Husband Almost Loses Eyesight after Eight Years in Prison--Wife Arrested Again

Name: Zhang Ying
Gender: Female
Age: 39
Address: #13-502, Building 210, South Great Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai
Occupation: Unknown
Date of most recent arrest: September 8th, 2009
Most recent place of detention: Changning District Detention Centre in Shanghai
City: Shanghai
Persecution suffered: Detention, Torture, Interrogation, Beatings, Physical Constraint, Electric Shock, Forced Labour, Force-Feedings
Key persecutors: Wei Liguang, Chen Hao, Yang Ying

On the afternoon of September 8th, 2009, the police arrested Ms. Zhang Ying at her in-law's home. When her in-law asked the police why they were arresting her and ransacking their home, and if they had any legal justification, Yang Ying, one of the police officers answered, "We are arresting her for interrogation and investigation. The proof will be found eventually."

Ms. Zhang Ying

Ms. Zhang Ying is 39 years old and she is from Shanghai. This was her fourth arrest. Mr. Lan Bing, Ms. Zhang Ying's husband, was sentenced to ten years in prison and had almost lost his eyesight after eight years of imprisonment at the Shanghai Lanqiao Prison. He was released a few months ago.

Ms. Zhang and Mr. Lan were arrested together in 2001, shortly after they got married. Ms. Zhang was tortured and interrogated for seven days and nights when she was detained in the Shanghai Minhang District Police Department. The police held her face against the ground and handcuffed her hands behind her back. One officer held his knee against her back while another pulled the handcuffs up. They also slapped her, pulled her hair, and lashed her with belts. They tied her whole body up as well. Her wrists were terribly swollen.

Ms. Zhang was later sent to the Minhang District Detention Centre. She was handcuffed at all times for more than two months until she was transferred to the labour camp. While she was holding a hunger strike to protest, she was handcuffed to a window bar for 17 days.

At the labour camp, she held a hunger strike again to protest the persecution, and was brutally tortured by guards. She was hung up on the window bars by her wrists, which were handcuffed behind her back, not allowed to take any toilet breaks, and forced to do hard labour. They also put electric batons into her mouth to shock her month.

Ms. Zhang's second arrest happened six months after her release from the labour camp. When she went to the Dachang Police Station to take care of her residency registration, the deputy director of the police station, Yang (first name unknown), arrested her on the spot. He also called agents from the 610 Office¹ to come and interrogate her. Since Ms. Zhang refused to answer any questions, she was sent to the Baoshan District Detention Centre for 15 days of detention. At the detention centre, she started a hunger strike but was force-fed. She was handcuffed to a steel door and forced to stand in water. The tube inserted into her nose for force-feeding was left there. That night, when she was too tired to stand, she was allowed to sit but still forced to sit in the water, while remaining handcuffed to the door. She was very cold on the October nights and could not sleep in the awkward position and with the tube in her nose.

A few days later, she was too weak to stand. She laid down on a wooden board all day and was not able to eat or drink. She was unrecognizable.

Fifteen days later, the police sent her to the Shanghai Huangpu Brainwashing Centre. She was left on the the floor with a high fever. Five days after she was admitted, her parents and her mother-in-law visited her. When they saw her, her face was without any colour and they could not recognize her. Her parents cried out and urgently requested her release. Her father had had a stroke a few days before due to worrying about her. Ms. Zhang requested her release as well. The police had no choice but to agree.

On the morning of September 24th, 2005, officials from the Baoshan District 610 Office arrested Ms. Zhang for the crime of "surfing the Internet." She was first detained at the Baoshan District Detention Centre. After she started a hunger strike, she was sent to the prison hospital. Her parents went to the detention centre a few times to ask for her release. But their requests were refused with various excuses.

Later, Ms. Zhang was sentenced to one year of forced labour and was incarcerated at the Qingpu Women's Forced Labour Camp. She again held a hunger strike but was brutally force-fed. She was seriously injured during the forced-feeding, and her health deteriorated quickly. She became emaciated and showed symptoms of high blood pressure and heart disease. She was unable to eat much every day. When she was sent to the Second Division of the labour camp, she was too weak to sit. However, she was still forced to sit on a small stool all day every day to do the required labour. She convulsed and passed out several times.

In September 2006, Ms. Zhang was released. However, the local police told her family to report her activities regularly. She was followed and monitored around the clock. Her family was harassed constantly, and she was not able to lead a normal life under the intense atmosphere.

Because her husband was being detained, Ms. Zhang had to take care of her parents as well as her in-laws. She tried really hard to find jobs. However, several times, right after she started working, the local 610 Office pressured her employers and she was laid off right away. Under the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution policy of cutting off practitioners' economic sources, Ms. Zhang was not able to make a living. She can barely afford to keep on living and subsists only through the help of kind friends and relatives.

Ms. Zhang's husband, Mr. Lan Bing, had suffered eight years of persecution at the Shanghai Tilanqiao Prison. He had high blood pressure and an eyeground haemorrhage. He almost lost his eyesight. After non stop rescue efforts by practitioners, he was released a few months ago. The young couple were finally reunited after many years of separation, but only until her re-arrest on September 8th, 2009.

Ms. Zhang's arrest was ordered by the Changning District State Security Division. The police officers who participated in the arrest included Wei Liguang, an officer from Changning District Police Department; Chen Hao and Yang Ying, officers from the Xianxia Road Police Station in the Changning District; officers from the Baoshan District State Security Division and the Butuo District State Security Division; and officials from the local residential committee.

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/2009/9/19/208629.html