Brutal Persecution of Mr. Guan Zhenyuan and His Family

Name: Guan Zhenyuan
Gender: Male
Age: 58
Address: Wuwei City, Gansu Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: June 2nd, 2011
Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2003
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jiuquan Prison in Gansu Province
City: Wuwei
Province: Gansu
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, beatings, imprisonment, torture, extortion, home ransacking, interrogation, detention

Mr. Guan Zhenyuan was a Falun Gong practitioner from Wuwei City, Gansu Province. After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to openly suppress Falun Gong in July 1999, he was detained and tortured on numerous occasions. He was last arrested in 2003, and sentenced to an eight-and-a-half-year prison term. While in custody, he was tortured constantly, and as a result left in critical condition. In order to shirk their responsibility for his condition, the prison released him ahead of schedule in October 2010. He was not able to recover and passed away on June 2nd, 2011, at the age of 58.

Mr. Guan’s entire family started practising Falun Gong in 1998, and in just a few months the severe arthritis that had been bothering his wife, Ms. Hou Juhua, disappeared.

Paraded through the Streets, Beaten, and Sentenced to Forced Labour

Not long after the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999, a group of thugs from the town of Shuangcheng seized Mr. Guan and led him to an office in the town hall, where they beat him savagely. As if that was not enough, they next paraded him through the streets to humiliate him.

Towards the end of 1999 (shortly before the Chinese New Year), police officer Chen Fenggang from Wuwei City Domestic Security Division paid a visit to Mr. Guan, who apparently believed his claim that he was a practitioner who had recently lost his job. Mr. Guan gave him a warm welcome and treated him to delicious meals. Chen, however, tricked Mr. Guan into going with him to the village committee, where he tied him to a big tree and beat him. He then took Mr. Guan to Wuwei City Detention Centre to serve a 45-day detention term.

Mr. Guan’s wife, Ms. Hou, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in late June 2000. A police officer slapped her in the face while she was in Tiananmen Square. She was later taken back to Wuwei City Detention Centre and incarcerated for 35 days.

Around October 2000 Chen Fenggang and other agents from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) arrested Mr. Guan. They first kept him in the Wuwei City Detention Centre and then decided to move him to Pingantai Forced Labour Camp, which declined to take him due to his poor health condition. He was instead sent to Wuwei City Drug Rehabilitation Centre.

On April 6th, 2001, Chen Fenggang and Zhang Xusheng from the 610 Office took Mr. Guan and quite a few other practitioners to a forced labour camp. The male practitioners included Mr. Guan, Mr. Su Zikui, Mr. Li Yuanshou, Mr. Wei Xinhua, and Mr. Cai Xuecheng. They were each given one year of forced labour at Pingantai Labour Camp. Ms. Hou Juhua and female practitioners including Ms. Zhang Cuilan, Ms. Su Yuping, Ms. Gu Yuzhen, Ms. He Xiuying, Ms. Wu Lanfang, Ms. Dong Jinlan (who was later tortured to death), Ms. Du Guifang, and Ms. Zhang Jinxiu were taken to Gansu Province Second Forced Labour Camp. Mr. Guan was forced to do excessive labour and as a result vomited blood. After the doctors diagnosed him with a heart condition, ascites due to cirrhosis, and pulmonary tuberculosis, the labour camp released him in July of that year.

In the meantime, Ms. Hou was brutally beaten by labour camp director Li Xinchun and team heads Ma Wei and Wang Ping. She wasn’t released until the end of March 2002.

Mr. Guan Forced to Leave Home after His Wife and Sons Were Arrested

On the night of May 28th, 2002, more than 30 agents arrived in a dozen or so police vehicles and surrounded Mr. Guan’s village. Their attempts to capture him failed since he was not home at the time.

Not long after, on the morning of June 6th, over 100 officers from Gulang County Domestic Security Division, Wuwei City Domestic Security Division, and Shuangcheng Town Police Department, as well as a whole battalion of anti-riot police, showed up again to ransack Mr. Guan’s home.

After Mr. Guan’s family refused to open the door, a few officers scaled the wall and climbed onto the roof. Mr. Guan’s 12-year-old son, Guan Yongqin, went up through a hole in the roof to stop them, only to be slammed down to the ground. Chen Fenggang whipped the boy with a stick while others showered him with kicks and punches. They then handcuffed and put him into a police vehicle. He was so traumatised that his face was colourless. The gang stormed into the house and looted Falun Gong books, and exercise audio tapes.

These evildoers next tied up Mr. Guan’s wife, Ms. Hou, and the couple’s 17-year-old son, Guan Yongjing, before taking them to Wuwei City Detention Centre, which declined to accept the teen. The police then drove him to a police department in Gulang County, where they hung him by his handcuffs from a door and force-fed him with chilli pepper, forcing him to reveal where his parents hid Falun Gong materials. The boy was interrogated like this for several days before he was eventually released.

When Ms. Hou was released 26 days after her arrest, officer Zhang Jicai from Gulang County Police Department Criminal Investigation Team snatched her right at the detention centre gate. He interrogated her for three days, but failed to get any information out of her. He then took her to Gulang County Detention Centre.

Mr. Guan was able to avoid arrest this time, since he was not around, but for his own safety, he had to leave home and live elsewhere.

Mr. Guan’s Entire Family Sentenced to Prison

Agents from the Jichang City 610 Office seized Mr. Guan a few days later, on April 21st, 2003. Chen Fenggang went to pick him up and took him back to an office, where Chen tied his hands together behind his back with rope, and then hung him up by the rope for seven straight days. To make him suffer even more, Chen also punched him in the chest.

From May 1st, 2003, to January 2nd, 2004, Mr. Guan was kept in Gulang County Detention Centre, where Zhang Jicai and Zhao Dayi beat him savagely on many occasions.

In June 2003, Gulang County Court sentenced Mr. Guan to an eight and a half year term; his wife, Ms. Hou, to six and a half years; their older son, Guan Yongjing, to four and a half years; and their younger son, Guan Yongqin, to two years with three years of probation. Court director Xu Huike and public prosecutor Feng Tianran were the chief culprits.

Guan Yongqin was kept in Gulang County Detention Centre from February 24th, 2003 to June of that year. His mother, Ms. Hou, was brutally tortured in Wuwei City Detention Centre and became paralysed as a result. In order to shirk responsibility for her condition, the detention centre sent her home on December 6th, 2003.

In the meantime, the police moved Mr. Guan around. They first kept him in Dashaping Prison in Lanzhou City from January 2nd to April 10th, 2004, and then in Gansu Province Third Prison from April 10th, 2004 to December 1st, 2005.

Zhang Jicai from the Gulang County 610 Office arrested Ms. Hou on December 21st, 2005, and took her straight to Gulang County Detention Centre. They transferred her to Jiuzhou Economic Development District Women’s Prison in February 2006. She was tortured until she couldn’t take care of herself, but the prison didn’t release her until July 7th, 2008. Even today she still has not fully recovered from her injuries. Her older son, Guan Yongjing, returned home from detention on June 21st, 2006.

Mr. Guan Dies from Torture-induced Injuries Incurred in Jiuquan Prison

Mr. Guan was transferred again on December 1st, 2005, this time to Jiuquan Prison, where a sign reading, “Jiuquan Motor Manufacturing Company,” hangs at the entrance.

For each detained practitioner, the prison had 12 specifically trained criminal inmates to torture them. The guards assured the inmates that they could do anything as long as they didn’t leave visible external injuries on the practitioners.

The inmates’ tactics included excessive labour plus brutal beatings. In addition, they often beat practitioners in unmonitored places such as the pig pen, offices, or solitary confinement cells. To make practitioners suffer, they hit them on the lower body and pinched their leg muscles. Mr. Guan’s legs became black and purple from the abuse.

The inmates involved in the beating of Mr. Guan included Sun Yanlu, Zhang Quanlu, Zhang Lindong, Li Jianhong, and a few others.

The guards who instigated the beatings of Mr. Guan included Pang Liren, Wang Wei, Yang Fayao, Bai Qingfeng, Liu Hai, Qin Quanlong, Wang Guodong, Chen Wenxin, and Wu Huaijun. Chen Wenxin once kicked Mr. Guan in the stomach, and Mr. Guan had trouble keeping anything down afterwards. He threw up whatever he ate. As a result, he was soon reduced to just skin and bones.

In order to shirk responsibility for his condition, the prison released Mr. Guan ahead of schedule, on September 10th, 2009. Knowing he was in critical condition, however, no police department was willing to pick him up. The prison waited one month and eventually had some guards send him home on October 10th, 2009.

Mr. Guan was never able to recover, and he still could not eat or drink anything after his release. He passed away on June 2nd, 1011.

Related Article:

“Mr. Guan Zhenyuan Dies as a Result of Torture in Gansu Province Prison”
http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/6/9/125918.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/7/18/244059.html