Practitioner Mr. Zhang Xiaodong from Gansu Province Beaten to Death in 2003

On October 24th, 2003, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhang Xiaodong, 32, was beaten to death by guards at the Xiguoyuan Detention Centre. At 5:00 p.m. that day, they informed his family. When his family members arrived at the detention centre, they found that the guards had tampered with evidence at the scene in order to conceal their crime. Mr. Zhang's parents, in their 70s, grieved deeply over the loss of their son.

Mr. Zhang Xiaodong

Mr. Zhang was born on February 3rd, 1972, and was a resident of Chaimen Township, Huining County, Gansu Province. He was also an employee of the Gansu Aluminum Company. The Chinese Communist Party began its persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, and Mr. Zhang went to Beijing to appeal in October of that year. He was detained at the Chaoyangmen Police Station in Beijing for seven days. The police then took him back to Lanzhou City, where he was detained for seven additional days. Mr. Zhang maintained his belief in Falun Dafa and always informed people about the true nature of Falun Gong and the persecution.

In October 2001, plain clothes police officers who had infiltrated Mr. Zhang's workplace kicked open his dormitory door and arrested him. They seized his Falun Gong books, a variety of leaflets exposing the persecution, and all his cash. On November 10th, 2001, Mr. Zhang was taken to the Xiguoyuan Detention Centre in Lanzhou City. He was secretly sentenced to seven years.

During the two years at the detention centre before his death, Mr. Zhang was subjected to all kinds of torture and constant humiliation. The centre consistently rejected his family's visitation requests.

After Mr. Zhang's tragic death, his family brought a lawsuit against the detention centre through the Lanzhou District Attorney's Office. But the centre responded with defiance and brazenly harassed Mr. Zhang's family.

Related article: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200311/16289.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/3/19/174661.html