(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhang Ronghuan, a 66-year-old retired physician who practices Falun Gong, was illegally sentenced to four years of imprisonment by the Weidu District Court on December 11, 2013. Her family was not notified of the hearing. Dr. Zhang, who is from Xuchang City, Henan Province, appealed to the Xuchang Court.
In February 2014, Dr. Zhang’s attorney went to Xuchang Court to check the status of her appeal. To his surprise, the officials said that the judgment of the Weidu District Court had been upheld even though Xuchang Court had not yet held a hearing on her appeal.
The attorney then went to Gaoqiaoying Detention Center in Xuchang where Dr. Zhang is being detained. He was given a very short time to meet with her. He saw that she was little more than skin and bones, and was too weak to straighten her back or open her eyes. The attorney was very concerned about her condition.
Dr. Zhang was arrested on the afternoon of April 1, 2013, for talking to people about the benefits of Falun Gong near the Xuchang People’s Hospital. She was taken to the Beida Police Department in Xuchang.
Xu Yanli and more than 10 officers from the Xuchang 610 Office, the Xuchang Domestic Security Division, and the Beida Police Department broke into her home and ransacked it around 7:00 that evening. They took her Falun Gong books and many other personal belongings.
Dr. Zhang was later transferred to Gaoqiaoying Detention Center and has now been held there for nearly a year.
Traumatized by his daughter's arrest and greatly missing her, Dr. Zhang's 80-year-old father fell ill and died during the 2014 Chinese New Year without seeing her one last time. She asked to go to her father’s funeral but was not allowed to.
This is not the first time that Dr. Zhang has been persecuted.
She was previously arrested from her home in June 2006 and sentenced to three years in prison.
The officers from the Xuchang 610 Office and Police Department ransacked her home and took her cash and personal belongings valued at more than 10,000 yuan.
She was first held in a detention center and put in a cell shared by more than a dozen others. The guards forced her to do heavy work but gave her little food.
Sun Lina and other officers from the Weidu District Police Department interrogated her using torture. They severely beat and kicked her and struck her chest with bricks. Afterwards she was dizzy and suffered from fever, giddiness, and tinnitus.
They fabricated evidence and illegally sentenced her to three years in Xinxiang Women’s Prison.
Dr. Zhang was brutally tortured in prison because she refused to give up her belief in Falun Gong. The guards and inmates often slapped her face and cruelly beat and kicked her until she passed out.
She was repeatedly put in solitary confinement. The inmates took turns watching her. The guards handcuffed one of her hands to the bed rail before she fell asleep.
When she was finally released, she had lost so much weight that she was little more than skin and bones.
Before Dr. Zhang began practicing Falun Gong, she had primary autonomic insufficiency, a rare and difficult to treat disease. She had a heart condition and was always short of breath. She frequently passed out. No doctor or hospital could cure her.
Dr. Zhang's health greatly improved after she became a Falun Gong practitioner in 1997. She was able to do housework on her own. She was very grateful and always told others about how great Falun Gong is.
She followed Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in her daily life. She often helped others without thinking of personal gain or loss, and was well-recognized as a good person.
Name: Zhang Ronghuan (张荣焕) Gender: Female Age: 66 Address: Weidu District, Xuchang City, Henan Province Occupation: Physician Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 1, 2013 Most Recent Place of Detention: Gaoqiaoying Detention Center in Xuchang (许昌市高桥营看守所) City: Xuchang Province: Henan Persecution Suffered: Illegal sentencing, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, home ransacked, interrogation, detention