Mr. Zhang Chunqiu from Yiyang City in Hunan Province Tortured Many Times; Now Held In Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp

Name: Zhang Chunqiu
Gender: Male
Age: 48
Address: Nan County, Yiyang City, Hunan Province
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 23rd, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, torture, physical restraint, detention

Mr. Zhang Chunqiu, 48, has been imprisoned and tortured several times since 2001. He is now in Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp in Hunan Province, after being arrested on February 23rd, 2010.

Tortured in detention centres

On April 19th, 2001, Mr. Zhang and Mr. Gao Desi, a retired professor, were arrested on the campus of the Hunan Institute of Finance and Economics. Mr. Zhang was held in Yiyang City First Detention Centre and Mr. Gao was taken to the Yiyang Second Detention Centre.

Practitioners in the First Detention Centre are given very little food each day, and that is of poor quality. Mr. Zhang was forced to do hard labour. Guard Wang Tiejun told others, “Mr. Zhang is a stubborn practitioner. You could torture him to death if you want.”

One of the torture methods used in the detention centre is to make a practitioner kneel down facing the wall. A guard then runs at the practitioner from behind and keeps kneeing them in the back until they vomit blood.

Eight months later, Mr. Zhang was sent to trial in a closed-court hearing. He was not allowed a lawyer, and his family and friends were barred from attending the court. The court was filled with police, officials and prosecutors.
Ding Yi acted as the prosecution, while Mr. Zhang had to defend himself. He told the court the facts about Falun Gong and asked Ding to explain what crime he had committed. Ding remained silent and the judge had to force him to respond to Mr. Zhang's questions twice.

The judge said in his closing statement, “The state's laws are on shaky ground, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses its power to overrule the law in its handling of Falun Gong. We have to follow the CCP's directives.” Mr. Zhang was sentenced to an eight-year prison term and Mr. Gao was sentenced to a seven-year prison term.

Mr. Zhang was taken to Hunan Province First Detention Centre on October 1st, 2002, before being sentenced. The director of the centre told the head of a team, with the last name of He, that Mr. Zhang was a stubborn practitioner and that He needed to discipline him. When He arrived at work at 2 p.m. on October 2nd, 2002, he asked a guard whether Mr. Zhang had done the Falun Gong exercises. When a guard replied, “Yes.” He brutally beat and kicked Mr. Zhang. Mr. Zhang shouted, “It's illegal to hit me. You are a police officer, and you are committing a crime.”

He was enraged and called several guards over. Each of them was carrying two high-voltage electric batons. When they shocked Mr. Zhang's head, he passed out. His head, chest, genitals, thighs and soles of the feet were covered in burn marks, and the room smelled of burnt flesh. When Mr. Zhang regained consciousness, he found himself temporarily paralysed.

“Living Worse than Death” in Jinshi Prison

When Mr. Zhang was taken to Jinshi Prison in Changde City, team leader Zhou Zhengwen ordered Mr. Zhang to do hard labour on May 17th, 2003. When Mr. Zhang refused, guard Zou hung him up with his hands tied behind his back, and a piece of heavy wood was hung around his neck on thin wire. The wire cut into his neck. He was left like this for 13 hours and was in excruciating pain. This torture method is called “living worse than death.”

Guards at Jinshi Prison used this torture methods until 2007. Another torture method used in the prison is where practitioners are left outside in extreme weather conditions. They would be tied to metal poles and left to freeze in the cold winter or left to burn under the baking sun in the summer.

The head of the team Zhang Ming ordered guard Zeng Wangjin to beat Mr. Zhang on March 19th, 2008. After being beaten for about ten minutes, Mr. Zhang had blood oozing out of his nose and mouth. The guards rested for a while before beating him again, and injuring him some more. When the guards started beating him for a third time, Mr. Zhang asked them, “Who gave you the right to beat me?” The guards then stopped beating him. Mr. Zhang was bedridden for four days as a result of the beatings.

Mr. Zhang should have been released on February 28th, 2008, but officials at Yiyang 610 Office claimed an printing error had occurred and changed the release date to April 29th, 2009.

Sentenced to a forced labour camp

In the morning of February 23rd, 2010, officers from Yiyang Domestic Security Division, Datonghu Police Station and Huage Town Police Station broke into the homes of Mr. Zhang Chunqiu, Mr. Zhang Xinjiang and Mr. Wang Jincheng, and ransacked them. The practitioners were taken to Nan County Detention Centre. They were all sentenced to a year and nine months in Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp in Hunan Province, and are still being held there.

The 7th Team is well known for persecuting practitioners. Those working there include: the head of the 7th Team Liu Chao, deputy head Mao Wei, instructor Li Zhiqiang, deputy instructor Dou Xianglin, and guards Chen Dayong, Hu Meng and Yang Han.

Inmates are ordered to monitor and torture practitioners, in an attempt to force them to renounce their belief. Inmates that assist in the persecution are given reduced sentences if they follow the guards' orders, and are threatened with extended sentences if they don't. Practitioners are not allowed to send letters to, or call their families. The authorities have stated that families who sympathise with and support Falun Gong are not allowed to visit practitioners in the camp.

The address of the 7th Team of Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp is:
Section 2, Nanerhuan, Tianxin District, Changsha City, 41009, Hunan Province

Those involved in the persecution:

Liu Chao, leader of the 7th Team in Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp
Mao Wei, deputy leader of the 7th Team
Li Zhiqiang, instructor at the 7th Team
Dou Xianglin, deputy instructor at the 7th Team
Operator +86-731-85260066, +86-731-85260065, +86-731-85260064, Ext 9271, 9272
Officers on duty: 86-731-85260005;
Fax: 86-731-85260276
Zhang Lianqiang, head of Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp and Party secretary: 86-731-85260012 (Office), 86-13887102918
Wang Yong, deputy head of Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp: 86-731-85429433 (Office), 86-731-85410896 (Home), 86-13808481723
Chen Xinhua, deputy head of Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp: 86-13874848699

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/10/5/247524.html