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Mr. Zhang Hongwei
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...Due to the long-term
torture he suffered in the Jilin Prison, his health was severely damaged. By the
beginning of 2006, Mr. Zhang was coughing continuously. He was diagnosed with
type III tuberculosis of the lungs with body fluid accumulating in his chest. In
March, his illness became worse. He also suffered from pleurisy, high blood
pressure and heart disease. He became very weak. Mr. Zhang was then sent to the
prison hospital. Despite his failing health, the prison guards continued to
torture him...
Mr. Zhang Hongwei is a Falun Gong practitioner from Tonghua District, Jilin Province.
In 2001, he was arrested in Beijing for making Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials and was sentenced to 11 years in jail. Late in 2001, he was sent to the Tiebei Prison in Changchun City. Mr. Zhang had gone on a 53-day hunger strike to protest the persecution.
In March 2002, he was transferred to Jilin Prison. He was tortured with solitary confinement, being tied to the "Death Bed"[1],the"Big Hang-up"[2], and beatings.
At the beginning of 2005, Mr. Zhang was again locked him in solitary confinement. He was held in solitary confinement for two years and five months in total, during which the guards immobilized him in a bed and further tortured him with the "Big Hang Up".
Due to the long-term torture he suffered in the Jilin Prison, his health was severely damaged. By the beginning of 2006, Mr. Zhang was coughing continuously. He was diagnosed with type III tuberculosis of the lungs with body fluid accumulating in his chest. In March, his illness became worse. He also suffered from pleurisy, high blood pressure and heart disease. He became very weak. Mr. Zhang was then sent to the prison hospital. Despite his failing health, the prison guards continued to torture him.
In March, Mr. Zhang’s family applied for medical parole for him. However, the Prison Management Bureau of Jilin Province refused to approve the application even though he had met all the conditions for medical parole. Jilin Province Prison Administration Bureau said Tuberculosis didn't result in lung perforation, so there will be no medical parole. We won't take responsibility for his death.
After May 1, 2006, Mr. Zhang's application for medical parole was delivered to the prison administration bureau. For four days around May 20, 2006, his family went to talk to Wang Dehui, head of Criminal Punishment Division at the Jilin Province Prison Administration Bureau. He refused to approve it. On the fifth day, the family petitioned Bai Xuejie at the Criminal Punishment Division, who said, "Requirements prevent us from approving medical parole. We can only approve it if his lungs are perforated or if he coughs blood." The family asked, "Wouldn't he be near death if he were in that condition? Who will take the responsibility if something happens to him?" Bai Xuejie replied, "No one will!"
His family members are very worried. Mr. Zhang’s father-in-law Mr. Song Wenhua who also died from persecution in the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp in Jilin province. The situation was exactly like Mr. Zhang’s in that the medical parole was not approved until it was too late. Song Wenhua died a few days after he was sent home.
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Song Wenhua, Zhang Hongwei's
father-in-law, in critical condition
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Song Wenhua died from illness because
the prison administration bureau didn't
approve his application for medical parole
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On July 14, 2006, Mr. Zhang's mother-in-law took his child to Jilin Prison to see him. The authorities told them that they would not be allowed to visit for three months. When asked who made the decision, the officials said the prison did. Mr. Zhang's family made many phone calls, but no one answered the phone. The family was told that the section head, the guards and the division head were not available.
The family was turned away again on July 17. They talked to Liu Wei, deputy head of the prison, and asked to see Zhang Hongwei's x-rays. Liu Wei said, "The family doesn't have the right to see those." The family confronted Liu Wei about locking Zhang Hongwei in solitary confinement for two years. Liu Wei denied it and said, "Don't believe rumors."
The family went back to the prison on July 19 and asked Liu Wei to repeal the visitation ban. Liu Wei said, "A prison has its rules. I'm just following the laws of this country." The family asked, "Show us the laws you are referring to." Liu Wei said, "You have no right [to see those laws]." The family pointed out, "If you didn't detain him in solitary confinement for two years while you physically and verbally abused him, he would not be in critical condition. The public regulation for guards states that you are not allowed to physically or verbally hurt detainees, abuse them, or subject them to corporal punishment." Liu Wei replied, "We didn't beat him." The family suggested, "If you say you didn't beat him, let's bring Zhang Hongwei out right now and ask him." Liu Wei said, "You have no right to do so."
[1] "Death Bed"
The person is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed tightly above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The person’s’ blood circulation is impaired, resulting in the muscles atrophying. Sometimes the rope is tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The person then has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.
[2] "Big Hang-up"
During this torture, the person’s hands are handcuffed and then pulled from behind the back and hung up on a hook high above the ground. The feet are made to hang just above the floor. The person who are hung up frequently have reported passing out from the pain.
Posted on Jan. 26, 2007 |
