Mr. Zhang Tichao Dies after Being Arrested, Imprisoned, and Tortured Repeatedly Since 2001

Name: Zhang Tichao
Gender: Male
Age: 68
Address: Tai'an Village, Liutuan Township, Yanshou County, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: January 22nd, 2010
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 30th, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Daqing City Prison
City: Daqing
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, extortion, home ransacked, interrogation, detention

Mr. Zhang Tichao was arrested and detained repeatedly. After the 2001 harvest, Tai'an Village Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee Secretary Wang Yunlong and Village Chair Zhao Fagang tried to force Mr. Zhang to give up his faith in Falun Gong. Mr. Zhang absolutely refused, so Wang and Zhao took Mr. Zhang's family's year-long supply of grain: 30 sacks. They made Mr. Zhang kneel on the ground and slapped him.

In 2002, Mr. Zhang was arrested in his field and taken to the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp for a three-year term. He was 60 years old. His wife was born mentally retarded and could not take care of the family or their children. Their daughter was 13, their older son 11, and the younger son only 7. They lived on mouldy rice and help from their neighbours. The CCP not only took their food, but also took their fields while Mr. Zhang was serving forced labour.

In Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp, Mr. Zhang endured all kinds of torture. The guards instructed the prisoners to stab Mr. Zhang's head, neck, back, chest with a three-inch long steel needle¹. They stabbed him with so much force that sometimes the needle could not be pulled out. The guards also taught the prisoners to tie yarn to metal nuts and hit Mr. Zhang in the head with them².

At 11 a.m. on August 29th, 2006, a plainclothes officer arrested Mr. Zhang from his home, claiming that people had reported him for spreading leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. They took him to the Yanshou County Detention Centre.

On March 31st, 2007, as soon as Mr. Zhang came back home from Hulin County, he was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment in the Daqing City Prison. After May 2009, Mr. Zhang was tortured until he could not move or take care of himself. While he was unconscious, he was taken back to the Liutuan Township Police Station. The police there then notified his children to take him to their home in Hulin County. He died on the evening of January 22nd, 2010.

Note

1. Stabbed with needles - The police order criminal inmates to insert large steel needles (as long as 10 cm/3 inches) that are used for weaving into the practitioners' head, neck, back, chest, and other sensitive parts of the body. Some needles are pushed in so deep that the inmates have a hard time pulling them out. The pain it causes is beyond words. Practitioners who have been tortured this way include Sun Kaiqing, Yun Fuqi, Zhang Xiangfu, Yu Guanghe, Zhang Tichao, and others.

2. Metal nut hitting the head - The police instigate the criminals to tie a string to a metal nut and swing it at the practitioner's head. The pain is intense, and the victim's head feels swollen and dizzy. Practitioners Sun Kaiqing and Yun Fuqi were tortured like this. They were hit dozens of times every day, and their skulls were fractured. Their skulls were cracked in over 20 places, causing a severe concussion. Today, even though two years have passed, these victims' heads still ache, and they are sometimes dizzy and experience a lack of mental clarity. Zhang Xiangfu, Yu Guanghe, and Zhang Tichao are victims of this torture method.

Related report: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/4/9/59415.html

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/1/26/216971.html