Name: Zhang Yi
Gender: Female
Age: 34
Address: Ganquan Road, Putuo District, Shanghai
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 1, 2012
Most Recent Place of Detention: Changning Detention Center
City: Shanghai
Persecution Suffered: Forced labor, torture, home ransacked, detention

Name: Hu Zhongtian
Gender: Female
Age: In her 30s
Address: Shanghai
Occupation: Former art editor at a magazine in Wuhan
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 2, 2012
Most Recent Place of Detention: Changning Detention Center
City: Shanghai
Persecution Suffered: Illegal sentencing, imprisonment, fired from workplace, detention

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Zhang Yi, a young mother with a five-year-old child, and her friend Ms. Hu Zhongtian were illegally arrested on February 1, 2012 and February 2, 2012, respectively. They have been detained at Changning Detention Center for over 10 months. Ms. Zhang's arrest and detention left her five-year-old daughter alone, with no one to take care of her. Her grandparents took the child with them when they went to related law enforcement and judicial branches to request Ms. Zhang's release several times. But the police refused their request and made plans to put Ms. Zhang on trial at Changning Court on December 24, 2012.

When her lawyer recently visited Ms. Zhang, they learned that she had been continuously handcuffed for more than a week in the detention center and had also been tied to a bed continuously for over 31 hours.

On the evening of February 1, 2012, police from Changning District waited near Ms. Zhang's home and arrested her as she was returning from work. More than 20 plainclothes officers then broke into her apartment. They ransacked it and took away her PC, cell phone, cash, and many other personal items, which they carried away in several large bags.

The day after Ms. Zhang was arrested, her friend Ms. Hu Zhongtian visited her. As she was leaving, plainclothes officers came up to her and demanded to search her bag. They shoved her down on the ground and held her there and yanked at her bag with such force that her hands bled. Ms. Hu was then arrested.

Ms. Zhang Yi's parent hired lawyers from Beijing. However the lawyers had a hard time even getting permission to visit their client and were told her case had already been handed to the Procuratorate. Three weeks after the lawyers took the case and after making two round trips from Beijing to Shanghai, Ms. Zhang's lawyers were finally able to visit her.

Ms. Zhang and Ms. Hu were charged with putting up Falun Gong posters. They refused to answer questions during the police interrogation. They did not give any statements nor sign any documents.

During his most recent visit, Ms. Zhang Yi's lawyer learned that she had been continuously handcuffed for a week, from November 2 to 8, and she had been tied to a bed for over 31 hours on November 7 and 8. Five people were involved in carrying out this torture: female guard Gu Siyi, female guard Tao Wenwen, a male guard as well as two inmates.

Falun Gong practitioners have been brutally tortured in the Changning Detention Center before. In 2008, Ms. Fan Guoping, an over-60-year-old practitioner, was handcuffed and hung up for more than three days and three nights with her four limbs stretched out. Practitioner He Minggang, a graduate student from Fudan University, was disabled due to the torture he suffered in this detention center. Practitioner Peng Guangwen was kept chained with his hands and feet together and was in shackles even during his lawyer's visit.

The persecution of Ms. Zhang Yi

Ms. Zhang Yi started to practice Falun Gong in January 2007. She was arrested on November 22, 2007 by police from the Yangpu Police Station when she was clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution on the street. She was then subjected to one year of forced labor and was sent to Shanghai Women's Forced Labor Camp. At that time, her daughter was only one year old. After she was released, Ms. Zhang was constantly harassed by officers from the local police station, the 610 Office and the local resident committee. Her home phone and cell phone were often tapped.

Ms. Zhang Yi was arrested and detained in February 2010. During the arrest, several police officers dragged her from her home while she was only wearing pyjamas and slippers.

Further details can be found in the article, “Ms. Zhang Yi Arrested by Officers from the Changning District Domestic Security Division in Shanghai” http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2012/3/6/131924.html

The persecution of Ms. Hu Zhongtian

Ms. Hu Zhongtian started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. She used to work as an art editor at a magazine agency in Wuhan City. After the Chinese Communist Party started to persecute Falun Gong, she was forced to quit her job. She worked in Shanghai after that. She was sentenced to three years in prison in 2001 because emails she sent to her classmates had information about Falun Gong.

After she was released from prison, Ms. Hu was constantly harassed by the Shanghai police.

Further details can be found in the article, “Ms. Hu Zhongtian Arrested while Visiting a Friend in Shanghai”
http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2012/3/4/131887.html

Parties involved in the persecution:
Zhou Weimin, judge in Changning Court: 86-52574999 ext.64086
Shanghai City Changning Detention Center: 86-21-62394720, 86-21-65397576 (for visitors)

Please refer to the original Chinese article for more people and offices involved in the persecution.