My name is Zhang Zhikui and I am 50 years old. My registered residence is at Dazhuangjia Village, Xinzhuang Town, Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province, but I have lived in Changchun City, Jilin Province for a long time. Below is a brief description of the persecution I have experienced since July 20th, 1999, because I practise "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." I am also willing to have a face to face interview.
Brief Family Situation
My whole family practises Falun Gong. My mother went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in November 1999, and was detained for one month by the Xinzhuang Town Public Security Sub-bureau in Zhaoyuan City. Since the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20th, 1999, by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), my mother has endured immense mental and emotional pressure. All four of her children have been arrested and detained because they exposed the persecution to people. My parents were also frequently harassed by the CCP officials and police officers. Under intense pressure, my father passed away in December 2004.
My younger sister, Zhang Shuqin, has been detained by the police since the persecution began. She has been sentenced to ten years of imprisonment and detained at Heizuizi Prison in Changchun. Her husband, Wang Hejiang, was sentenced to three years of hard labour at the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp in Shandong Province. Their twelve year-old daughter was expelled from school only because her parents practise Falun Gong.
My other younger sister, Zhang Shuchun, was detained from July 20th, 1999 to October 2000. She was forced to become homeless in order to avoid further persecution. In 2003, she was forced to jump out of a building to avoid arrest by the police. As a result, she sustained several broken ribs that penetrated her heart, and broken legs and arms. She loss consciousness on the spot, but the police did not even spare her.
Appealing in 1999 and Suffering Persecution
1) Appealing to the Jilin Province Government
On July 20th, 1999, I went to the Jilin Province government to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. At the entrance of the building, four to five policemen blocked me, and then they pushed me to the ground and began to beat and kick me for more than twenty minutes. The bystanders loudly shouted, "The police are not allowed to beat people!" An elderly lady who looked to be in her 80s held my hand and cried, "Child, are you injured?" After this incident, the police detained me for 24 hours.
2) Appealing in Beijing
I was not allowed to appeal to the local government, so I went to Beijing to appeal on July 23rd, 1999. Outside the appeals office, there were many plainclothes and uniformed policemen, so I could not appeal. Instead, I could only tell people on the streets and in Tiananmen Square the true situation of Dafa. Along with other appealers, I slept on the street at night and exposed the persecution during the day for over a month. We were all later arrested by the Beijing police and locked up for several hours. During those hours of detention, I was constantly beaten by the police.
Afterwards, they sent me to the Changchun office in Beijing. They confiscated the 200 yuan1 I had left, and cruelly beat me for a long time. Then they sent more than a dozen Falun Dafa practitioners including myself to the Hezi District Public Security Sub-bureau in Changchun City.
Immediately after entering a room, the Politics and Protection section chief told me to take off all of my clothes. When I firmly refused, he forcibly pulled off my belt, and while cursing, he violently lashed out at my face and head. Then he stepped on my feet with his leather shoes, and ground my toes with his heels. I was beaten for more than half an hour.
I was later sent to the Daguang Detention Centre in Changchun. Two weeks later, I was transferred to Balibao Prison in Changchun. In order for the prison to detain practitioners, they released all the other prisoners. At that time, more than 800 practitioners were detained there. In just over two weeks, I was again transferred and sent to the Tiebei Detention Centre in Changchun.
As soon as I entered the cell, the police told the prisoners, "Take good care of him for me." After that, three to four inmates pushed me to the ground and beat and kicked me. They then pulled off all my clothes and kicked me again towards the wall. I fell down to the ground and could not get up, but they continued kicking me. My arms and legs began to bleed. The cut on my thigh bled profusely. The detained practitioners were constantly monitored by the prisoners, and randomly beaten and cursed.
Twenty days later, they sent me to the Changchun City Drug Rehabilitation Centre. On the fifth day there, the Provincial Party Committee first assistant secretary led a group of people to the centre to defame Dafa and Teacher, and tried to force us to cooperate in their filming, which all of us refused. Seven days later, they sent me back to the Tiebei Detention Centre, and detained me for more than a month.
3) Appealing to the Beijing Supreme Court
In November 1999, I went to appeal at the Beijing Supreme Court. The staff asked me, "What's the problem?" I replied, "I came to sue Jiang because it's wrong to persecute Falun Gong, as it teaches only, 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance'." The staff worker did not say anything, but went and found two police officers who took me to the office of Zhaoyuan in Beijing. On the road, the police pulled off my belt and began to whip me with it while we were walking. I arrived at the office of Zhaoyuan at around 5:00 p.m.. They continued to beat me with the belt and stick. When they got tired, they went to lie down on the bed and smoked cigarettes. After taking a break, they began to beat me again. Three to four people kept beating me from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Then they took me back to the Xinzhuang Town Public Security Sub-bureau in Zhaoyuan City, and locked me up for a month. At that time, my mother was also detained at the Xinzhuang Town Public Security Sub-bureau.
Persecution Suffered in 2000
1) Persecution in Zhaoyuan Detention Centre
In January 2000 my sisters and I went to the Beijing's Office of Appeals to appeal for Falun Gong. As a result, we were again taken back by the office of Zhaoyuan in Beijing, and detained at the Zhaoyuan Detention Centre.
Upon entering the cell, I was beaten by the inmates. The prison guards tried to force me to work, but I refused and continued to do the Falun Gong exercises daily. I told them, "I am not a prisoner, I practise 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance,' and I did not do anything wrong." A guard surnamed Wang and nicknamed King of Xinjiang, slapped and kicked my face. The practitioners in the other cells all shouted, "The police are not allowed to beat people!"
After I explained the truth of Falun Gong to the prisoners every day, many of them became kinder and supported my practising. Some requested to learn Falun Gong from me. Some prisoners said, "If I practised Falun Gong earlier, I would not do so many bad deeds." A month later, my sisters and I were transferred to the Xinzhuang Town Public Security Sub-bureau. However, after more than ten days of detention there, we were transferred back to the Zhaoyuan Detention Centre again. After being transferred six times in over eight months, the three of us were detained for a month in a secret prison set up by the Xinzhuang Town government.
2) Beaten for Unfurling a Banner on Tiananmen Square
In early October 2000, several fellow practitioners and I went to Beijing to unfurl a banner on Tiananmen Square and shout out, "Falun Dafa is great!" I was able to shout, "Falun Dafa is great! Falun Dafa is a righteous practice Restore my Teacher's innocence! Restore Falun Dafa's innocence!" Four policemen underneath the national flag quickly ran over and beat me and grabbed my banner. They hit my mouth with their fists and palms, causing my mouth to swell. However, I did not stop shouting. At that time, more than ten of us practitioners were able to unfurl our banner that read "Falun Dafa is Great!" The police were mad and roughed up the practitioners. We were later dragged into the police car while we were beaten.
Persecution Suffered in 2001
1) Brutal Torture by the Changchun City Police Officers
On October 1st, 2001, I went to Changchun Culture Square to release a ten-metre-long banner attached to a big balloon that read "Falun Dafa is Great," "Falun Dafa is the righteous practice" and "Restore my Teacher's Reputation." This was the only type of method I could use to speak up for Falun Gong, as all the media in the entire country is controlled by the CCP, so no media dared to say any fair words for Falun Gong.
At the Culture Square, I was arrested by Changchun City police officers. I saw many practitioners detained in the city bureau. A policeman surnamed Liang put me into the car and drove for two hours before arriving at a place. I was taken to a room and the cloth covering my head was taken off. Immediately I could feel a gloomy, suffocating-type of atmosphere. A tiger bench2 was in the room and the wind blew in the mountain. Liang pulled off all my clothes, pushed me onto the "tiger bench," and cuffed my hands to two sides of a wooden stick that was behind my back. They inserted an iron rod in front of my chest, and between my thigh and calf. Both sides of the rods were fixed onto the bench and each leg was tied with a rope, so that my body was tightly fixed to the tiger bench.
Chief Liang had a sharp knife that was one foot long in his hand. He rubbed it twice on his pants and threw it on the table, ferociously saying, "Zhang Zhikui, even if I kill you today and dig a hole to bury you in, no one would know." What he said was true because I had heard that many practitioners were persecuted to death and buried here.
At that time, a tall man about thirty years old came in. Liang pointed at that person and said, "He graduated from a medical college and he will take good care of you." Then he left. The tall man asked me, "Do you have any diseases?" I answered, "Before I practised Falun Gong, I had a heart disease and hepatitis. All my illnesses disappeared after I practised Falun Gong. The government is wrong in persecuting Falun Gong." He angrily said, "Shut your mouth!" and then left. Only after the exposure of organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners in Chinese labour camps, did I recall this incident and finally understand why I was asked those questions.
After the man left the room, two guards grabbed my hands, which were fixed to the rod behind my back. Then they swung my hands over my head to my abdomen and vice versa. They repeated this torture many times, and I could hear the bones cracking. The pain was excruciating and I lost consciousness.
They poured cold water on me to wake me up, and then put a metal bucket over my head and fiercely pounded the bucket with a steel club. I thought my head was going to explode from the violent shaking and harsh sound of the bucket.
After that, they force-fed me a bottle of white wine because they knew that Falun Gong practitioners do not drink alcohol.
Each policeman lit a cigarette and ceaselessly burned my chest and back, leaving a hole that was deep into my bones. I continuously fainted, and each time they poured cold water on me.
They then tortured my whole body with a high-voltage electric baton that had a one inch long steel head at the top. They tortured every part of my body for a long period of time. The pain caused me to lose consciousness. I could not remember how many times I fainted and how many times I woke up from the cold water poured on me.
They also burned my whole body with candles. After my skin was burnt, they poured wax oil into the holes caused by the burning. The smell of burning skin was so strong that it choked you. In order to get rid of the burnt smell in the room, they poured alcohol onto my body.
The pain made my body tremble and jump, and I continuously swung around on the tiger bench. My entire body was bloody. The evil police began saying extremely obscene words and pointed at my penis, "Now we'll destroy this for you."
Then they used the electric batons to shock my penis and an iron club to smash it. I lost consciousness. I do not know how long it was before they woke me up with cold water.
After nearly twenty hours of continuous torture, my entire body was covered with blood. The bone and muscle on my ankles was exposed from the painful twisting of my body. They showed me a newspaper, but my eyes could not see anything. I also felt muddle-headed. Because I could not see, I assumed that the newspaper had articles that defamed Teacher and Dafa, so I would say on and off, "He is our Teacher, I can't denounce him." They loudly said, "Take a good look at it!" I looked again, and knew it was a normal paper. They threw away the paper, untied the hoops that affixed me to the tiger bench, and pushed me together with the bench out of the room. The wind echoed in the mountain. The weather in the Northeast was already below freezing. I was completely naked and my body trembled, but I was not sure whether it was due to the cold or the pain. The policemen brought two buckets of cold water and poured it over my head several times. Then they all went into the room. After over half an hour, they came out and saw that I was still alive. So they pushed me and the bench inside. The day had broken.
I was at my last gasp of breath when they brought me back to the city bureau. There were many small rooms there, and each room had a tiger bench with a Falun Dafa practitioner on it. All the practitioners that I saw were unconscious, and the lower halves of their bodies were naked, and covered by a cloth.
2) Persecuted in Tiebei Detention Centre in Changchun
In the morning, they sent me to the Tiebei Detention Centre in Changchun. However, the centre did not accept me initially after they checked my body. Due to pressure from higher authorities, the detention centre eventually took me in. I was extremely emaciated, but I was still forced to sit every day in the detention centre. If I did not sit up properly, the criminals would beat and kick me. At night, two to three "head" prisoners occupied the sleeping space of seven to eight people and had four to five quilts underneath them. They were also served by other prisoners each day. Those inmates who were close to them had a relatively comfortable sleeping bed. As for the rest of us, we were squeezed to the point that it was difficult to breathe and every one held a pair of feet. No one was able to turn from side to side or lay on their back. My body was full of injuries. That painful torture was difficult to imagine. In order to protest the persecution, I went on a hunger strike. On the fifth day, they stopped persecuting me. At that time, I had already been detained and persecuted for over forty days.
3) Tortured and Persecuted in Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp in Changchun
Later, they sent me to the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp in Changchun. I was detained in Division 5. As soon as I arrived there, the prison guard ordered the other prisoners to force me to squat, and then they cruelly beat me with wooden sticks without reason. As a result, they beat me with their fists and kicked me for a long period of time. They dragged me to the restroom, claiming they needed to wash me. They pulled off all my clothes and in the cold weather of minus ten degrees, the police ordered the prisoners to pour cold water on me. The cold water choked me, nearly suffocating me. I fainted onto the ground. I do not know how long it was before they dragged me back to the cell.
The labour camp detained at least 500 practitioners at that time. In order to protest the detention, I could only conduct a hunger strike (over ten practitioners went on a hunger strike with me). On the third day of the hunger strike, the labour camp warden lead over twenty prison guards to Division 5 and "roughed up" the practitioners who were hunger striking by beating and kicking us. Afterwards, they separated us into different divisions.
I was sent to Division 1, which was the most ruthless and evil place in persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners. Under the prison guards' instigation, prisoners Xu Hui, Shi Lei and "Three Monkeys" (the nickname given by other prisoners - I do not know his real name) cruelly persecuted the practitioners. They said, "Before you came to Division 1, two Falun Dafa practitioners died from being tortured. We are not responsible for killing them. A male practitioner over 60 years old (who used to be a section chief in a department) refused to wear the prisoner's uniform. As a result, they beat him with a club, a plank and a sole until he was at his last breath and became disfigured. Falun Dafa practitioners in Division 1 have all experienced this type of torture.
Every day, they forced us to get up at 3:00 a.m. Because we were forced to sleep naked at night, when we got up, we had to slowly get our clothes, bending at the waist, quietly walk out of the room, and put our clothes on in the corridor. If we made a bit of noise, we would be brutally tortured with an iron club and kicked in the head and waist, causing you to be unable to get up. After putting on our clothes, practitioners had to squat in the corridor until it was breakfast time. Most of the time, we had breakfast in the restroom. Each practitioner was monitored by the prisoners. We were not allowed to talk to each other, and even speaking one sentence would result in a merciless beating.
Every day, besides the time that I ate or used the toilet, I was forced to sit up straight with my head raised and my eyes wide open in the sun. I was not able to move at all or I was beaten. After breakfast, inmate Xu Hui and several other inmates would put on shoes with a hard sole. If practitioners did not sit up straight, moved their bodies or slightly shut their eyes from the glaring sunlight, they would kick the practitioner's back with their shoes, and then pull the practitioner onto the ground and ceaselessly beat them.
This kind of torture occurred many times during the day. It was like this day and night. However, it was worse at night. The practitioners who were tortured for the whole day feared going to sleep at night because if anyone made any noise at night, he was kicked in the head. This type of pain and fear can not be expressed with human language. As a result of this fear, several practitioners would sit up during the night with fear in their eyes.
At that time, I continuously coughed at night, and was constantly beaten. In such a painful environment and suffering from excruciating pain, the thought of death came into my mind. However, I could not commit suicide because the evil doers would only use it to damage Dafa.
During the afternoon and evening, practitioners did not dare to drink water because they were not allowed to use the restroom. One time, I could not endure it and went to use the toilet at night. After I came back to the cell, Xu Hui beat me down onto the ground and he viciously stomped on my head and abdomen. I was in and out of consciousness. I felt my brain was doubled in size. My skull also cracked from the stomping and blood flowed out from my ears. All of my teeth became loose from the beating. One of my teeth was knocked out and my kidney was dislocated. I could not move for many days after the beating.
One practitioner from Baishan City accidentally had a bowel movement in his pants because he was not allowed to use the restroom. Another practitioner named Sui Futao, over 20 years old died from being tortured because he hid Teacher's articles inside a quilt. After the other inmates found out about the articles, he was beaten more than fifty times on the back with a one-metre-long hardwood board while two prisoners held each of his arms outward. Several days later, this practitioner died from the torture.
Their ways of persecuting practitioners are very cruel. They force practitioners to bend down 90 degrees at the waist with their heads against the wall, while the prisoners fiercely kicked the practitioners' buttocks. This also caused the practitioners' head to bump against the wall. During this torture, practitioners are not allowed to move for a long period of time, so many practitioners lost consciousness and fell onto the ground.
Due to limited space, I have not been able to go into many details. However, if the opportunity arises in the future, I will testify.
Note
1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
2. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/6/1/129388.html
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