After Two Family Members Were Tortured to Death and Her Savings Taken, Ms. Zhang Yulan Was Arrested Again

Ms. Zhang Yulan was arrested by the local police at about 11:00 a.m. on November 28th, 2007, in Jiangyuan District of Baishan City, Jilin Province. Sun Jinghui, team leader of the Domestic Security Brigade, led eight or nine police officers to Ms. Zhang's home, where they arrested her, ransacked her home, confiscated a Falun Gong book and materials. The police officers also claimed that they would not return her bank deposit book that they had confiscated, which has access to 10,000 yuan¹ in her bank account. This was her living allowance provided to her by her children. No one knows where Ms. Zhang was taken.

On January 8th, 2003, Ms. Zhang Yulan's father, Mr. Zhang Quanfu, 65, was tortured to death in the Changchun City Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp. Ten days later, on January 19th, her brother, Mr. Zhang Qifa, was tortured to death at the same place. He was only 38 years old. Both Mr. Zhang Quanfu and Mr. Zhang Qifa were employees of the Jiangyuan County Forest Bureau. In February 2000, they went to Beijing to appeal to the government about Falun Gong. They were sentenced to one and a half years and two years imprisonment, respectively, and were detained and tortured in the Baishan City Forced Labour Camp. On the evening of March 6,th 2002, 14 days after Mr. Zhang Qifa was released from the forced labour camp, police officers took him and his father away again and put them in the Changchun Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp, where they were tortured to death. The day before Mr. Zhang died as the result of torture, guard Li Zhong cruelly beat him and handcuffed him to a bed rail so that he was in a position that left him unable to stand, squat, or sit down.

Ms. Zhang was an employee at a manufacturing factory in Baishan City, Jiangyuan County. In 2000, she was sentenced to a three-year term at the Changchun Women's Forced Labour Camp. There she was forced to do hard labour and was often required to work until midnight. She was shocked with electric batons, subjected to corporal punishment, and watched by inmates. She was also dismissed from her job. Her mother, Ms. Jiao Yongzhi, was sentenced to the forced labour camp for one year in 2000. She had to do hard labour at the Changchun Women's Forced Labour Camp also. Later, her low-income welfare allowance was discontinued.

On the morning of June 8th, 2007, people from the Jiangyuan County Police Station arrested Ms. Zhang and her mother ,Ms. Jiao, and they also ransacked their home, confiscated some leaflets exposing the persecution, a computer, a printer, some other items, and a deposit book that had access to 10,000 yuan. On June 8th, when Ms. Zhang was imprisoned, she went on a hunger strike to resist the persecution. On June 11th her family came to pick her up and take her home. It was said that Ms. Zhang was released because she was on probation. Her mother, Ms. Jiao, was released a few days after her daughter was released.

After they came home, both mother and daughter demanded that both the Domestic Security Brigade and the 610 Office² give their stolen money back. However, the money was not returned, and Ms. Zhang Yulan was threatened and then put under close surveillance. Therefore, the authorities would have knowledge of Ms. Zhang's whereabouts, what she was doing, what she said on the phone, and who she talked to on the street.

Ms. Zhang has now been arrested again, and her mother, who is 68 years old, is home alone without anyone to care for her.

Sun Jinhui, team leader of Jiangyuan District Domestic Security Brigade in Baishan City of Jilin: 86-13894739969 (Mobile)

Chu Bingwu, head of Jiangyuan District 610 Office: 86-13843960055 (Mobile)

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

2. "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/2007/12/2/167597.html