Having Lost Both Parents to the Persecution of Falun Gong, Beijing Man Dies One Year After Serving Wrongful Prison Term

(Minghui.org)

Name: Zhang JiuhaiChinese Name: 张久海Gender: MaleAge: 56City: Pinggu CountyProvince: BeijingOccupation: N/ADate of Death: January 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 8, 2017Most Recent Place of Detention: Unknown

A Beijing resident passed away in early 2023, about one and half years after he was released from serving a 4-year term for practicing Falun Gong. He was 56.

Mr. Zhang Jiuhai was predeceased by both of his parents. After the Chinese Communist Party began to persecute Falun Gong in July 1999, the three of them were arrested one after another and spent limited time together.

Mr. Zhang’s mother passed away in November 2014. Following Mr. Zhang’s last arrest in May 2017, his father, Mr. Zhang Zuojie, broke his rib and was unable to care for himself. The elderly man died seven months later in destitution. When the younger Mr. Zhang was released in May 2021 from serving the four-year term, he struggled with poor health caused by the torture in custody and also passed away.

Four Labor Camp Terms

Before Mr. Zhang’s latest prison term, he served four labor camp terms for a total of seven years. After he was released, he was forced to live away from home for a few years to hide from the police.

1.5-year Labor Camp Term Given in 2000

Mr. Zhang was arrested in 2000 for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. The then 33-year-old man was given one year of forced labor, which was extended by six months. At the local detention center, the guards pressed his head against the bed and then lifted his arms up from the back. He trembled with pain and almost fainted.

Mr. Zhang was later transferred to the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp. Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, the guards didn’t allow him to sleep until 3 a.m. As ordered by guard Ni Zhenxiong, twenty inmates held Mr. Zhang down on the ground and tied his hands behind his back. They took turns beating him and whipping his face and head with shoes. His face became swollen and bruised. They stuffed his mouth to prevent him from shouting. He almost suffocated.

2-year Forced Labor Camp Term Given in 2002

Mr. Zhang was arrested again in April 2002 while distributing Falun Gong materials in Yuyuantan Park. The police shocked him with electric batons to interrogate him. He held a hunger strike in protest and was released on the verge of death. He went into hiding and lived in displacement for four months. Unable to find him, the police harassed his family.

Mr. Zhang was found by the police on August 6, 2002, and taken to the Pinggu County Brainwashing Center, and then to the local detention center. The guards ordered the inmates to beat him and tied him up in the bed to humiliate him.

Mr. Zhang was soon taken to the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp to serve a two-year term. He was tied up for 40 days. He held a hunger strike and the guards didn’t agree to free him after another 32 days.

He was transferred to the “training ward” in 2003. He was subjected to intensified torture aimed at forcing him to renounce Falun Gong. He was deprived of sleep and not allowed to drink water. For every meal, he was given half of a steam bun and two pickles.

He spent most of his day sitting on a small stool and any slight movement would result in savage beatings by the guards. His body was covered with bruises and four of his ribs were broken. His right cheekbone was also broken. His thigh became swollen and he suffered a fever. The guards not only refused to provide him treatment but also forced him to run laps and clean the cells.

When Zhang Baoli became the head of the training ward in September 2003, Mr. Zhang was subjected to even more brutal beatings. The sitting torture was extended to last over 20 hours a day, causing him to have blood in his urine. He held several hunger strikes in protest.

2-year Labor Camp Term Given in 2008

Mr. Zhang was arrested on May 8, 2008, while working in a local park. The police gave him another two-year labor camp term.

After he was released in May 2010, the police continued to harass him and monitor his daily life. He was forced into displacement again to hide from the police.

2-year Labor Camp Term Given in 2012

For distributing informational materials about Falun Gong on a bus, Mr. Zhang, then 45, was arrested on March 29, 2012, and given a fourth labor camp term of two years. He was taken to the Xin’an Forced Labor Camp in early May 2012. The guards force-fed him unknown drugs in June 2013. After 15 months of torture, he was released early on June 24, 2013.

Four Years of Prison Sentence and Untimely Death

After Mr. Zhang’s mother passed away in November 2014, he lived with his father. On the evening of May 8, 2017, he was stopped by a police car when he went out and then arrested. The police ransacked his home and confiscated his laptop and printer. He was held at the Pinggu District Detention Center. His arrest was approved on June 14.

Mr. Zhang’s 74-year-old father took a fall in June 2017 and broke his hip. He couldn’t move and was unable to care for himself. Mr. Zhang’s lawyer repeatedly applied to the authorities to have Mr. Zhang released on bail to care for his father, but was rejected each time.

The police submitted his case to the Pinggu District Procuratorate in early August 2017. Prosecutor Liao Lu indicted him on August 21 and moved his case to the Pinggu District Court.

On September 3, two weeks before Mr. Zhang’s court hearing, his father was taken to the hospital. Due to severe festering of his muscle, with maggots growing in some areas, the doctor couldn’t operate on him.

Mr. Zhang’s lawyer applied on September 8 again to have him released on bail to care for his father, but the prosecutor and the judge still rejected his request.

Mr. Zhang appeared in court on September 19. His lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for him. He argued that no evidence provided by the prosecutor could support the charges against his client. The judge still sentenced Mr. Zhang to four years with an 8,000-yuan fine on September 30, 2017.

Two months later, his father passed away at home.

After enduring four years of imprisonment and torture, Mr. Zhang returned home on May 7, 2021. Due to both physical and mental distress, he struggled to recover and eventually became bedridden. He passed away in early 2023.

Persecution of Parents

While Mr. Zhang was still serving his second labor camp term, his father was arrested in 2002. The police tied him to a utility pole and beat and verbally abused him. One village official was infuriated and he questioned the police, “Do you still have any humanity left? You even arrested such a good person. Don’t you have better things to do?”

Although the police released the elder Mr. Zhang due to the public outcry, they arrested him and his wife again shortly after. Both of them were given labor camp terms and not released until 2004.

A group of officers broke into the younger Mr. Zhang’s home and ransacked the place in the middle of the night in 2006. They also took his mother to the Liujiadian Police Station and held her there briefly.

The younger Mr. Zhang was arrested one more time on July 8, 2014, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials. His laptop, printer, Falun Gong books, and related materials were confiscated.

One villager said to the police involved in the arrests, “His family are all good people. The materials they distributed were telling the truth, and why wouldn’t you let them?” Mr. Zhang was soon released on bail and placed under house arrest. His family’s landline was also being monitored.

Already struggling with poor health after living in fear for years, Mr. Zhang’s mother was devastated by his arrest and passed away on November 6, 2014.

Related reports:

Beijing Falun Gong Practitioner Detained, Dying Father Left Unattended

Beijing Man Arrested Again for His Faith

Xin’an Forced Labor Camp in Beijing Supplies Other Labor Camps with Slave Labor

Mr. Zhang Jiuhai from Beijing Sent to a Forced Labor Camp Three Times

Police Kidnap Beijing Pinggu Practitioner Zhang Jiuhai Again