Cangzhou City Resident Mr. Li Zhifa Suffers Mental Breakdown As a Result of Persecution

Mr. Li Zhifa, 61, is a resident of Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, and a man of good reputation. Because he follows the principles of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance, he was persecuted. He suffered a mental breakdown as a result of seven years imprisonment.

On July 27th, 2001, Mr. Li Zhifa was arrested while using a pay phone in the Cangzhou City No. 2 Hospital. Officers from the Cangzhou City Domestic Security Section and the Cangzhou City Riot Prevention Brigade conducted the arrest. During Mr. Li's two-week detention, the police handcuffed his hands and legs to an iron chair¹, deprived him of sleep, and took turns interrogating him. They beat him, and shocked him using electric batons. They poured water on him first, then shocked his body, his handcuffs, and his private parts. They hit his head with a mallet daily.

The brutal torture caused Mr. Li to become mentally disordered. He began to hurt himself, bite his own arms, and hit himself on the head. Even though he was in such a pitiful state, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members did not leave him alone. They transferred him to the Cangzhou City No.1 Detention Centre. The officers from the domestic security section and the Yunhe Police Department interrogated him many times. His wrists were mangled from being handcuffed behind his back daily in the detention centre.

On August 16th, 2002, the Cangzhou City Yunhe District Court (controlled by the CCP) sentenced Mr. Li Zhifa to seven years in prison. This is someone who had had a mental breakdown and had lost the ability to take care of himself. Mr. Li was so weak after all his suffering that he had to be carried into the courtroom.

In September 2002, Mr. Li was transferred to the 4th section of Jidong Prison in Tangshan City. There he was no longer physically tortured, but the guards kept trying to coerce him to "transform" (renounce his faith in Falun Gong).

During his years in the prison, his health was unstable. But by the end of 2006, his health had deteriorated noticeably. His body twitched, his face lost colour, and his limbs contracted and were as cold as ice. He would break out in cold sweats. The guards had to send him to the 4th section hospital. They would not let his family visit.

Mr. Li's mother was in her 80s at the time. She had not seen her son for seven years. Worrying that the worst might happen to her son, she left home without others noticing. Her journey took her 130 miles from Cangzhou City to Tangshan City, 27 miles from Tangshan City to the Jidong Prison, and 19 miles from the prison headquarters to the 4th section hospital. Without sleep she transferred from train to bus, bus to taxi, to get to her son. But the guards at the hospital did not let her see him no matter how she begged. She cried all the way home.

After his family had made many such requests, the prison agreed to either reduce his prison term or release him for medical reasons. Tangshan Middle Court got the request and sent an officer to interview him. When asked his views on Falun Gong, Mr. Li said, "If Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance is not good, what could be good in the world?" The officer got angry, "You have not been 'transformed' yet." The officer complained to the prison section, and the effort to have his sentence reduced failed.

On July 4th, 2008, Mr. Li, who had by then developed high blood pressure and brain atrophy and had had a cerebral infraction and a seizure in prison, was released for medical reasons by the Hebei Province Prison Bureau. It was 23 days before the end of his full prison term. Bo Town 610 Office personnel instructed Waliwang Township Police Station officers to call his family and check on his whereabouts over and over again. The officers even went to Cangzhou City and demanded to see Mr. Li in person. His family was afraid that he would be persecuted yet again, so they hid him and refused to let them see him.

Mr. Li's health is still poor. He often has the same symptoms: his body twitches, his face loses color, his limbs contract and are as cold as ice. He says that there is something wrong with his brain. He has no strength, and he cannot find his way home when he goes out. He used to write calligraphy, but now even cannot remember the characters. A perfectly healthy person was destroyed by the persecution.

Individuals responsible:

Cai Hua, former secretary of the Cangzhou City Political and Judiciary Committee (in charge of the Falun Gong issue), chairman of the Cangzhou City Political Consultation Committee
Che Li, former director of the Cangzhou City Domestic Security Section (in charge of the Falun Gong issue)
Wang Lixin, former director of the Cangzhou City Riot Prevention Brigade (in charge of the Falun Gong issue)
Bai Zengxing, former deputy director of the Cangzhou City Yunhe District Police Department (in charge of the Falun Gong issue), political commissar of Dongguang County Police Department
Zheng Fujun, former director of the Cangzhou City Yunhe District Domestic Security Section (in charge of the Falun Gong issue), promoted to the Cangzhou City Police Department in 2003
Xu Zhaohe, former chief judge of No.1 Tribunals of the Yunhe District Court, director of Discipline Inspection Office of the Yunhe District Court: 86-317- 2129706 (Office), 86-13831750568 (Mobile)
Ma Chunsheng, former director of Cangzhou City No.1 Detention Centre
Song Chenliang, director of Jidong Prison: 86-315-8327666 (Office), 86-13930530566 (Mobile)

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://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/9/5/185344.html