Family of Five Persecuted in Linghai City, Liaoning Province

Practitioner Mr. Zhang Lei and his family from Linghai City were arrested in September 2009. Mr. Lei was sentenced to five years of imprisonment and detained in Dalian City Prison. His wife, Zhao Xiaochun, his father Zhang Deguo, mother Li Jinqiu, and mother-in-law He Yuxiang were all persecuted in forced labour camps. They have now been released.

Zhang Lei, 33, was head of the human resources department in Xinhualong Copper Corporation Ltd in Jinzhou City before he was imprisoned. For ten years, his parents were persecuted many times for practising Falun Gong. His father was sentenced to two years in a forced labour camp, and his mother was sentenced to a labour camp twice and detained for four years in total.

Family of Five Arrested at the Same Time

Mr. Zhang Lei was arrested at his workplace by the Jinzhou City State Security Team on September 13th, 2009. On the same day, his wife and mother-in-law, He Yuxiang, were also arrested by the Linghai police and anti-riot police respectively. His father and mother were also arrested that day.

Around 4:00 p.m. that day, Li Jinqiu was cooking at home. Several men who claimed they were from the housing office entered the home under the pretext of taking house measurements. Upon entering the property, they changed their story and announced that they were officers from the Linghai police station. They subsequently took away Falun Gong books as well as other personal belongings. Her husband, who had just returned home from work, was also arrested.

Zhang Lei and his family were detained in the State Security Team for one day and night before he and his father were taken to Linghai Prison and Linghai Detention Centre respectively. The other three family members were detained at Jinzhou Detention Centre.

All four family members were sentenced to a labour camp at the same time.

Fifteen days later, Zhang Deguo, Li Jinqiu, He Yuxiang and Zhao Xiaochun were sent to Masanjia Labour Camp in Shenyang City by police officers Liu Haiwang and Liu Zengru.

The father, Zhang Deguo, was subjected to brainwashing, forced to perform hard labour and tortured. He Yuxiang and Zhao Xiaochun were also subjected to brainwashing and hard labour. Zhao Xiaochun was often reprimanded and ridiculed, forced to stand for long hours, dragged into the office and abused. As a result, she suffered from extreme mental distress.

Ms. Li Jinqiu Brutally Tortured

Sixty-year-old Ms. Li Jinqiu is from Linghai City, Liaoning Province. When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, she went to Beijing to appeal and was sentenced to three years of forced labour. She was shocked with electric batons and not allowed to sleep for long periods of time. The guards attempted to force her to renounce her belief, but she refused. Several guards tied one of her legs to a heating element while pulling on her other leg. She fainted from the excruciating pain. They then shoved her onto the ground and stretched her two legs apart in opposite directions.

Another group of guards held her against a metal cabinet and forced her legs into a full split position. Then several of them kicked her legs, stomping on them with their leather shoes. Someone grabbed her head and both her arms, restraining her so that she could not move, then a guard brutally kicked her in the ribs. She fainted from the pain. After they let go of her, they forced her to sit cross legged. They tied her legs up with a rope, tied both hands behind her back, and grabbing her hand, forced her to put her thumb print on a document renouncing her belief. She lost control of her legs as a result of the torture. At 9:00 p.m., she was carried back to her cell. The next morning, at 4:00 a.m., she was dragged out of bed and tortured again.

A male guard forced her to squat. However, as both her legs were already injured, she could not squat at all and could only sit on the ground. Guard Zhang Xiurong then forced her to listen to tape recordings defaming Falun Gong. She nearly fainted from the physical and mental torture. Zhang Xiurong also forced her to sign a guarantee statement promising not to practise Falun Gong.

After being tortured for several days, the injury in her legs worsened. She lost all feeling in her right leg and could not walk. One morning, she fainted and the prison warden on duty summoned the doctor. She was transferred to Masanjia Hospital and diagnosed with muscle damage in her leg and buttock, as well as having suffered a heart attack. Even so, she was forced to work as soon as she was sent back to prison from the hospital. For more than ten months, she had to go up and down from the fourth level of the building to work in the factory, supported by fellow practitioners.

Her physical condition deteriorated from long hours of hard labour. Around mid August, she began to lose her appetite and could no longer eat anything. She had no strength in her legs and could not lift her right leg at all. She was emaciated and had to lie in bed all day. She even needed someone to carry her to the toilet. When she was sent to the hospital again, doctors diagnosed her condition this time as a slipped disc, osteoporosis and permanent disability needing long periods of rest in bed. She was released from prison when her term finished in the middle of September, and her family members helped her home.

Zhang Lei Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

On January 14th, 2010, the Linghai Court tried Zhang Lei. During the trial, he exposed the many deceptive points in the prosecutor's analysis of the case. He pointed out that practising Falun Gong is legal and there is nothing wrong with being a good person. He was a diligent worker and for many years in a row, he was awarded the “most progressive worker”. The trial was quickly ended.

In the beginning of February 2010, the Linghai Court tried him again and he was sentenced to five years in prison. He is now detained in Dalian City Prison.

While he attended high school, Zhang Lei got into bad habits. He smoked, drank and was obsessed with playing computer games. His parents had no control over him at all. In 1996, his parents started to practise Falun Gong. He experienced the benefits of his parents' practice and started to act according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He got rid of his bad habits. In 2000, he started to actively practise Falun Gong himself and strictly followed the principles of the practice. He was also thoughtful of others and became a good person. Even though he has broken no laws, he has been arrested and imprisoned for persisting in his faith.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/1/21/235150.html