(Clearwisdom.net)

Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Fangliang, a 48-year-old male, lived in Rongchang in Chongqing City, Sichuan Province. He became the Vice County Magistrate at the end of 1997. Zhang Fangliang started practicing Falun Gong in early 1998. His body became purified through the practice, and his chronic hepatitis B was cured without medical treatment. He was finally released from the pain of an illness that tormented him for 23 years. He also learned that the Falun Gong principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance are the highest characteristic of the cosmos. As a result, he became healthy in mind and body after living according to those principles, and started espousing a higher morality. As a Falun Gong practitioner as well as a community leader, he used his best abilities to unconditionally contribute to the people in his County. He took fame and personal interests lightly, and was righteous, honest and incorruptible. He was in an important position, but he never accepted bribes and invitations to dinners, nor did he use public property for personal reasons. Stories of his ethical demeanor were widely spread among local people, and he had a very good reputation and received many praises.

On July 20, 1999, the persecution of Falun Gong started in China. Zhang Fangliang was forced by the high pressure to practice secretly but felt very sad. After witnessing the brutal persecution to Falun Gong and practitioners by Jiang's political group of accomplices, he bravely stood out and clarified the true facts of the persecution to others and delivered Dafa truth-clarifying materials to expose and stop the evil.

On October 6, 2001, he was caught while he was delivering Dafa truth-clarifying materials in Tongliang county town, Chongqing City. He was initially illegally detained at the Chongqing police station at the beginning, and then transferred to the detention center in Tongliang county town. During the illegal detention, he faced the high-pressure persecution and did not surrender to the evils. Even though he was brutally persecuted in mind and body, he still clarified the truth and exposed the evil actions of Jiang's regime to everyone he met. He firmly protected the law of the cosmos, Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, and his determined righteous thoughts terrified the evil. In June 2002, the evil escalated their persecution against him, he suffered brutal torture and could not write. After reading the letter that he asked someone to write and deliver for him, his family felt there that it was possible that he could die from the the torture and abuse he was receiving. So, they rushed to the Tongliang detention center on July 3. His family members were finally allowed, after he was in detention for more than eight months, due to their strong demands. Four criminals in the detention center lifted Zhang Fangliang out. His limbs were swollen, he could not stand straight and move freely, he could not write but his mind was clear, and he spoke loudly. His family requested his release bail for medical treatment due to his poor condition and inability to take care of himself. They insisted their request be approved. Liu Anxue, the Vice Politics and Law Entrustment Secretary of Tongliang county said: "We have phoned the city office and reported his situation, and they are waiting for our report in writing." Zhang's family urged Liu, so he faxed the report to the politics and law entrustment committee in the city that same night, and asked Zhang's family to wait for their reply. The days of July 6 and 7 occurred on a weekend, so nobody was working. On July 8, Zhang's family member again went to the politics and law entrustment office in Tongliang county and waited for the reply, but discovered that Zhang Fangliang had already been transferred to Tongliang's county hospital. Zhang had been badly tortured. They had put handcuffs on him and injected an unknown medicine into his body against his will. When his family members arrived at the hospital, Zhang was incoherent, and could not recognize his family members, not even his wife. Seeing him in such a broken condition, his wife sadly and angrily said to the staff of Tongliang county's "610" Office [An agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems]: "If anything goes wrong with my man, you will be held responsible." The Vice-Secretary Liu Anxue became afraid and said: " You can check the prescription, we used the 'best' medicine on him." The staff of the "610" Office quickly pulled out the medicine bottle, since the medicine was not yet finished and gave it to the family and pushed Zhang's family to take him home. The police cars escorted them on the way home, with one car in the front and another one following behind them. When they arrived in Rongchang county, Wang Chenzhi, the Politics and Law Entrustment Secretary of Rongchang county came out to meet them, then the officers of both counties left in a hurry after their discussion.

After Zhang Fangliang arrived home, his mind temporarily became clear and he could recognize his family. However, he could hardly breathe and talk, and had a loud ringing in his ears. When his family found his breathing became more difficult, they took him to Rongchang People's hospital around 11 pm on the same night. At 7 am next day, Zhang Fangliang slowly stopped breathing while he was being injected. The result of his death report from the hospital showed: his lungs were infected, his breathing stopped, and his heart failed.

His wife was extremely upset, and she described the details to Li Qisong, the county magistrate of Rongchang county, asking him for justice and for this matter to be investigated. His reply was: "We can not take any cases relevant to Falun Gong." Then, the county party committee sent someone down to request Zhang Fangliang's body be cremated immediately. Meanwhile, they also sent notification by phone that government officials above a certain level were not allowed to attend his funeral or publicaly mourn for him. The policemen guarded the outside premises of the memorial hall so people were scared to attend. The relevant departments of Rongchang county town spread obviously fabricated rumors that Zhang Fangliang "died from suicide." Even though they intended to cover-up the truth of his death, it was very clear to local people that a good person had been tortured to death after a only a few months in detention.