Ms. Zhang Yuzhen's Arms and Hands Disabled from Torture

Ms. Zhang Yuzhen, 41, is a practitioner from Lidu Town, Jinxian County, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. On July 20th, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began the persecution of Falun Gong. At the end of July 1999, Ms. Zhang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and explain the facts about the practice to central government officials. She also participated in a press conference held by practitioners in Beijing. Later she was arrested and detained several times in Beijing. On November 10th, 2000, Ms. Zhang was sentenced to six years in prison in Beijing. In May 2001, she was taken back to the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison to serve her term. The prison guards brutally tortured her, causing her to lose the use of both hands.

During six years in prison, the prison guards made many attempts to force Ms. Yuzhen to renounce Falun Gong. They beat and berated her, confined her to solitary confinement, burned her with cigarettes, tied her up ¹ and forced her to endure exposure to the hot summer sun, depriving her of sleep, baths, and family visits. They handcuffed and shackled her and hung her up by the handcuffs. Her suffering was both physical and mental.

On June 13th, 2005, Zhang Yuzhen was moved from the Third Division to Room 406 in the solitary confinement building. Since she refused to renounce Falun Gong, guard Xiong Min often abused her physically and verbally. The torture made her feet severely swollen, causing great difficulty walking.

About 11:00 a.m. on September 19th, 2005, guard Xiong Min ordered criminal inmates Lei Donglian, Shu Yingjing, and Zhu Weiqing to drag Ms. Zhang outside and force her to stand in the direct sun until 3:00 p.m. Inmates Wang Xia, Xie Mingxia, Zhang Ruping, and others handcuffed her arms behind her back, tied a rope to the handcuffs, and pulled her up to hang her from the window bars. Inmate Shu Yingjing removed Ms. Zhang's shoes so that only her toes were able to barely touch the ground. While Ms. Zhang was suffering in great pain, Xiong Min released two inmates from solitary confinement and ordered them to berate her and swear at her. She dangled like this from 3:00 p.m. Until 2:00 a.m. the following day. Her arms and hands were crippled and she was in extreme pain. Because Ms. Zhang still refused to give up the practice of Falun Gong, guards Xiong Min and Wan Minying hung her up from the window bar again for over three hours and deprived her of food and water. This last torture caused severe swelling of her arms and disabled her arms and hands so severely that she was unable to take care of herself. Later, she was taken to the Jiangxi Province Forced Labour Camp Hospital. The doctor diagnosed that the soft tissue of her upper arms was severely damaged, her left shoulder was dislocated, her shoulders were infected, and she had high blood pressure, fever, and heart disease. After learning about her condition, Ms. Zhang's family went to the prison and asked to see her. The prison guards were afraid that their crimes would be discovered, so they denied the family's request. Her family appealed to the director of the Jiangxi Province Prison Bureau and the director of the Jiangxi Province Judicial Office but received no response.

On November 10th, 2006, when Ms. Zhang's term had ended, Yu Xiaodong, the director of the prison; Li Hui, the deputy director of the prison; prison guards Zhong Yunhua and Xiong Min; Party Secretary Wang; Director Zhao of the Jingxian County 610 Office²; and Director Tao and instructor Mao Baojie from the Lidu Police Station plotted together to have Ms. Zhang sentenced to three more years of forced labour. She was secretly taken to the Jiangxi Province Women's Forced Labour Camp. She still suffers shoulder, arm, and finger pain. Due to her disabled arms and hands Ms. Zhang cannot hold heavy objects and has difficulty taking care of herself. However, Lu, a division chief and Li, a section chief at the labour camp, force her to clean the toilets and deprive her of food and water until she is finished .

We are making a plea to kind people and organizations around world to come to the aid of Ms. Zhang and obtain her release from prison and persecution.

Contact information:

Yu Xiaodong, director of the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison: 86-791-3711687
Li Hui, deputy director of the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison: 86-791-3718728
Wang Minying, instructor of the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison: 86-791-3718706 or 3718707
Xiong Min, prison guard of the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison: 86-13870826499
Jingxian County 610 Office Party Secretary Wang and Director Zhao: 86-791-5622202

Note

1. Tying the ropes - one type of brutal torture, this refers to putting a thin nylon rope around the back of a person's neck and then wrapping it around both shoulders down to each arm loop by loop, and then over each hand. The rope is tightened to its limit and it cuts into the flesh. Both arms are forced behind the back and raised to the extreme and then both thumbs are tied with a rope and attached to the rope that goes around the back of the neck. The person tortured in this way is then kicked, forcing them to kneel down on the floor. The rope is released about an hour later, and then the person is tied up like this again a second time, then a third time...See photo illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/9/18/52553.html, and see pencil illustration http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/10/5/53164.html

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/8/28/184898.html