(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zhong Guoyao of Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, was president of the labor union at the Lihui Construction Group Corporation (formerly the Nanchong District Construction Company) on South Shiyou Road in Nanchong City.

Mr. Zhong began practicing Falun Dafa in 1997 and was in charge of the assistance center in northern Nanchong. From the time he started to cultivate Falun Dafa, he consistently and diligently studied the Fa and improved his character. After the persecution against Falun Dafa began, he went out on the streets, clarifying the truth to people and distributing truth-clarification flyers. The police illegally arrested him in 2001 and sentenced him to one year in a labor camp. The guards extorted as much as 10,000 yuan in cash from his family before releasing him. After he returned home, he continued to validate Falun Dafa and clarify the truth.

In August 2004, the mid-town local Police Station in Nanchong City called Mr. Zhong Guoyao and demanded that he come to the police station right away. Mr. Zhong refused and quickly hid all his Falun Gong materials. Before long, four people from the police station came to his home to put him under house arrest. Mr. Zhong confronted them, "You want me to stay at home without working but you won't pay my salary. How will I cover my living expenses?"

Around August 20, 2004, plainclothes officers from the National Security Department arrested Mr. Zhong for clarifying the truth to people in a food market on a main street in northern Nanchong City. The details and exact time of his arrest are being verified, but Mr. Zhong is currently being detained in the Jialing District Detention Center in Nanchong City. He has been tortured and is now emaciated and in critical condition.

October 20, 2004