Mr. Zheng Fuxiang, male, 35, lived in Sanxing Village, Qingshan Township, Yushu City, Jilin Province. In order to expose the persecution of Falun Gong, Mr. Zheng and his wife Ms. Deng Lijuan went to Beijing twice to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong.

After Mr. Zheng went to Beijing to appeal for the first time, officers from Yushu City's Police Department detained him for over two months.  The second time, he was illegally sentenced to one year of forced labor, and was detained at the Weizigou Forced Labor Camp, the Fenjin Forced Labor Camp and the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp in Changchun, where he suffered all kinds of physical and mental torture.

In March 2002, when some Falun Gong practitioners in Changchun used the cable TV network to broadcast programs exposing the persecution of Falun Gong, the police started a massive wave of arrests. Zhang Dezhi, head of the Qingshan Township Police Station, led a group of police officers that broke into Mr. Zheng’s home without a warrant. They smashed windows, entered his home, and viciously beat him and his wife. They struck Mr. Zheng’s head, chest, stomach and back until he collapsed to the floor. He was taken to the Qingshan Township Police Station where he was beaten again. 

Mr. Zheng began a hunger strike while being detained to protest the persecution, and he was force-fed by the guards. They inserted a finger-thick rubber tube into his stomach through his nose and fed him concentrated saline solution. He was sentenced to three years of forced labor and was detained in the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp in Changchun.

After 6 or 7 inmates were incited by the authorities to beat him with a metal pipe and shock him with electric batons, the inmates stripped him naked to search for Falun Gong materials.  Then, they took him to the shower room and poured many basins of cold water on him. The inmates asked him, "Do you still practice Falun Gong?  Mr. Zheng said that he would still practice, and the inmates continued to beat him and pour cold water on him. After the beating, the inmates opened the windows and left him shivering in the icy wind. They didn't allow him to dress for more than an hour. They threatened, "If you practice, we'll beat you every day."

After returning to his cell, Mr. Zheng was forced to squat facing the wall, with his hands holding his head and his knees closed. The inmates also forced him to sit on a plastic stool and watch Falun Gong-slandering videos. After several days in Division Five, Mr. Zheng was transferred to Division Six where he could hear Falun Gong practitioners screaming in pain from the torture. The Division Six guards beat him with police batons; punched and kicked various parts of his body; and stripped him naked and whipped his body with belts until his skin was lacerated and deep muscle tissue was exposed. Then, they rubbed salt into the fresh wounds, which caused excruciating pain. They also tortured him with a method called "Tying the Ropes."¹ Additionally, they forced him to sit on the cement floor to be tortured at will.

Mr. Zheng sustained severe internal injuries from the torture. He coughed constantly and was extremely weak. Despite his condition, he was made to do hard labor, which caused his condition to deteriorate, and he developed a high fever. In June 2003, Mr. Zheng was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was quarantined. The labor camp authorities ordered his family to pay for his medical treatment. His family pleaded for a medical parole for him, but the labor camp authorities denied their request.

Mr. Zheng spent another ten months in the labor camp, during which time he began to vomit thick blood. The labor camp officials were afraid of taking responsibility for their abuse, so on April 6, 2004, they called on his family to take him home. Mr. Zheng Fuxiang passed away at 4:00 a.m. on April 7, 2004 at the age of 35. His wife was not allowed to see her husband before he passed away.

The perpetrators at Qingshan Township Police Station in Yushu City, Yushu City Police Department National Security Division and the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp are responsible for the savage torture and death of Mr. Zheng, as is Zhang Dezhi, head of Qingshan Township Police Station.

type=Case, Death; type=Case, Torture; type=Case, Right ot Health; type=Labor Camp, Chaoyanggou Labor Camp; location=Jilin, Changchun;