An Outstanding Teacher in Hunan Province Arrested and Persecuted Six Times

Name: Lei Zhiyong
Gender: Male
Age: 41
Occupation: Teacher at the No.1 High School in Lanshan City, Hunan
Most recent place of detention: Changdejin City Prison, also called Cendan Farm
Date of Most Recent Release: June, 2008
Persecution Suffered: Detentions, Imprisonment, Forced Injections, Torture, Forced Feedings, Sleep Deprivation
City: Changde
Province: Hunan

Mr. Lei Zhiyong was a teacher at the No.1 High School in Lanshan City, Hunan Province. During the past ten years of the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), he has been arrested six times and sentenced to six years in prison. During his imprisonment, Mr. Lei was tortured, including injection with unknown pharmaceuticals, sleep deprivation, and forced feedings. He has been released from prison but is not allowed to return to his teaching position.

On June 25th, 2002, Mr. Lei was talking to people about the persecution of Falun Gong, including his personal experiences. After someone reported him to police officials, officers Huang Xiaolan, Li Jinsong, and their colleagues ransacked his home. He was taken to the police department and beaten, then taken to a county detention centre. He was released after 21 days. On August 23rd, over 20 police officers from the Procuratorate went to Mr. Lei's retail shop and returned him to the county detention centre.

On September 30th, Chen Xin, Tang Zhuguo, and Huang Junxing, all officials from the Lanshan CCP Court, went to the detention centre and sentenced Mr. Lei to six years in prison without a hearing or justification. Mr. Lei appealed to the Yongzhou Intermediate Court but received no response. On October 18th, he was transferred to Changsha Prison in the Lufengjian District.

While in Changsha Prison, Mr. Lei began a hunger strike to protest the detention. Nevertheless, officials used three criminals to force him to work eight hours a day over a two-month period.

On March 4th, 2003, Mr. Lei was transferred to Jingshi Prison in Changde City, where he endured many forms of torture as described below.

From 2003 to 2005, he had to work from 4:20 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the summer, and 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the winter, except for the days he was subjected to other forms of torture. During those long hours, he was only allowed three ten-minute breaks for meals each day.

On June 27th, 2004, leading officials in the prison, including Song Shuhong, Li Chuanhua, Wu Jianwei, and Huang Ying from the 610 Office¹, devised a plan to torture Mr. Lei. They started by asking a doctor to inject (an unknown) drug into Mr. Lei, then directed a group of criminals to torture him. First, the criminals humiliated him by shaving off his hair and then dressed him in the prison uniform. Then he was forced to run barefoot over the hot concrete pavement, with a 40-pound sandbag hanging from his neck. Finally, he was taken into an office, where four people, two on each side, pulled his legs apart. This leg-splitting torture was so painful that Mr. Lei fainted.

On January 27th, 2008, prison official Song Jianjun and 610 Office personnel Zhou Ningjun, Wang Yadong, Xin Jichang, Yang Wen, Xie Qingguo, and Huang Ying tried to force Mr. Lei to give up his Falun Gong practice. They directed four criminal inmates--Zhou Minfu, Xiao Wen, Xiang Jianping, and Zhou Wu--to torture Mr. Lei, promising them they would be rewarded with sentence reductions. During the first month, Mr. Lei was hung by his handcuffs outdoors and exposed to the winter wind during the day. He was not allowed to wash and had to remain handcuffs even as he slept. Then he was hung by his handcuffs on a window frame in the evenings for another week and was not allowed to lie down on his bed. He was then taken to a storage room and beaten severely with a broomstick. One inmate, Xiang Jianping, put salt water on his wounds, calling it a "disinfecting process."

The next day, they handcuffed Mr. Lei to a handrail in a hallway. He was forced to stand on one leg, with his other leg on a chair. The criminals took turns kicking his standing leg for over three hours. In the evening he was hung by his handcuffs on the window frame as they poured cold water on his head.

The following day, Song Jianjun and other officials, including Zhou Ningjun, Xin Jichang, Yang Wen, and Huang Ying, told the other inmates to bring Mr. Lei to his office. When Mr. Lei refused to admit any guilt, all the officials and criminal inmates gave him another beating. Two criminals used hammers to strike his feet.

Another day, with his hands bound and eyes covered, two criminals--one on each side--forced him to run across a playground repeatedly. Twelve criminals took turns to continue this torture. At the end of the day, Mr. Lei's feet were swollen and deformed.

Faced with the above inhumane treatment, Mr. Lei could only resort to a hunger strike in order to protest, but they continued to force-feed him.

In addition to the persecution listed above, Mr. Lei was arrested on the last day of 1999 at Tiananmen Square and taken to the Lanshan Detention Centre, where he was held for 72 days and fined one 1,600 yuan².

Mr. Lei and his wife were arrested on May 13th, 2000, and taken to the police department to sign a Guarantee Statement.

On December 18th, 2000, Mr. Lei and his wife were in their shop selling rice, when police officers arrested them, then detained them for ten days, claiming that they had "disturbed the social order."

On March 8th, 2001, while giving a lecture at school, Mr. Lei was taken away by police officers Lei You and Lei Jicheng from the Chengbei Police Station, and an education council member, Chen Guojiu. They took him to a brainwashing centre located inside the Lanshan Detention Centre.

On December 27th, 2001, Mr. Lei was arrested again and taken to the Lanshan Detention Centre. Officials declared that this was to prevent him from appealing to higher authorities.

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.

2. "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/2009/8/14/206517.html