Practitioner Zhang Puhe of Heilongjiang Province Tortured to the Verge Of Death

Name: Zhang Puhe
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Qindeli Farm, Jiansanjiang Administration, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 25th, 2002
Most recent place of detention: Lianjiangkou Prison in Jiamusi City
City: Jiamusi City
Province: Heilongjiang Province
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, Electric Shock
Key Persecutor: Yang Jiuzhi

Mr. Zhang Puhe is from Qindeli Farm of Jiansanjiang Administration in Heilongjiang Province. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Chinese Communist regime, and is currently detained and being tortured at Lianjiangkou Prison in Jiamusi City. His life is in imminent danger.

On November 1st, 1999, Mr. Zhang went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and to attest the goodness of the practice. As a result, he has been constantly persecuted.

Two Years of Inhumane Forced Labour

Because he went to Beijing to appeal, Mr. Zhang was sentenced to two years of forced labour at Xigemu Forced Labour Camp in Jiamusi City. There, he was inhumanely tortured.

Mr. Zhang was cruelly beaten many times by the guards when he did the Falun Gong exercises. On one occasion, guard Xu Xingli, also the division director, punched Mr. Zhang's face and chest very hard, and captain Li slapped his face multiple times while captain Li Guojun and guard Liu took turns beating him with a leather belt until they got tired. One night, Mr. Zhang was simultaneously beaten by six guards.

During his detention in the first squadron of the first team, the guards frequently inspected Mr. Zhang's cell. If they found Falun Gong books, the guards beat every practitioner in the cell. Guard Yang Qingchao once punched Mr. Zhang's face more than ten times, causing it to immediately swell up. At that time, the guards also went to the dining hall of the first team and beat practitioners Du Wenfu and Du Wenji.

At another time, when practitioners Zhang Puhe, Shi Mengchang, Wu Chunlong, Du Changji, Liu Xixiang, and Liu Junhua were locked up together in the political instruction room, they studied the Falun Gong teachings together. When the guards found out, guard Wang Tiejun used an electric baton to shock Mr. Zhang's face and head. Guard Guo, also a division director, used a leather belt to beat Mr. Liu Junhua, causing his face to severely bleed.

On the morning of the Dragon Boat Day in May 2000, Mr. Zhang did the Falun Gong exercises. When guard Guo Zhenwei found out, he cursed and slapped Mr. Zhang's face. Other guards then tied his hands and legs to an "iron chair¹" and took turns beating and shocking him with electric batons. The beating continued until his face was beyond recognition and the flesh of his skin was coming off.

Due to the continuous torture he suffered, Mr. Zhang developed heart disease, anaemia, and colitis that developed into colon cancer. His weight also dropped from 176 pounds to less than 121 pounds. He was on the verge of death. Finally at this time the camp authorities released him on bail for medical treatment. His 65-year-old father had to travel thousands of miles to the forced labour camp to bring Mr. Zhang home.

Crimes Committed by the Qingdeli Farm Authorities

Former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee secretary Yang Jiuzhi of Qindeli Farm tried to force Mr. Zhang to give up his belief in Falun Gong. He instigated the local police to implicate Mr. Zhang's family. Under such pressure, Mr. Zhang's wife was coerced into divorcing him. The Qindeli Farm authorities then extorted 10,000 yuan² from his parents and elder brother, and confiscated their family business as well as his parents' retirement pension as a guarantee that Mr. Zhang would give up practising Falun Gong. After the forced labour camp inhumanely tortured Mr. Zhang the first time, they feared that he would die in the camp, so they released him to the Qindeli Farm authorities. Yang Jiuzhi then instigated officer Liu Dianzhen from the local police station to implicate his work unit. They forced the work unit's manager, secretary, accountant, and cashier to pay 10,000 yuan and used their job posts as guarantees in trying to force Mr. Zhang to give up his belief.

As Mr. Zhang did not want to cause difficulties for his family and colleagues, he left home and rented a place to live by himself. After the Qindeli Farm authorities found out, they told the police to arrest him. In February 2002, the authorities sentenced him to a second term of forced labour, even though his health was poor and he was extremely weak. Since he was sentenced on a Sunday, the police temporarily detained Mr. Zhang at Suihua Farm Detention Centre before taking him to Suihua Forced Labour Camp. At the detention centre, three guards beat him, causing his left ear to lose all hearing, and resulting in tinnitus in his right ear. The next day, he was sent to the forced labour camp, but the camp authorities refused to accept him because he failed the health exam. He was thus taken back to the detention centre. There, he was starved and fed only two small steamed buns each day.

Mr. Zhang managed to escape from the detention centre and was forced to live a homeless life.

Unjustly Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison and Tortured to the Verge of Death

On December 25th, 2002, Mr. Zhang was arrested again in Jiamusi City. At the time, he couldn't walk because the soles of his feet were frostbitten from when he escaped from the Qindeli Farm. The police nonetheless still interrogated and tortured him. He was later sentenced to ten years imprisonment at Jiamusi City's Lianjiangkou Prison.

In September 2003, guards Pei Gang, Guan Zhihui and Meng Jun (who was later fired by the authorities) from the second team of Lianjiangkou Prison, tortured Mr. Zhang. Guan Zhihui then ordered him to recite the prison rules. When Mr. Zhang refused, the guards used thirty-thousand volt electric batons to shock him all over his body. They also forbid him from speaking. Four inmates were ordered to monitor him around the clock. When Mr. Zhang still refused to recite the prison rules, the guards instigated inmates Li Chengtu, Feng Weizhi, Yang Jian, and Wang Xiaobin to beat his face, which swelled and had blue and purple bruises. Afterwards, every couple of days, the camp authorities found an excuse to curse and beat him. He was continuously monitored by other inmates around the clock.

In November 2007, the sixth ward utilised inmates to monitor Mr. Zhang. They didn't allow him to read any Falun Gong books or do the exercises, and they beat him frequently. His face often had scars and bruises. He began losing his appetite and sometimes he couldn't eat anything for and entire day.

In January 2008, Mr. Zhang was tortured until he lost control of his bladder and bowels. He often urinated in bed and needed others' help to walk.

In mid-January 2008, Mr. Zhang was sent to Jiamusi City Prison Hospital to get "treatment." Before he was hospitalised, he could still walk with others' help and speak clearly. However, after he was hospitalised for a month, he couldn't walk or speak clearly. Mr. Zhang is still imprisoned and being tortured at Lianjiangkou Prison. He is extremely weak and is on the verge of death.

We would like to appeal to international human rights organisations and all kind-hearted people to pay attention to Mr. Zhang Puhe's situation.

Perpetrators:

Jiamusi Prison Hospital: 86-454-8816120
Lu Yunqiang, deputy warden of Jiamusi City Prison, in charge of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners: 86-454-8816201, 86-13359639666 (Mobile)

Note

1. Iron Chair: The "Iron chair" is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time, see illustration at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/9/1/207519.html