70-year-old Mr. Zhang Liuqing from Chengdu City Describes the Torture He Endured during a Nine-Year Prison Term

Name: Zhang Liuqing
Gender: Male
Age: 70
Address: Group No. 9, Liu'an Community, Hesheng Township, Wenjiang District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province
Occupation: Retired from the Wenjiang Restoration Factory
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 30th, 2012
Most Recent Place of Detention: Xinjin Brainwashing Centre
City: Chengdu
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, imprisonment, torture, interrogation, detention

After Mr. Zhang Liuqing began the practice of Falun Gong in 1997, all of his illnesses disappeared. When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Mr. Zhang was sentenced to nine years in prison. Officials from the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC), the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), and the police officers from Hesheng Township arrested him again in October 2012 . He was injected with unknown drugs three times. Mr. Zhang recounts the persecution he suffered as follows:

“Officials from the Wenjiang Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the 610 Office ordered several officers from the Hesheng Township Police Station and the Hesheng Township Justice Bureau, including Chen Songqing, to break into my home on the morning of October 30th, 2012. I was pushed down and then carried to a police car. I was taken to the Xinjin Brainwashing Centre in Huaqiao Township, Xinjin County.

The officials and the guards at the brainwashing centre tried to force me to stop practising Falun Gong by using despicable means and torture. I was given a physical exam and falsely told that I had problems with my lungs. I was told that I needed injections so they could give me poisonous drugs. I firmly refused and told them that I did not have any problems with my lungs and I did not need any injections. Four guards held me down on a bed and a doctor injected me with unknown drugs. This was done to me three times. I was released shortly after, on December 9th.

I am 70 years old and retired from the Wenjiang Restoration Factory. I live in the Group No. 9 of the Liu'an Community, Hesheng Township, Wenjiang District, Chengdu City. I suffered from many illnesses after a lifetime of hardship. My good fortune was to be introduced to and start practising Falun Gong in 1997. Because of this practice, all of my illnesses disappeared and I live a much happier life.

In 1999, the Communist regime began persecuting Falun Gong. I continued to practise Falun Gong and tell people my personal experience of benefiting from the practice. I would tell others that Falun Gong is a righteous practice and teaches people to be good and do good deeds. I emphasised that it was wrong for the regime to persecute practitioners of Falun Gong. Because of my talking to people about the truth behind the persecution of Falun Gong, the officials paid special attention to my case and detained me.

I left my hometown in 2002 so that I would not be arrested. However, officers from the Chongzhou City Police Department arrested me on July 6th at my rental apartment near Baita Lake in Daoming Township, Chongzhou City. I was taken to the Chongzhou City Detention Centre. A few days later, I was taken back to Wenjiang Detention Centre by police officers of the Wenjiang 610 Office, including Leng Junqing. I was interrogated 24 hours a day by Leng and five other guards. I was handcuffed behind my back to a couple of metal rings that were built into the floor in the centre of the interrogation room. I was deprived of sleep and brutally beaten whenever I closed my eyes. To force me to renounce my belief in Falun Gong, I was tortured for eight days straight.

During the last few days, I was mentally disoriented and had no idea what I was saying. When I regained my senses, I wrote a statement and gave it to the guard. The statement emphasised that whatever I said while being tortured was said under the duress and was therefore invalid. This aggravated the officials of the Wenjiang District Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the 610 Office. I was sentenced to nine years in prison in May 2003.

After being sentenced, I was not given a chance to appeal. I wrote an appeal that was submitted to the Chengdu City Intermediate People's Court by the detention centre officials, but I never heard anything back. I was transferred to the Chengdu City Detention Centre and then taken to Zigong Prison ten days later. The persecution was more brutal in Zigong Prison. Zigong Prison warden Liu Yuanhang, along with a few guards, tried to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] me and force me to renounce my belief and give up practising Falun Gong. I was handcuffed and shackled and tied to the death bed for 50 days.

In December 2005, I was transferred to Wumaping Prison in Muchuan County, Leshan City.

For nine years I was brutally tortured in many different ways.

I was released when my unlawful term ended on July 5th, 2011.