(Minghui.org) A 67-year-old man in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is facing indictment for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Zhang Ruitong was arrested by agents from the Tiexi Police Station and Donghe District Domestic Security Office on March 29, 2023. The Donghe District Procuratorate approved his arrest on April 28. He is now awaiting indictment at the Donghe District Detention Center.
Tortured in Labor Camp
This is not the first time that Mr. Zhang has been targeted for his faith. He was previously once given forced labor and twice sentenced to prison.
Mr. Zhang was first arrested in 2001 and taken to the Wuyuan Labor Camp in Inner Mongolia in the fall to serve an unknown term.
In order to increase the “transformation rate” (percentage of detained practitioners who were forced to renounce their faith), the guards subjected the practitioners, including Mr. Zhang, to various forms of torture, including electric shocks, savage beating, tying up, solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, starvation, hanging up, whipping, long-term standing, and hard labor without pay.
Mu Jianfeng, then labor camp head, led his subordinates, including Zhang Tiefeng (no relation to Mr. Zhang), Yu Jiguang, Du Xiangyang, and Wang Jinbiao, started a new round of torture of practitioners on December 6, 2001. They gathered 11 practitioners, including Mr. Zhang, Mr. Liang Baochi, Mr. Chen Changlin, Mr. Wen Yong, Mr. Du Zhiyu, Mr. Zhao Zongyu, and Mr. Yang Zhenqi, in an abandoned room on the first floor that day.
For nearly two hours, the practitioners were shocked with high-voltage electric batons, whipped with triangle belts, and showered with punches and kicks. Many sustained severe injuries (including concussions, broken ribs, and damaged internal organs) and became incontinent.
Mr. Zhang’s legs were fractured and his spinal nerves and internal organs were injured. He remained paralyzed for nearly a month.
5-Year Prison Sentence
Mr. Zhang was arrested again after he was released from the labor camp. The exact arrest time was unknown. He was later sentenced to five years and suffered brutal torture and brainwashing at the Inner Mongolia Second Prison.
The prison guards locked steadfast practitioners to a metal desk with a very shinning light on them. A TV set was placed on another desk in front of the metal desk. The guards played programs slandering Falun Gong around the clock and forced the practitioners to watch without allowing them any sleep. Several inmates were assigned to monitor the practitioners, who were given very meager amount of food to eat. Sometimes they only each got a steamed bun for a meal. The inmates restricted their restroom use too and some practitioners wet their pants as a result.
Mr. Zhang managed to turn off the TV as he refused to watch the slanderous propaganda. The guards cuffed his hands to a radiator and put ear buds into his ears and played the same propaganda. He was cuffed like that for two weeks.
In December 2007, Mr. Zhang was subjected to a form of torture dubbed tiger chair, with his chest, hands, and feet all tied up to a chair. He was not allowed to sleep and was only allowed one restroom break every day. The room was not climate controlled but he was not allowed to wear a warm jacket. The guards also had him wear a helmet at all times.
Torture illustration: tiger chair
7-Year Prison Sentence
Mr. Zhang was arrested in April 2013 and sentenced to seven years by the Kundulun District Court on October 24, 2014. It is unclear in which prison he served time, but it was known he was also tortured throughout his imprisonment.
The prison authorities released Mr. Zhang ahead of time, on March 31, 2019. That day, several guards grabbed his hand and pressed his fingerprints on the certificate of release before freeing him.
13 Days of Detention in 2020
Mr. Zhang was arrested out of town on June 18, 2020, and sent back to a local detention center in Baotou City. He became extremely weak after 13 days of detention. The detention center didn’t want to take any responsibility should he die there so they ordered the Political and Legal Affairs Committee in his home district to pick him up.
In order to shirk responsibility, the arresting officers attempted unsuccessfully to make Mr. Zhang sign two documents. One was a note saying he was released ahead of time because of health reasons; another was a record of their “conversation” with him (when they had never had a talk with him during or after his arrest).
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