Mr. Zhang died on February 27, 2005.

The first time he went to Beijing to appeal, Mr. Zhang Shushan was arrested and detained for fifteen days. In 2001, before the Chinese New Year (January 24), he walked more than twenty days to Tiananmen Square, and was sentenced to two years in Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp in Changchun City, where he was tortured.

In April 2002, Falun Dafa practitioners were brutally tortured in the labour camp. Eyewitnesses said that Mr. Zhang declared that anything he had said or written under torture was null and void. He declared that he was "Firmly cultivating Falun Dafa!" Guards beat him mercilessly that night. They struck him hard with the handle of a shovel, shocked him with an electric baton and whipped him with a belt. They tortured Mr. Zhang for several hours, then dragged him to a toilet, stripped him naked, poured cold water on his body, and then shocked him again with the electric baton. Finally, the villains poured a salt solution on his wounds and someone even shouted, "Rub some salt on his wounds!" No matter how brutal the torture was, Mr. Zhang did not give in one bit.

On February 25, 2003, Mr. Zhang's term ended. However, instead of being released, he was sent to a Brainwashing Class by the "610 Office" (1) because he continued to practise Falun Dafa. Due to the relentless abuse and the poor living environment in detention, Mr. Zhang suffered from scabies. When the scabies developed into a severe condition, the authorities injected him with an unknown drug that made his legs turn dark and swollen. Zhang Shushan was very weak and appeared to be dying. The police were afraid to be held responsible for his death, and notified his family to pick him up at the end of March or beginning of April 2003. He was quite ill and undernourished upon returning home. Mr. Zhang never recovered and eventually died on February 27, 2005.

Note:

(1) "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/3/10/96978.html