Ms. Zhang Rongqiu Became Mentally Unstable after Police Administered Her with Unknown Drugs

Ms. Zhang Rongqiu, 59, a retired employee from Mengyin Town Credit Co-operative in Mengyin County, was released from Shandong Province No. 1 Women's Forced Labour Camp on May 12th. Her hair had turned almost completely white and she was very weak. She was also mentally unstable as a result of being forced to take unknown drugs in the Jinan City Armed Police Hospital.

Detained for appealing in Beijing

When the persecution started in 1999, officials from Ms. Zhang's workplace forced her to sign documentation stating that she would have no further contact with other practitioners, and she had to hand over all of her Falun Gong books and other materials. She was also told that she could not leave town without permission from the local authorities.

When she went to Beijing to appeal for the persecution to end on July 22nd, 1999, officers from the local police department liaison office in Beijing arrested Ms. Zhang and sent her back to her hometown. Tian Xiaodong, head of the Credit Co-operative, ordered other employees to lock her up in the Mengshan Hotel for 15 days. They then took turns to monitor her, making sure she did not have contact with anyone. They also tried to force her to write a guarantee statement to renounce her belief. One of the employees even wrote a statement and forged her signature. She was then forced to pay 5,000 yuan¹ to the Credit Co-operative.

Ms. Zhang was arrested by officers from Tiananmen Police Station when she went to Beijing to appeal again on November 27th, 1999. Officers there forced her to remain standing for two days. She was later transferred to the Mengyin County Liaison Office in Beijing, and then taken to the Mengyin County Police Department, where she was forced to sit on the ice-cold concrete floor. During her one month detention, she had her ID card and 2,060 yuan in cash confiscated. Ms. Zhang was video-taped while she was handcuffed and it was then broadcast on television throughout the county. She was confined to a damp, cold room and was forbidden to practice the exercises. Her family had to apply for permission to visit her.

Brainwashing

From February 25th to March 3rd, 2000, Ms. Zhang was sent to Caimaokou Brainwashing Centre in Mengyin County. Her family was also forced to stay there and listen to slander against Falun Gong. Officials at the brainwashing centre forced them to pay 400 yuan for the slanderous materials they had to take.

When two of the main Chinese Communist Party (CCP) meetings were taking place in Beijing for high ranking officials, Ms. Zhang was sent to Caimaokou Brainwashing Centre again on March 4, the day after her release. She was held there for 15 days so that she could not appeal in Beijing during the sensitive dates. Officials at her workplace extorted 10,000 yuan from her family and took eight months worth of salary from Ms. Zhang.

Ms. Zhang was taken to Caimaokou Brainwashing Centre again on March 20th, and her family was forced to stay with her. When Ms. Zhang refused to co-operate with the guards, she and three other practitioners were taken to the Grain Bureau's dormitory and held there for over 40 days. Ms. Zhang was then transferred to an office building and monitored for more than ten days. When she explained that she should not be subjected to such treatment because she was innocent and a good employee, the guards decided to release her.

Mengyin County officials tried to take her to the county 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) brainwashing session many times between June and October 23rd, 2000, and tried to get her husband to bring 5,000 yuan in cash and go with her. To avoid arrest, she went into hiding for 104 days. Officials from the Mengyin County Politics and Law Committee and the police department ordered her workplace to find her, or the head of her workplace would be punished. Tian Xiaodong then wanted to get her husband to go with him so that they could look for her in Rizhao City and Qingdao City, but he was not home.

Zhang Mingjun, another high-ranking official of the Credit Co-operative, led Li Haitao, head of Mengcheng Police Station, to Ms. Zhang's mother's home to arrest her on October 24th, 2000. She was taken to the county 610 Office Brainwashing Centre, where she was held for over a month. She was locked in solitary confinement and forced to sleep on the hard wooden floor. Practitioners there are only allowed out during designated times, and are not allowed to study Falun Gong books or do the exercises. Guards tried to force them to write articles slandering Falun Gong. Ms. Zhang was once taken to the courtyard and had to sit with her legs stretched out in front of her on the wet ground for five hours. She was released at the end of November 2000 after being forced to pay 5,000 yuan.

Poison sprayed around her bed

When officers from the Mengcheng Police Station heard that Ms. Zhang had been putting up truth clarification posters during May and June 2001, they went to her home to threaten her. A few days later, Li Haitao went to her home with four other officers to search for Falun Gong materials, but failed to find anything. The next time officers went to her home, Li Jian, political head of Chengdong Police Station, and police officer Liu arrested her and took her to the county 610 Office. She was locked in solitary confinement, and was only allowed to use the restroom once a day, at 9 p.m. Ms. Zhang was once able to speak with the guards, who were about the same age as her son. She said, "Young people like you should keep moral principles in mind and do good!" The three guards then started to punch and kick her, and only stopped when they were exhausted.

When Ms. Zhang refused to reveal where she got her Falun Gong materials, guards sprayed her bed with poison while she was in the toilet. When she got into bed, she could smell the strange smell. The poison was sprayed around her bed two more times and the strong smell made her sick. She went to Fang Simin, a 610 agent, and asked, "Did you put poison in the room? I never did anything wrong."

With the help of inmates Shi Shaoxing and Jiao Yuxiang, Fang Simin proceeded to beat Ms. Zhang. They slapped her around the head, kicked her between the legs, grabbed her hair and pushed her to the floor. When they saw that she was shaking uncontrollably and had difficulty breathing, Fang Simin turned around and said to a guard, "It seems like we put too much poison in her." When Ms. Zhang heard this, she asked to be taken to the county hospital. But the officers refused, and assigned two police officers to torture her. Li Zhiye, secretary of the Politics and Law Committee, Lei Yancheng, who was then head of Mengyin County 610 Office, and Fang Simin quickly sent her to the county detention centre to avoid responsibility if Ms. Zhang died in their custody.

When guards at the detention centre examined her, one of the officials said, "Those 610 Office people are vicious! They brought her here, even though they've beaten her to this extent. We won't take any more people if they are all like this." Ms. Zhang was repeatedly vomiting blood, so the guards took her to the county hospital. Officials at the detention centre eventually told her family to take her home, fearing that she may die.

When she went home, officials from the Politics and Law Committee forced her to pay 10,000 yuan on June 13th, 2001, and officials from her workplace stopped her salary for more than one year.

Home ransacked and sent to labour camp

When Ms. Zhang was talking with Wang Jixiu, a teacher, at her home at 11:30 a.m. on December 26th, 2008, Wang Wei, a 610 Office agent, led a group of officers to her home. They forced their way in, ransacked her home and took the two women to the Mengcheng Police Station. They confiscated many items and a large amount of cash. Ms. Zhang was later taken to the Linyi Brainwashing Centre and then the detention centre. She was later transferred to the Shandong Province No. 1 Women's Forced Labour Camp in January 2009, where she was held for 18 months.

A doctor from Jinan Armed Police Hospital gave Ms. Zhang unknown drugs, which made her lose part of her memory. When her family visited her in December 2009, they found that she was mentally unstable.

Officials who participated in the persecution:

Le Yancheng, former head of Mengyin County 610 Office, now the head of a Travel Bureau : 86-539-4806956 (Home), 86-13905392183
Jiao Yuxiang, deputy head of Mengyin County 610 Office: 86-13608906544 (Mobile)
Li Haitao, head of Duozhuang Police Station: 86-13705393366, 86-539-4818702 (Home)
Li Jian, political head of Chengdong Police Station: 86-13905490785 (Mobile) , 86-539-4818706 (Home)
Zhang Guangjing, party secretary of Mengyin County: 86-539-4271689 (Office), 86-539-4272205, 86-13953901234 (Mobile)
Peng Bo, secretary of Mengyin County Politics and Law Committee: 86-539-4273690 (Office), 86-13583997936
Zhang Yuanxue, head of Mengyin County Public Security Bureau: 86-539-4818801 (Office), 86-13705397128, 86-539-4818901 (Home)
Li Baoyuan, head of the local 610 Office: 86-539-4811681, 86-13953958936
Sun Shuai, deputy head of the local 610 Office: 86-539-4811681, 86-13173095056
Fang Simin, 610 Office agent: 86-539-4811681, 86-13853931001

Zhang Yong, head of the Domestic Security Division: 86-13953906866
Liu Heyan, deputy head of Domestic Security Division: 86-13954993678
Wang Wei, 610 Office agent: 86-13563979797
Sun Kehai, former head of the Mengyin County Detention Centre, now head of the Criminal Police Division: 86-13905392166

Shandong Province Women's Forced Labour Camp
Address: No 20 Jiangshuiquan Road, Jinan City, Shandong Province, Zip code: 250014
Main switchboard: 86-531-88555040
Hao Daofang, head of the labour camp: 86-531-88555092

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/9/6/229269.html