(Minghui.org) Sanctioning human rights abusers has become a consensus among democratic countries. After the U.S. passed the Magnitsky Act in 2016, Canada, the United Kingdom, and most of the 27-member-country EU enacted similar laws. Australia and Japan are working on similar laws.

In accordance with these laws, Falun Gong practitioners have compiled lists of perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong these few years. Every year, they submit several lists to democratic governments, urging them to sanction the named perpetrators.

Starting on July 14, 2021, Falun Gong practitioners in more than 30 countries have been submitting the latest list of perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong to their respective governments, calling for sanctions on these human rights abusers, including denying entry into their countries and freezing their assets overseas.

One name on this list is Hu Zhong.

Perpetrator Information

Full Name of Perpetrator: Hu (last name) Zhong (first name) (Chinese: 胡忠)Gender: MaleCountry: ChinaDate/Year of Birth: March 1944Place of Birth: Ying County, Shanxi Province, China

Title or Position

March 1997 – December 2001: Member of the CCP’s Standing Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; Secretary of the CCP’s Baotou Municipal Standing Committee

December 2001 – January 2005: Secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Political and Legal Affairs Committee

Present: Vice President of the China Law Society; lifetime Honorary Chairman of the World Trade United Foundation (Asia-Pacific Area)

Main Crimes

After the nationwide persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20, 1999, the Inner Mongolia Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) actively implemented its policies.

Accordingly to available statistics, 29 Falun Gong practitioners died as a result of the persecution and more practitioners developed disabilities and/or suffered mental breakdowns while Hu served as secretary of the Inner Mongolia PLAC.

In addition, hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced to prison or given forced labor camp terms. Some were taken to mental hospitals and injected with toxic drugs that damaged their nervous system. Many others were taken to brainwashing centers and forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong. More were tortured in custody and subjected to financial deprivation for upholding their faith. The persecution didn’t only impact the practitioners themselves, but also their family members.

Below are examples of cases of persecution that occurred during Hu Zhong’s tenure.

Practitioners Tortured to Death

Case 1:

Ms. Zhou Caixia was arrested by the Chifeng Municipal PLAC and 610 Office in February 2003. She was first taken to the Hongshan District Detention Center and then the Inner Mongolia Baoanzhao Forced Labor Camp in July 2003.

On the evening of July 12, 2003, Zhou Jianhua, the head of the labor camp, tortured Ms. Zhou. He first ordered the inmates to stuff her mouth with rags used to mop the floors. Then he slapped her face and mouth with the sole of his shoe over 20 times. Her nose and mouth bled. He did not stop until Ms. Zhou was unable to breathe normally.

He then asked her, “Do you still believe in Falun Gong? Will you still practice it?” Ms. Zhou answered, “Yes! And yes!” Infuriated, Zhou Jianhua ordered the inmates to drag Ms. Zhou out and hang her up on a basketball goal post with her feet off the ground. Zhou didn’t let her down until she was found dead the next morning. He then submitted reports claiming that Ms. Zhou died of an acute illness.

Prior to her final arrest, Ms. Zhou had been arrested several times and severely tortured. While she was incarcerated in Tumuji Forced Labor Camp, guard Luo Jinfang beat her several times and shocked and severely damaged her face with electric batons.

She was also tortured for over three weeks in Hohhot Municipal Women’s Forced Labor Camp and suffered a mental breakdown from the trauma. The heads of the Chifeng and Hongshan District PLAC implied that their superiors had decided to kill her if she refused to give up Falun Gong.

Case 2:

Ms. Yu Xiulan was arrested on April 2, 2002, and detained at the Baoanzhao Forced Labor Camp. She was locked in a room and tortured for long periods of time. Camp director Zhou Jianhua handcuffed her hands and legs and did not let her use the bathroom. He sent prisoners to feed her a little bit of rice when she was hungry.

After Zhou locked her in a metal cage in extreme heat, Ms. Yu had a stroke, could not walk or speak clearly, and became emaciated. When her family demanded that she be released on medical parole, the guards said, “There’s a policy from our superiors says that, if she is not ‘transformed,’ she will not be released even if she dies.”

On December 22, 2002, Ms. Yu died. She was in her 60s. Zhou Jianhua also covered up the wrongdoing and claimed that she died of an illness.

Case 3:

Mr. Wang Hengyou was arrested on April 19, 2002, and taken to the Dayanbeihe Detention Center. Police officers Dong Jie and Yu He from the Haiyan Domestic Security Office beat him savagely. They slammed his head against a concrete wall. Even when he’d almost collapsed due to the pain, the officers continued to kick his private part with their boots. Mr. Wang could not catch his breath and passed out.

On September 2, 2002, Mr. Wang was transferred to a forced labor camp where he was again brutally tortured. Due to the constant torture, he became extremely weak. He suffered constant pain in his head and stomach. He also had difficulty breathing. Not long after, he became bedridden. When he was released on November 5, 2003, he was emaciated and on the verge of death. Even after he returned home, the police kept harassing him. He passed away on April 4, 2004.

Case 4:

Ms. Zheng Lanfeng was arrested on February 11, 2003, and force-fed at the Hongshan District Detention Center. She held a hunger strike to protest the persecution.

The guards tied Ms. Zheng in a spread-eagle position on her bed. When she developed a high fever, the guards refused to take her to the hospital. She passed away on February 28, still tied in the bed. Her body was covered with bruises and injuries. Her fingernails appeared black and blue. To cover up the torture, the guards claimed that Ms. Zheng had an acute illness and died on her way to the hospital.

Case 5:

Ms. Liu Yan was arrested by Lv Minjun, the head of the Linye Police Substation, and others, while putting up Falun Gong informational materials on the evening of April 25, 2004. She was held at the Linye Detention Center for 36 days and severely tortured.

When her son complained to Lv Wenqi of the Domestic Security Office about her condition, Lv denied she was mistreated and refused to release her. Ms. Liu’s family was forced to pay 5,000 yuan in exchange for her release. By then, she was very weak and could not walk anymore.

On the night of July 19, 2004, Lv Wenqi and other officers broke into Ms. Liu’s home and harassed her. That took a toll on Ms. Liu’s health. She passed away on October 25, 2004. Her death devastated her husband and he died less than six months later.

Case 6:

Ms. Wang Xia was from Bayannur City in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. She was arrested in February 2002 and later sentenced to seven years in prison. While in the Inner Mongolia First Women’s Prison, Ms. Wang refused to give up her belief and was tortured. In response, she went on a hunger strike. The guards retaliated by beating her more frequently and shocking her with electric batons. They used a cleaning brush to violate her private parts. The inmates also inserted pins into her nails and burned her fingers.

Shortly after, she was taken to a psychiatric hospital and injected with unknown drugs. She became emaciated and was restrained in a bed around the clock. A guard once threatened to “throw her into the morgue and burn her.”

When she was near death, the head of the local 610 Office released her on June 29, 2004, to avoid bearing the consequences should she die in custody. On their way to Ms. Wang’s house, the guards injected her with more unknown drugs.

At home, Ms. Wang resumed practicing Falun Gong and later recovered. She was arrested again in March 2011 and injected with toxic drugs again while in custody. She passed away on June 15, 2012. She was 38.

Disabled Due to Torture

Mr. Liu Zhanyu was taken to Tumuji Forced Labor Camp in Inner Mongolia in January 2002. He was forced to do intensive unpaid labor and force-fed saltwater. In May and June 2002, the guards made him stand for long hours under the baking sun and shocked him with electric batons.

His hands were tied behind his back with one hand over his shoulder and the other hand pulled up behind him. A stick was inserted between his hands and back to tighten the rope. The torture fractured his right clavicle and dislocated and broke his shoulder. He could not straighten his arms afterward.

Because Mr. Liu wouldn’t renounce Falun Gong, the inmates used the side of a board to strike his arm, head, and body. He suffered 10 to 15-cm-long lacerations in more than 20 places. One of his arms swelled up to the size of his thighs. His labor camp term was also extended by a month.

As a result of repeated torture, Mr. Liu’s right arm was disabled and his right shoulder dislocated. A large lump formed on his clavicle. He suffered severe memory loss due to the electric shocks and being hit on the head. His responses slowed and he needed constant reminders to do the most basic tasks. He also had constant migraines. Whenever he was startled, he would start to shudder and sweat profusely.

Mental Breakdown

Ms. Li Suya of Chifeng City was given three years in a forced labor camp in 1999. In the summer of 2001, the forced labor camp wanted to claim a 100% “transformation” rate, so the guards declared that Ms. Li had mental issues and took her to the Chifeng City Psychiatric Hospital. Whenever she tried to do the Falun Gong exercises, doctors would inject her with drugs that damaged her central nervous system. The drugs also made her face swell and she became absentminded.

Shortly after she was released, Ms. Li went to Beijing again on May 30, 2004, to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was taken back to Chifeng on the next day and then to the Ningcheng Psychiatric Hospital on June 3.