(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zhang Xiuqi is from Wazai Village, Laishui Town, Laishui County, Hebei Province. In October 1999, he was illegally arrested for practicing Falun Gong and was sent to the "Target Range" in Laishui County. Police pinned him down, made him kneel on bricks, and took turns pummeling his face until their hands ached. They went out to find a slipper and slapped his face using the slipper until it came apart. Then they pulled down a small tree and took a branch to lash him. His head became swollen as a result of the beating, and his whole face was black and blue with bruises.
To cover up their crimes, the police handcuffed Mr. Zhang with another person back to back in the cell. He was not allowed to sleep and was forced to run around the field in the morning. Guards also forced him to crawl in circles on the playground. Those responsible for the torture included former Party Secretaries of Laishui County Han Yasheng, Sun Guijie, Zhang Haili, and Liu Yaohua; Party Secretary of the town Hu Yuxiang; and Director of Laishui Town Liu Zhenfu. These people also extorted 870 yuan in cash from Mr. Zhang.
In April 2000, Mr. Zhang was again arrested and sent to the Communist Party School in Laishui County. In this school, police and officials from the Public Security Bureau, the Procuratorate, and the Court tortured practitioners for believing in Falun Dafa. They forced Mr. Zhang to stand against the wall with one leg lifted up high. They then put a bottle on the lifted foot and beat him whenever the bottle fell. They also wedged a burning cigarette between his toes. Policeman Sun Guijie forced practitioners to curse Master and Dafa. Mr. Zhang refused, so they dragged him to the backyard of a little white building, pulled down his pants and underwear, and pinned him down to the ground. Two policemen stood on each side of him, while one officer whipped him with a belt, and another cudgeled him, until Mr. Zhang was bleeding profusely. Mr. Zhang refused to write the guarantee statement to give up Falun Gong, so police stripped off all of his clothes and threw him into the front yard in the freezing weather.
The mayor of Laishui Town maliciously asked Mr. Zhang on his last day at the "school:" "Do you still practice Falun Gong?" Mr. Zhang then asked him: "Why am I not allowed to practice such good exercises?" Liu got very angry. He retrieved an iron cudgel, pulled off Mr. Zhang's pants, and severely beat him. New injuries were inflicted, and old wounds ripped open. Mr. Zhang rolled back and forth on the ground in excruciating pain.
After the forced "transformation" finished, Zhang Xiuqi was covered with bruises, and he was could not eat, drink, walk, or sit. Mayor of Laishui Town Liu Zhengfu and Party Secretary Hu Yuxiang took Mr. Zhang to the Town Hall again and detained him for seven days, until Mr. Zhang was about to die. Authorities extorted another 200 yuan from him. Those responsible included former Deputy Party Secretaries Sun Guijie and Zhang Haili; officers in the Public Security Bureau Liu Yaohua and Li Zenglin; the 610 Office; officials from the Laishui County Procuratorate and the Laishui County Court; and the former presiding judge of the Laishui County Court, Cui Jikun.
On March 1, 2004, Li Zengshan led a group of policemen from Laishui Town to break into Mr. Zhang's home without any ID or any legal documents. They ransacked his house and confiscated a photocopier worth 8000 yuan and all Dafa books. They dragged Mr. Zhang into the police car and took him to the town police station. In the afternoon a group of unidentified people went to his home again. They pried open every suitcase, cabinet, and drawer in the house and took all the household implements. They turned the house upside down. Mr. Zhang was then detained in the Laishui County Detention Center and the Custodial Station for eight months.
In November 2004, the Public Security Bureau in Laishui County illegally sent Zhang to the Balizhuang Forced Labor Camp in Baoding City, Hebei Province, where he was inhumanely tortured. He was handcuffed to a metal bed frame 24 hours a day. The cuffs were opened only during meal time. Guards electric shocked his chest, hands, feet, the inside of his thighs, and genitals. His hands became so swollen that he could not hold chopsticks.
In October and November 2005, Mr. Zhang was kept in handcuffs for over 20 days. Guards electric shocked his legs and caused several major burns. They also pushed his head into the bed frame.
In the detention center, the guards didn't allow his family to visit him unless they paid 80 yuan for each visit. Since 1999, the Laishui County Detention Center has extorted up to several hundred yuan per visit from relatives of illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners.
