Mr. Zhang Peiqi from Antu County, Jilin Province Incarcerated in Tiebei Prison after Police Brutality Rendered Him Disabled

By a Falun Gong practitioner in Jilin Province, China

(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zhang Peiqi is a Falun Gong practitioner from Antu County, Jilin Province, China. He is now incarcerated in Tiebei Prison and is subject to torture again. Mr. Zhang Peiqi was illegally arrested in March 2004 and lost the use of his legs as a result of the police's brutal abuse and torture. Despite his severe disability, he was illegally sentenced to six years in prison. He has been imprisoned in Tiebei Prison in Changchun City, Jilin Province since November 2004.

After his family finally learned his whereabouts, they immediately hurried to Tiebei Prison and asked to see him. The staff members in Tiebei Prison were corrupt. They demanded his family to curse Falun Gong and Teacher Li, otherwise, they would not grant any visit or pass along any goods that Mr. Zhang would need in prison.

As for Mr. Zhang's wife, Liu Meijun, she was illegally sentenced to two years in Changchun Women's Forced Labor Camp after the State Security Squadron from Antu County Public Security Bureau illegally arrested her on March 13, 2004. Mr. and Mrs. Zhang's daughter was admitted to a college in 2004, but she could not afford the tuition because both of her parents are illegally imprisoned. More details of the family's story follow:

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Mr. Zhang Peiqi is 43 years old and originally from Shandong Province. He graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology and used to be the most promising young engineer in Heilongjiang Province. He moved to Antu County, Jilin Province in 1990 where he began his career in structural design and interior decoration as a self-employed worker. He used to be the manager of Antu County's Second Architect Company. He started to practice Falun Gong in 1996 and became a volunteer assistant in a Falun Gong group exercise practice site in Antu County. After Jiang Zemin banned Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, Mr. Zhang was repeatedly incarcerated in the Antu County Detention Center. He once tried to fly to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, but was intercepted and arrested in Dalian Airport. A month later, he was illegally sentenced to two years in the Yanbian Forced Labor Camp and was released on bail three months later.

During the New Year of 2000, Mr. Zhang went to Beijing, hoping to appeal for Falun Gong, but the police arrested him and detained him in Yanbian City's Office in Beijing. Although he successfully escaped from the illegal detention, the police arrested him again at his relative's home in Shenyang during the Chinese New Year of 2000 and locked him up in Yanbian Detention Center. He was then illegally sentenced to three years in Jiutai Forced Labor Camp. Later he was transferred to Tonghua Forced Labor Camp. He was not released until August 2003.

After his release, the State Security Squadron in Antu County's Public Security Bureau once came to his home and harassed him. They also tapped his telephone and monitored his telephone conversations. Moreover, the police stationed a group of policemen in front of his apartment building who took turns watching him around the clock. Mr. Zhang had no choice but to flee from his home to escape this illegal house arrest. In March 2004, Mr. Zhang returned to Antu County to prepare for the rescue of his wife and several other Falun Gong practitioners who had also been imprisoned.

After receiving a tip on Mr. Zhang's whereabouts, the Antu County police swat squadron arrested him and another Falun Gong practitioner early in the morning on March 24, 2004. Next, Antu County's State Security Squadron secretly transferred Mr. Zhang to a torture chamber inside Antu County's Haigou Gold Mine where they kept torturing him in the most inconceivable ways for seven days straight. Mr. Zhang was tied to the Tiger Bench for seven consecutive days while the police repeatedly hit him with thick rubber hoses and wooden clubs and stuffed lit cigarettes inside his nostrils. He passed out repeatedly during the torture marathon. Each time he passed out the police would pour a bucket of cool water over him to revive him and continue the torture. After being tightly bound to the Tiger Bench for seven days, Mr. Zhang lost the use of his legs and fell into a coma. The police became nervous. To avoid responsibility if he died, the torturers dropped the barely breathing Zhang Peiqi at the door of Antu Detention Center and fled.

Mr. Zhang repeatedly tried to file a lawsuit against the Antu County police for their illegal torture and crimes against humanity, but no district attorney would process his case. It is shocking that, after the local police's heinous crimes against Mr. Zhang, the local court began a trial against Mr. Zhang, the very victim of the police's illegal arrest and brutalities, simply because he is a practitioner of Falun Gong. More ridiculously, although the trial was not completed because he passed out during the proceeding, the judge illegally sentenced him to six years in prison.

In November 2004, the police tried to transfer Mr. Zhang Peiqi and another Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Gao Changsuo, to Tiebei Prison. They both resisted the transfer without resorting to violent action , as the arrest, trial, and the sentence were not legal. But the police eventually carried them into the police car. After they arrived at Tiebei Prison, the disciplinary staff firmly refused to take Mr. Zhang because they saw that he was severely wounded and had lost the use of his legs. The transfer police had the audacity to lie, saying, "He is just pretending," when the signs of Mr. Zhang's injuries could not have been more evident. In order to resolve the dispute, the disciplinary staff at Tiebei Prison took Mr. Zhang to the doctor for a physical examination. The transfer police took the opportunity to take off and leave him there. When the transfer police were half way back to Antu County, Tiebei Prison authorities called them and told them that the prison doctor had confirmed that Mr. Zhang's legs were no longer functioning. The transfer police replied, "If you don't take him, we would have to release him. Then we would have problems with our boss." Thus they left Mr. Zhang in Tiebei Prison and returned to Antu County.

When Mr. Zhang Peiqi's family members finally saw him, they were heartbroken to discover he had lost his rosy complexion and become emaciated with sunken cheeks and an ashen complexion. The police's brutality had not only debilitated his legs, but also severely damaged his health. When Mr. Zhang's daughter finally saw him, she tried hard to keep herself from bursting into tears and repeatedly implored her father that he must stay alive. Mr. Zhang told her, "Tiebei Prison has more than 40 Falun Gong practitioners in its detention. The disciplinary staff members are very hostile and brutal to us."

Mr. Zhang is suffering from ill health due to the continuous tortures and brutalities. He is now kept in the hospital in Tiebei Prison. The disciplinary staff and the prison inmates had to bring him out in a wheelchair for a visit that lasted less than ten minutes. His family members were immediately rushed out of the premises after the brief visit.

Address of Tiebei Prison:
The 12th District in Tiebei Prison, Changchun City, Jilin Province, Zip Code 130052

Address of Antu County's State Security Squadron:
The 4th Brigade of the 6th Squadron, P.O. Box 1085, Changchun City, Zip Code 130000

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/3/18/97571.html

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