(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Gu Wenqi, 42, from Liaoning Province, was an employee of the Zinc Electrolysis Factory of the Nonferrous Metallurgy Cooperation of Huludao City, Liaoning Province. Because he refused to stop practicing Falun Gong, he was subjected to brainwashing, illegal detention, imprisonment, and forced labor. He was also confined to a psychiatric hospital, without his family members knowing, even though there was nothing physically or mentally wrong with him.

During Mr. Gu's trial, the court did not allow him to have an attorney present nor did they publicly announce or record his sentence. So, without any legal procedure whatsoever, Mr. Gu was imprisoned for 8 years, simply for practicing Falun Gong.

The following is a brief description of the persecution that Mr. Gu suffered:

In May 2000, Mr. Gu went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong and was detained for 30 days. When he was released, he found out that his employer fired him and suspended his salary for one year.

In July 2000, Mr. Gu, Mr. Tao Shan, and Li Wenhai were confined in the Security Section of the Zinc Electrolysis Factory under the guise of "attending an educational class." They were held there for 10 consecutive days, against their will.

In October 2000, Mr. Gu was taken to the Xifei Brainwashing Center of Xingcheng City. He later escaped but was soon arrested by police officers from the Public Security Section of the Zinc Factory and was sent to a detention center where he was held for 30 days. After that, he was taken to a psychiatric hospital for further persecution

When he was released from the psychiatric hospital, the Zinc Factory detained him and tried to force him to write a guarantee statement, giving up the practice of Falun Gong. When Mr. Gu refused, the former director of the Zinc Factory, Liu Yafen, contacted Ma Qingbo, the chief of the Political Security Group of the Police Station of Long-gang District of Huludao City, and persuaded him to send Mr. Gu to a forced labor camp.

While in the camp, Mr. Gu was sent to the Strict Discipline Team where he was tortured because he would not give up his belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. His hands and feet were shackled to a bed and his mouth was stuffed with a dirty cloth. The shackle eventually cut into his ankle, leaving it red and swollen for two months.

In early 2002, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital where he was tortured for 11 months. After that he was sent back to the labor camp. At that time, he was unable to stand up on his own and was very emaciated. After Mr. Gu's release, he went out to distribute materials clarifying the facts about Falun Gong. When his neighbor, Shan Heping, saw him doing this, he reported Mr. Gu to the police.

Shortly after, he was sentenced to five years in the Jinzhou City Prison, Liaoning Province where he was cruelly tortured and became emaciated. During his imprisonment, he was injected with unknown drugs and then sent to a psychiatric hospital for further persecution. His feet and legs were very swollen and he was mentally disoriented.

On August 20, 2008, when Mr. Gu was finally released, he was unable to recognize his family members or his close friends, and still thought that he was back at Jinzhou Prison. Whenever he saw someone, he would grab them and ask them to please take him back home. Since Mr. Gu's wife divorced him back in 2003, he is now living alone in his family home.