(Minghui.org) After being illegally detained and tortured for ten months, Ms. Zhang Yan (张燕) from Meihekou City, Jilin Province was transferred to Jilin Women's Prison in mid-October. When her family tried to visit her, prison officials fabricated statements of Ms. Zhang's renouncing her family members.
Ms. Zhang, 43, worked for a pharmaceutical company in Meihekou. She was sentenced to four years in May for distributing fliers to raise awareness of the Communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong.
Without communicating with her lawyer or her family, the Tonghua City Intermediate Court upheld her original sentence in October. Soon after, she was transferred to the prison.
Her family tried to visit her but were denied several times. A guard claimed that Ms. Zhang had refused to comply with prison protocol or provide a list of her family members.
During their first visitation attempt on October 20, her family learned that Ms. Zhang was diagnosed with a tumor in her stomach during her entrance examination. However, the prison denied the visitation request and said that Ms. Zhang will be allowed a phone call home.
The family waited at home for a week but never received a call from Ms. Zhang. The whole family, including her brothers and in-laws, went back to visit her again on October 27.
A guard told them, “Go home. She doesn't want to see you. She said her only family members are her husband, son and sister.”
Despite being angered by the statement, Ms. Zhang's relatives left her some money, which the prison accepted this time.
Ms. Zhang's husband and sister went to the prison again on November 10. Prison authorities made sure that the husband wasn't a Falun Gong practitioner before they approved the visit. Her husband and sister were allowed only 30 minutes, including the time a prison guard wasted trying to stall Ms. Zhang and disrupt their conversation.
When her family asked why she denied having brothers and sisters-in-law, she replied, “I never said any such thing.”
When asked why didn't she provide a list of her family members, she said that she did.
“I gave the names of my younger brother and sister-in-law. Didn't the guards put them on the visitors' list?” she asked.
Her family was angered and saddened by the authorities' deception in their attempt to cut Ms. Zhang's ties to her family. Ms. Zhang wanted to file an appeal. At this point, she was beyond weak and could barely manage to walk when returning to her cell.
Officers from Xinhe Town Police Station arrested her on December 27, 2013, while she was giving out fliers about Falun Gong. She was transferred to Meihe Detention Center the next day.
Torture re-enactment: force-feeding
Ms. Zhang was beaten and force-fed in the detention center after she went on a hunger strike. She became emaciated, and her cheeks were bruised by the force-feeding tactics administered by the staff.
The detention center staff refused to allow Ms. Zhang to meet with her lawyer; the Meihe Court also refused to accept documents from her lawyer.
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