More Information About the Deaths of Mr. Zhou Zuofu and His Son

Mr. Zhou Zuofu was arrested eight times by the police and the Ruichang City 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong). He was detained, subjected to brainwashing, and sentenced to forced labour. He was severely tortured at Majialong Forced Labour Camp. They eventually mixed drugs into his food that led to his mental collapse. His weight dropped from about 150 pounds to 90 pounds. He passed away on March 6th, 2007.

Mr. Zhou Zuofu's son, Mr. Zhou Zhibin, used to work at the Fanzhen Town Fiscal Department of Ruichang City, Jiangxi Province. He was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labour. He was tortured and mistreated for a long period of time, which severely damaged his health. After he was released, he fell ill and died on May 14th, 2005. He was only 31 years old.

It is clear that Mr. Zhou Zuofu and his son died as a result of the persecution. Mr. Zhou Zuofu's son-in-law is a police officer. He said that his advancement was set back by Mr. Zhou's Falun Gong practice when he was the director of the Pencheng Police Substation. He participated in monitoring and arresting Mr. Zhou Zuofu. After Mr. Zhou died, he spread lies, saying that Mr. Zhou died from practising Falun Gong.

Mr. Zhou Zuofu, born in 1950, worked at the Ruichang Linen Factory. His wife, Ms. Xu Lianjiao, had advanced gastric cancer, and doctors said she had three to six months to live. They began practising Falun Gong in February 1997, and Ms. Xu's illness disappeared after a few months. Their son, Mr. Zhou Zhibin, was 23 years old at the time and in poor health. When he saw his parents' improvement, he started to practise as well.

After the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, Mr. Zhou Zuofu was persecuted in various ways by the Chinese Communist Party. From January 26th, 2001 to April 28th, 2001, Mr. Zhou was detained in a brainwashing centre for three and a half months and later sentenced to three years of forced labour. Mr. Zhou was severely tortured in Majialong Forced Labour Camp in Jiujiang City. In order to "transform" him, the labour camp intended to send Mr. Zhou to a mental hospital. The guards put drugs in his food, and then took him to Jiujiang City Fifth People's Hospital (for mental patients). The hospital refused to accept him, so Mr. Zhou was taken back to Majialong Forced Labour Camp. The ongoing torture severely damaged his mind and body, causing him to suffer a short-term nervous breakdown. His weight dropped from 150 pounds to 90 pounds, and he became extremely weak.

On April 7th, 2003, Mr. Zhou Zuofu was finally released, but he could not recover from the injuries he had sustained over the years, and his condition got worse. When his son passed away on May 14th, 2005, his mental problem became worse. He eventually passed away on March 6th, 2007.

The following is his account of the persecution that he suffered:

I was detained in the third cell of the second ward in the labour camp. Two drug-addicted prisoners were monitoring me and ordered me to write the three statements, which I refused to do. Then they ordered me to memorise the rules of the labour camp, which I also refused to do. They punished me by having me squat down in a manner that my thighs could not touch my calves. They commanded me to read the rules, and I didn't do it. This lasted for three days. The head of the cell stomped on my feet, and then stomped on my toes several times. Later, they forced me to watch a video slandering Falun Gong and to "talk" with collaborators. They tried to force me renounce Falun Gong, but I refused. When I got back to the cell, the head of the cell and two monitors kicked and hit me. I was swollen all over. The beatings lasted for more than 14 days.

I was strung up twice in July. Guard Tian Bengui and Deng An'an ordered drug-addicted prisoner Zhou Guanghua and others to hang me up using handcuffs. The second time, they hung me even higher. The handcuffs cut into my skin, and it hurt so much that I kept crying out. I hung there from around 7:30 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. the next day. When they put me down, the handcuffs were embedded in my skin and my hands were bleeding; my right hand was particularly distorted. Deng said, "Get a cloth to cover it up. Don't let the women's ward see it." While I was placed in a workshop, I noticed that I was getting blisters where the handcuff mark was. They hung me up again when I got back to the cell from the workshop. The guard ordered the monitor to deprive me of sleep for six days in August. Later they forced me to work not only during the day but also during the night.

I was transferred to the first ward in the middle of September. They again forced me to watch a video slandering Falun Gong and to talk with collaborators¹. They saw that I wouldn't renounce Falun Gong, so they started to escalate the abuse. They picked the most malicious prisoner in the camp, Li Chunwei, to monitor me. Li monitored me from July to December 2002. Guards Zhong Jiafu, Lu Weiping, Lu Renkui, and others incited Li and several other prisoners to torture me. Li said. "Guard Lu has said that whoever transforms [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] you can get a term reduction of three months. Why won't you transform? Others have transformed already. I tell you, even the guards have made some concessions with me. Some people have been beaten to near death and some have several broken bones. I'm going to make you terrified to be in this cell and to sleep on this bed." Guard Lu said, "I have transformed about forty people. Don't blame us for being rough."

Li Chunwei tortured me almost every day from September to December in 2002. He had me lying on a metal bed and handcuffed my swollen feet together and tied them to the metal bar of the bed with either a rope or another handcuff so my feet were suspended. He then stretched my hands out along the head of the bed and handcuffed them to the bar. For the first week, he used his hands to dig the handcuffs into my skin. For the second week, he pressed down on them with his feet. In the end, he stood on them. He pressed so hard until I was sweating all over or almost lost consciousness, but he wouldn't remove the handcuffs during the day. He normally removed the handcuffs after 10:30 p.m. and sometimes even later than that. This lasted for about 20 days. One prisoner saw this and said to me, "On top of being tied like that, they pushed down on you. It would be hard to endure with just one foot suspended in midair. It seems as if death would be preferable."

Li would constantly ask me, "Can you endure this?" He would escalate the persecution and push down even harder if I said yes. He would demand that I write the guarantee statement to renounce practising Falun Gong if I said no. My hands were bleeding and festering, and the wounded areas were getting bigger.

Once, Li handcuffed my hands and used another handcuff to secure the first handcuff to the metal bar on the window. Then he pushed my head down and pulled my body forward. He swayed me hard and I groaned from the pain. He then gagged me with dirty socks. My hands were badly mangled from the rubbing, and blood dripped over the ground, windowsill, wall, and my body.

Li said that I was making noise while I was reciting the teachings of Falun Gong, so he jabbed my throat with two of his fingers, and he kept doing this for about 20 days. My throat became swollen as a result. They also had me standing and then squatting down for several days. They sometimes handcuffed my hands and feet, then lifted me up and threw me on the ground. They also punched me in the mouth for about an hour. They often hit my sensitive areas like my lower back or temples. They also taped my mouth and wrapped the tape around my head. They often did this to me in the cell and in the workshop as well, with people watching. Li once pulled out some of my eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair. A piece of skin was pulled off around my temples.

Other prisoners also tortured me. Zhang Zhaohui hit my temples until they were swollen, and that lasted about eight days. He struck the centre of my head with handcuffs, and it bled. He also hit my sensitive areas. He also hit my fingers with small bamboo sticks for about two hours at a time for three days. Zhang and other prisoners also used different methods to hang me up. I went into a state of shock twice while being hung up, and I lost consciousness once while they were viciously beating me. From December 2001 to April 2003, they handcuffed my hands and feet every night.

The torture methods were normally taught in all labour camps. Zhong Jiafu, the political commissar of the labour camp, learned these methods from Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. Lu Weiping, the head of the "Education" Section made arrangements to implement the methods in the labour camp. The heads of all the wards and all guards would use these methods on Falun Gong practitioners...

Many people have died from such torture. However, Mr. Zhou Zuofu managed to get out of the forced labour camp alive.

Mr. Zhou Zuofu's son, Mr. Zhou Zhibin, was detained for 15 days in 1999 and was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labour in 2000. He was tortured and mistreated for a long period of time, which harmed his physical and mental health. He ultimately gave up Falun Gong in the end. He was seriously ill in March 2002 and medical treatments did not help at all. He started to practise Falun Gong again and recovered in a short time. However, his sister and brother-in-law were monitoring him at home, and they wouldn't let him practise, so he stopped again. Eight months later, his illness returned, and he died after several months in the hospital.

Three members of this family practised Falun Gong. Mr. Zhou Zuofu suffered a mental breakdown from torture and couldn't practice. Mr. Zhou Zhibin was under strict control of the police officers and couldn't continue to practise. The persecution resulted in their deaths. Ms. Xu Lianjiao, who the doctor claimed had only three to six months to live, is still practising Falun Gong and has been healthy after going through the most difficult period of her life.

Note

1. "Collaborators": former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/10/27/231551.html