Mr. Zhou Mofang Persecuted for Years

Fifty-eight-year-old Mr. Zhou Mofang was a lecturer at Yunnan Forestry Technical College who began practising Falun Gong in 1994. He refused to betray Falun Gong when the persecution began and as a result has been subjected to severe persecution for years.

Mr. Zhou was brought to a local police station in December 22nd, 1999. Without showing any documentation or making an announcement, the police sent him to a forced labour camp for one year.

Kunming City's Guandu District Domestic Security Team head Feng Jun, along with other policemen, forced their way into Mr. Zhou's home on the morning of October 30th, 2002. They took Mr. Zhou to the Guandu Detention Centre and later transferred him to the Xishan District Detention Centre. This time Zhou Mofang was held for eleven months.

In May 2003, Kunming City Intermediate Court tried Mr. Zhou. His lawyer defended him, "I went through my client's files. All of the so-called evidence came from one person. Based on that, the charges against my client are invalid." Head judge Zhang Zhaolong cut him short, "In your opinion, we should release him now? That's impossible." The head judge handed Mr. Zhou a five-year sentence and sent him to Yunnan No. 1 Prison. The deputy judges were Tang Yong and Xu Jianbin, and Duan Yunping was the secretary.

During his five years of incarceration, the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) has dispatched three groups of people to "reform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] him, but Mr. Zhou refused to give in to their attempts. He persuaded some practitioners who had given in under persecution to resume their practice of Falun Gong. To punish him, agents from the prison 610 Office sent him to a strictly controlled team for intensified persecution. Mr. Zhou suffered very harsh treatment there. Most of his hair turned grey, and his blood pressure shot up to 200. He suffered from heart disease, stroke, oedema and several other symptoms. A prison guard told him, "If you reform, we will let you go home on medical parole. Otherwise, you have to serve the full term." Mr. Zhou refused.

He was finally released on October 29th, 2007, having served a full term. While incarcerated he was dismissed from his job. Nonetheless several officials from the technical college still harass him regularly. Former college deputy Party secretary Zhang Yao, 610 Office head Hao Chuansong, and security deputy head Zhang Feng often come to Mr. Zhou's home to harass his wife and daughter. They also restrict his personal freedom on so-called sensitive dates.

Even though according to prison rules Mr. Zhou was entitled to have visits from his family once or twice a month, his family was granted only five visits in five years. His right to exchange letters with family was also violated. The prison did not deliver a large number of letters sent to him.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/9/8/229366.html