Name: Zhang Xingcai (张兴才)
Gender: Male
Age: 61
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 16, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Changchun Public Security Hospital (长春公安医院)
City: Yanbian
Province: Jilin
Persecution Suffered: Arrest, detention, brainwashing, forced labor, torture, home ransacked
(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Xingcai has gone on a hunger strike to protest the persecution while being detained at the Changchun Public Security Hospital in Jilin Province. He was illegally arrested on January 16, 2010 while visiting the home of another practitioner.
Persecuted in Forced Labor Camps
Mr. Zhang has been arrested several times since the start of the persecution by the Chinese Communist Party on July 20, 1999. He was detained in forced labor camps twice, once at the Yanji Forced Labor Camp and later at the Jiutai Forced Labor Camp in Jilin Province prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
In the Jiutai Forced Labor Camp, Zhang was forced to sit on a board for up to 19 hours a day. In mid-December, guards Li Yunbo and Zhao Fengshan also designated prisoner Ma Xiaoqiang and others to open the windows of his prison cell, leaving Zhang there to freeze. Zhang's lower back and buttocks were seriously injured due to the longterm sitting, and he was bedridden for eight months. After his release from prison at the end of his term, he gradually recovered his health through practicing Falun Gong.
Home Ransacked, Forced into Homelessness
At around 5 a.m. on September 17, 2009, police officers ransacked Mr. Zhang's home while his wife was home alone. The traumatic experience led to deterioration of her health. Zhang left home in order to avoid further persecution and pressure upon his family.
Arrested and Illegally Sentenced Again
Zhang was arrested again by officers from the National Security Team on January 16, 2010, while visiting the home of Falun Gong practitioner Yin Fengqin, who later died under highly suspicious circumstances during an attempted arrest. Zhang was sent to a brainwashing center the same day, and later illegally sentenced to forced labor at the Jiutai Forced Labor Camp. When the labor camp refused him for not passing the physical exam, he was sent to the Changchun Public Security Hospital in Jilin Province, where he has gone on a hunger strike and is being severely persecuted.
