A Doctor in Baojing County, Hunan Province Brutally Persecuted for Over a Decade

Name: Xu Zuoyou
Gender: Male
Age: 42
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Medical Doctor at People's Hospital
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 15th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Huaihua City “Legal Education Base”
City: Huaihua
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, forced-feeding, held in a psychiatric hospital, home ransacked, interrogation, and detention

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Xu Zuoyou has been persecuted by agents of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999. He has been arrested many times, his home has been ransacked, he was forced to attend brainwashing sessions, and he has been put in forced labour camps and psychiatric hospitals. Mr. Xu was badly injured as a result of being brutally treated in the forced labour camp. He has no feeling in his chest, torso, hands, or legs. He has difficulty walking and taking care of himself. Below is an account of the horrors he has experienced.

Forced to take unknown drugs

In March of 2001 Mr. Xu refused to give up his practice and write a guarantee statement to renounce practising Falun Gong. Agents from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) took him to Yongshun Psychiatric Hospital and against his will. He was given drugs that were damaging to his brain. He felt very weak, was unable to take care of himself, and had difficulty with urination and defecation. He was released after spending at least 20 days in the hospital. In July 2001, 610 Office agents Peng Xiulian and Xiang Hongyin seized Mr. Xu again and took him to the same hospital. The doctors were encouraged to persecute Mr. Xu. When he refused to take the drugs, they injected him with them. The drugs made it very difficult for Mr. Xu to breathe—, causing him to feel like he was suffocating. The hospital staff also put drugs into his food and encouraged the patients to beat him. He was held at the hospital until July 2003.

Home ransacked and physically abused

In September 2003, Peng Xiulian, director of the 610 Office, and Shi Dunjian, commander of the State Security Division, forced their way into Mr. Xu's home and ransacked it. They took all the leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong he had and took him to a detention centre. While there, Mr. Xu was beaten by several police officers including Yang Hongqing, Jiang Xiaofeng, and an officer surnamed Tian, who was the head of the detention centre. Xu Zuoyou's hands were tied behind his back and he was forced to the ground. Officer Jiang used a wooden pole to beat Mr. Xu's head, face, back, and buttocks. Officer Yang kicked at Xu's chest until he stopped moving. They also lifted him from the floor by grabbing his hands that were tied behind his back to inflict intense pain.

In December 2003 Mr. Xu was sentenced to 18 months in a forced labour camp. It was a rainy day, and the officers pushed him to the ground before tying him up. They also put a sign around his neck, which he tore away several times. When he was out on the street, he shouted to the public, "Falun Gong is innocent!" The officers tried to stop him and had to take him back inside the detention centre.

Disabled in the forced labour camp

In February 2004, Mr. Xu was sent to Changsha Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp. He was forced to attend brainwashing sessions, watch videos and read books that slandered Falun Gong. He endured a variety of cruel tortures, such as standing very straight while facing a wall without moving; being locked up in a tiny, dark room; wearing a straitjacket; wearing a heavy iron hat while his hands were tied behind his back, and other tortures.

Any perceived violation of the labour camp rules resulted in a severe beating. Mr. Xu was confined to the tiny, dark room several times. There, he was handcuffed in a fixed position so that he couldn't move or lie down. Only half of a regular meal is served to detainees in this cell. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the same small space, so that the stench in the room is difficult to endure. Usually, prisoners are kept in the cell for seven to ten days.

The people that brought food to Mr. Xu were encouraged to beat him or use other rough treatment. Eventually, he was transferred to the hard labour section. In the summer of 2004 Mr. Xu went on a protest hunger strike. However, it led to force-feeding and his teeth were broken in the process. Finally, he lost all feeling in his arms and legs. He could not care for himself or walk without crutches. By March 2005, the prison guards told Mr. Xu's family to take him home.

A broken clavicle

In April 2006, Mr. Xu went to Peng Zhong's home to read books with several other practitioners. Police officers arrived and took them all to a police station. After being interrogated, Mr. Xu, Peng Zhong, and Wu Minglian were transferred to a detention centre.

On the morning of May 8th, 2006, guard Wu Wenquan told two prisoners to force Mr. Xu to participate in military-style training. When he refused, Wu told Liao Weikun and Tian Jun to force Mr. Xu to kneel down. Again he refused, and Liao and Tian began punching his face and chest until he was forced to kneel down. After the beating Mr. Xu had trouble breathing and couldn't raise his left arm.

Ten days later, Xu Zuoyou was sent to Huayuan County Hospital for an exam. His left clavicle had been broken. Next day, he was taken to Hexi Hospital in Yongshun County for surgery. A steel pin was used to repair the broken bone. Officer Wu was not held accountable for the crime. The metal pin wasn't removed until the summer of 2009 at the Baojing County Hospital.

In October 2007, He Changjun from a 610 Office branch, Yang Yun from a police station, and other officers totalling about six people went to ransack Mr. Xu's home and take him to a detention centre for interrogation He was held for 28 days before he was allowed to return home.

Persecution at a brainwashing centre

On October 15th, 2010 Fu Jiaqiang and He Changjun from the 610 Office and two others from the police department took Mr. Xu to a brainwashing centre in Huaihua City “Legal Education Base.” Yao Benjiang, the chairman of the hospital union (where Mr. Xu worked), and agents surnamed Yang, Shu, and Wang from the security department were also involved in Mr. Xu's arrest. For the first 20 days Mr. Xu was forced to watch videos and read articles that were full of lies about Falun Gong. Then, knowing that Mr. Xu was not fooled by the lies, these people began to torture him. He was handcuffed and hung from a door frame, so that his feet could not touch the ground. He was hung up for over 10 hours and his hands were injured and extremely painful. Mr. Xu was released on November 22nd, 2010.

Persecution in the People's Hospital in Baojing County

In 2000, Mr. Xu refused to write a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong. The county 610 Office told the hospital to stop paying him for eight months, so that he had to find another job. However, during the Moon Festival in 2000 and New Year's Day in 2010, Long Chenghua, the vice president of the hospital, and Zhou Xianming the security section chief, required him to work at the hospital. One weekend in the summer of 2001, Mr. Xu was reading in a vegetable field. Long and company found him, pushed him to the ground, took away his book, and told police officers to detain him for two weeks. In 2001 Mr. Xu was demoted first to a pharmacist and then to a janitor. He works as a janitor to this day. Actually, he passed the national clinical assessment examination, but the 610 Office had his certificate withheld. By 2003 the county required all doctors to exchange their medical doctor certificate for a medical practitioner certificate, but he had no certificate to exchange. Without a proper medical certificate, the hospital continued to employ him as a janitor.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/1/29/235478.html