Husband Arrested 10 Times; Wife Sentenced to Forced Labour Four Times

Mr. Zhang Dianguo is a Falun Gong practitioner in Yi County, Liaoning Province. Around 5 pm on June 29th, 2008, seven or eight policemen from the County Domestic Security Division broke into his home and arrested him and his wife Guo Guixiang. Zhang Guodian had just returned from a trip to Jinzhou City where he purchased some medicine for his home clinic. Those involved in his arrest were Domestic Security Division Head Jiang Cheng; deputy head Liu Haizhi; political head Wang Ning and the policemen Ma Jian, Bi Jianguo, Zhou Hualai, and Feng Weidong.

Around 6 am the next morning, Zhang Dianguo and three others were sent to wash the Domestic Security Division's cars. Zhang Dianguo took this opportunity to escape, but didn't return home, knowing he would certainly be arrested. This was the tenth time that he had been arrested. His wife Guo Guixiang was sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, the fourth time she has been subjected to forced labour. Her suffering has gone on for nine years.

Zhang Dianguo and his wife have been repeatedly arrested, detained and sentenced to forced labour over the course of the last nine years. They have been also blackmailed out of nearly 60,000 yuan¹.

On the morning of July 20th, 1999, Zhang Dianguo was just coming home from group exercises when more than 10 police from the Chengdong Police Station and the Politic and Security Division surrounded his home. His home was raided. He was arrested and detained at the Chengdong Police Station. He was interrogated by Zheng Zhongcheng, deputy of the County Political and Security Division and was released the next day, late at night.

On August 7th, 1999, Zhang Dianguo was once again arrested by the head of No.1 Division of Jinzhou City Police Department. He was detained at the Yi County Government Guest House (a cover for a detention centre). They privately interrogated and tortured him. He was forced to stand straight for long hours and was not given any food. This interrogation lasted over 18 hours. He was finally allowed to leave at noon the next day.

In the middle of September, 1999, when Zhang Dianguo was delivering Falun Gong materials in the countryside, he was arrested. He was detained at the county detention centre for 15 days of administrative detention plus 22 days of criminal detention. Yang Yuxiang and Zhang Guozhong from the Politic and Security Section of the Yi County Police Department interrogated him. He was brutally beaten. Even though he was given only meager supplies of food, he was charged 360 yuan for food when he was released (the standard fee is 90 yuan). He had to pay a 3000 yuan "deposit," 2000 yuan to the Town Police Station, and 1000 yuan to the Street Administration Office. He was not given any receipts for his payments.

On October 27th, 1999, after Zhang Dianguo and his wife went to Beijing to appeal, they were arrested and detained at the Chengdong Police Station for 53 days (28 days of criminal detention term and 25 days of administration detention term). Yang Yuxiang, Head of the County Politic and Security Section blackmailed the couple out of 5000 yuan. Before releasing them, he demanded more money: 4000 yuan and a 1440 yuan "food fee."

In October 2000, Cai Ruli, Yizhou Town Party Committee head, sent the temporary town government head Li, to monitor Zhang Dianguo and his family. Zhang and his family were under house arrest 24 hours a day for 22 days. There were three people staying with them in the daytime and two people at night inside Zhang's home. There were also other people coming and going outside. Zhang's family life was completely disrupted. They were forced to sleep on the floor while the people monitoring them would sleep in their beds. They would be followed even when they went to the market. The head of the Street Administration Office, Liang Dan, came to harass them every day and frequently reported on their status to higher officials.

In November 2001, with the cooperation of the police from the Chengdong Police Station and County Politic and Security Section Head Yang Yuxiang, policemen Li and Zhang from the Criminal Division of the Nongan County Police Department arrested Zhang Dianguo. He was transferred to Nongan County by car. Over the 500 km long journey in the car, the police tortured him by pushing against his chest with their legs and elbows. The entire time he was kept handcuffed with both hands behind his back. The handcuffs were so tight that they cut through his flesh. He still has the scars from this. He was detained at the Nongan County Detention Centre for 18 days. He suffered greatly as he was twice brutally beaten by the police and had to endure several forceful interrogations. He was forced to labour, but was only given two buns and some steamed potato and rotten radishes to eat every day. He slept on the damp concrete floor with only a grass rug to cover himself. During this same year his wife Guo Guixiang was sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

In August 2002, Zhang Dianguo was working with fellow practitioners from other cities on Falun Gong projects. Since the fellow practitioners were followed, he was exposed and arrested. The people involved in his arrest were Li Xiejiang from Jinzhou City 610 Office², Zhang from Jinzhou City National Security Division, Zhang Yanfu and Wang Zhanlin from Yi County Police Department. Zhang Dianguo was detained in the County Politic and Security Division and was brutally interrogated throughout the night. Li Xiejiang, Zhang Yanfu, Wang Zhanlin, Li Cunyu, Zhou XX, Jin Xuemin, Wang Jinlin and all the police in the division participated in this interrogation. Zhang Dianguo's home was raided. His personal property valued at 6336 yuan were stolen without any legal papers being shown. He was detained 11 days and was blackmailed 15,000 yuan.

Because of the Party 16th National Congress, on October 24th, 2002, 83 practitioners in Yi County including Zhang Dianguo were arrested. The practitioners' homes were raided. They were detained for 23 days. Xi Guilang, deputy of the Yi County Police Department, Yang Baomin, the Head of the Law Enforcement Section, and Li Cunyu, Head of the Politic and Security Division blackmailed these practitioners out of between 3000 yuan and 30,000 yuan each.

Around 11 pm on September 24th, 2003, Zhang Dianguo's wife Guo Guixiang was arrested at home. She was sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

On November 10th, 2003, Yi County police started a wide-scale arrest of practitioners in the county. At 6:30 pm, led by Li Zishen, Deputy of the Town Police, over 10 police in three police cars, broke into Zhang Dianguo's home. They raided his home and messed up everything.

At that time, his wife Guo Guixiang was still being detained in Masanjia Labour Camp. Her term was extended three months. She suffered so much that her weight dropped from 80 kg to 50 kg. Zhang Dianguo had to take care of the family alone.

After Chinese New Year in 2004, Guo Guixiang was released from Masanjia after serving two terms of forced labor that lasted three years. However, not long after she came back home, her husband Zhang Diaguo was arrested again on April 2nd, 2004, and was sentenced to one year of forced labour. He was detained at Jinzhou Forced Labor Camp and was released in October 2006.

Guo Guixiang was being closely watched and was followed by police from the Jizhou Town Police Station. On September 25th, 2004, she was arrested and detained at the County Detention Centre. After a long hunger strike of more than 20 days, she was carried to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, but because of her terrible physical condition, the labour camp refused to take her. They had to let her go. However, two months later, just after she recovered, on January 5th, 2005, Wang Dianhong from the Yi County Police Department, Li Cunlei from Yizhou Town Police Station arrested Guo Guixiang from her home and sent her to Masanjia Labor Camp. She was finally released on March 2nd, 2007.

Over the last nine years, Zhang Dianguo was arrested and detained ten times, was sentenced to forced labor once, and was blackmailed out of nearly 60,000 yuan. His wife Guo Guixiang was arrested and detained six times, and sentenced to forced labour four times. Recently, the couple have just returned home from the labour camps, but, in the name of "protecting the Olympic Games," police arrested the couple once again. One of them is again in a forced labour camp, and the other escaped but is unable to return home without being arrested yet again.

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/2008/9/20/186217.html