(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa practitioner Zhang Zhong from Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province was unjustly arrested in the spring of 2002 and sentenced to twelve years in prison. During the past two years, he has been subjected to such brutal tortures that he nearly died several times. On July 23, 2004, his family members were allowed to remove him from Daqing Prison after he had been in a coma and on oxygen support for three days.

After Zhang Zhong was subjected to brutal tortures in Daqing Prison, he has become severely emaciated and is on the brink of death.

During the past two years, Zhang Zhong has been subjected to brutal tortures that nearly ended his life several times. The news of his shocking condition instantly spread throughout the prison. Only an intravenous drip and oxygen support kept him alive, and he was completely comatose. The news touched people's hearts.

In 2002, practitioners successfully broadcast the truth of the situation about Falun Gong on local cable TV in Changchun City. Afterwards, high-ranking government authorities issued an urgent alert to "Spread a net all over China" and find the "perpetrators" in this key case of clarifying the truth through cable TV in Northeast China. Unfortunately, in April 2002, Falun Dafa practitioners, Zhang Zhong, Zhang Xingye, Li Hai, Sun Xinghe, Yao Bin, Jia Shenghui, and Jiang Derong were arrested.

On April 19, 2002, police tracked down and arrested Zhang Zhong. He shouted in a loud voice, "Falun Dafa is great!" Three policemen wrapped leather belts around his neck and almost suffocated him.

Zhang Zhong was brought to the police station in the Daqing City train depot and shoved onto a metal chair. He patiently clarified the truth to the police and constantly sent forth righteous thoughts. The next day, Zhang Zhong was transferred to the special interrogations office in the Sa District Detention Center. Two policemen had been stationed in this interrogation office for a long time. They employed very humiliating and brutal techniques to torture Falun Dafa practitioners. At the door of the office, staff members tried to force Zhang Zhong to squat down. When he refused, they kicked him. During the interrogation, he had to sit on the metal chair. A large policeman punched his chest so hard that he had difficulty breathing for a long time. The policeman also whipped Zhang Zhong's face with a rubber belt.

Zhang Zhong said to those who tortured him, "We are all good people, please don't torture us so brutally, please leave a way out for yourselves!" His tormentors even put a plastic bag over his head until he nearly suffocated. After being tortured like this repeatedly, they stuffed hot peppers and garlic into Zhang Zhong's nose, smeared pepper and garlic juice inside the plastic bag, and then put the plastic bag on his head. As they tried to force Zhang Zhong to reveal his name, one policeman said, "I am persecuting Falun Gong." They stripped Zhang Zhong of his clothes and poured cold water over him. Even though it was a cold winter day in northern China, they then opened all the windows and doors and pointed a fan toward him. Zhang Zhong shivered from the cold. The persecutors then alternated pouring hot and cold water on him.

Zhang Zhong rationally and peacefully explained the truth of the persecution of Falun Gong to his tormentors from the beginning of his tortures to the very end. At one point, a policeman was so moved that he took the plastic bag off Mr. Zhang's head and put his clothes back on. Two days later, the director of the Sa District Police Department came to check on their progress. He scolded the police officers for not getting satisfactory results in two days and blamed them for not using harsh enough tortures. Two policemen were replaced. The two new policemen refused to let Zhang Zhong use the bathroom, and adopted extremely insidious mental, as well as physical, torture techniques on him.

When these torture techniques failed, the Daqing City Police Department transferred Zhang Zhong to the office responsible for the reprimanding of criminals. Mr. Zhang's hands and feet were shackled to a metal chair. This office is a living hell in the human world, full of terror and evil. Spots of blood from the long-term brutal tortures could be seen on the walls. Four policemen in dark clothes stood there holding instruments of torture in their hands. One pointed to a puddle of blood on the floor and said, "See! This is the blood spit out by Zhang Xingye. You look like somebody with common sense, I don't care whether Falun Dafa is great, I am one of Jiang Zemin's attack dogs. I do whatever I am asked to do, and you must confess."

Seeing that Zhang Zhong remained silent, each police officer got out his torture instrument. They first slapped Zhang with wooden planks until his cheeks were swollen and bleeding and he was spitting blood. Then they whipped him with a leather whip, slapped his palms and the soles of his feet with wooden planks, and scratched the bottoms of his feet with metal brushes.

Zhang Zhong safeguarded Falun Dafa, protected his fellow practitioners, and never cooperated with the authorities regarding the truth-clarification broadcast on cable TV.

The second round of torture started with the police asking, "Don't you Falun Gong practitioners smoke or drink?" while they stuck two burning cigarettes into his nostrils and covered his mouth with their hands. The police even brutally poured liquor into Mr. Zhang's mouth. Zhang Zhong, who was handcuffed to the metal chair, was tortured nearly to death. They tortured him until he started to vomit bile.

Even though several squads of tormentors were replaced and various despicable torture techniques were used to attempt to destroy Zhang physically and spiritually, he remained unshaken. To deceive him into providing details about the cable TV broadcast, the police said, "Practitioners in other regions also succeeded in clarifying the truth on TV, and those involved have all been arrested. You'd better confess first, otherwise, you will be put to death for sure." Zhang replied, "Is death so dreadful? If all regions have succeeded in clarifying truth on TV, I will die without regret!"

The director and deputy director of the Daqing Police Department came to the torture site and stated, "Since he is not afraid of death, we are not afraid of burying him!"

Zhang Zhong answered solemnly, "That's right, I am not afraid of death, what can you do to me?!"

The perpetrators soaked Zhang Zhong's feet in water on the concrete floor, did not allow him to use the bathroom, and made him urinate on himself. Whenever higher authorities came for an inspection, they would dry out his pants. Three or four days later, representatives from the local police station and the "610 Office" came one by one to interrogate Mr. Zhang, but he refused to cooperate with any of them. Six days later they sent Zhang Zhong, who had not eaten or drank for six days, to the People's Hospital for forced-feeding, which took place until he started to spit up bile.

On the seventh day, Zhang Zhong was sent to a detention center. During a physical examination in the detention center, it was found that Zhang's buttocks, clothes, and sweaters were stuck together with blood. Zhang Zhong still refused to cooperate with any of his tormentors' requests, and thus the interrogation completely failed.

Zhang Zhong held a hunger strike during his unlawful detention, beginning at the time of his arrest. Every day, four inmates forcibly fed him with four bottles of intravenous fluid, but he continually spit up what he was forcibly fed. He spit up until even his bile was exhausted. After four and a half months, Zhang Zhong had been tortured to the brink of death.

The female Falun Gong practitioners in the camp started a collective hunger strike to protest the total disregard for Zhang Zhong's life. The righteous appeals from overseas Falun Dafa practitioners also came in frequently. Under all this pressure, the detention center had applied to the city court and the Procuratorate three times to release Zhang Zhong, but all three requests were inhumanly ignored.

On April 4, 2003, Zhang Zhong, who had gradually recovered to a weight of about 150 pounds, was unjustly sentenced to a twelve-year prison sentence, and was transferred to the Daqing Prison. In the training team, the prison tried to paint the word, "inmate" on his clothes. He outspokenly refused. The next day, the division head asked, "Who is Zhang Zhong?" He answered, "I am." The head asked, "Why isn't "Inmate" printed on your clothes?" He answered, "Because I am innocent!" The head said, "If you do not obey, we will do it forcibly." Zhang Zhong answered unyieldingly, "If you forcibly put the word "Inmate" on me, I will take measures to protest!" As a result, the word "Inmate" was not printed on his clothes.

Afterward, Zhang Zhong was sent to the No. 3 Division and was closely watched by four inmates. The police asked him if he still practiced Falun Gong. He replied, "I do!" Every day, he tried to find an opportunity to practice Falun Gong. One day, Deputy Division Head Li Fangjie asked him if he still practiced Falun Gong. He replied, "I do!"

In May 2003, the prison again requested to print "Inmate" on his clothes. Zhang Zhong steadfastly resisted. The political head of the No. 3 Division, Li Weinan, instructed inmates to hold Zhang Zhong down on the floor and paint "Inmate" on both his outer clothes and inner clothes.

To preserve the dignity of a Falun Dafa practitioner, Zhang Zhong started a hunger strike.

The political head, Li Nan, instructed inmates to shut Zhang Zhong in a tightly controlled room and sit him on the frame of an overturned metal chair. His legs were each tied onto the chair separately. A stick was placed below his anus and jabbed him painfully. His hands were tied behind him to a metal bed frame. Li roared, "If you still don't obey we will hang a pot of feces in here and stink up the place!"

Seeing this situation, a higher authority agreed not to put "Inmate" on his clothes, and had the tortures stopped. Zhang Zhong then resumed eating.

On New Year's Day 2004, Deputy Chief of the prison, Wang Yingjie, and Deputy Division Chief, Tian Xifeng, of the Internal Division, came to the No. 3 Division. As soon as they entered the brainwashing room, Wang asked Zhang Zhong why he did not wear an inmate's uniform. Zhang responded, "I did not commit any crimes!" While verbally abusing him, they went into Cell No. 9 to search Zhang's bed. In the hallway, Tian started to kick, beat, and slap Zhang. He bragged, "I have just tortured you. So what! You Falun Gong people keep calling me to condemn me!"

When they got to the cell, these lawless persons turned Zhang Zhong's bed over and searched everywhere. By then Zhang was feeling so dizzy from the beating that he had to lean against the wall to keep from falling. After the search, Wang Yingjie brought Mr. Zhang to Cell No. 8, where Tian Xifeng ordered him to stand in the middle. Mr. Zhang refused. They then beat him again, and Zhang Zhong's body swung and then fell onto the bed.

All the inmates in Cell No. 8 were present during the beating. Afterwards, these lawless persons took him to Cell No. 9. They became so exasperated that they turned over the beds of all the other inmates, saying that all the inmates were implicated because of him. They also arbitrarily threw and smashed all the inmates' mugs, claiming that Zhang Zhong would compensate them for all the losses. When they were about to leave, Wang arrogantly and triumphantly said, "If he refuses to be reformed, admit his crimes, and abide by the law, we will come back at any time." They threatened all the inmates to keep a distance from him, so as to exert pressure on him in a different way.

As Zhang Zhong is righteous, honest and kind, the inmates in his cell did not hold grudges against him, and instead they showed their sympathy and understanding.

On January 15, 2004, during the Spring Festival holiday, No. 3 Division head Li Fangjie brought Zhang Zhong into the guards' office because he was practicing the Falun Gong exercises. The No. 6 Prison Ward head, Liang Shuyi, and guard Yu Qingjiang were also in the office. They closed the door. Li taunted, "I heard you practiced again. Could you ever stop practicing?" Zhang responded, "No." They asked again, "You must practice?" Zhang said determinedly, "Definitely!"

Li stood up and started to beat Zhang wildly, and the other two guards joined in. Zhang Zhong lost consciousness during the beating, and they said that he was pretending. So, Li ordered a needle to be brought in and used it to pierce Zhang Zhong on his forehead and hands. They also kicked him in the abdomen, and then called in two inmates to take him to No. 6 Division. Since then, he has been detained in solitary confinement in the No. 6 Team, and eight inmates were assigned to strictly monitor him.

That day, the No. 6 Prison Ward head, Liang Shuyi, came to talk to Zhang Zhong, "What on earth do you want to do?" he replied, "I want to practice the exercises!" When he ate that evening, he vomited blood and the inmates immediately reported this. When Li Fangjie heard of Zhang Zhong's vomiting blood the next day he was extremely panicked. Zhang Zhong started to throw up anything he ate. The rims of his eyes became black and he was very thin. Hearing that he was beaten, his family members eagerly wanted to see him, but the prison officials only allowed his family members to talk to him on the phone. Before the phone call, the guards intimidated Mr. Zhang, saying, "You know what you can say and what you shouldn't say, don't you?"

During the phone call, without any hesitation, Zhang Zhong told his family members about the beatings. One month later, his elderly father demanded to come to see his son and the vicious persons became even more panic-stricken. Li Fangjie instructed the inmates to take Zhang to the hospital for treatment, but prior to this, they sent a guard to the hospital to bribe the hospital officials. As a result, the diagnosis of the medical examination was so-called "cholecystitis." The hospital lied, by saying that they could not see anything inside Mr. Zhang's stomach. After three days of "treatment" in the hospital, the hospital refused to provide any further treatment, because Zhang Zhong dared to practice the Falun Gong exercises in the hospital. Additionally, the medicine given to him did not work at all. So, the hospital refused to treat him further, and Zhang Zhong was carried back to No. 3 Division.

Seeing that his condition worsened every day, and that the prison officials did not truly want to provide any treatment for him, Zhang Zhong asked for a pen and a piece of paper, and wrote a letter to Li Fangjie and the prison officials, in which he said, "Because of my health, that is, I vomit anything I eat, my body is cold, my coughing is often accompanied by a bloody discharge, and my overall health is getting worse every day, and because of the prison hospital's refusal to provide medical treatment for me, I have the following three requests: (1) To be released immediately so that I can go to the hospital for medical treatment. (2) I want to see my family members in person immediately. (3) Although you refuse to admit that my vomiting has anything to do with the beatings I suffered - which is not very important at the present - it is important for me to recover since I do not want to die in prison without any clear reason and explanation."

On February 28, 2004, the prison quickly took Zhang Zhong to the prison hospital, where two inmates were assigned to take care of him. The hospital gave him daily injections of gentamicin (an antibiotic), attempting to cure the inflammation, to cover the brutal acts of beating him and causing him to vomit blood. Only when they saw that his life was really in danger did they occasionally give him intravenous infusions of glucose (sugar solution) to keep him alive.

In early April, Zhang Zhong was on the brink of death. His father and his wife visited the prison frequently, and asked the prison to release him for medical treatment. Under the pressure from overseas practitioners' righteous voices and the condemnation from kind-hearted people, on April 8, 2004, Deputy Administrator Huang Zhiwei from the prison hospital ordered the prison authorities to take Zhang Zhong to the Daqing City No. 4 Hospital for a medical exam. They didn't want anyone to know about this, and when they showed up at the outpatient service room in the No. 4 Hospital, they were extremely nervous, for fear of being seen by any Falun Gong practitioners or Mr. Zhang's family members. The conclusion of the medical check was "stomach paralysis." The stomach did not have any motion [no peristalsis] and nothing was left inside. The doctor said, "There is no other way but to slowly regain health. Make sure that he gets no upsetting news and he must eat even though he vomits." Zhang Zhong was returned to the prison after the check-up.

On May 9, Zhang Zhong's life was again in danger and he was sent to the No. 4 Hospital emergency room. Three days later, the supervising doctor, Li Weinan, said, "His situation is very urgent. All of his organs are failing and all of his muscles are in atrophy. Part of his central nervous system has paralysis, and his body is malfunctioning, causing breathing problems, as well irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia). He is in danger of passing away in his sleep at any time. He must receive daily potassium injections to maintain his regular heart beat." Zhang Zhong was again taken back to the prison. He was often in a lethargic sleep for long periods of time, and his blood pressure frequently hovered between 40 and 50.

On June 9, Zhang Zhong was lethargic all day and night, without being conscious, and he couldn't eat anything. Three blood pressure readings, taken morning, noon, and evening, indicated extremely low pressure. The Daqing Prison administrators then sent him to the emergency room at the Ranghu Road People's Hospital. After seven days and nights of non-stop intravenous drips, Zhang Zhong was finally out of danger. Nevertheless, they returned him to the prison yet again.

On the afternoon of July 23, 2004, Zhang Zhong was discharged from prison and left to his family, after experiencing a fever and coma for three consecutive days. This happened despite his receiving oxygen therapy. The prison administrators were afraid to take the responsibility if he died in prison.

Presently, with a worldwide effort from righteous people and fellow practitioners, Zhang Zhong, who touched so many kind-heart people around the globe, is back with his family. Facing their once young and healthy son who is now only skin and bones, his elderly parents couldn't help but weep.

Zhang Zhong could die at any moment, but his work unit refused to fund his medical treatment and the prison persecutors provided no compensation. His parents asked for help and wanted to take him to another place for medical treatment, but people from his work unit's security office did not allow them to do so, and gave no explanation. Only after his father claimed that he would carry his son on his back to his work unit and let them deal with the situation did the security office let the matter drop.

The Daqing Prison enforcers regard life as meaningless. Zhang Zhong had "stomach paralysis" for over half a year and vomited whatever he ate. His life had been in danger many times. But prison officials nonetheless followed Jiang Zemin's evil orders, "Beating [Falun Gong practitioners] to death is nothing and can be counted as suicide," refused to treat him, and refused to release him. They stood by, having no human sympathy. Only when Zhang Zhong was tortured to the point of becoming a mere skeleton and looked like a dead person, and only when even the doctors couldn't help any more, did they finally leave him to his family. What are they up to? They cannot escape the responsibility if something happens to Zhang Zhong and his family.

In today's world, mankind is becoming more civilized. Yet in China, a land with a history of five thousand years of civilization, such atrocities take place, where life is not valued, human rights are ignored, and laws are trampled. People who know the truth feel sympathy and righteous indignation. Those who know Zhang Zhong -- his neighbors, relatives, fellow employees, medical staff, prisoners, and police officers with kind demeanor -- are all worried about his life and touched by his unyielding soul. He risked his life to uphold the truth under the dictatorship of might. People are hoping the persecution and this national catastrophe stops immediately. Such a tragedy as the case of Zhang Zhong's cannot be allowed to happen again!

Currently, nearly 70 practitioners are being held in Daqing Prison. They all suffer inhuman tortures, similar to those suffered by Zhang Zhong. We urgently call on upright, conscientious people around the world, worldwide human rights organizations, and the Worldwide Organization to Investigation the Persecution of Falun Gong to closely monitor the crazed torture and killing taking place in Daqing Prison and help those who are illegally detained to gain freedom as soon as possible!

Zhang Xingye, Dai Zhidong, Zhu Hongbing, Li Hai, Yu Yongquan, Yao Bin, Jiang Derong, Sun Xinghe, Jia Shenghui, Wang Mingkui, Cui Hongyi, Zhong Zhaoqin, Xu Mingsheng, Zhai Zhibin, Guan Zhaoqi, Zhou Guochen, An Xing, Wang Hongde, Li Lizhuang, Bi Yunfei, Ni Hongkui, Xu Jinglin, Li Ronghong, Jiang Nianxiang, Zhang Zhi, Liu Zhucai, Jin Sheng, Zhao Yu'an, and Wang Yunfeng

Wang Yudong, Wang Shusen, Xia Yong, Bu Fanwei, Zhang Zidong, Cheng Yu, Zou Guoyan, Deng Qingshan, Zhang Yuliang, Yang Yizhong, Qiu Xuezhi, Zhang Xiufeng, Liu Fugui, Li Zhanbin, Cheng Peiming, Sun Tienong, Gong Haiou, Wu Chunwen, Sun Renhui, Zhang Jian, Sun Dianbin, Li Chengyi, Wang Mi, Li Huifeng, Chen Chunlin, Yuan Qingjiang, Chen Fukui, Zhao Qingshan, Liu Jingfeng, and Li Chao

Persons responsible for Zhang Zhong's persecution can be found at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/8/10/51218.html

August 28, 2004