Name: Chen Zhizhong (陈志忠)
Gender: Male
Age: Approximately 50
Address: Jingfeng Community, Decheng District of Dezhou City, Shandong Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 16, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Zhangqiu Forced Labor Camp, Jinan City (济南章丘劳教所)
City: Jinan
Province: Shandong
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, home ransacked, extortion, forced labor
(Clearwisdom.net) (By a correspondent in Shandong Province) In late October 2009, Mr. Chen Zhizhong from Dezhou City, Shandong Province was sentenced to forced labor again for practicing Falun Gong. His family questioned policeman Zhang Xikun, "Why didn't you notify the family when you took him away?" Zhang replied, "There is no reason. I had to do it. Back in 2001, we sentenced him to three years of forced labor. This time we are not as tough and will sentence him to only one year."
On the evening of September 16, 2009, Zhang Xikun, head of the Politics and Security Division of Decheng District Police Department, policeman Liu Dawei, policewoman Duan Huijun, and two deputy police chiefs of Changzhuang Township Police Station surnamed Ren and Xia broke into Chen Zhizhong's home. They restrained Mr. Chen and his wife to their sofa, and then ransacked their home. Subsequently, they confiscated personal belongings including a personal computer, a paper-cutting machine, six printers, a pair of pliers, a wrench, a cell phone battery, and 13,200 yuan in cash. When the couple tried to intervene, Liu Dawei claimed they had obtained the money illegally, and then attempted to take Mr. Chen's wife into custody.
Mr. Chen was jailed in the Dezhou City Detention Center. His wife and family went to the Decheng District Police Department and requested his release. Liu Dawei yelled at Mr. Chen's wife, struck her, and attempted to detain her. A month later, Mr. Chen's family went to the detention center to bring him some clothes, and found out that he had been secretly sentenced to a forced labor term and transferred to the Zhangqiu Forced Labor Camp in Jinan City. On the day he was taken to the forced labor camp, he was diagnosed with severely high blood pressure, so the camp authorities refused to take custody of him. Liu Dawei bribed the camp authorities with the money he had confiscated from Mr. Chen's home, and insisted on the camp taking custody of Mr. Chen.
Soon after, Mr. Chen was taken to the forced labor camp. His family went to visit him, but the authorities refused their visitation.
Mr. Chen Zhizhong was introduced to Falun Gong by an acquaintance in 1995. After reading the book Zhuan Falun, he found answers to all the questions that had puzzled him during his life. Since then, he has conducted himself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance. His health has been good, and his family life harmonious.
On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party and Jiang Zemin started the persecution of Falun Gong. Mr. Chen Zhizhong was identified by the authorities as one of the key practitioners, and tried to arrest him. He was forced to leave home to avoid the persecution. On February 10, 2002, one day prior to the Chinese New Year, he was reported to the authorities. Policemen from the Dezhou City and the Decheng District Tiexi Police Stations arrested Mr. Chen, and detained him in the Wangcun Forced Labor Camp for three years.
After Mr. Chen's release, officers from the Changzhuang Police Station in Decheng District went to his home regularly to harass him and his family. During the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, several policemen broke into his home, and then forced him to provide his cell phone and home phone numbers in order for them to illegally tap his phones.