Mr. Li Zhigang Tortured During Interrogation and Detained for Over Six Months

Name: Li Zhigang
Gender: Male
Age: 38
Address: Baijiabao Residential Area, Nangang District, Harbin
Occupation: Unknown
Date of most recent arrest: Feb. 28th, 2009
Most recent place of detention: Nangang District Detention Centre in Harbin
City: Harbin
Province: Heilongjiang Province
Persecution suffered: Beatings, force-feeding, physical constraint
Key Persecutors: Wang Liguo, Zhou Songbin

Falun Gong practitioner Li Zhigang from Harbin was arrested, together with seven other friends, by the police at his home. He was severely tortured and is now showing symptoms of serious tuberculosis. His genitals are badly infected from the torture and he is being given unknown drugs.

On February 28th, 2009, while Mr. Li was having a get-together with some friends at home, Li Shuxin, an agent from the 610 Office¹ in Harbin, and Wang Liguo, leader of the Nangang District Domestic Security Division, along with Fan Xiangrui, Han Xiuwen, as well as Ma Liang, head of the local police station, Wang Shaojie and Ma Sai, deliberately banged on heating pipes and set off firecrackers to make loud noises to cover up their forced entrance into Li Zhigang's home by breaking down the burglar-proof door. They arrested eight people, including Li Zhigang, lawyer friend Wei Liangyue, and his wife Du Yongjing (they were released on bail after being detained for a month), Ms. Bao Huihong (released on bail the same day as she was still breast-feeding her baby), Lin Xuejun (detained for 15 days and fined 1000 yuan²), Li Xu (detained for 15 days and fined 1000 yuan), Liu Deli (detained for 15 days and fined 1000 yuan) and Shi Yong (detained for 15 days and fined 1000 yuan).

The persecutors then called Shao Liqing, the party secretary of Baijiabao Community in Nangang District, Yang Li and Yang Guozhi to come and help confiscate Li's personal belongings, including Falun Gong books, a picture of the Falun Gong founder, a desktop computer, a laptop computer and a van.

At midnight on March 1st, 2009, Mr. Li was transferred to the Nangang District Detention Centre in Harbin for further maltreatment. In early March 2009, Mr. Li was taken to the "transformation³ " school of the 610 Office in Songbei District by Zhou Songbin, Han Xiuwen and others from the Domestic Security Division, for interrogation and torture. These officers violently hit Mr. Li with their fists, kicked him, and slapped his face repeatedly. They then forced him to sit on a metal chair and poured water mixed with hot pepper and green mustard oil into his nostrils. The green mustard oil is very hot and one can only take a very small quantity diluted with water and vinegar, otherwise it will cause the person to choke with tears pouring down their face. In this case, the officers poured undiluted green mustard oil into Mr. Li's nostrils to torture him.

Mr. Li refused to give up his belief, and the police kept torturing him until he started to run a high fever and his genitals became badly infected. He was then sent to the Harbin Infectious Disease Hospital for a check up and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The police lied to his family, saying it was only a lung infection. The infection of his genitals became very serious so the police ordered a number of inmates to take off Li's trousers and apply an unknown drug to his genitals. Every day, Mr. Li is in great pain and suffering, but the police still refuse to release him.

The Nangang District Court once notified Mr. Li's family members and his lawyers in Beijing that Li Zhigang would be brought to trial on June 22nd, 2009. However, after the lawyers travelled thousands of miles to get to the court in Harbin, they were told by case officer Song Chengzhang that the authorities (the 610 Office and the Political and Judiciary Committee) had given a last-minute notice saying this was a special case, and the trial was cancelled that day. They said the lawyers could now photocopy the legal documents (the lawyers had asked to do this many times before, but were denied access to any documents of the case). The lawyers were also warned not to give the photocopies to the media or publish them on the internet.

As of this writing Mr. Li Zhigang is still detained at the Nangang District Detention Centre.

Relevant persons responsible for the maltreatment of Li Zhigang:

Shao Liqing, CCP party secretary of the Baijiabao Residential Area, Yang Li, Yang Liguo
Baijiabao Residential Area: 86-451-87086057, 86-451-89608383
Wang Liguo, division head of the Nangang District Domestic Security Division: 86-451-87664311 (Office), 86-13354515677 (Mobile)
Ma Liang, station head of the Nangang Hexinglu Police Station: 86-451-86306288, 86-451-86318390, 86-451-87664288.

Related articles:
Harbin Police Torture and Fabricate Evidence against Mr. Li Zhigang
http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2009/6/8/108107.html

CCP Judge Obstructs Lawyers' Attempts to Defend Practitioner Mr. Li Zhigang
http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2009/7/8/109001.html

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.

3. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/9/6/207854.html