(Minghui.org) A resident of Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, who was imprisoned for practicing Falun Gong was taken to a hospital again on June 17, 2019, only two months after he was beaten unconscious and hospitalized for refusing to write statements to renounce his faith.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Zhang Fuhai is serving a two-year-and-ten-month term at Fengtun Prison in Qiqihar City. The guards shocked him with electric batons and pepper sprayed him after he refused to do slave labor.
Mr. Zhang was first hospitalized after being beaten unconscious by guard Hou Yanbin in late April 2019.
Upon learning of his situation, his father rushed to the prison on May 10 and demanded to see him. Officials initially used different excuses to refuse his request. After the elderly father's persistence, he was allowed to see Mr. Zhang through a surveillance camera on May 13.
Upon seeing that Mr. Zhang was having difficulty walking and couldn't stand straight, the elderly father became very upset and emotional. He again demanded to see his son, threatening to report the prison guards and officials to higher-ups. Only then was Mr. Zhang brought out to have a face-to-face meeting with his father.
Mr. Zhang could not lift his arms and had bumps on his head. He told his father that he was put in solitary confinement for a week after he was released from the hospital.
Shortly after the visit, Mr. Zhang's father filed a complaint against the abuses to Chen Aiguo, the director of the prison Disciplinary Committee. Chen made records of his ID and phone number and promised that he would investigate the case. Mr. Zhang's father still hasn’t heard from him after two months.
Mr. Zhang's father met with guard Hou on May 15 and demanded that Hou promise to stop torturing Mr. Zhang. Hou said that he wouldn't be responsible if Mr. Zhang committed suicide. In the persecution of Falun Gong, many practitioners who were tortured to death were claimed by the authorities to be suicides.
Since then, Mr. Zhang's father hasn't been allowed to see him. He is very worried about Mr. Zhang after he was hospitalized again in June 2019.
Mr. Zhang used to have severe kidney problems. He tried many treatments, but nothing worked. His condition disappeared only one month after he began to practice Falun Gong.
After the communist regime began its persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Mr. Zhang was forced to live away from home for 11 years to hide from the police.
For raising awareness of the persecution, he was arrested on March 20, 2017. Two police officers tortured him for three days. They cuffed his hands behind his back, and an officer stepped on the handcuff. The bruises are still visible on his wrists.
The officer also kicked him in the chest and lower abdomen with his knees. “I’ll beat you to death if you don't cooperate!” he yelled.
After Mr. Zhang fainted, they poured cold water on him to wake him up. He had difficulty breathing and coughed up blood. After the three days of torture, he was taken to a detention center on March 23, 2017.
Mr. Zhang appeared in Tiefeng Court on December 26, 2017, and June 5, 2018. He was sentenced to two years and ten months around August 2018 and transferred to the prison on November 29, 2018. His lawyer and family have yet to receive documentation of his verdict from the court.
16 Arrested in Heilongjiang for Their Faith: 3 Sentenced, 9 Awaiting Trial
Mr. Zhang Fuhai Tortured with Electric Batons in Fengtun Prison