(Clearwisdom.net) On the evening of May 8, 2008, police from the Longjiang County Police Department went to the Dafangli Neighborhood in Daowai District of Harbin City to arrest practitioner Mr. Zuo Gang. Practitioners Ms. Song Yanjin (49 years old) and Mr. Yu Jinghe (46 years old) were arrested at the same time. Mr. Zuo (34 years old) is a well-respected businessman from Acheng District, Harbin City.
They put Mr. Zuo, Ms. Song, and Mr. Yu in the Heilongjiang Prison that night. On May 10, two policemen slapped Mr. Zuo in the face and head with their shoes during interrogation. On May 11, when interrogating Mr. Zuo, about seven policemen surrounded him and beat him while he was handcuffed. One of those policemen was the third highest ranking officer in the Longjiang County Police Department. They beat Mr. Zuo from 3:00 p.m. until dark, at which time they brought him back to the prison and forced him into an outstretched position, and kept him that way for two consecutive days and nights.
At around midnight on May 14, officers brought Mr. Zuo to the police department. They forced his arms back and cuffed them to a chair, tied his feet together and put them on a small bench. Then they pulled his legs up, slid his body down and forced him into the chair. At the same time, the police forced a bottle of liquor into him and made him smoke cigarettes, fully knowing that Falun Gong practitioners do not drink or smoke. The torture lasted for three to four hours.
On May 15, police injured the left side of Mr. Zuo's back when they interrogated him in the same way. Then they dragged him, along with the chair, to the bathroom and doused him with cold water. Two policemen poured water onto Mr. Zuo's face with a bucket, and another doused him with a cold spray. With only his underpants on, Mr. Zuo was doused for seven to eight hours.
After being held in Longjiang County Prison for 44 days, Mr. Zuo was sent to the Daowai District Police Department in Harbin City on June 18, 2008. During the process, Longjiang County Police did not notify Mr. Zuo's family within the required 24 hours. They confiscated Mr. Zuo's personal property, including two notebook computers, one desktop computer, three printers, one VCD machine, one cassette recorder, two paper cutters, four thousand yuan in cash, one bankcard (with six thousand yuan remaining), a minivan, six cell phones, and five cartons of bean oil (worth twelve hundred yuan). The Longjiang Police Department did not notify Mr. Zuo's family until May 22, 2008. Mr. Zuo's mother, in her sixties, had no idea where her son was. Several times his mother took the train from Acheng, with several transfers on the way, to Longjiang County Prison to visit her son even though she was sick. She was turned away at the door each time. She had no idea that her son was being tortured in the prison.
In September 2008, the prosecutor in Daowai District in Harbin City prosecuted Mr. Zuo, charging him with "obstructing justice". On October 16, the court tried Mr. Zuo and Ms. Song Yanjin. The judge prohibited the two practitioners from clarifying the facts or talking about the torture they had suffered, and only allowed them to answer "yes" or "no". The whole trial was a mere formality.
On November 7, 2008, the Daowai District Court of Harbin City sentenced both Mr. Zuo and Ms. Song to three years in prison. Now Mr. Zuo is imprisoned in the backyard of the Daowai District Police Department, which was formerly Taiping Prison. The scars on his body from previous torture are still visible. Ms. Song is being jailed at the Second Prison in Daoli District, also known as Yaziquan. Mr. Zuo's family members have not been permitted to visit him since May 8, 2008. No one knows what kind of torture he has received in Longjiang Police Department and how bad of a shape he is in. Practitioner Yu Jinghe is presently jailed in the Longjiang County Prison.
