Zhang Xiaojie, female, music teacher at the Beijing First Middle School, Beijing

Ms. Zhang Xiaojie's family

Ms. Zhang Xiaojie is a teacher and the mother of a little girl. In early 2001, because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was arrested and detained at Dongcheng Detention Center, Beijing. During her detention, her little daughter, who was left at home, kept crying for her mother. After Ms. Zhang was detained, her husband, Mr. Lin Chengtao, and her little daughter were also detained at the Donghuamen Police Station for several hours. Then the police forced them to move out of their home. After Ms. Zhang was released, her family did not have a place to live. She had to sleep on the chairs in the school lab, and her husband and daughter had to live in a dormitory with six male students.

Around 7 p.m. on May 26, 2001, the policemen from Dongjiaominxiang Police Station arrested Ms. Zhang again, this time with her little daughter. Both Ms. Zhang and her daughter were sent to an Anti-Falun Gong brainwashing class. 30 days of brain-washing did not change Ms. Zhang’s mind in practicing Falun Gong. As such, she was sent to the Dongcheng Detention Center for further persecution. Her daughter was sent to a relative’s house.

 
Zhao Jun, around 40 years old, male, resident of Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province
Zhao Guiling, female, Zhao Jun’s elder sister, from Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province
Zhao Dan, male, Zhao Jun’s son, a medical school student (not a Falun Gong practitioner), from Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province

In February 2001, Ms. Zhao Guiling was arrested by police from the Nanshan Police Station because she practices Falun Gong. She was tortured for more than 20 days while in police custody. Police officers interrogated her nightly from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. They used various means to torture her for more than ten days straight. The methods included “rope tying” (please refer to Torture section), forcing mustard oil into her nose, and covering her head with some-thing to prevent her from breathing properly. As a result, she almost suffocated to death. Ms. Zhao’s arms and shoulders still had marks from the rope 10 months later.

On February 24, 2001, the same policemen kidnapped Mr. Zhao Jun and took him from his home to the Nanshan Police Station. In order to force him to renounce Falun Gong, they tortured him with “ropetying” three times. He lost consciousness all three times. The police used coins to scrape his ribs and stuck sharp bamboo sticks into his fingers to wake him up. That night, the nerves throughout his central nervous system including the nerves under his right armpit were injured, rendering him unable to raise his right arm. His right hand was disabled and both of his arms were terribly swollen.

The police also arrested Mr. Zhao’s son, Zhao Dan, at his school. They handcuffed Dan to a radiator pipe and dressed him in heavy clothing from head to foot. He felt so hot that he could not breathe. They did not give him water or let him use the bathroom. The policemen wrote several pages of “confessions” according to their needs and forced the son to sign it. They forced Mr. Zhao’s family to pay 5,500 Yuan to secure Zhao Dan’s release.

Mr. Zhao was sent to a detention center. At that time, his right hand was permanently disabled and his arms were terribly swollen. Later, the medical staff at the police station diagnosed that Mr. Zhao’s central nerve and the nerve of his right arm were severely damaged. So the detention center refused to accept Mr. Zhao. Yet, the police continued to detain him. In addition, they arrested his son again, using him as a hostage to force Mr. Zhao to renounce Falun Gong. On December 12, 2001, Mr. Zhao and Ms. Zhao were tried at the Yangming Court and were denied the right to appeal.

Chen Chengyong, male, 35, resident of Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
Dai Zhizhen, Chen Chengyong’s wife, 38
Chen Fadu, Mr. Chen Chengyong’s daughter, 18 months old
Chen Chengyan, Chen Chengyong’s elder sister, 40
Chen Chaoneng, Chen Chengyong’s father, 68
Dai Fuwen, Dai Zhizhen’s brother, 44

Photo of Mr. Chen Chengyong's family: Mr. Chen, his daughter, his wife Ms. Dai, and his father from left to right

Since July 1999, Mr. Chen Chengyong repeatedly went to Beijing to peacefully appeal to the government to stop persecuting Falun Gong. He was arrested several times, and one time was subjected to severe electric shocks. In November of 2000, in order to avoid a brainwashing class and further torture, he left his home. In January 2001, Mr. Chen’s wife, Ms. Dai Zhizhen, went to Australia. On July 21, 2001, while Ms. Dai was in Australia, she learned that her husband had been tortured to death. His body was found in an abandoned hut. When his elder sister, Ms. Chen Chengyan, went to identify him, she found that his body had undergone significant decomposition. It is assumed that he had been dead for some time before the police notified his family. The “610 Office” and the police of the Haizhu District in Guangzhou City then abducted Mr. Chen’s sister and sentenced her to two years in the Chatou Xiaodao Female Labor Camp of Guangzhou City.

Mr. Chen’s father, Mr. Chen Chaoneng’s health started to deteriorate after he learned of his son’s death and his daughter’s detention. In September 2001, he died from the grief.

Although Ms. Dai lost her husband, her sister-in-law, and her father-in-law, she was not given the luxury to grieve. Being alone in Australia with her one-year-old daughter, she still has to worry about the safety of her relatives in China, because the police started to persecute them after her family’s story was exposed.