After being tortured and abused in jail for eight years, Mr. Xu Dawei is in mental disorder. The photos indicate electric shock scars, scabs, edema and necrosis on his emaciated body.
To avoid the persecution, Ms. Zhang Fengying had been forced into destitute for three years. While she returned home to take care of her paralyzed husband, She was arrested and imprisoned later.
Mr. Xu Dawei Suffered Mental Disorder after Eight Years in Prison (Photos)
Mr. Xu Dawei, 35, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Yingermen Town, Qingyuan County, Liaoning Province. Before he was arrested eight years ago, Mr. Xu was a chef at a restaurant in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, and was in good health. When he was released on February 3, 2009, he had developed a mental disorder. He was emaciated, with grey hair and a body covered with scars.
Mr. Xu Dawei (several months before he was arrested.)
After eight years in prison, Mr. Xu Dawei was emaciated and had a mental
disorder, with many electric shock scars on his body.
Mr. Xu had edema in his hands and feet. His right knee and ankle had scabs. He had dark marks on his buttocks from necrosis.
In January 2001, Mr. Xu Dawei was arrested for distributing Falun Gong fliers by the Shengli Police Station, Heping Police Department, Shenyang City Police Department. Liang Zhu, director of the police station, was promoted to the Heping District 610 Office because of Mr. Xu's arrest. Officer Zhou Chunwei was also responsible for Mr. Xu's arrest.
Mr. Xu Dawei was sentenced to eight years in prison by the Heping District Court. He was imprisoned and tortured at the Shenyang City Dabei Prison, followed by the 1st Prison of Lingyuan, the Fushun No. 2 Prison, and the Shenyang City Dongling Prison.
The extent of Mr. Xu's experience in the prisons is unknown. The following are several known facts.
In late January 2003 in the Shenyang City Dabei Prison, Mr. Xu was beaten and locked in a small dark cell which was less than 43 square feet in size. The person responsible was Li Jianguo, the prison ward's head guard.
On October 29, 2003 in the 1st Prison of Lingyuan, Mr. Xu was taken to the "Strict Supervision Division." He was tortured there.
At least twice, while he was in the Eighth Ward of the 1st Prison of Lingyuan, Mr. Xu was locked in small cells. He was handcuffed and shackled for several months, and shocked with electric batons many times. The responsible person was Wang Liming, the Eighth Prison Ward's head guard.
As a result of the torture, Mr. Xu developed symptoms of pleurisy. Fluid filled half of his lungs.
About two years ago, Mr. Xu was transferred to the Third Ward of the Shenyang City Dongling Prison. He was beaten there. The people responsible were prison director Li Zhong and guards Hu Xizhong and Qi Jinglong.
For the past two years, Mr. Xu's family visited the prison almost monthly. Only on one occasion were they allowed to see Mr. Xu. All other times, their requests to see him were rejected, followed with ridicule toward Falun Gong, or they were told that Mr. Xu was under "strict supervision."
The single family visit happened on February 14, 2008. Mr. Xu was skinny but his mental state, his speech and his reasoning were all normal.
On February 3, 2009, Mr. Xu Dawei was released after eight years. The family was shocked when they saw Mr. Xu at the prison. His hair was gray, and he was emaciated, had dull eyes, and did not recognize his family.
Mr. Xu's chest and abdomen had many brown scars left from electric shocks. He had edema in his hands and feet. His right knee and ankle had scabs. His buttocks was dark purple from necrosis.
After he was taken home, Mr. Xu squatted against the wall and was too scared to move. His family kept telling him, "You are home. Don't be afraid." As time passed, Mr. Xu finally felt safe enough to sit on the bed.
After being taken care of by his family, in time, Mr. Xu was able to recover. Once he had regained mental coherence, he told his family, "The jail gave me injections of psychotropic drugs. They beat me with their fists and kicked me."
Ms. Zhang Fengying is Arrested Upon Returning Home to Look After Her Paralyzed Husband
Ms. Zhang Fengying from Naziyu Village, Yiyuankou Township, Zhucaoying Town, Funing County, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province was forced into homelessness for more than three years because she remained steadfast in her practice of Falun Gong.
One day, Ms. Zhang took the risk of returning home to take care of her husband, whose legs had become paralyzed. She was arrested at her home on December 1, 2008 by plainclothes policemen.
Since 1999, the Funing County police have arrested Ms. Zhang, ransacked her home, and subjected her to lengthly brainwashing sessions on numerous occasions. She was also sentenced to one year of forced labor and suffered many different forms of torture such as the Tiger Bench, "tying up" (1), and "hung up in a tree" (2).
She was also shocked with electric batons, force-fed, repeatedly slapped in the face, beaten and kicked, and tortured with drugs at different hospitals. In addition, she had several thousand yuan extorted from her.
Ms. Zhang used to be plagued by several illnesses, making her unable to take care of herself. In addition, she had a short temper. After practicing Falun Gong for just a short while, all of her symptoms disappeared. Furthermore, her temperament greatly improved. Not only was she able to exercise forbearance under very trying situations, but she also began to exude a calm, gentle, and friendly demeanor.
On the morning of March 1, 2005, Ru Hongxi from the County Domestic Security Team and Pan Weixing and Miao Hui from Zhucaoying Town police station, along with six other people, intruded into Ms. Zhang's home, confiscating her family property and arresting her. When Ms. Zhang's son and husband tried to protect her, her son was beaten, causing his nose and mouth to bleed profusely.
The police arrested Ms. Zhang's husband and son and took them to the local police station in Zhucaoying Town, where they forced them to apologize for their behavior and sign a guarantee statement. The police did not release them until late that evening.
At Funing County Police Department, officer Ru Hongxi tortured Ms. Zhang into confessing a crime that she did not commit. He repeatedly slapped, beat, and kicked her, causing her to lose consciousness. In an effort to shirk responsibility, the police took her to the hospital emergency room. After she regained consciousness, they took Ms. Zhang to the Funing County House of Detention, where the Domestic Security Team and 610 Office personnel interrogated her non-stop in an effort to obtain information on other Falun Gong practitioners.
Seeing that Ms. Zhang had no intentions of divulging any information to them, the chief of the 610 Office threatened her husband and her son, forcing them to come to the detention center to help persuade her. When Ms. Zhang began a hunger strike to protest the situation, about a dozen people at the detention center force-fed her.
Two weeks later, Ms. Zhang was taken to a hotel near the Funing County People's Hospital to undergo a ten-day brainwashing session. During this period, the police called her husband and threatened him, saying, "If your wife does not give in, she will receive a five- to seven-year prison sentence," and "You will need to pay for two weeks worth of meals and lodging expenses that we incurred while trying to get your wife to give in."
Sometime during her detention, Ms. Zhang found an opportunity to escape, forcing her to become destitute and homeless. The Funing County 610 Office ordered Zhucaoying Town Police Station to continuously harass Ms. Zhang's family members and relatives.
In the spring of 2008, Ms. Zhang's husband was diagnosed with osteoporosis, and his legs became paralyzed. He was unable to take care of himself. Upon hearing this news, Ms. Zhang went home to look after her husband but was reported by someone. She was arrested by the police on the morning of December 1, 2008. She was later imprisoned at the County Detention Center.