Mr. Zou Guoyan from Heilongjiang Province Brutally Tortured and Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison

Name: Zou Guoyan
Gender:Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: Spring 2001
Most recent place of detention: Daqing City Prison
City: Daqing
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Torture, Electric Shock, Beatings, Hung Up.

Mr. Zou Guoyan, from Shuangcheng City, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, has been imprisoned since the spring of 2001 for his belief in Falun Gong. He has endured extreme torture.

On February 10th, 2000, Mr. Zou was arrested in Beijing for appealing for the right to practise Falun Gong. Officers from the former Yaojing Township Police Station took him back to the Shuangcheng City Detention Centre. In the detention centre, the guards tied him on a Tiger Bench¹ for seven days and nights. They shocked him with electric batons and kicked him in the head with their heavy shoes. The heels of their shoes broke off they kicked him so hard. They tied up his genitals and pounded bamboo spikes into his fingertips. Mr. Zou suffered numerous tortures in the detention centre for 45 days. After three days on a hunger strike, he was transferred to the former Yuejing Township Senior Centre. He was finally released after another two weeks.

In spring 2001, Mr. Zou and over 30 practitioners gathered in Handian Town for an experience sharing. The police came before they started and arrested them. Four years later, the family and friends of Mr. Zou finally discovered where he was. He had been sentenced to nine years in prison. Mr. Zou is still in the fifth brigade of the Daqing City Prison.

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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/9/12/208187.html