(Clearwisdom.net) Practitioner Mr. Zhang Mengye is a 66-year-old former Associate Professor from the Guangdong Electric Power Institute. He is a former classmate of Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China, from the Water Conservation School of Engineering of Qinghua University. Since Jiang Zemin banned Falun Gong and began the brutal persecution on July 20 of 1999, Mr. Zhang has been detained at Guangzhou Tianhe Detention Center. He was also detained at Guangzhou City No. 1 Forced Labor Camp for 2 years and 37 days. He was tormented physically and mentally. When he was released on February 10, 2002, this 5'4" man weighed less than 70 pounds. His eyes were dull and sunken, and his face was pale.
Three months later, on the morning of May 17, 2002, Guangzhou police officers arrested Professor Zhang and his wife without due cause, and sent them to a temporary "re-education center" (brainwashing center) at Huangpu District in Guangzhou City. Mr. Zhang went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The "assistance team" tied him tightly to a chair and force-fed him with saltwater and water that contained hot chili pepper powder. They humiliated and tortured him with different cruel methods. Policemen Qiu Chaohua, Wang Jianbin and two others tightly tied his hands and feet and hung him up in a painful position for several days. Afterwards, they shoved his head into the filthy water in a sewage pit. He nearly suffocated. The policemen pulled his head up and let him breathe several times, then pushed his head into the water again. They tortured him like this repeatedly.
Professor Zhang Mengye grouped the persecution he suffered into six sections. On October 12, 2004, he reported them to Guangzhou City People's Procuratorate. However, the people in charge refused to accept the case. They said, "The Falun Gong issue is the responsibility of the government," "when taking actions during 'reform' work, it is difficult to avoid injury," and so on.
Please see below, "Accusation of Severe Human Rights Violations," brought forward by Professor Zhang Mengye.
Accusation of Severe Human Rights Violations
Guangzhou City People's Procuratorate:
On July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin gave orders to ban and brutally persecute Falun Gong. Since then, my human rights have been ruthlessly violated and severely trampled on. I hereby report to the authorities about the persecution I encountered and have divided them into six sections.
1. November 11, 1999, at 2 p.m., the policemen on duty arrested my wife Luo Muluan and me on Chang'an Street near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, and took us to Fuyou Street Police Station for interrogation. At 7 p.m. , the policemen transferred us to Xicheng District Detention Center in Beijing, where we were detained for five days. Then we were taken to the Guangdong Province police station in Beijing. We were sent back on the 16th, and arrived in Guangzhou on the morning of the 17th. We were taken to Shipai Street Police Station in Tianhe District. After 2 a.m. the next morning, we were sent to Tianhe Detention Center.
2. Beginning on November 18, 1999, I was detained at the Tianhe Detention Center. The policemen counted the first 15 days of detention as public security detention, and then they transferred me to criminal detention because I refused to renounce Falun Gong. During my detention in the criminal cell, on December 31, 1999, the policemen cuffed both of my feet with 45-kilogram shackles, to stop me from practicing the exercises. They did not take off the foot shackles until January 14, 2000, when I was sent to a forced labor camp.
3. On January 14, 2000, I was sent to Guangzhou City No. 1 Forced Labor Camp (located in Chini Town, Huadu District, Guangzhou City). I was detained there until February 10, 2002, a total of 2 years and 37 days. My mind and body suffered brutal torture.
Mental torture: the forced labor camp attempted to "brainwash" all Falun Gong practitioners. They forced us to watch videotapes and TV programs that slandered Falun Gong and we had to read various slanderous materials as well. The police even threatened me that if I did not "reform," I would not leave the forced labor camp. They tried in vain to pressure me to renounce Falun Gong. They assigned people to monitor me around the clock, and limit my movements.
At the end of October 2002, I was transferred to the second brigade. Instructor Li Guomin (male, around 40 years old) discussed "my reform" with me many times. Once he realized that I was firm in my conviction, he had the prisoners humiliate me. He also replaced the relatively friendly team leader with a cruel and merciless person, who was willing to attack me. He humiliated me publicly in order to force me to compromise.
At 2 a.m. on December 29, 2000, I meditated on my bed. The guard on duty who saw me beat me immediately and cuffed me to the steel door until dawn. At 9 a.m. while I was working in the workshop, Li Guomin suddenly appeared and pulled my collar from behind. He pulled so hard that I felt as if I was suffocating. The buttons broke and the collar tore off. I fell off my stool to the ground. Then he grabbed me by my shirt and dragged me out of the workshop. He pulled me over the rough stone floor for at least 30 to 40 meters. I could only hear Li Guomin roaring, and felt somebody hitting my head. I could not see him clearly.
I was then cuffed to a tree. With both arms wrapped around the big tree, I could not stand up or squat down. My entire body felt as if it was being pulled apart. I was in pain and exhausted. The handcuffs were so tight, that both of my hands were in excruciating pain and became swollen. Even the prisoners who supervised me were unable to watch it any longer and felt pity for me. Therefore, the prisoner asked the police to loosen the handcuffs a bit. However, the police cuffed my hands even tighter until it could be tightened no more. It cut deep into my flesh and it hurt like a knife cutting my body. Although it was cold winter, I was soaked in sweat because of the pain and I almost passed out. The prisoner who supervised me put a fruit candy quickly into my mouth, and fed me lukewarm water to reduce my pain.
The police cuffed me like that for three days in row I was cuffed to the steel door in the corridor at night), but I did not give in. They extended my term for three months and restricted my personal freedom even further. I was monitored continuously and not allowed to go outside. I was made to work, but I was not allowed to eat or take a shower. I could only wash myself and use the toilet. I had to suffer like this for a long time. On December 29, the prisoner who cruelly tortured me for practicing the exercises received a prison term reduction of two weeks as a reward.
On March 22, 2001, the forced labor camp suddenly transferred me to the seventh brigade, and put me into "total isolation," which means that no prisoner was allowed to talk to me. I was completely isolated. The police had threatened me previously twice with isolation. They soon found that it could not make me do their bidding, so they finally gave up. This time, on the second day of such punishment, I went on strike. I refused to work in protest. My punishment was to stand outside. It was a cold spring day and the coldness chilled me to the bone. Especially one day, it rained the entire afternoon until dusk. My entire body was soaking wet and I was chilled to the bone.
On July 25, 2001, the administrative section vice chief Chen (male, over 30 years old) talked to me. He said that they would release me as scheduled, that the previous extended term wouldn't count, and that I should take care of myself and cautiously pass the time" etc. However, after several months, on December 7, the vice chief of the seventh brigade Liu (male, about 40 years old) told me out of the blue that I still had to serve the extended term. Moreover, if I refused to be "Reformed", they would also add an additional ten days each month. Thus, my term was extended for six and a half months. I could no longer bear this illegal persecution and the continued extension of my term. On the night of December 14, 2001, I went on a hunger strike. I demanded an unconditional release. The hunger strike lasted 47 days in total and was held in three stages.
On February 10, 2002, I was released. I had changed from a healthy person to a sickly looking person from the torture. I had become emaciated. My cheekbones had become very pronounced, my eyes looked dark and sunken, and my face was pale. I am 5'4", but I weighed less than 70 pounds in my winter clothes.
4. After I was released, I kept practicing Falun Gong, and became healthy again within two months. However on May 17, 2002, my wife and I were again arrested. We visited a friend at Guangda Garden in Haizhu District. About 10 a.m., Guangzhou policemen came and seized us without an arrest-warrant from the Procuratorate or the court. They did not show their police identification; they did not wear police uniforms, and did not drive a police car. This was a clear sign that they feared exposure. They cruelly and insolently threw my wife on the ground, and then pushed her into the car. As a result, my wife's right leg was sprained. I was also pushed down and pulled into another car. We were taken to Shipai Street Police Station. The next morning, Yuan Xiaoyong (male, about 30) from Shipai Street "610 Office" and two assistant policemen cuffed my hands, and sent me to a "re-education" (brainwashing) center in Huangpu District in Guangzhou City.
5. The brainwashing center was on the fifth and sixth floor of Hongshan Road Drug Rehabilitation Center in Huangpu District in Guangzhou City. Because they feared exposure, the public could only see a sign that said "Drug Rehabilitation Center." A sign that said "school" was placed only on the fifth floor of the building. Secondly, when the police tortured and persecuted Falun Gong practitioners, they locked up each practitioner in a separate room and isolated us. For the seven and a half months of detention there, I was kept in isolation.
The window of the single room could not be opened and was covered with newspaper. There were slanderous words against Teacher and Dafa on the paper. The window was firmly closed. The police threatened me using vicious words during the daytime, and tortured and beat me late at night. They wanted to make sure that no one would know about this. Because of the many injuries I sustained from the nightly torture, no matter how hot it was during the day, the police forced me to wear a long-sleeve shirt and long pants to hide the wounds. The police forced wounded practitioners to thoroughly remove all signs of torture from their head and body and all bloodstains on their clothes, for fear of leaving evidence.
The following is a detailed accounting of the brutal persecution I suffered at Huangpu "re-education center:"
1) In the so-called Huangpu "re-education center," I went on a hunger strike to protest the kidnapping of my spouse and me, and the persecution of other Falun Gong practitioners. The depraved people of the "assistance team" tied me tightly to a chair and force-fed me with salt water or water with hot chili pepper. I suffered humiliation and mental torture. The perpetrators were: Qiu Chaohua (male, from outskirts of Chongqing City, born in 1963), Zhan Yonglong (vice leader of the assistance team, male, less than 30 years old), and there were several others, one of them was from Guangxi, a male, around 40 years old. I cannot remember the names of the others. Deputy Principal Yu Ruolan, female, was also among them.
2) Since then, a horrifying existence began. As long as I told the truth and refused to renounce Falun Gong, I was persecuted and tortured. From the end of May, I was locked up alone in a single room, and often deprived of sleep. I could only lie down after 10:30 p.m. at night and rest for two to three hours. At that time, the depraved people turned on all lights. The bright lights made me dizzy and unable to sleep.
3) Additionally, the guards came to torment me late at night. They insulted me as much as they could. For example, leader Qiu Chaohua spit on my face and pulled out my hair. He attempted to humiliate me and destroy my will. At the same time, he forced me to stand for a long time in the posture of "flying an airplane" or other postures. He once put a dirty trash bin on my head. He also brutally beat and kicked me, which caused bruises all over my body.
Often, the guard Wang Jianbin (male, about 30, from Henan Province) grabbed me by the hair and lifted me up. Then he pitilessly threw me down and repeated this over and over again. I almost lost my balance. Especially after squatting down for a long time, my leg muscles stiffened. At that time, Qiu Chaohua or other guards violently kicked me. It felt as painful as if my legs were broken and I could not squat down for long. My buttocks and legs were blue and purple all over. The dark purple spots took two months to disappear. The guards mercilessly beat my chest with their fists or an iron water pipe of 4 centimeters in diameter. Even two months later, I still felt aches and pains, especially when I breathed deeply. Some guards even used the iron pipe to hit my head.
Team leader Qiu Chaohua cruelly hit my head with a tobacco pipe made of hardwood. It was extremely painful. I even had a big lump on my head, which made it difficult to rest my head on a pillow. The beatings resulted in an open wound on my head two times, which bled profusely. They stopped this kind of beating because they were afraid people would notice the wound on my head. They did not want it to swell too much and they forced me to wash away the bloodstains on my clothes.
4) At the end of May 2002, for four days in a row, between midnight and dawn, the thugs took turns to persecute me with many of the aforementioned tortures. Yet, I did not concede. Qiu Chaohua, Wang Jianbin and two guards tightly tied my hands and feet, then tied my hands behind my back, and lifted me up backwards so my body hung upside down. Then they pushed my head into the sewage pit and dunked it into water. They used a dirty mop to block the drainage of the sewage pit and then filled the pit with water. I felt as if my internal organs collapsed. Only when I nearly suffocated did they pull me up and let me breathe a few times. Then they pushed my head back into the water. The policemen repeatedly tortured me like this. At that time, I truly experienced terror and suffering that makes living seem worse than death.
5) During the next few days, as soon as I expressed my firm belief in Falun Gong, or even made them slightly unhappy, the guards tortured me. They dunked my head into the water five times. The first time, they lifted me upside down as mentioned before. All other times, they pressed me onto the ground, and pushed my head into the sewage pit. Furthermore, they ruthlessly stepped on my back. I still have two big scars on my shoulders. The last time this happened was in November. They pushed my head into a bucket of water, and forced me to drink a huge amount of water. I could no longer hold back my urine, so I requested to go to the toilet. The team leader Qiu Chaohua and another guard (from Pingyuan, male, over 20 years old) would not allow it and threatened that they would force me to drink the urine.
Speaking from my personal experience, the mental torture of Falun Gong practitioners in the Huangpu "re-education center" far exceeded the tortures at the forced labor camp. The police forced us to read materials that slandered Falun Gong and listen to similar recordings daily. They also required us to write so called "homework" daily. If we refused, they would swear, beat, kick and force-feed us with water. I was dunked into water twice because I refused to renounce Falun Gong, and the other two times was because I refused to do the "homework." Qiu Chaohua threatened me many times by saying that refusing to be "Reformed" would result in being force-fed with urine, sewage or injection with drugs (i.e. forcefully taking the drug) at Fang Village Mental Hospital or at the drug rehabilitation center.
Wang Youcheng was the main instigator of all aforementioned mental and physical torture. He was over 50 years old and assigned to Huangpu "re-education center" from the Guangzhou City 610 Office. He claimed that he was the former security minister of Guangdong Foreign Language and Trade University. Tan Zhijian, the chief instructor and Chen Weimin, the deputy instructor of the school were in charge of the mental persecution. I refused to obey Chen Weimin's orders twice. Consequently, I was dunked into water at midnight that day. The leader Qiu Chaohua, deputy leader Zhan Yonglong and guard Wang Jianbin were in charge of the tortures and beatings.
6. On November 11, 1999, Beijing police officers detained me. On the next day, Guangdong Electric Power Institute dismissed me from my job, but they did not notify me until November 30, 2000. Since then, I lost wages, bonuses and all welfare benefits, which caused great financial losses.
1) From November 1999 to the end of 2002, I was not paid any wages, bonuses or retirement pension for 26 months; the total loss is estimated to be over 100,000 yuan, not including my social security entitlement of 20,000 yuan upon retirement.
2) I lost the right to living quarters. The financial loss is difficult to ascertain.
I sincerely hope that the court will accept my case and commence its investigation. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
I also ask for punitive damages to be awarded for all the physical and mental distress and injury I suffered.
Plaintiff: Zhang Mengye
October 5, 2004
Address: Room 601, No. 157, East Longkou Road, Gangding, Tianhe District, Guangzhou City
Postcode: 510635
Telephone No.: 86-20-87580920