Elderly Mr. Zhang Zhiquan Dies after Six Years of Imprisonment

Name: Zhang Zhiquan
Gender: Male
Age: 76
Address: Xiyangtai Village, Shenzhou City, Hebei Province
Occupation: Comic strip artist and Lecturer at the Hengshui Normal Vocational School, Hebei Province
Date of Death: May 1st, 2010
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 19th, 2001
Most Recent Place of Detention: Hebei Province Fourth Prison
City: Shenzhou
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, extortion, physical restraint, home ransacked, interrogation, detention

Mr. Zhang Zhiquan, graduated from the Central Art Academy, and was previously persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. He learned Falun Gong after he retired, and attended Falun Gong lectures in Jinan City, 1994. On the evening of March 19th, 2001, Mr. Zhang was arrested at his home by police officers Jia Shuangwan and Shang Yunhang, then sentenced to prison for seven years in the autumn of 2001. Mr. Zhang was detained in Hebei Province Fourth Prison.

During the first four years of his imprisonment, Mr. Zhang was still very healthy. The prison doctors were very surprised to find that his 70 year old heart was still functioning like that of a young man in his 40s. But later, prison guards ordered two prisoners to torture him. They did not allow him to do any thing freely, they beat and cursed at him, spat on his face, banged on his metal bed to deafen him with the noise, deprived him of sleep, physically tortured him and continually threatened him. They tried to force Mr. Zhang to give up Falun Gong, but when he refused, they viciously slapped him. Within two years, Mr. Zhang's weight dropped by half and he physically collapsed. Under strong requests from his family, he was released on medical parole in March 2007. When his family went to pick him up, he was not fully conscious, and his son could not recognise him. He had to be carried home.

Local agents from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and Domestic Security Division often harassed him at home, and they cut off his pension. Under all sorts of pressure, he could not recover either mentally or physically. He died on May 1st, 2010.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/6/1/224714.html