Mr. Feng Zhen from Wuhai City Arrested Eight Times and Imprisoned for Seven Years

Name: Feng Zhen
Gender: Male
Age: 40
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Employee of labour service company affiliated with the Hubei Province Construction Company
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 7th, 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Fajiatai Prison
County: Shayang
Province: Hubei
Persecution Suffered: Sleep Deprivation, Forced Labour, Brainwashing, Beatings, Imprisonment, Solitary Confinement, Torture, Force-Feedings, Physical Restraint, Interrogation, Detention
Key Persecutors: Qiu Hanhua, Nian Jinwen, Gong Shuxiong, Xiao Tianbo

Mr. Feng Zhen, born in 1969, was an employee of the Labour Service Company affiliated with Hubei Province Construction Company. Since the persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20th, 1999, he has been arrested eight times and imprisoned for seven years due to his refusal to renounce Falun Gong.

1. Eight Arrests

1) On July 20th, 1999, about 10,000 practitioners went to the Hubei Province government office to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. On July 21st, 1999, many Falun Gong practitioners were arrested. They were arrested and sent home. Mr. Feng was arrested on the bus while on his way to appeal. He was detained in a suburban school and forced to register his name, address and workplace. He was released at about 5 a.m. on July 22nd.

2) On July 23rd, 1999, when Mr. Feng got back home after work, Qiu Haihua and several police officers from the Wuhai City Police Department First Division arrested him at the entrance gate of his home and detained him for 9 days. He was interrogated while under detention.

3) At the end of 1999, when Mr. Feng and his daughter travelled to Beijing for vacation, Qiu and other police officers again arrested him and detained him at the Wuhai City Second Detention Centre for 41 days. He was forced to attend brainwashing sessions. After his release, he was forced to report to the local police station every month. Later, the "People's Daily" and the "Chinese Youth Daily" published articles misinforming readers that he was "transformed¹."

4) At approximately 3 p.m. one day in May 2000 when Mr. Feng was working, Qu and several police officers arrested him. They confiscated his mobile phone and pager, and interrogated him until 2 a.m. the next day before releasing him. They also went to Xingzhou City and confiscated his brother's computer.

5) On September 13th, 2000, the police from the Shouguo Lake Police Station tricked him into going to the police station. The police officers from Hongwei Police Station in Qingshan District, Wuhai City took him away. His car was confiscated, and he was handcuffed the whole night at the police station. The next day, he was sent to the Qingshan District Detention Centre. A month later, he was sent to the Qingshan Town Wufeng Brainwashing Centre. A few days later, he escaped, but he had to leave home to avoid further persecution.

6) In December 2000, the police from the Wuhai City Police Department and the local police in Xiangfan City arrested Mr. Feng and his brother at his brother's home. They took away his mobile phone and sent him to a building at the Wuhai City Police Department First Division on the same night. He was detained there for about 20 days.

On January 10, 2001, he was sent to the Hejiawan Forced Labour Camp in Wuhai City and incarcerated there for 2 months. His family was not allowed to visit him.

In March 2001, he was officially arrested and sent to the Wuhai City Second Detention Centre. In July 2001, he was transferred to the Qingling Detention Centre in Wuchang District. Due to his health condition, he was sent to the Wuhai City Third Hospital with shackles on. He was diagnosed with kidney stones. On August 7th, he was released for medical parole.

7) At 11:50 p.m. on April 7th, 2002, Mr. Feng was arrested while riding a cab. Then he was sent to the Wuhai City Second Detention Centre. He was brutally force-fed while on hunger strike. There had been practitioners tortured to death during forced-feeding at this detention centre. During certain times, he was interrogated every day. The officials at the detention centre spread rumours among other detained practitioners that Mr. Feng had been "transformed" in an effort to mislead other practitioners. A few months later, Mr. Feng was transferred to the Qingling Detention Centre.

In December 2002, the Wuchang District Court sentenced him to 7 years in prison. He appealed to the Wuhai City Intermediate Court but the court upheld the original verdict. He was then sent to the Quanqingkou Prison and then the Fanjiatai Prison in Hubei Province.

8) On October 28th, 2008, Mr. Feng's prison term was up. He got his release certificate the day before. His family came to the prison gate at 5 a.m. on the day of his release. However, the prison officials refused to release him and told his family that he had left. After his family left, the officials from the 610 Office² arranged to transport him to the Yangyuan Brainwashing Centre in Wuchang District. He was subjected to brainwashing for a month.

2. Persecution at the Duanqinkou Prison

Mr. Feng was detained at the Duanqinkou Prison from April 18th, 2003 to February 6th, 2007.

1) At the Entry Division

All practitioners were sent to the Entry Division after their arrival. They were forced to recite the prison rules, do manual labour, wear prison uniforms and conduct military training. Practitioners had to work every day from 5 a.m., and they were not allowed to sleep until they filled their quotas. They were also forced to watch TV programmes that defamed Falun Gong and to report their thoughts afterwards. If any practitioners were found talking to people about Falun Gong, they were punished by doing running drills or doing repeated military marches. Mr. Feng's cotton shoes were worn out in four or five days.

Mr. Feng refused to wear the prison uniform, do forced labour or recite prison rules since he believed that he was not a criminal. On April 20th, 2003, he was punished with solitary confinement for 8 days. Two inmates were assigned to monitor and torture him. In the solitary cell, he was only given two meals a day. One of his hands was handcuffed to the bed all day.

2) At the Fourth Division

Deng Mao was the chief of the Fourth Division and Nian Jinwen was the political director. Nian was in charge of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

On October 28th, 2003, Mr. Feng Zhen was sent to the Fourth Division and detained in a solitary cell with two inmates monitoring him. He was not allowed to go out or contact anyone. He was detained there for 6 months.

In March 2004, since Mr. Feng refused to renounce Falun Gong, the inmate assigned to monitor him was not given what he was promised. He became angry and beat Mr. Feng. Mr. Feng Zhen's nose was bleeding badly. His clothes were soaked with blood and it stained the floor. He was in great pain afterwards, which lasted for a few months. But the prison officials did not give him a medical examination or treatment. Nian also covered for that inmate. When Mr. Feng's family visited him, he told them about the beating and asked his family to report the incident to the Procuratorate. Later, officials from the Procuratorate came to the prison to interview Mr. Feng. However, Nian was not punished, and instead he retaliated against Mr. Feng. Mr. Feng's mother and wife were not allowed to visit him for a whole year afterwards.

On March 10th, 2006, officials from the Fourth Division held a "criticising Falun Gong" meeting. When Mr. Feng and Mr. Zhou Jiangang stood up to protest, they were handcuffed behind their backs and sent to the Severe Punishment Team. Four officers beat them at the same time. After Mr. Zhou was beaten in a separate room for a couple of hours, Mr. Feng saw him coming out chained with shackles weighing 30 pounds. Mr. Zhou's face was swollen beyond recognition. Mr. Feng was forced to wear shackles for more than 15 days at all times, including during forced labour hours.

3. Persecution at the Fanjiatai Prison

On February 7th, 2007, 10 practitioners were sent to the Fanjiatai Prison for refusing to renounce Falun Gong. They were: Mr. Fu Lulin, Mr. Shi Lei, Mr. Hu Zhigang, Mr. Liu Yongsheng, Mr. Feng Zhen, Mr. Du Huachu, Mr. Cao Zhengguo, Mr. Li Ming, Mr. Xu Jianjun and Mr. Wang Yuchao.

After their arrival, the prison officials took away their belongings including paper, pens, and books. They were forced to say "report" when coming into offices and were not allowed to meet with their families if they refused to wear prison uniforms. Some practitioners were not able to see their families for several months. They tried to force practitioners to shave their heads the same way as the other inmates, but the practitioners refused to co-operate. After long-term resistance, the prison officials finally gave up the effort.

When Mr. Feng first arrived at the prison, his family was not allowed to see him. They wrote to Mr. Feng about it. He argued with the prison officials and they finally agreed. They also agreed that each practitioner could call home once a month but they had to say "report" to enter the office before making phone calls. They intended to make things more difficult so that practitioners could not persist in their righteous actions.

Practitioners didn't co-operate with the brainwashing efforts, and none of them were "transformed." Once, the practitioners' hair was all cut very short and they looked like inmates. When practitioners protested, Xiao Tianbo, the director of the Fourth Division, placed the whole division under rigourous control. The other inmates were locked up in their cells as well, which instigated their anger towards practitioners. Since the prison officials also promised to reduce the inmates' terms who monitored and tortured practitioners, these inmates worked hard on practitioners and tried their hardest to force practitioners to give up their beliefs.

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the prison officials tightened their control of practitioners. None of their letters were mailed out and no items from home were allowed to be brought in during family visits. All of their clothes other than prison uniforms were taken away. When Mr. Feng refused to wear the prison uniform, two inmates that were monitoring him beat him. His eyes were swollen. However, the prison guards didn't pay any attention to this matter. Since then, Mr. Feng refused to co-operate with anything and requested that the instigator and the perpetrators be punished. The two inmates were afraid of being punished and publicly apologised to Mr. Feng at a meeting. This result strongly restrained the inmates who persecuted practitioners.

Under the 610 Office's control and arrangement, the prison officials and the local police colluded to take the practitioners to the brainwashing centres after their prison term was up. On October 28th, 2008, the day of Mr. Feng Zeng's release, he was sent to the Yangyuan Brainwashing Centre for further persecution.

Note

1. "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")

2. "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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/10/15/210410.html