School Teacher Suffers Mental Collapse after Five Days of Gruelling Torture

Mr. Zhang Zhao was a teacher of Zhangye Normal School in Gansu Province. Because he is a Falun Gong practitioner, police took him away and sent him to the 1st Squadron, 2nd Brigade of Pinantai Forced Labour Camp in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province.

On the first day of Mr. Zhang's detention in the squadron, political instructor Wei Haihua tried to force him to give up Falun Gong. Zhang Zhao refused. Wei madly abused Zhang Zhao verbally and incited a cell inmate who was a drug addict to torture him.

On the second day in the labour camp, the prisoner who is the head of first team, a drug addict named Xue Wenqing, forced Zhang Zhao to do hard labour and ordered another drug addict, Ma Huipin and others to monitor him. Whenever Zhang Zhao would slow down due to fatigue or wasn't able to finish the work, they would beat and kick him. When he finished doing the slave labour, the team head and another head of prisoners forced Zhang Zhao to kneel down on the ground holding a cloth and forced him to clean the floor. They humiliated and beat him.

On the third day, prison guard Wei Haihua tried to force Zhang Zhao to write the "Three Statements" Zhang Zhao refused and clarified the truth of Dafa to him. In response Wei tied Zhang's hands behind his back and hung him up in the yard. Zhang Zhao spoke loudly in support Falun Gong and recited Dafa articles. Drug addict Xue Wenqing, Ma Huiping and others jumped on him and forced him to be silent. In the night when he was back in his cell, the prison head incited drug addicts to torture Zhang for a long time. Zhang was so badly injured that he was not able to sleep. [The "Three Statements" are used as so-called 'proof' that they have given up their belief. They consist of a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practise Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners].

On the fourth day, Zhang Zhao was unable to control his urination and defecation. It was a very cold early morning when prisoners dragged Zhang to the front of the toilet. Zhang was forced to be naked. His body was covered with black and blue wounds. The criminals gave Mr. Zhang "a shower": Ma Huiping poured basins of ice-cold water all over him. Every time Ma poured the water, Mr. Zhang screamed, jumped and shook all over. Other prisoners watched and laughed. Zhang Zhao was tortured this way until he showed symptoms of mental collapse. In the night, he was forced to lie down on a cement tile in the yard while another inmate, Xue Wenqing, humiliated him and squeezed toothpaste into his mouth.

The torture continued for the next several days. Later, Zhang Zhao was sent to Tianshui Mental Hospital in Gansu Province. This teacher was brutally tortured for not giving up his belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/7/21/54363.html