(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zhang Yunping was retired from the Tangshan Steel Group Service Company in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. He was arrested in March 2003 and sentenced to prison in 2004. While serving an eight-year term in Jidong Prison, he was brutally tortured. The prison released him on medical parole on February 23, 2010. He died on September 6, at the age of 58.

Zhang Yunping Suffered Brutal Torture while in Custody

Zhang Yunping began to practice Falun Gong in 1997. He went to the Tangshan City Appeals Office to speak out on behalf of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, the day the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) openly started its campaign against Falun Gong. After obtaining his name and workplace information, Appeals Office agents called his company, which immediately sent several managers to his home to await his return. Around 10 that night he was forcibly taken to his company and held for five days.

Tangshan Steel Group Service Company Party secretary Zheng Wu suspended Mr. Zhang from his job in December 2000. He also ordered Mr. Zhang to write a guarantee statement, but Mr. Zhang firmly refused to cooperate. Not long after, Zheng Wu and others captured Mr. Zhang from home the night of December 19, 2000. They took him to the brainwashing center located in the Tangshan Textile and Garment School, a four-story building where many other practitioners were also incarcerated. Each practitioner was kept in a separate room that remained locked at all times, preventing the detained practitioners from talking to each other. The hallways and windows were secured with iron bars. Mr. Zhang Yunping's family made several requests to visit him but was turned down each time.

At the brainwashing center practitioners were forced to watch TV programs and read newspaper articles that slandered Falun Gong. They also had to listen to warped theories fabricated by those assigned to monitor and "reform" them. Additionally, the brainwashing center ordered that every practitioner's workplace pay a monthly living expense (1,500 yuan for the first month and 1,000 yuan thereafter). Since Zhang Yunping was detained for two months, his company deducted 2,500 yuan from his salary.

After Mr. Zhang Yunping retired from the Tangshan Steel Group Service Company in April 2001, his former managers still called him almost every other day to harass him. They wanted to trick him into returning to the company where they might force him to write guarantee statements.

Directed by Tangshan Steel Group Deputy CCP Secretary Liu Yuyin, 610 Office head Ma Guoli, and Service Company CCP secretary Zheng Wu, a group of people from different departments at the practitioner's place of employment had staked out the area surrounding Zhang Yunping's apartment building for four days, starting on November 7, 2002. Their attempt to abduct him failed, however.

Around 6 p.m. on December 19, 2002, section chief Wang Zhongli from the Tangshan Steel Group Police Division and others captured Zhang Yunping's wife. They took her to the brainwashing center at Tangshan Textile and Garment School. Their attempts to get her to reveal her husband's whereabouts failed. They called in three men and two women from the police division to monitor her. She was told that she couldn't go home unless she let them know where her husband was. Tangshan Steel Group Police Station chief Liu Jinkui intimidated her, saying, "If you still refuse to cooperate with us, I'll have all your children and relatives detained!" During her detention, Liu Jinkui and his people went to her home twice to threaten her children. They detained her for four days, during which time they deprived her of sleep. She had a relapse of her heart ailment. They didn't want to be held responsible for her condition, so they told her workplace to arrange for someone to pick her up.

Tangshan Steel Group Service Company suspended Mr. Zhang Yunping's pension as of January 2003. With the Chinese New Year approaching, his daughter went to see Zheng Wu to ask why he had stopped her father's pension. He replied, "Your father's pension comes with a prerequisite: that is, he still has to report to the company every day. Ask him to report to the company; otherwise he'll be considered absent." When she asked to see a copy of the pension regulation, Zheng smiled and said yes. However, as soon as she stepped out of the office, he called in Sun Youping from the security office and a woman surnamed Jiao from the police division. When these two people tried to get her downstairs, she shouted, "Help! You suspended my father's pension with the Chinese New Year approaching! How will we be able to live?" Her angry shouts drew the attention of many people working in different offices. After Sun and Jiao dragged her downstairs to the criminal investigation office, Jiao tossed a set of handcuffs onto the table and said, "I'll handcuff you if you don't cooperate!"

Several deputies from the Tangshan City Police Department Division One and from the Fengrun Police Department captured Mr. Zhang Yunping on March 30, 2003. Following his arrest, he was held in different places: first at the Tangshan Steel Group Police Division, then in the Tangshan City Second Detention Center, and last at the brainwashing center at Tangshan Textile and Garment School. When he went on a protest hunger strike he was brutally beaten and shocked with electric batons. Former detention center head Dong Huiping and An Guofu, a former section chief, also force-fed him. Lubei District Court later sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment. The police transferred him to Team Five in Jidong Prison in April 2004.

Mr. Zhang Yunping suffered severe physical and psychological damage after his arrest in March 2003. He developed high blood pressure and heart symptoms in early 2007 and became very weak. Despite his poor health, team leader Li Hongli still forced him to do hard labor in the workshop during July and August of 2009. A nail puncture on the middle finger of his right hand subsequently developed into osteomyelitis. The prison officials delayed hospital treatment until late September. He was by then diagnosed with diabetes and tuberculosis. To shirk responsibility, the prison released him on medical parole on February 23, 2010. He died on September 6.

Contact information:

Jidong Prison

P.O. Box 2002, Nanbao Development District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province, zip code 063305

Zhang Shuqi, prison head: 86-315-8327666

Wang Bin (deputy prison head): 86-13832926866, 86-315-8327686

Peng Yanjie (Political Committee secretary): 86-13903157108 (Cell), 86- 315-8327888 (Office)

An Yue (610 Office head): 86-13503150211, 86- 315-8327668

Wen Yinghao (Team Five head): 86-13803151379, 86-315-8323000, 86-315-8313666