Ms. Zhang Yuzhen Disabled as a Result of Nine Years of Torture and Imprisonment

Name: Zhang Yuzhen
Gender: Female
Age: 43
Address: Lidu Town, Jinxian County, Jiangxi Province
Occupation: Teacher, personnel officer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: November, 2001
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jiangxi Province Woman's Forced Labour Camp
City: Jinxian County
Province: Jiangxi
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, physical restraint, denial of toilet use
Key Persecutors: Xiong Ming and Wan Mingying, guards at the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison

Part A: Summary

Ms. Zhang Yuzhen was imprisoned for six years and tortured in the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison. As a result, her arms and hands were disabled and deformed. She is unable to completely extend her arms, make a fist, or extend her fingers. Ms. Zhang suffers from wrist drop, also known as radial nerve palsy or Saturday night palsy, a condition where a person cannot extend their wrist and it hangs limply. Her upper limbs hurt all the time, her hands quiver constantly, and she has occasional sharp pains in her chest, neck, and shoulders.

Ms. Zhang graduated from college with a major in international business. She taught middle school, primary school, and kindergarten. She was also a personnel officer at an international business in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province.

Part B: Background

In November 2000, Ms. Zhang appealed for the right to practise Falun Gong in Beijing, and was sentenced to six years in prison at the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison. On September 19th, 2005, guards Xiong Ming and Wan Mingying, tortured her by hanging her up with her hands shackled behind her back (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/8/31/51910.html) for 11 hours. The next day she was hung up in the same manner for three hours. As a result, her arms were permanently disabled.

When her six-year prison term was finished on November 10th, 2006, the Jiangxi Province Women's Forced Labour Camp administration sentenced Ms. Zhang to another three years imprisonment to hide their mistreatment of her. Ms. Zhang was released on November 9th, 2009.

After her release, Ms. Zhang filed complaints to the Jiangxi Province Prison Bureau and asked for compensation. Authorities have been shifting the responsibility of her complaints to each other and no action has been taken on her complaints.

Part C: Some of the Tortures

1. Hung Up with Hands Shackled Behind the Back

"Hung up with hands shackled behind the back" is a brutal torture. A victim's arms will become disabled after being hung up for a long period of time. Ms. Zhang was subjected to this torture many times in the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison. When she was tortured like this on September 19th, 2005, for 11 hours and again on September 20th, 2005, for for three hours, her arms became permanently disabled.

2. Handcuff Tortures

Guards frequently handcuffed Ms. Zhang Yuzhen to windows frames in the cell. During the summer she was exposed to the sun everyday for the entire day. Her hands became blistered from sunburn.

3. "Flying an Airplane," "Handcuffing," "Dead Person's Bed"

Ms. Zhang Yuzhen appealed for Falun Gong in Beijing. She was tortured by being forced to "fly (an airplane)" in the detention centre at the Haidian District Police Department, having her hands and feet handcuffed together behind her back in the Fengtai District Detention Centre, and the "dead person's bed" in the Beijing City National Criminals Dispatch Office.

Part D: Ms. Zhang's Personal Account of Her Horrific Experiences

1. Tortured, Arms Disabled

In November 2000, I was sentenced to six years in prison for appealing for the right to practise Falun Gong in Beijing. I was imprisoned in Jiangxi Province Women's Prison. In prison, I was tortured repeatedly over a long period of time. Guard Xiong Ming, commander of prisoners in confined cells; guard Wan Mingying, political director of the third corps; as well as inmates Zhu Weiqing, Shu Yingjing, Wang Xia, Xie Mingxia, and Zhang Ruping physically mistreated and tortured me. They hung me up with my hands shackled behind my back and exposed me to the baking sun. I was confined, there was no drinking water or bath water, and I was handcuffed for long periods of time. I was handcuffed to a metal door frame, a window, or a bed 24 hours a day for more than a year.

The long term torture I endured left my arms disabled. I lost total use of my arms. I require full time care because I need help to dress, undress, eat, take a bath, and wash my hands and feet.

When my term ended on November 10th, 2006, I was not released because I was disabled. Instead, to cover up how they had mistreated me, they escorted me to the Jiangxi Province Women's Forced Labour Camp for three more years. I was released from this labour camp on November 9th, 2009. Today, I cannot straighten or bend my arms or fingers and am disabled for life.

2. Hung Up with My Hands Shackled behind my Back for Over 10 Hours

On September 19th, 2005, guard Xiong Ming told inmate monitors (the inmates who were assigned by the guards to closely monitor and torture me) Shu Yingjing and Zhu Weiqing to drag me from the fourth floor down the stairs and expose me to the heat and sun for more than 4 hours. Then, Xiong ordered inmates Wang Xi, Xie Mingxia, Zhang Ruping, and another 4 or 5 inmates to pull my arms behind my back and make me "fly." I was then hung on the upper corner of a metal window in the toilet used by the guards who monitor the confined cells. They taped my month shut so I could not call out and so that others would remain unaware that I was being tortured. I hung there from 3:00 p.m to 2:00 a.m, more than 11 hours. My arms became paralysed and I felt that I was dying. I was not lowered by Xiong Ming until I agreed to be "transformed" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. Once on the ground, I broke down. They humiliated me by calling me dirty, evil names, and coerced me into writing the "three statements¹". My hands would just hang. The guards had to hold my hands to guide them to write.

On September 20th, 2005, guards Xiong Ming and Wan Mingying shouted at me, "Are the 'three statements' ready? Did you write them yourself?" I said, "I cannot even move my hands, let alone write. They held my hand and wrote the statements." Wan shouted angrily, "What? What? Go! Go! Go downstairs! Go downstairs!" They dragged me to the same place where they hung me the day before. I was hung up for over 3 hours, from 8:00 a.m. to past 11:00 a.m. I was experiencing one disaster after another and by this time I was barely breathing.

It was lunchtime, but I was not allowed to eat. Instead they forced me to march back and forth. When I turned left, I slid because my right shoulder was dislocated and I couldn't control it. Wan Mingying scolded me for not marching correctly. He shouted, "Hold you arm." I said, "I cannot control my arm. I need to see a doctor." Wan shouted, "Do not ask me for anything." I was hungry, thirsty, and begging, "I need water, please!" Wang said, "When you march correctly, you will get water." Wan wanted to leave so he ordered the inmate monitors to tie my hands to the headboard of a bed. I was to stand beside the bed and recite the prison rules. I was hung with my hands shackled behind my back for over 14 hours in two days. I was delirious and followed their commands like a person in a trance. I could not speak. Wan Mingying told the inmate monitors to keep me awake until midnight.

After Wan Mingying left, inmate monitor Zhu Weiqing noticed that I was close to breaking down and allowed me to drink some water and put me to bed. After dark I felt nauseous and asked the inmate monitor to help me get up. Before my feet reached the ground, I began vomiting. The inmate monitor went to tell the guards. Later, Wan Mingying came back, yelling, "Tell me what? There was some vomited yellow fluid. Did you vomit yellow fluid?"

I could not eat for 10 days, I could only drink water. Because my upper body was in a great deal of pain, I could not sleep. On September 29th, a prison doctor was unable to take my blood pressure because my hands were too swollen. I was in critical condition. He reported my condition to the general prison section and asked that I get an X-ray the next day.

On September 30th, I was taken to the prison bureau hospital by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary of the prison section, guard Xiong Ming, and the prison doctor section chief, Xia. After the X-ray, director Zhu of the bureau hospital asked a doctor to admit me to the hospital. My hands were extremely swollen and had lost all feeling. Hospital President Xiong touched my hands and asked, "Your hands are in such bad shape. Is it the result of being hung up with your hands shackled behind your back?" I said, "Yes." He then asked me, "Do your hands hurt or are they numb when you extend them? I will prescribe you some medicine." They arranged for two inmates, Zhu Weiqing and Shu Yingjing, to take care of me because I could not care for myself.

On October 8th, I had a second X-ray. The X-ray doctor asked my name. I said that my name was Zhang Yuzhen. The doctor told Zheng, guard of in-patients, "Her name is misspelled. You should correct it. If you do not correct, I will not be held responsible for any future problems." The doctor said that twice, but guard Zheng did not correct the spelling of my name.

Later, when the province procuratorate was investigating my case, an investigator asked me, "Did you ever use another name?" I said, "No. I have only one name. It is Zhang Yuzhen." Officer Ai from the procuratorate asked me again, "Are you called Zhang Xiaoling?" I said, "No." The guards in the prison intentionally misspelled my name and never corrected it because they did not want to be held responsible for their mistreatment.

I was in the hospital from September 30th to October 10th. I was diagnosed with "extensive soft tissue damage in the hands, partial dislocation of the right shoulder, high blood pressure, heart disease, fever, heat stroke, etc." I had never had a history of illness. These conditions were the result of having my hands shackled behind my back for long hours.

During my 10-day stay in the hospital as a patient with paralysis, I received 7 bottles of intravenous drip every day, from morning to night. Although not fully recovered, on October 10th, saying that an AIDS patient needed to be admitted immediately, they released me from the hospital. The swelling had just started to go down. I was taken to the gate of the in-patients department in a wheelchair. A man carried me and put me in a police car and transported to the prison. Inmate Sun Shuqin and three other inmates carried me to my cell on the fourth floor.

In November 2005, I begged for someone to mail my complaint to the Changleng Procuratorate. Several days later, political commissar of the prison Zhu Liang and deputy warden Wei Qiuling, who served as an investigator later, called me to an office on the fifth floor. I said that I had written a complaint to the Changleng Procuratorate and had someone mail it for me. To my surprise, political commissar Zhu said, "Yes, I have the letter here. I will tell them about the complaint myself." He "comforted" me, saying, "Muscle injury or a fractures will heal in 100 days."

On December 18th, 2005, as my release date neared, section chief Zhong Yunhua of the education section of the prison, deputy section chief Wang Lixing, and guard Xiong Ming took me to the Provincial Secondary Affiliated Hospital for a physical exam. The day before the exam, Xiong Ming ordered me to take a shower. Before leaving for the exam, she ordered inmate Lei Donglian to comb my hair and adjust my clothes. In the hospital, doctor Liao questioned me about how my injury occurred. I said that it was the result of being hung up for 14 hours with my hands shackled behind my back on September 19th and 20th, 2005. Doctor Liao ordered an X-ray. I never saw the X-ray examination or physical exam results. The doctor told me, "You have periarthritis in the shoulders or inflammation of tissues around a joint. Avoid cold. Keep them warm. Apply hot water bottles to your arms." I asked the doctor, "When will they recover?" The doctor reply, "Without physical therapy, they won't recover in your lifetime." I was shocked, because that meant I would be permanently disabled.

On the day my prison term was to end, guards pushed me into a police car and drove me to the Jiangxi Province Women's Forced Labour Camp. I was given another three-year term. I was finally released on November 9th, 2009. I would like to know which law gave the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison the right to subject me to another three years of forced labour after I completed the original prison term? This was an outrage.

During the three years of forced labour, I did not not have enough to eat and was beaten and verbally abused. Inmate monitors extorted money from me for their help. I was not allowed to wash up or use the bathroom because my disability kept me from doing forced labour. I was forced to do cleaning with disabled hands. There was also a failed attempt to extend my jail term for an additional 64 days.

3. Complaints Getting Nowhere, Officers Shifting Responsibility

I was released on November 9th, 2009. On November 16th, I filed a complaint with director Yan of the Jiangxi Province Prison Bureau and Office Chairman Zhu. In the complaint, I stated that I was seeking monetary compensation for the mistreatment I endured in prison and the resulting disability. Zhu said that I would get a reply in 15 days.

On the morning of November 27th, section chief Li of the Women's Prison Punishment Office called me and told me that they had turned down my compensation claim. That afternoon, I went to the prison bureau. Chairman Zhu and division chief Li told me, "We are representing a decision that was made by the administration, and they affirm the prison's decision."

I repeatedly appealed to division chief Liao of the Complaints Division and division chief Li Li of the Prison Administration Division at the Jiangxi Province Procuratorate. They both directed me to the administration at the Women's Prison and the Prison Bureau. Law enforcement agents failed to abide by the law or enforce the law.

On the morning of December 4th, I went to see section chief Li of the Punishments Division and disciplining officers at the Women's Prison. I asked for compensation. They told me to get a judiciary evaluation from the Jiangxi Province Shenzhou Judiciary Evaluation Centre.

In the afternoon on December 4th, I went to the judiciary evaluation centre. A forensic doctor asked me to show him my medical history from the prison hospital where I was admitted; otherwise, he could not give an evaluation. I immediately went to the hospital and asked section chief Liu of the Medical Administration Office to give me a copy of my medical history. Liu said, "The Prison Bureau does not allow public access to the medical reports without a written permit from the bureau."

I went to the prison as well as the Prison Bureau to apply for a copy of my medical history. They ignored my application. Not only was I unable to obtain a judicial evaluation about my injury, but my medical history, which showed that my injury was caused by being hung up with my hands shackled behind my back, was denied to me. A judge said that I was just a citizen trying to sue the government. Who filed the complaint, who collected the evidence? How could I collect evidence when all of the eyewitnesses were in prison?

The prison is withholding copies of my prison release record; my medical history, which was written by the prison doctor who verified my hand injury; the medical records of when I was an in-patient at the prison bureau hospital; and a copy of my complaints. The forced labour camp is also withholding a copy of my complaints. The Jinxian County 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) is withholding my forced labour release record. All of the documentation for the last nine years, from when I was admitted to the prison and the labour camp, are being illegally and intentionally withheld by the authorities. Why are they withholding all of my records? Are they trying to cover up what they did to me?

Three months have passed since I was released from the labour camp. The Police, the procuratorate, and the judiciary are passing my case back and forth, and none of them dares to uphold justice. Where is the law? Where is the justice?

I am disabled because I was persecuted and tortured. I cannot hold a bowl of rice, and I am unable to get a job. I am homeless, have no income, and no family. I am staying at a relative's home for now, but I am dependent on their kindness. One day seems as like one year. Don't I have the right to call for justice? I am only 43 years old and I have a long road ahead of me. How will I survive?

Note

1. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/3/15/219849.html