Older Hunan Practitioner Ms. Zhang Yunlan Dies After Long-Term Persecution

Ms. Zhang Yunlan, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Liuyang City, Hunan Province, was sentenced to two years of imprisonment for telling the facts of Falun Dafa to people who had been misled by the government propaganda, in February 2004 and was imprisoned in the notorious Baimalong Forced Labour Camp. In a single year, she was tortured to such an extent that she began to become mentally disoriented. Even after Ms. Zhang was released for medical treatment, the 610 Office¹ coerced her son into spying on her and torturing her. Ms. Zhang Yunlan tragically passed away in October 2005.

Ms. Zhang Yunlan, 52 years old, was a practitioner in Jinpan Village, Yonghe Town, Liuyang City, Hunan Province. She had suffered from many diseases, but they were all cured after she began practising Falun Dafa in 1998.

In February 2004, while distributing leaflets exposing the persecution in her hometown of Liuyang City, people who were deceived by slanderous propaganda reported her to the authorities and she was arrested. She was imprisoned at the Baxianqiao Detention Centre in Liuyang City. On February 20th, Ms. Zhang was moved to the Baimalong Forced Labour Camp in Zhuzhong City and sentenced to two years of imprisonment.

Due to her perseverance in Falun Gong's teachings of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," she suffered extremely cruel torture, which was reported on the Clearwisdom website on August 3rd, 2005. She was forced to stand upright for 35 days, denied sleep, walking, or anything to lean on for support. Her thighs and calves became severely swollen. During those 35 days she only slept three nights, and her endurance was stretched to the limit.

When the Baimalong Forced Labour Camp guards force-feed practitioners who go on hunger strikes to protest the persecution, they often add nerve-damaging drugs to the food or liquid injected into the victims' bodies, causing them to become mentally disoriented, to lose consciousness, to become blind, or to be no longer able to remain balanced while standing or walking. After two years of torture at the Baimalong Forced Labour Camp, Zou Wenyu could not recognise anyone, and Zou Ruxiang also suffered serious memory loss and walked sideways after being released.

Ms. Zhang also went on hunger strikes to protest the persecution. Prison police force-fed her so brutally that she became mentally disoriented. She was released on April 30th, 2005.

After returning home, the 610 Office forced her son to spy on her and torture her. Her son was made to sign an agreement to monitor his mother, and he collaborated with the 610 Office in committing evil deeds against her. For example, in order to prevent her from leaving the house, he only gave her two small bowls of rice each day, the first bowl after 2 p.m. He confiscated any money that other practitioners gave his mother, and he even physically assaulted his mother by kicking her, causing her knee to become so severely swollen that she could not squat down for an entire week.

After suffering such great trauma in the forced labour camp, her son's mistreatment after she returned home only compounded her physical and emotional pain, and her physical condition deteriorated drastically. Finally, in October 2005, Ms. Zhang Yunlan was knocked down and killed by a car while out alone.

After Ms. Zhang's death, instead of expressing remorse for their heinous deeds, the Yueyang 610 Office began releasing propaganda that Zhang Yunlan had died as a result of practising Falun Gong, a blatant attempt to instigate hatred toward Falun Gong. On one occasion, an older lady who had known Zhang Yunlan encountered a group of people who had been manipulated by the lies talking about the deceased practitioner. She stood up and said, "What you are saying is wrong. Before Zhang Yunlan was imprisoned, she had a very healthy body, she was very amiable, and she conducted herself elegantly and dressed neatly. By the time she was released from the labour camp, she had lost her sanity. The labour camp was responsible for her problems." After listening to her words, the crowd realised that the authorities had been maliciously slandering Falun Gong.

Related telephone number:

Liuyang City Government: 86-731-3502868

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/10/30/113437.html