The Brutal Persecution Zhang Feng Suffered During the Past Six Years

Mr. Zhang Feng, 31, was an employee at the Miaoqu Commerce Department of Zhenyuan County, Qingyang City, Gansu Province. He started practising Falun Gong in October 1996. Since July 20th, 1999, when the persecution started, Mr. Zhang has been harassed, detained, imprisoned and fined. His home was ransacked and he was taken to a forced labour camp. He has become homeless and destitute in order to avoid the persecution.

At the beginning of April 2000, the former heads of the Zhenyuan County Commerce Department, Dong Jiangfu and Han Jixiang, arranged tohave Mr. Zhang confined at his workplace for a month. They ordered people to monitor him and were active in brainwashing him at that time.

Immediately after his release, Mr. Zhang went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. Upon his return from Beijing, the county police department detained him for one month. He was also fined 200 yuan [Chinese currency]. The section leader of the political and security section of the Zhenyuan County Police Department, Lu Zhengpin, extorted 7,000 yuan from Mr. Zhang as a "deposit" without any legal process or formal procedures. Mr. Zhang only received a receipt with Lu's signature, but with no date. When Mr. Zhang asked Lu to return the money, Lu refused while giving unreasonable excuses. Lu has yet to return the money to him.

Some time later, policeman Ho Zhengjie from the Sancha Township Police Station of Zhenyuan County ransacked Mr. Zhang's home and confiscated his motorcycle without any legal documentation. Ho claimed that Mr. Zhang did not cooperate and therefore beat him. As a result, Mr. Zhang's legs were injured and he has difficulty walking.

On January 1st, 2001, Mr. Zhang again went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He was arrested and taken to the Dongcheng District Detention Centre. He and other practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest their arrest. Twice the police took individual practitioners to an office and beat them. The police also verbally attacked Falun Dafa and its founder. When they demanded that Mr. Zhang kneel down, he refused. The police then ordered other inmates to beat him. One inmate hit him with the bottom of a leather boot, resulting in a big bump on his head. On January 14th, Mr. Zhang and two other practitioners were taken to the Tianshui City Liaison Office. Each of them was forced to pay 100 yuan for transportation. A staff member at the Tianshui City Liaison Office confiscated the remaining 120 yuan Mr. Zhang had with him. Someone was assigned to monitor them. That same night, Mr. Zhang left the office with righteous thoughts. It took him 23 days to walk back home. He had to beg for food along the way.

Soon after Mr. Zhang returned home, policeman Lu Zhengpin broke into his home and arrested him. Lu took him to the Zhenyuan County Detention Centre. Mr. Zhang was sentenced to one and a half years at the Pingtai No. 1 Forced Labour Camp in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province.

At the labour camp, the guards used many torture methods to persecute Dafa practitioners. One guard wrote the Falun Gong founder's name next to the restroom urinal to show his disdain for Falun Gong. On May 2nd, practitioner Sun Yangzhao died as a result of the torture.

On July 1st, 2001, Mr. Zhang and four other practitioners practised the Falun Gong exercises in their cell. Guard Zheng Jihua ordered a group of inmates to put Mr. Zhang and the other four practitioners in "solitary confinement." For 14 days, Mr. Zhang was cuffed behind his back to the headboard of a bed in a position so awkward that he could not squat down or stand up. Therefore, Mr. Zhang and Li Wenming, another practitioner, went on a hunger strike. Twice they were taken to a hospital for force-feeding.

On October 2nd, 2001, guard Zheng Jihua accused Mr. Zhang of not following regulations. He slapped Mr. Zhang's face over a dozen times. He then told another guard to handcuff Mr. Zhang to the headboard of a bed so that he could not squat or stand up. Later all of the practitioners protested Mr. Zhang's torture. Zheng Jihua became worried that the situation could not be contained, so he released Mr. Zhang from this position after 24 hours.

On October 23rd, Mr. Zhang Feng, Li Wenmin, Zhang Luchan and other practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest the regulations that were set up only for Dafa practitioners. They were dragged to a field for forced labour duties. On the morning of October 25th, when they were on their way to the field, Mr. Zhang freed himself from the other inmates and jumped on a passenger bus. His pants were torn apart. After re-capturing Mr. Zhang, the guards again handcuffed him to the headboard of a bed in a position where he could not squat or stand up for 26 days. As a result, Mr. Zhang's wrists became swollen and infected. On day 27, guard Zheng Jihua instructed four inmates to torture Mr. Zhang from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Mr. Zhang had excruciating pain in his arms. His clothing and the floor around him became wet because he sweat profusely. His arms were injured, and he did not recover until a month later.

On February 21st, 2002, Mr. Zhang shouted, "Falun Dafa is good," and "Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa," during a lineup. Consequently, guard Li Zhenggang hung Mr. Zhang from a high beam, with only his toes touching the ground. The next day, Li Zhenggang shocked Mr. Zhang for over twenty minutes with an electric baton. His neck was severely burned. Everyone close to him could smell the burnt hair. When Mr. Zhang was hung up, he was not even released for eating. Inmate Ma Guide fed him during mealtime. Mr. Zhang's legs were so swollen that he could no longer walk. Other inmates had to carry him to the toilet. Guards also instructed Ma Guide to read articles that defamed Falun Dafa and its founder to Mr. Zhang. Mr. Zhang was released from the hanging on April 20th after two months of this torture.

After serving one and a half years of his sentence, the police extended his sentence by 32 days. They claimed that Mr. Zhang had to be confined to solitary confinement for a total of 100 days. On September 9th, 2002, the Zhenyuan County police transferred Mr. Zhang from the labour camp to the Qingyang City Drug Rehabilitation Centre. The head of the 610 Office Wen Shixing and five other staff members then detained him for another 80 days.

At around 10 p.m. on May 16th, 2004, policeman Zhang Jun and a group of policemen from the Mengba Police Station broke into Mr. Zhang's wife's office and ransacked it. They confiscated three Dafa books and 200 yuan without giving a receipt.

Since then, policemen Tian Bo and Yang Chen from the Miaoqu Police Station have gone to Zhang's workplace and harassed him multiple times. Policemen Zhang Jun, Li Mingqi, and Zhai Shuke have also gone to Mr. Zhang's wife's workplace to harass her. On July 30th, 2005, two practitioners who live close to Mr. Zhang were arrested while distributing truth-clarifying materials. Tian Bo from the Miaoqu Police Station returned to Mr. Zhang's workplace to force him to write "guarantee statements." In order to avoid the continued persecution, Mr. Zhang became homeless and is now destitute.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/11/27/115317.html