Victim: Mr. Zhang Peiqi, age 43, a resident of Mingyue Town, Antu County, Jilin Province.

Mr. Zhang Peiqi graduated from the Harbin Institute of Technology and used to be the most promising young engineer in Heilongjiang Province. He moved to Antu County, Jilin Province in 1990 where he began his career in structural design and interior decoration. He used to be the manager of Antu County's Second Architect Company.

He started to practice Falun Gong. After Jiang Zemin banned Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, Mr. Zhang was repeatedly arrested and incarcerated in the Antu County Detention Center. From 2000 to August 2003, he was incarcerated in the Jiutai Forced Labor Camp and the Tonghua Forced Labor Camp.

After his release, the State Security Squadron in Antu County's Public Security Bureau put him under house arrest. They also tapped his telephone to monitor his conversations. Due to the persecution, Mr. Zhang had to flee from his home. In March 2004, Mr. Zhang returned to Antu County tried to rescue his wife and several other Falun Gong practitioners who had also been arrested and imprisoned. The police arrested him.

Starting on March 20, 2004, over ten policemen from Antu County's State Security Squadron kept torturing Mr. Zhang for seven consecutive days and nights. Policemen tied Mr. Zhang to the Tiger Bench[1]  and took turns torturing him around the clock. They repeatedly hit him with thick rubber hoses and wooden clubs on his head, calves, feet and other parts of his body. Mr. Zhang’s body was soon covered with bumps and bruises, he was bleeding and his legs and calves were black and swollen.  Soon he could no longer stand up and lost consciousness. Tan Guangming swore at him and threatened him while torturing him. Mr. Zhang told him, “Don’t torture people with such brutality.” Tan became more furious after hearing this, and continued repeatedly hitting Mr. Zhang’s legs. Mr. Zhang told him that his leg had become disabled but Tan would not stop beating him until he got tired.

During the seven days of torture, Mr. Zhang’s swollen legs and caused him to pass out due to the pain. Jin Zhenshan hit Mr. Zhang’s head, face, feet and legs with wooden clubs. He also stuffed lit cigarettes inside his nostrils. Mr. Zhang passed out several times during the torture marathon. Each time he passed out the police would pour a bucket of cold water over him to revive him. The police threatened Mr. Zhang that they would use all means to torture him and make him feel that he would prefer to die but could not die. They threatened to continue until Mr. Zhang would say what they wanted him to say and renounce his beliefs. Mr. Zhang told them that he would sue them for torture to extort a false “confession” from him, but the police said there were no witnesses and he could not possibly sue them. After days of torture Mr. Zhang was on the verge of death, yet the beatings did not stop. Finally, although it was against his conscience, he repeated the policeman’s words in answer to each question on the “confession statement.”

The torture severely disabled Mr. Zhang’s legs, his whole body was swollen, his head and body were numb and he could not see things clearly. Mr. Zhang was barely breathing. To avoid responsibility for his death, they took him for an intravenous injection and dropped him at the Antu Detention Center.

Mr. Zhang did not regain consciousness until two months afterwards. His legs were still disabled. He could not control his bladder and bowel movements. He could only lie down and could not sit up. Sometimes he would pass out due to the pain. He requested medical care from the detention center but got no response.

After the local policemen's heinous crimes and brutality against Mr. Zhang, the local court began a trial against him, simply because he practiced Falun Gong. Although the trial was not completed because Mr. Zhang passed out during the proceeding, the judge sentenced him to six years in prison based on his “confession statement.” The court ignored the fact that Mr. Zhang had declared that the confession statement was null and void because it was given only after he had been brutally tortured.

In November 2004, the police tried to transfer Mr. Zhang to the Tiebei Prison. After they arrived there, the disciplinary staff refused to take him because they saw that he was severely wounded and that his legs were disabled. The transfer police lied saying, "He is just pretending," and left Mr. Zhang there. When the transfer police were half way back to Antu County, Tiebei Prison authorities called them and told them that the prison doctor had confirmed that Mr. Zhang's legs were no longer functioning. The transfer police replied, "If you don't take him, we will have to release him. Then we will have problems with our boss." Thus they left Mr. Zhang in Tiebei Prison and returned to Antu County.

When Mr. Zhang Peiqi's family members finally saw him, they were heartbroken to discover he had become emaciated with sunken cheeks and an ashen complexion.

Mr. Zhang is suffering from ill health due to the continuous torture and brutality. He is now kept in the hospital in Tiebei Prison.

type=case,torture;type=detention center,Antu County Detention Center;type=labor camp,Jiutai Forced Labor Camp; type=labor camp,Tonghua Forced Labor Camp;type=prison, Tiebei Prison; location=Jilin,Antu