Zhang Keming from Helongjiang Province, Died of Persecution

Mr. Zhang Keming, a firm believer in Falun Dafa, suffered from brutal persecution for several years. He was sentenced to two years of forced labour in 2002 despite his poor physical condition. He was severely tortured in the Changlinzi Labour Camp. Zhang Keming passed away on March 26th, 2006.

Zhang Keming was 56 years old. He used to work in a boiler factory. All three member of his family began to practise Falun Dafa in 1996. His diabetes disappeared shortly after he started practising.

After the persecution began, Mr. Zhang's entire family was arrested when they went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa. They were taken back to the Public Security Bureau in Yilan County and held in the No. 2 Detention Centre. The police confiscated 4,800 yuan¹ from their pockets and tortured them. Mr. Zhang was forced to maintain the "flying the airplane" torture position for over 5 hours. (In this torture, the head is bent down until it cannot go down any further, while the hands are pulled up and held up at the highest point against the wall. The practitioner is forced to hold this position unchanged for a long time period. If a practitioner refuses to comply, he/she will be shocked with an electric baton or beaten to the point of losing consciousness. The police will then roughly wake up the practitioner and continue the torture.) They beat his bottom with a belt until it was completely bruised black and blue. Mr. Zhang and his family were held for over one month. Three thousand yuan was extorted from them. After their release, policeman Cui Guodong frequently came to harass the family at their home, confiscating their Dafa books and threatening them.

Long Deqing and Han Yunjie from the Political Security Department arrested Mr. Zhang Keming and held him for 45 days in 2000 because Mr. Zhang did the Falun Dafa exercises outside. He began a hunger strike in protest and was released home after the police extorted another 3,000 yuan.

In October 2001, Policeman Zhang Huanyou arrested Mr. Zhang after a villager reported him for distributing Falun Gong truth materials exposing the persecution. He was held in a motel and handcuffed to a heating pipe in the bathroom. The police beat him brutally, dragging him around by the handcuffs. The handcuffs cut deeply into his wrists. After two days, Zhang Keming was sent to the detention center for another 15 days. To avoid being arrested, his daughter became homeless after she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa in October 2001.

On December 29th, 2001, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) thugs raided Mr. Zhang's home and arrested the couple. Mr. Zhang began a hunger strike for 40 days. The police instigated the inmates to beat him up constantly. He was sentenced to 2 years in the labour camp despite his poor physical condition and he became emaciated. His wife was released when her physical condition was not fit to be in the labour camp.

Mr. Zhang was held in the Changlinzi Labour Camp for 2 years and suffered many forms of torture. He was deprived of sleep for a long period of time. The police beat him on the face and shocked him with electric batons in sensitive areas of the body. He was forced into the torture position of "Five Horses Splitting a Body" in which the four limbs are pulled in four directions until they are stretched extremely tight. He was then beaten up so much that he was in excruciating pain. Mr. Zhang developed scabies. His skin was ulcerated and infected over his entire body. He was injected with unknown drugs. In September 2002, the guards in the No. 4 Battalion in the Changlinzi Labour Camp intensified the persecution and torture in order to "transform²" Dafa practitioners and to force them to sign "guarantee statementsSup>3" .They gloated over the rate of their "transformation."

Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Yue Baoxue was tortured in the "Big Hang Up" position around the clock for 7 days. There are two forms of this torture: 1) With both hands cuffed behind the back and only the toes touching the ground, one is hung by a rope that is tied to a metal window frame; 2) One hand of a practitioner is handcuffed to one bunk bed and the other hand to another bed, and the two beds are pulled in opposite directions. It is extremely painful as the body is pulled apart. Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Xu Zhenfeng was tortured in the "Big Hang Up" position for 3 days. Both practitioners' hands were red and swollen, and wounds covered their bodies.

On November 9th, 2003, shortly after Mr. Zhang was released from the labour camp, Zheng Jun from the Public Security Department and Policeman Liu Guochang and ten other police officers harassed Mr. Zhang and his wife three times during the night. They broke into their home and arrested the couple and held them for 15 days.

Over the six years of the persecution, officers from the police unit, the 610 Office⁴, and the Political Legal Committee harassed Mr. Zhang countless times. They arrested his wife and daughter on numerous occasions and extracted thousands of yuan from them. The long-term torment on his mind and body took its toll, and Mr. Zhang never recovered his health. He began to experience excessive sweats and had symptoms of coughing, spitting up phlegm, and vomiting blood. He had generalized edema. Zhang Keming finally passed away on March 26th, 2006. His family highly suspected that the unknown drugs that were injected into him in the labour camp played a role in his death.

Responsible Parties:

Changlinzi Labour Camp in Haerbin
610 Office in Yilan County
Public Security Bureau in Yilan County
No. 2 Detention Centre in Yilan County
Dongcheng Police Station in Yilan County
Xicheng Police Station in Yilan County

Note

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

2. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

3. "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

4. "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.org/mh/articles/2006/4/6/124578.html