(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zhou Zhigao, a Falun Gong practitioner that is around 56 years old, is a retiree from the Hunan Provincial Installation Company and lives in the company's living quarters in Changsha City in the Tianxin District. He was arrested on August 21, 2002, and illegally sentenced to a seven-year jail term by the local court in Kaifu. Mr. Zhou is currently imprisoned in the Third Division of Wuling Jail in Changde City, Hunan Province.
While in Wuling Jail in Changde City, Mr. Zhou was tortured and persecuted both physically and mentally because of his persistence in the belief of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."
From June 12 to 13 in 2005, the provincial authority came to Wuling Jail to conduct a field inspection. Mr. Zhu was brutally beaten for refusing to wear the jail uniform. A week later, he was mercilessly beaten by prison guard Li Hui, around 30 years old. The beating caused profuse bleeding. Another time, when he refused to comply with the roll call in the middle of the night, he was pushed from the upper tier bunk bed, causing him to fall. His subsequent injuries hindered his mobility for a week. The prison guards' cruelty toward Mr. Zhou was so outrageous that even the other prison inmates found the punishment objectionable.
For a long time, Wuling Jail in Changde City used corporal punishment and regarded its implementation as an "accepted norm" in the management of the prisoners, disregarding the civil rights of the prisoners, abusing their power and violating the law. When it came to their treatment of Falun Gong practitioners, they were notorious for their cruelty.
Apart from Mr. Zhou Zhigao, other practitioners like Mr. Gu Zhihui were also persecuted severely for non-compliance with the authorities' requests. The prison guards brutally and mercilessly beat him. His hands and body were constantly tied up, and he was hung by a rope with his feet barely touching the ground. The persecution caused his hands to become swollen, and his body was covered with bruises. He was forced to kneel for long periods of time and denied sleep for up to seven days.
Practitioner Tan Zhiyang was also imprisoned in this jail.
We hereby appeal to the world's kindhearted people to righteously condemn the illegal atrocities taking place in Wuling Jail in Changde City.
Related articles covering these incidents of torture were reported on the Minghui website (in Chinese) on November 21, 2005, under the title "Changsha City Illegally Sentenced Zhou Zhigao to a Seven-Year Jail Term" and on 27 May, 2006 under the title "Changde Wuling Jail Police Atrocities and Cruelty Toward Falun Gong Practitioners."
Related telephone numbers:
Zhou Zhigao's employer:
Hunan Provincial Renovation/Installation Company:
86-731-5137630
Hunan Provincial Renovation/Installation Company's Secretary, Zhang Longquan:
86-731-4318561, (Office) 86-13607312966 (Cell)
Changde City Wuling Jail, Third Division:
District Magistrate Wang Jian: 86-736-4336272
Prison guard: Xie Ying (Surveillance Chief): 86-736-7201792
Prison guard: Liu YongAn: 86-736-7716606
Changde Wuling Jail zip code: 415116
June 12, 2006
