Name: Zhang Guifu (张贵富)
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Address: Jiaochengbei Village, Qicheng, Taipusi, Guole
Alliance, Inner Mongolia
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 1, 2006
Most recent place of detention: Shisanli Detention Center in
Zhangjiakou City (张家口市十三里看守所)
City:Tangshan, Zhangjiakou
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Detention, extortion, interrogation, torture, beatings, force-feedings, physical constraint, illegal sentencing
(Clearwisdom.net) During the years of 2001 and 2002, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhang Guifu, from the Guole Alliance in Xilin, Inner Mongolia, was subjected to nearly 16 months of inhuman torture at the Wanzhuang Forced Labor Camp in Weifang City and at the Gaoyang Detention Center in Baoding City, Hebei Province. From 2006 to 2007, he had been subjected to torture for nearly nine months at the Shisanli Detention Center in Zhangjiakou City. While in the detention center, Mr. Zhang went on a hunger strike a few times, and he was subjected to forced-feedings by guards from the detention center.
On May 1, 2006, Mr. Zhang went to the home of a friend who is also a Falun Gong practitioner, where he was arrested by police officers who had been hiding inside this friend's home. During his arrest, about four to five police officers confiscated more than 1,000 yuan in cash, his ID, some Falun Gong truth-clarification materials, and his bike. On the same evening, Mr. Zhang was detained at the Mingdenan Police Station. Police officers used certain tactics to threaten and deceive him in an attempt to force him into a confession, and the interrogation went on until midnight. Later, police officers incarcerated Mr. Zhang and his friend in one of their interrogation rooms, where he was locked onto an iron bed, and his friend was handcuffed from behind on a tiger bench. The next morning, police officers wrote Mr. Zhang's name on a piece of paper and forced him to hold it up, and then they took a picture of him. Some time later, they forced him to put his fingerprints on an unknown document. At noon, police officers took him to the Shisanli Detention Center.
Guards disregarded Zhang's physical condition and tortured him, so Mr. Zhang went on a hunger strike to protest his maltreatment. (Note: During the years 2001 to 2003, Mr. Zhang was tortured until he became handicapped at the Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp in Hebei Province. After his release in 2003, he never fully recovered.) Four days later, guards began to force-feed him. Four to five people pressed him against a bench, and one criminal pinched his jaw very hard with both hands. One person, who was dressed like a doctor, tried to inject something into his throat. Due to the torture, he became very weak. After a while, he was almost paralyzed. Despite this, one person still grasped his collar and suddenly lifted him up and put him back onto the chair. This was repeated a few times. After they had completed force-feeding him, his jaw became swollen, which caused him tremendous pain. The following days and under instigation of police officers, the guards had every inmate force-feed Mr. Zhang with a big bottle of water from the water faucet. Guards also instigated other inmates to curse and humiliate him, and defame Falun Gong.
During that period of time, Mr. Zhang became very weak, yet he was forced to sleep on the concrete floor every night with only a very thin blanket to cover him. On the seventh day, a person in charge of the detention center instigated inmates to put him in handcuffs behind his back and put foot shackles on him, which were extremely heavy. Prior to 2004, Mr. Zhang was tortured in the labor camp until his feet and legs were disabled. He had difficulty walking to begin with, and the heavy foot shackles caused more harm. He had reached his limit and could endure no more, thus he had to stop his hunger strike.
On June 7, 2006, police officers from the Qiaoxi Police Sub-Bureau in Zhangjiakou City issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Zhang. Facing escalated persecution, he went on a hunger strike again. A guard whose surname was Fan had inmates put handcuffs and foot shackles on him. A few days later, guards had six inmates carry him to the courtyard of the detention center. Once again, they opened up his mouth and used big bottles to force-feed him with condensed salt water. On the ninth day, and as a result of being brutally tortured, Mr. Zhang stopped his hunger strike.
On August 7, people from the Zhangjiakou City Procuratorate delivered a copy of "Notification on Finding a Defender" to Mr. Zhang. He then began to clarify his situation to the people of the Procuratorate and the detention center. The police officers who dealt with his case tried to shrug off their responsibilities, and fabricated crimes against him in order to escalate his persecution. In response to this, Mr. Zhang went on a hunger strike again. A few days later, guards had six inmates carry him to the courtyard of the detention center again. They pressed down his head and body and one inmate tried to forcefully open his mouth. Another inmate was filling big bottles with condensed salt water. Guard Fan kicked his right lower leg very hard, which caused his already injured leg to be even more painful. Because everything they used to force-feed him did not go down, ten days later, the guards used a tube to force-feed him with. The prison doctor used a rubber tube, which he inserted through Mr. Zhang's nose and into his stomach. After he was finished force-feeding him, the doctor left one end of the tube in his stomach and affixed the other end to his head with tape, which caused a great deal of pain for Mr. Zhang.
One day, the prison doctor, guard Fan and the person in charge of the detention center carried Mr. Zhang into the courtyard and put him in handcuffs and foot shackles and they force-fed him again. After they carried him back to the cell, he began to vomit through the inserted tube, which was not removed until an inmate reported it to the prison doctor.
The next morning, guard Fan told a few prisoners to carry Mr. Zhang into the medical room to continue force-feeding him. Every time they tried to insert the tube into his nose, it ended up coming out through his mouth and was covered with blood. Since their attempts were working, guards had a few prisoners press down Mr. Zhang's head and body, and one prisoner forcefully opened his mouth, while another prisoner held a milk container. Then they used a steel spoon and poured the substance through his mouth and down his throat. After doing this a few times, he still ended up vomiting everything he was force-fed.
The following day, the guards used the same approach in an attempt to force-feed him with condensed salt water, yet they did not succeed either. During his detention, guards and inmates cursed and humiliated Mr. Zhang. Fifteen days later, the doctor and guard Fan measured his blood pressure in the doctor's room. It indicated that Mr. Zhang's blood pressure appeared to be abnormal and his life was in danger. Therefore, the person in charge scolded the inmates for not having effectively force-fed him. After that, inmates force-fed him many times. As a result, Mr. Zhang's lower jaw was broken and his skin peeled off. Later, several inmates pressed down his body and head again, and either pinched his mouth, covered his eyes, or force-fed him milk with steel spoons, which caused his upper jaw to break and his throat to be injured. This time, he did not only vomit water, but also blood. Thus the towel of one inmate was completely stained with blood.
The person in charge of the detention center said to Mr. Zhang Guifu: "Since the persecution of Falun Gong started, Falun Gong practitioners who were detained in our detention center during the past few years--some of them have died. However, no one was held responsible for that." The next day, guards began to give him injections, yet they could not find any of his blood vessels. Sometimes, when they did manage to find his blood vessels, they were always congested and blood flowed very slowly. The few times when Mr. Zhang has gone on a hunger strike to resist his maltreatment, he has been subjected to all kinds of torture. As a result, he was wounded tremendously both physically and mentally. Especially after his third forced-feeding, his health worsened drastically.
On January 24, 2007, police officers fabricated evidence and wrongfully sentenced Mr. Zhang to five years of imprisonment. He was then taken to the Yidong Prison in Hebei Province. Before that, Mr. Zhang had been subjected to inhuman torture during his nine months in the detention center.
