(Minghui.org) When Mr. Zhang Keliang arrived home at around 6 p.m. on January 22, 2015, a dozen police officers surrounded him as he stepped out of his car. They arrested him, snatched his keys, ransacked his place, and drove away in his car.
Mr. Zhang, who is in his 40s and a resident of Shouguang City, Shandong Province, has been arrested countless times for practicing Falun Gong. Beatings left him disabled from the waist down, and since then he has been unable to do heavy manual labor. He and his wife, Ms. Wang Zhongyun, had well paid jobs in the city, but because they refused to give up their belief, they were both fired.
Disabled from Beatings
The couple were arrested on September 3, 2001. Their house was raided and they were taken to a brainwashing session held by the local 610 Office. Because they refused to give up the practice, the couple were fired from their jobs and had no income.
On November 28, out of the blue, three plainclothes officers arrested Mr. Zhang's wife, Ms. Wang, at work and took her to the detention center. She was released when half of her body became paralyzed.
Two weeks later, four police officers climbed over a courtyard wall of the living quarters provided by Ms. Wang's employer in the middle of the night. They knocked on all the doors searching for the couple and woke everyone up.
The police located the couple and broke in. To avoid arrest, Mr. Zhang jumped out of the window from the second floor and ran. Two policemen caught him and dragged him into the police car. They held him down and punched him until he stopped moving.
Mr. Zhang was severely injured from the beatings. An x-ray showed that his spine was fractured. There was blood in his urine. To avoid being held responsible, the police claimed that he was injured from jumping out of the window. Even after being treated, Mr. Zhang's vertebra still protruded, and he became disabled.
Still, the authorities continued to harass Mr. Zhang and his family regularly. The couple could not find permanent jobs or lead a normal life. To avoid further persecution, they left home, leaving behind Mr. Zhang's mother, who was in her 80s, and a daughter barely 10 years old.
When Mr. Zhang's mother and daughter returned to their hometown, the police monitored them day and night. They often circled the house in a car and sent someone to monitor them from outside the house. Grandmother and granddaughter lived in constant fear.
Arrest During Chinese New Year, Couple Tortured to the Brink of Death
Mr. Zhang and his wife returned home on February 4, 2005, after being gone for nearly two years. They were planning to celebrate the Chinese New Year with Mr. Zhang's mother and their only child. Around two dozen officers from Shouguang Police Station broke into the house and began to search for the couple.
They arrested the couple and, during interrogation, beat Mr. Zhang Keliang, who once again sustained fractured vertebrae. The couple spent the new year in the detention center and were subsequently transferred to a brainwashing center.
Ms. Wang became paralyzed over half of her body. Three weeks later, both of them were released for fear of being held responsible if they died from torture while being detained. For details of the arrest, see "610 Office of Shouguang City Persecutes Zhang Keliang and his Wife Wang Zhongyun."
When they were released, Mr. Zhang was a wreck. He had lost a lot of hair and was covered in injuries. He had become hunchbacked and disabled. His wife's face was waxen and her vision blurred, and she could not move half of her body. The family had no source of income and lived on assistance from friends and family.
Arrested Before Beijing Olympics
Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, authorities in Shouguang City arrested many Falun Gong practitioners, Mr. Zhang and Ms. Wang among them. Ms. Wang was riding her bicycle to work when a black car without a license plate drove up and forced her over to the side of the road. The police handcuffed her, took her house key, and went to the couple's house to arrest Mr. Zhang.
Despite her physical disability, Ms. Wang was detained for a month in the detention center. She was bedridden, and every time she needed to use the toilet, she had to be carried to the bathroom.
Mr. Zhang was forced to peel garlic in the detention center. He had to stand or kneel for long hours in the water used to soak the garlic, causing his palms and legs to turn black. His nails fell off. Guards ordered the other inmates to hit him in the head with a shoe and he was shackled to a ring on the floor for 24 hours.
A month later he was taken to Wang Village Forced Labor Camp, but due to his weak condition and fractured vertebra, he was not accepted.
