(Clearwisdom.net) Seventy-year-old Mr. Zou Huashan from Qidong County, Hunan Province, adheres to studying and practicing Falun Gong and believes in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. He was illegally detained and persecuted three times. In 1999, he was illegally detained in custody for sixteen days. In 2000, he was detained for five months and three days. In November 29, 2004, he was abducted by police and detained for more than two months. He was released after his family was extorted out of 2000 yuan.

Zou's photo after being detained for fifty-eight days.

Zou was often harassed at home by police in Baidi City. On November 29, 2004, when police came to his home for the second time, four police pushed and dragged him over one hundred meters away from his home. When his wife came to drag him back, a policeman shouted, "Drag him back and I'll arrest you too," then pushed Zou into the police car, and took him to the police station for interrogation. In the afternoon, the police detained Zhou in custody for fifteen days without presenting an arrest warrant.

On December 14, the day when the fifteen day period expired, indoctrinator Tang Qibing was going to put Zou into solitary confinement without food, but was persuaded by other people in the jail not to move Zou.

On December 15, Falun Gong students in the women's prison started a hunger strike. On the morning of December 21, the seventh day of the hunger strike, Zou was among those who were illegally interrogated but refused to sign. County policeman Wang Ximin (over 50 years old) kicked him, slapped him twice, and swore at him.

At the end of December, Zou's sister brought clothing for him but was not allowed to enter the jail. By January 13, 2005, Zou hadn't eaten for five days.

By January 18, 2005, Zou had been illegally detained fifty days longer than the original period. His face was covered by a beard, and his clothing smelled bad. The custody official scolded him saying, "Look at you, the Falun Gong practitioner who was supposed to be detained for fifteen days ended up being detained for three years. There is no law that applies to Falun Gong. We will detain you as long as we wish. You cannot appeal anywhere. There is no use in appealing. We will transfer you to a detention center at the end of the year."

On January 26, Zou's son, who had been working out of town, hurried back home and went to the detention center to take him home. He was extorted out of one thousand yuan to pay for "board." On the way home, Zou's son told him that he had handed over a deposit (fine) of two thousand yuan at the County 610 office. The original demand was for five thousand yuan. He had to give a certain written guarantee to have Zou released.

March 20, 2005