Name: Zhang Guohai (张国海 )
Gender: Male
Age: 41
Address: No. 2 Railway Pioneer Subdivision, Qianjin
District, Jiamusi City
Occupation: Jiamusi City Vehicles Section, Harbin Railroad
Bureau
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 2004
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jiamusu Forced Labor Camp
(佳木斯劳教所)
City: Jiamusi
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation,
forced labor, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, beatings, solitary
confinement, torture, force-feedings, extortion, dismissal from
workplace, home ransacking, detention
(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zhang Guohai, a practitioner from Jiamusi, has been persecuted repeatedly by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He has been arrested five times, imprisoned at a detention center four times, a brainwashing center once, and a forced labor camp twice. He was tortured with electric batons, brutally beaten, and in addition to other torture methods, forced to sit on a small stool for hours. The CCP authorities extorted large sums of money from him, and his workplace illegally dismissed him. Mr. Zhang Guohai recounts some of what has happened to him over the past years.
Arrested and Extorted for Appealing for Falun Gong in Beijing
My name is Zhang Guohai, I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1996. The CCP began to persecute practitioners in 1999.
In October 2000, my wife, Ms. Zhao Ying, and I went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa. I saw a group in military and plainclothes personnel at Tiananmen Square beating practitioners. My wife and I were forced into a police car and taken to an unknown detention center.
On the following day, we were taken to the Jiamusi Office in Beijing, detained for two days, then police officer Zhao Yi and others from the Jiamusi Public Security Bureau took me to the Jiamusi Detention Center.
At the Jiamusi Detention Center, I was illegally searched and forced to do slave labor, including cleaning floors, cutting cabbage, and washing radishes. I was provided with hard steamed buns and vegetable soup with a few vegetable leaves. My wife and I were detained for more than 70 days. My father-in-law asked the Jiamusi Domestic Security Division to release me. Chen Wanyou extorted around 10,000 yuan and the detention center over 1,000 yuan before we were released.
Zhou Fuqing from the Zhongshan Police Station extorted a so-called escorting fee of 2,300 yuan, which included train tickets, food, drink, 50 yuan accommodation fee at the Beijing Office, and 800 yuan so-called office expense.
During the illegal detention, I was beaten and cursed at by criminals, monitored by prisoners, and forbidden from practicing the Falun Gong exercises. I went on a hunger strike to resist the illegal detention and was force-fed.
Wife's Brainwashing Caused Marital Break-Up
My wife Ms. Zhao Ying and I were reported for distributing Falun Gong truth-clarification flyers in Baoqing County in 2001. Two officers from the Wanjinshan Police Station took us to the Baoqing County Detention Center. After three days of detention, two officers from the Railroad Sub-bureau public security office, and Mao Ruibo, the discipline inspection commission secretary from my workplace, the Jiamusi Vehicles Section, transferred us to the Jiamusi Railroad Detention Center for 18 days.
During that time, the scabies I contracted during my prior detention got worse and I was in pain every minute of the day. My wife and I were in bad physical condition, so we were released on bail for medical treatment after the detention center had extorted over 200 yuan.
In 2001, my wife went to Beijing again to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. She was arrested and sentenced to a year and a half of forced labor at the Xinan Forced Labor Camp. She was brainwashed there and she divorced me when I was in a forced labor camp in 2004. Our relationship was very good, but this persecution caused the divorce.
Tormented in Forced Labor Camp
Jiamusi City police began a large scale persecution of practitioners in April 2002. They ransacked homes, arrested and tortured practitioners, and around 100 practitioners were sentenced to forced labor and prisons.
On April 11, my manager and police officers from the Zhongshan Police Station arrested me. I was taken to the Zhongshan Police Station, and then to Jiamusi Detention Center that night, where I was held for ten days. I was later sentenced to three years of forced labor.
In the Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp, police ordered criminals to monitor practitioners. We were deprived of sleep. I was caught sitting cross-legged and put into a small confinement cell, handcuffed to a heating pipe, and forced to sit on a small stool handcuffed for two weeks. My hands became swollen and I was in excruciating pain. To protest my detention and torture, I went on a hunger strike for two weeks, so I was force-fed.
Torture re-enactment: Sitting on a small stool
On November 9, 2002, practitioners were denied family visits, and an all out effort to "transform" practitioners was begun. Practitioners were deprived of sleep around the clock, forced to sit on a small plastic stool that was less than 20 centimeters (8 in.) wide, forced to put both hands on their knees, and not allowed to move. Anything against the camps orders resulted in beatings.
Guards beat criminals if they fell asleep at midnight, and then they were ordered to beat me. Zhang Zhenhua, assistant squad leader, tortured my face and neck with an electric baton for half an hour in an attempt to make me renounce Falun Gong. Ge Jiao hit me with his fist, so I conducted a hunger strike and was force-fed. They also ordered inmate Wang Jinhuang to beat me.
All practitioners were under strict discipline. Many criminals were transferred from other prison districts to participate in persecuting practitioners. Practitioner Zhang Changming suffered a mental collapse and died. Practitioner Bi Jiaxin was near death because of the torture and died soon after being released.
Guards at the Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp tortured practitioners. I was cursed at and beaten frequently. The daily meal consisted of buns made from moldy flour, and sometimes half-cooked, frozen vegetable soup. Despite not being given much food, I was forced to pick beans.
Wang Hongwei often beat and kicked me and I was handcuffed to a heating pipe.
Endless Persecution
I was released in 2004, and returned to work in August of that year. The Railroad Sub-bureau 610 Office and my workplace took me to a brainwashing center for over ten days.
In October 2004, Railroad Sub-bureau 610 officers and Liu Xinguo, the Jiamusi Vehicles Section discipline inspection commission secretary, ordered my colleagues to monitor me. Wang Huamin, Chen Wanyou, and others from the Qianjin Sub-bureau arrested me, ransacked my home, confiscated my wage card, ID card, household registry, etc. and stole over 800 yuan from my wage card. I was taken to the Jiamusi Detention Center and then sentenced to three years of forced labor at the Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp. A year later, I was taken to the Suihua Forced Labor Camp. I was dismissed by my workplace.
In the Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp, Liang Jingui, hit my chest and abdomen with a mop pole for over 20 minutes.
In March 2005, during the CCP's two congress meetings, practitioner Wu Chunli clarified the truth about Falun Gong to police officers Guo Gang and Yang Chunming. They handcuffed him, tied him to a bed, and tortured him with an electric baton. They also tortured Guo Shude and me with electric batons, leaving many burned spots on my face. We were then locked in an empty cell, with the window opened, to make us freeze.
In 2008, police from the Xiangyang Sub-bureau broke into my residence on Yongan Street. They stole my computer, my household registry, school graduation certificates, rice, 20 kg soybean oil, and many other personal items. A warrant was issued for my arrest. I became and still am homeless.
