(Minghui.org)
Name: Zhang FenglanChinese Name: 张凤兰Gender: FemaleAge: 69City: HarbinProvince: HeilongjiangOccupation: Retired teacherDate of Death: December 25, 2024Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 18, 2020Most Recent Place of Detention: Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison
A retired elementary school teacher in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, passed away on December 25, 2024, 10 months after she was released from serving a wrongful term for her faith in Falun Gong. She was 69 years old.
Ms. Zhang Fenglan was arrested on August 18, 2020, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The police ransacked her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books, informational materials, photos of the founder of Falun Gong, and two computers.
When agents of the Bin County Domestic Security Office took her to the Harbin City Second Detention Center in the evening, she was denied admission. Instead of releasing her, the officers forced her to spend the night in the car and pressured the guards to accept her the following morning.
The police submitted Ms. Zhang’s case to the Yilan County Procuratorate on October 29, and she was indicted on November 26.
The Yilan County Court held a video hearing of Ms. Zhang’s case on December 24, 2020. She was restrained in a chair at the detention center, and handcuffed. Her husband, who represented her as a family defender, demanded that her handcuffs be removed, but the presiding judge, Liu Yanhua, rejected the request.
Prosecutor Ru Shaohua included Ms. Zhang’s resume and registration form for joining the Chinese Communist Party decades prior as prosecution evidence against her. Her husband questioned how these documents could be used as criminal evidence against her. The judge responded that they wanted to show that Ms. Zhang was a member of the Chinese Communist Party. Her husband then asked how that was related to the case. The judge remained silent.
Ms. Zhang’s defense representative entered a not guilty plea for her. He argued that it was her freedom of belief to practice her faith, and that she hadn’t violated any laws by reading Falun Gong books or possessing informational materials about the practice, and that none of her actions caused any harm to anyone, or society at large.
The judge didn’t allow Ms. Zhang’s husband to finish reading his prepared defense statement. She also instructed the bailiffs to turn off his microphone twice during his speech.
Ms. Zhang was sentenced to 3.5 years with a 15,000-yuan fine five days later on December 29, 2020. She appealed with the Harbin City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original verdict on April 26, 2021.
Ms. Zhang was later admitted to the eighth division of the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison. As she remained firm in practicing Falun Gong, the guards instigated the inmates to torture her. She developed severe headache and shingles as a result.
Due to the prolonged torture, Ms. Zhang was unable to keep any food down and vomited almost everything she ate. The intense headaches also kept her awake all night. Yet the prison refused to provide her with any medical treatment and kept her handcuffed and shackled. The inmates in her cell took turns watching her at night, fearing she might die at any moment.
After Ms. Zhang was released on February 20, 2024, her family took her to the hospital for a physical examination. Only then did the doctors confirm that she was in the late stages of lung cancer.
The family tried various treatments, but her condition did not improve. She died in the hospital on December 25, 2024.
Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Zhang was arrested another time on November 13, 2012, after being reported for putting up posters about Falun Gong. She was held at the Haidian Detention Center and later given two years at the Beijing Women’s Forced Labor Camp. She developed severe health symptoms as a result of torture in custody and was released on medical parole on June 21, 2013.