Name: Zhao Zongran (赵宗然)
Gender: Male
Age: 45
Address: Fuping Township, Fuping County, Hebei Province
Occupation: Teacher
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 31, 2007
Most recent place of detention: Baoding Forced Labor Camp (保定劳教所)
City: Baoding
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Detention, home ransacked, interrogation, extortion, forced labor, living under surveillance
(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zhao Zongran was an experienced English teacher at the Zhaowangtai School, Fuping Township, Fuping County. Because he practiced Falun Gong, he was denied a promotion, then not allowed to teach. He was also arrested and sent to a forced labor camp.
Illegally Arrested and Home Ransacked
Around nine o'clock in the evening on July 31, 2007, under orders from Director Wang Yimin and Vice-Director Zhai Xiangyu of the county police station, a group of police officers and some gang members led by Wang Mengjie, the director of the Chengguan Township Police Station, tried to break into Mr. Zhao's home. They damaged the bedroom window even as the family was calling to find out what was going on. After the door was forced open, the officers searched the whole house. They found several Falun Gong books, as well as some audiotapes the child in the family used for study. The police charged Mr. Zhao with possession of Falun Dafa books and took him to the Chengguan Police Station. They also took away a printer that did not work and some blank printer paper from the family's storage closet.
Around 11 a.m. on July 31, 2007, Mr. Zhao was taken to a room on the second floor of the station to be interrogated by Wang Mengjie and others. When the interrogation proved fruitless, Mr. Zhao was taken to a room on the first floor and handcuffed to a bunk bed. One man was assigned to watch Mr. Zhao in this locked room.
On the morning of August 1, 2007, without providing breakfast, the police drove Mr. Zhao to a detention center. His wrist, injured by the handcuff, was bleeding. The doctor at the detention center said that Mr. Zhao might have heart disease and recommended that they taken him to the county hospital to do a thorough physical. Officer Liu Liang drove Mr. Zhao to the Chinese Medical Hospital in the county, but did not bother to arrange for an exam. Then he drove back to the detention center, dropped Mr. Zhao off, and left.
Health Ruined by Forced Labor
On August 30, 2007, Zhao Yuhong, the director of the detention center; Zhang Zhanhong, the Party secretary of the detention center; and Li Jinqiang, a warden from the center, took Mr. Zhao to Baoding Forced Labor Camp. They had arranged for Mr. Zhao to be imprisoned for a year.
Many Falun Gong practitioners were imprisoned in Group 2 in the labor camp. Newcomers were held in a separate cell and watched by a warden. Practitioners were locked in the cell for 10 to 15 days, then assigned to different, smaller groups. Inmates from different small groups were not allowed to talk to one another. They had to ask the wardens for permission to go to the washroom or to brush their teeth. Doing anything without the wardens' approval would result in extra abuse for the practitioner inmates. During the day, inmates were made to work in the workshops in the labor camp while the director himself watched the gate.
On the evening of September 15, 2007, Li, the head of the small group in which Mr. Zhao was placed, insisted that Mr. Zhao had been practicing the Falun Gong exercises and tppl him to the office, even though Mr. Zhao explained to him that he had merely been resting on the bed. Ignoring the explanation, Li handcuffed Mr. Zhao to the radiator in the office. Later, the head of the group wanted to release Mr. Zhao from the handcuffs upon learning the truth from other people, however, the person who carried the only key to the handcuffs was not there. Li then had to uninstall the radiator and send Mr. Zhao back to his room. Mr. Zhao spent the night handcuffed to the radiator.
In the evening on September 19, 2007, Mr. Zhao felt sick, so he was sent to a hospital. Trying to avoid the responsibility of paying for the necessary medication and hospitalization, the camp staff told Mr. Zhao's wife to come to the hospital. Three days later, Mr. Zhao was released from the hospital but had 20,000 yuanextorted from him. His family and friends spent another 10,000 yuan trying to get him released.
Living under Surveillance
When the Olympics was held in Beijing in 2008, the entire staff of the Zhaowangtai School was ordered by the county Education Bureau to watch Mr. Zhao 24 hours a day. They rented a house near his home for the convenience of the observers, and arranged for the teachers to stay at several locations on the road that Mr. Zhao passed by every day. The surveillance continued until several days after the Olympics was over.
Deprivation of Employment-Related Rights
In August 2007, the Zhaowangtai School stopped issuing Mr. Zhao's salary when he was illegally imprisoned in the forced labor camp.
In July 2008, the Zhaowangtai School received an application for promotion for Mr. Zhao. The leaders of the school claimed that Mr. Zhao was not allowed to apply for such a promotion based on a memorandum from a higher level of government as well as a decision by the Education Bureau's Committee.
In August 2008, Mr. Zhao went to the Education Bureau to handle the paperwork to resume his job, according to the bureau's regulations. However, Han Baohua, director of the Education Bureau of Fuping County, and Zheng Zhigang and Zhou Yongwang, vice-directors of the bureau, did not process his request. In November 2008, Zheng Zhigang informed Mr. Zhao that he would not receive any of his salary since he had been imprisoned. Nor would he henceforth receive a monthly allowance. Moreover, his salary rank was lowered. Mr. Zhao was also told that his salary, since he had resumed working, would be started from August 1, but there was no guarantee that he would be paid and he had to sort that out with the Bureau of Labor and Human Resources.
No Longer Allowed to Teach
In late March 2009, Shi Yanping, the principal of the Zhaowangtai School, informed Mr. Zhao that the Education Bureau had fired him from his teaching position. Even though he was an experienced teacher, Mr. Zhao had to work as a janitor. On September 13, 2009, some schools, including the Zhaowangtai School, in Fuping County merged, and some positions were cancelled, among which was Mr. Zhao's.
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