Mr. Zhang Youjin Died While in Prison

Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Zhang Youjin, 67, lived in Nankouqian Town, Qingyuan County, Fushun City, Liaoning Province. He began cultivating Falun Dafa in 1997, and he went to local county and province governments many times to appeal when the persecution started. He was arrested on April 10th, 2002 when participating in a Falun Dafa experience sharing conference and sentenced to a forced labour term to served in the Wujiapu Forced Labour Camp in Fushun City. He was released on May 22nd, 2004.

On December 16th, 2004, Mr. Zhang Youjin went to Xifeng County to distribute leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong with fellow practitioners. He was arrested again, sentenced to three and half years in prison, and detained in the Dongling Prison in Shenyang City. He firmly resisted the persecution and absolutely refused to write the Three Statements¹.

In early October 2007, guard Liu Hongbao (male) notified Mr. Zhang Youjin's family that he was sick. When his family went to visit him, he was transferred to the Shenyang City Prison Block. His family went to the prison to request to visit him, but they were refused. His family went back to Dongling Prison, and Liu Hongbao said it was too late today to do anything. After a few days, Mr. Zhang's family came back to Dongling Prison, and they were told he had been admitted to the Tieling Prison Hospital for Contagious Diseases.

Mr. Zhang's family was shocked to see him. He used to be very strong when he was first detained in the prison, his hair was very black and shiny, and there were not any wrinkles on his face. His cell-mates thought his visiting son was his brother. However, when his family saw him, he had to breathe oxygen through a tube in his nose, he was as thin as a skeleton, his hair was all white, he could not stand still, his hands were shaky, and he could not talk coherently. Guards said he was sick with tuberculosis, and they needed to pay 3000 yuan² for treatment. His family requested to have him released for medical treatment, but the Hospital Administration said the upper level would not permit that, even if he died, unless he wrote the guarantee statement (to stop cultivation).

Mr. Zhang Youjin died on October 22nd, 2007 in the Tieling Prison Hospital for Contagious Diseases.

Dongling Prison in Shenyang City address: 88-Dongling Street, Dongling District, Shenyang City, 110161.
Reception Room: 86-24-2471174, ext-8064
First Ward Leader Office: 86-24-24711755, ext.-8012
Second Ward CCP Director Liu Hongbao Office: 86-24-27111741, ext.-8071
Information Hot-line: 86-24-27711741, ext.-8012
Prison Director Office: 86-24-24711754
Procuratorate Office in Prison: 86-24-24711697

Note

1. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/12/8/167992.html