Mr. Guo Zhiwei Severely Tortured in Jidong Prison

On August 2nd, 2008, Guo Zhiwei, a Falun Gong practitioner from Qing County, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, was abducted from his own electric sawing company by a group gang of unidentified people. After his family searched for him, they discovered that he had been taken by officers from Qingzhou Town Police Station and the Renqiu City People's Court, who had beaten him brutally. There were bruises all over his body. He was taken to Jidong Prison and placed in the Second Team that same day.

For over a month, Mr. Guo could not ingest food or water, and he is now in an extremely frail condition. While bedridden, he was tortured daily with force-feeding. He has suffered from fevers, stomach aches, diarrhoea, and low blood pressure. Currently, Jidong Prison Hospital (aka Nanyan Hospital) personnel are forced-feeding him and he is in critical condition. We appeal to everyone around the world to regard this matter with utmost concern.

This is the fifth time that Mr. Guo has been persecuted by the Shiyou Public Security Bureau and the Renqiu City People's Court.

Back on April 17th, 2005, he was reported to the authorities while distributing materials to explain the facts about the persecution in the No. 1 Airport staff residence at Huabei Petroleum. Officers from the Qingdong Police Station at the airport, including Chai Changyin, Zhang Heng, and a dozen others, forcibly took Mr. Guo to the Qingdong Police Station. For refusing to submit to the police's demands, he was brutally beaten by Chai and Zhang throughout the interrogation that lasted till early morning. Mr. Guo's entire body was bruised, his face was swollen, and he couldn't move his legs. Chai Changyin confiscated 600 yuan¹ from him. They handcuffed him to a heating pipe until noon the next day. He was then taken to the Bohai National Protection Team. Team Leader Chang Guorong yelled and ordered the creation of documents which would subject MR. Guo to intensified persecution. Mr. Guo was taken to the Jizhong Detention Centre where he was detained.

At Jizhong, Mr. Guo refused to submit to any of the police demands. He refused to do slave labour or memorize the prison rules. He began a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment. The police began to hang him up for beatings, but he did not give in. On the fourth day of his hunger strike, they began to torture him by brutally force-feeding him every two to three days. Only when he was on the brink of death did the police notify his family to take him home. They also exhorted 1,000 yuan from his family.

Five days after Mr. Guo returned home, he went to the Qingdong Police Station to ask that his money and personal belongings that were confiscated be returned. Chai returned everything except Mr. Guo's cash and denied taking the money. MR. Guo said, "How could you policemen do something like this? I will come back another day to demand it. I still have not recovered from the many injuries I incurred from your beating. I will report this to the Procuratorate."

Two days later, he went with his mother and brother to the police station to resolve the problem. The police station chief, Zhang Shengjun, also refused to return the cash. When they went downstairs, they met Chai. Mr. Guo's mother asked why Chai refused to return her son's money. Suddenly, Chief Zhang shouted from upstairs, "Leave Guo behind and lead the others away." Mr. Guo's mother and brother were pushed out of the building. Mr. Guo was manhandled to the Renqiu City Bohai Division and Jizhong Detention Centre for "stirring up trouble in the police station and threatening the police agents."

To protest his imprisonment and the false charges, Mr. Guo began a hunger strike. He refused to submit to any of the detention centre's rules. Deputy Chief Shi Chunyu and several other police agents tied him to a metal chair before force-feeding him. After eleven days of this torture, he had become very weak. The Bohai Division only released him after his family fervently demanded his release. The police again extorted money from his family.

Thereafter, officers with the Bohai Division Bureau and the Qingdong Police Station continued to deliver so-called "criminal evidence" to the Renqiu City Procuratorate, trying to increase the persecution of Guo Zhiwei. Police agents from Renqiu City also participated actively.

In November 2005 when Mr. Guo was at work, officers from Renqiu City's Bohai Division Bureau and the Qingdong Police Station showed up again. They took him to Jizhong Police Station, saying that they were acting under orders from Renqiu City People's Court. He underwent another hunger strike and suffered a myriad of tortures, including force-feeding for nine days. When he was taken home by his family, he was so thin and disfigured that they could barely recognize him.

On September 6th, 2007, under the instigation of the Renqiu City Procuratorate and the People's Court, the Bohai Division Bureau, the Qingdong Police Station, and the Third Team from the Qing County Police picked Mr. Guo up while he was on his way home. He was taken to the Third Team. All of his Falun Gong books and leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong were taken away as "evidence." It was given to Qingdong Police Station officials. Police Chief Zhang Shengjun and officers Chai Changyin and Zhang Heng brought a warrant from the court for Guo Zhiwei to sign it. He tore it apart and said, "This is illegal, I don't acknowledge this." The police from Qingdong handcuffed him and took him to Jizhong Detention Centre. There, they tried to force him to sign the arrest warrant, but him once again tore it up.

A week later, when Guo had been tortured so severely that he could not walk, he was carried to the state-controlled court. A "trial" was convened in which his many "crimes" were listed. The fabricated "evidence" compiled by the Qingdong Police Station was greatly exaggerated. Mr. Guo's condition rendered him immobile, which the court used against him. The court accused him of violating the court rule that he had to stand up when called upon and gave him a heavy sentence. A week later, the court sentenced him to six years and six months of imprisonment.

Mr. Guo returned home safely within a week due to the support of voices of justice outside China.

Persons involved in the persecution:
Jidong Prison, Tangshan City, Hebei Province:
Prison Chief Song Chenliang: 86-13930530566 (Mobile), 86-315-8327666 (Office)
Peng Yanjie, formerly of the 610 Office, Political Committee member: 86-13903157108 (Mobile) 86-315-8327888 (Office)
Song Yue, 610 Office Disciplinary Committee Secretary: 86-13503150211(Mobile), 86-315-8327668(Office)
Second Team of Jidong Prison:
Liu Xiaozhou, Team Leader: 86-13582902899 (Mobile), 86-315-8313388 (Office)
Hu Zemin, Political Committee: 86-13931531700(Mobile), 86-315-8313398 (Office)

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/9/5/185342.html