Name: Zhou Shuyou (周树友)
Gender: Male
Age: 49
Address: Beisanjia Township, Qingyuan County
Occupation: Train station employee
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 21, 2005
Most Recent Place of Detention: Fushun City Forced Labor Camp (抚顺市教养院)
City: Fushun
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, torture, sexual assault, extortion, interrogation, detention, denial of restroom use.
(Minghui.org) Mr. Zhou Shuyou worked at the Qingyuan County Train Station in Fushun City, Liaoning Province. He began practicing Falun Gong in the second half of 1997. Through reading the book Zhuan Falun, he learned the principles of the universe and the true meaning of life. He became a better, kinder person by conducting himself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He was conscientious and did his best at work. In 1998 he received the "Advanced Worker" award, recognizing his excellent performance.
This good person was nonetheless persecuted repeatedly after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. He was sent to forced labor twice and brainwashing once.
Sentenced to Forced Labor for Going to Beijing to Appeal
Mr. Zhou went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong in 2001. Because the authorities blocked all the appeals channels, he was unable to talk to any government official. To let people know the truth about Falun Gong, he went to Tiananmen Square and displayed a banner on which he had written “Falun Dafa Is Good.” The police immediately arrested him and took him to Dongcheng Detention Center in Beijing. The guards interrogated him using torture. They tortured him by forcing him to sit on an iron chair, with his legs bound to the chair legs and hands handcuffed to the back of the chair. They struck his head, slapped his face, and kicked his chest.
In order to protest the illegal detention, Mr. Zhou went on a hunger strike for seven days. Fifteen days later, he was transferred to the Fushun Office in Beijing and held there for five days.
The authorities had planned to send Mr. Zhou back to his hometown. On the way back, an officer in charge of the Cangshi Train Station told him, “You need to promise to give up practicing Falun Gong, otherwise, we’ll put you in a forced labor camp.” Mr. Zhou refused. As a result, the police took him to the Shenyang Railways Bureau Police Station, where he was sentenced to two years of forced labor. He was sent to Nianzishan Forced Labor Camp in Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, and later transferred to the Fuyu County Forced Labor Camp.
Brutally Tortured in Fuyu County Forced Labor Camp
Torture re-enactment: Hanging up in the air
The Fuyu County Forced Labor Camp began carrying out a cruel form of torture, “Hanging up in the air” after April 20, 2002, attempting to “transform” practitioners. Every day, the guards hung practitioners by their handcuffs for at least 11 hours. This brutal torture was implemented every day until two days before October 1.
Guard Huang Dianlin hung practitioners up from a two-meter-high bed header. He also handcuffed their hands and abused them. Practitioners were given limited time to use the toilet. They were hung up for the entire day except their lunch time. Because of the torture, many practitioners’ legs and feet swelled up, and they had difficulty standing and walking. Practitioners subjected to this torture included Mr. Fu Zhiyu, Mr. Zhou Shuyou, Mr. Luo Yongquan, and Mr. Liu Jingming.
Because Mr. Zhou did not cooperate with the guards, Huang Dianlin grabbed his handcuffed hands and twisted them, breaking his bones, and causing his wrists to bleed. Huang also ordered six inmates to hang him from the bed header.
Despite the brutal torture, Mr. Zhou, Mr. Fu, and the other practitioners did not give up their faith. The guards then hung them up for more than 120 days, and extended the torture for another one to three months. The practitioners’ feet were seriously swollen and too horrible to look at. Mr. Zhou was once hung up this way until 1:00 a.m. Mr. Fu was handcuffed to a heating pipe that was 20 centimeters from the ground. Because of the cruel torture, he lost consciousness and passed away the day after he was sent to a hospital.
Sent to Luotaishanzhuang Brainwashing Center in Fushun City
In 2004, the police from the Shenyang Railways Bureau arrested more than twenty practitioners who worked in the railway sector, and sent them to the Luotaishanzhuang Brainwashing Center in Fushun City. Mr. Zhou was also arrested when he went to work at the Cangshi Train Station that day.
The brainwashing center guards did not allow practitioners to sleep or talk to each other, and had collaborators try to persuade practitioners to stop practicing by talking to them about evil theories. In addition, they monitored practitioners and forced them to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong. Although the brainwashing center tried many ways to “transform” practitioners, Mr. Zhou was firm in his belief. The officials then extended his term by more than 15 days, after which he was picked up and taken home by his employer.
Guan Yong and Other Officers from Fushun City Kick His Private Parts and Split His Legs
The police in Fushun City broke into Mr. Fu’s home on March 21, 2005, at around 8:00 p.m., and forcibly took him to the Fushun Drug Rehabilitation Center. His five-year-old daughter was at home and was traumatized by the violence. Prior to this, the police detained his wife at her workplace and would not let her return home.
Torture re-enactment: Splitting the legs
The police interrogated him at 8:00 p.m. on April 6, using a brutal torture called “splitting the legs.” Guan Yong and other officers pulled his legs in opposite directions and then pushed his body down from the top, forcing his legs in a straight line on the ground. In addition, they tied him to the board using tape and handcuffed his hands behind his back. They kicked his head and his lower body. Due to the severe torture and beatings, his testicles were hugely swollen and he was unable to walk without assistance. He also had intense pain in his abdomen and was unable to stand up. The police tortured him the entire night and did not stop until 9:00 a.m. the next day.
The forced labor camp refused to accept Mr. Zhou because of his serious injuries and poor physical condition. After the extensive abuse and torture, he couldn't even stand up or walk. The police were supposed to send him home for treatment, but they took him to the Dashagou Detention Center in Qingyuan County. After a month, Leng Yan from the Legal Division of Qingyuan County Police Department transferred him to Wujiabao Forced Labor Camp in Fushun City, where the officials still refused to take him because of his fragile condition. Leng Yan then bribed the labor camp officials and he was admitted to the labor camp.
