Mourning the Loss of Practitioner Zhang Dezhen

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Dezhen, 38 years old, was persecuted to death a few years ago by the Mengyin County 610 Office¹ in Shandong Province. A very good person died after suffering from continuous brutal persecution by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities. The people in her home town are often moved recalling her goodness. Her fellow practitioners are often moved to tears remembering her tribulations and suffering.

Zhang Dezhen

Zhang Dezhen's mother could not withstand the sorrow of losing her daughter. One day in 2003 summer, she went to the Mengyin County 610 Office alone to look for CCP official Lei Yancheng to appeal the justice for her daughter. Lei Yancheng hid and did not dare to see her. In the brainwashing centre run by the Mengyin County 610 Office, her mother cried sadly, "You give me back my daughter! You give me back my daughter!"

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Dezhen was a teacher at the Jiuzhai Middle School in Mengyin County. She was persecuted by CCP officials many times because she refused to give up her practice of Falun Gong. About September 20th, 2002, Ms. Zhang was arrested again in Daigu Town, Mengyin County and was detained at the Mengyin County Detention Centre by police from the Mengyin County National Security Team. Lei Yancheng, the director of the Mengyin County 610 Office at that time, used threats and lies to try to force Zhang Dezhen and other practitioners to give up their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. After he was firmly rejected by Zhang Dezhen, he secretly ordered police officers Bao Xitong, Tian Liegang and others to hit and kick Ms. Zhang, and brutally beat her with rubber sticks.

Zhang Dezhen maintained her belief in Falun Gong and staged a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The police brutally force-fed her more than ten times.

Under the conspiring of Lei Yancheng, detention centre chief Sun Kehai and Chinese Medicine Hospital Chair Guo Xingbao, detention centre prison doctor Wang Chunxiao and the doctors from the Mengyin County Chinese Medicine Hospital forcibly injected unknown drugs into Zhang Dezhen, which caused her life to be in great danger.

On January 31st, 2003, the doctors again injected the toxic drugs into Zhang Dezhen, which soon caused her death. She did not even have the chance to meet with her family again for the last time. She died at the age of 38.

The CCP officials were afraid that their crime would be exposed, so they immediately forged false evidence about Ms. Zhang's death. They lied to the Mengyin County CCP Committee, saying that Zhang Dezhen committed suicide. Then they lied to Zhang Dezhen's family, saying that she died of heart disease. They also threatened and beat Zhang Dezhen's brother Zhang Dewen and forced him to sign the cremation agreement. Then the police cremated her body hurriedly. The police also went to Zhang Dezhen's home town, ransacked her home and took away many of Zhang Dezhen's photos in order to eliminate proof of their wrongdoing.

After the atrocities happened, Zhang Dezhen's family and friends were both saddened and angry. They strongly requested the Mengyin County Judicial Department to punish the murderers according to the law. But several years have passed, and they still haven't had any response. The murderers still remain free.

Background: Zhang Dezhen's Story

In March 1997, Zhang Dezhen was found to have hepatitis B during a physical examination at Yishui Normal School. After many kinds of treatments, her health did not get better at all. She was desperate.

Just when she lost all hope, one of her relatives introduced Falun Gong to her. She started to practise Falun Gong. Gradually her sickness completely disappeared.

After the persecution started, in January 2000 Ms. Zhang went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. She was forcibly brought back to her home town by the Mengyin County police and was detained for two months. During her detention, the CCP officials from the Jiuzhai Town insulted, verbally abused her and beat her brutally. They even forced her to sit out in the snow during her menstrual period as a means to torture her.

In December 2000, Zhang Dezhen went to Beijing again to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested by the Mengyin County "610 Office" and was imprisoned at the brainwashing centre and the detention centre for more than four months. She was threatened by Li Zhiye (party secretary of the Mengyin County CCP Politics and Law Committee), Lei Yancheng (deputy director of the Mengyin County CCP Propaganda Department), Fang Simin (deputy director of the Mengyin County Military Department) and Xing Xianying (deputy director of the Mengyin County Women's Federation). Then she was brutally tortured physically and mentally by the Mengyin County 610 Office.

In April 2001, the Mengyin County 610 Office sentenced Ms. Zhang to three years' forced labour and imprisoned her in the Jinan City Women Forced Labour Camp. Thirteen days later, she was released because she did not pass the physical examination. The principal of the Jiuzhai Middle School and others continued to monitor her and harass her under orders from the authorities. She had to leave the school and her home town. In October 2001, Ms. Zhang and other practitioners went to Beijing again to appeal for Falun Gong.

In late October 2001, Zhang Dezhen was arrested by the security guard from Xiaoxiezhuang Mine while meeting with the local practitioners in Xintai. She was detained at the brainwashing centre of the Mengyin County 610 Office for more than three months, where she suffered brutal torture. Even her sister who went to visit her was also detained for more than a month. Zhang Dezhen staged a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was force-fed by the guards many times. Her oesophagus was injured by the feeding tube. Eventually, she could not take care of herself and her life was in great danger. Finally her family was allowed to take her back home. Since then, Ms. Zhang had to become homeless again in order to avoid the persecution.

In the span of three years, Zhang Dezhen suffered from countless tribulations and persecution by the CCP officials. Every time, she suffered unimaginable pain and sadness. But every tribulation made her all the more firmly believe in Falun Gong. When Ms. Zhang was arrested at Daigu Town, all of her friends and family members hoped she would be freed to reunite with her family and celebrate the coming Chinese New Year. But no one expected that the CCP officials had murdered her.

Her home town people can never see her beautiful figure walking by the brook again. They cannot hear her happy voice and laughter at the peach garden again. Her colleagues and students can still recall the sweet sound of her voice while teaching. Every year when the Chinese New Year approaches, people cannot help remembering her and shedding tears for her.

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.ca/mh/articles/2009/6/27/203522.html