Ms. Zhang Yuzhen Paralyzed After Being Tortured for Upholding Her Faith
(Minghui.org) After her arms were disabled due to torture during a previous six-year prison term, Ms. Zhang Yuzhen, 56, became paralyzed after being jailed for another three and a half years. Ms. Zhang was tortured for practicing her faith, Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Zhang Yuzhen is from Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, and moved to Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province in 2010. She began practicing Falun Gong in 1998 and soon recovered from her numerous illnesses, including trachoma (a contagious bacterial eye infection), lower back pain, arthritis, athlete’s foot, and acne. She held firm to her faith after the persecution began in 1999 and was subjected to brutal persecution. She was arrested 13 times and incarcerated for a total of 12.5 years (including two prison terms and a forced labor term).
Ms. Zhang Yuzhen
Ms. Zhang’s latest prison sentence stemmed from her arrest on July 12, 2019. Her parents, also Falun Gong practitioners, passed away as a result of the persecution. She is not married so Ms. Zhang does not have any close family members to seek justice for her after she was arrested.
While Minghui correspondents managed to confirm her secret prison sentence in 2020, there were conflicting reports about her exact prison term. One version was seven years and another was three and a half years. It was confirmed that Ms. Zhang was released from prison around January 2023, after being jailed for three and a half years.
Arms Disabled While Serving 6-Year Sentence
Ms. Zhang was sentenced to six years in November 2000 for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. While she was incarcerated at the Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison, she was hung up by her wrists behind her back for 11 hours on September 19 and for 3 hours on September 20, 2005. Her arms became disabled.
Torture illustration: Hung by wrists
Ms. Zhang after her arms became disabled
Ms. Zhang is still unable to completely extend her arms, make a fist, or extend her fingers. She also suffers from wrist drop, a condition in which the person cannot extend their wrist, and it hangs limply. Her upper limbs hurt and her hands quiver constantly, and she has occasional sharp pains in her chest, neck, and shoulders.
When her prison term ended, the authorities directly sent her to Jiangxi Province Women’s Forced Labor Camp on November 10, 2006, to serve three more years. Because she was unable to do the unpaid labor, the guards did not allow her to shower or use the restroom. She was released on November 9, 2009.
Brutally Tortured for Being a “Repeat Offender”
While Ms. Zhang was serving her second prison term in the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison in 2020, the guards subjected her to even more brutal torture than other jailed practitioners because she was deemed a “repeat offender.”
The inmates assigned to monitor her were given free rein to torture her in whatever way they wanted. She was often heard screaming or crying from pain due to torture. In June 2022, a guard surnamed Lu reprimanded Ms. Zhang, “The inmates did right by beating you. You, Zhang Yuzhen, deserved to be beaten!”
As a result of the torture, Ms. Zhang's back became hunched, her legs trembled, and she could not walk. Despite her condition, the guards and the inmates put her in a wheelchair and pushed her to the workshop to do hard labor, even though her arms were disabled.
By the time she was released in January 2023, Ms. Zhang was emaciated and looked like she was in her 70s. A relative took her in and has been caring for her. Her condition quickly deteriorated in the months since she was released. She is now also mentally incoherent and has no ability to take care of herself at all. She is paralyzed.
Related Reports:
Disabled from Previous Incarceration for Her Faith, Guangdong Woman Sentenced Again to Seven Years
Guangdong Woman in Serious Condition after Another Arrest for Her Faith
Ms. Zhang Yuzhen Disabled as a Result of Nine Years of Torture and Imprisonment