(Minghui.org) When Ms. Zhang Guiping was finally released from prison on May 21, 2020, after serving three years and ten months for practicing Falun Gong, the Fushun City, Liaoning Province, resident was severely disabled as a result of being tortured in custody.

Some of her bones were so misshapen that muscles atrophied and her entire body was contorted. Her waist had shifted to the left and one shoulder tilted higher to the right. She could not straighten her back, which hunched more on the left. Her right buttock was bigger than the left one and her right leg was thicker than the left. She couldn’t sleep on her side, or she would have chest pain.

Because of her physical condition, she couldn’t walk long distances and had to stop and rest frequently to get anywhere.

Tortured in Fushun Nangou Detention Center

Ms. Zhang was arrested when she returned home from studying the Falun Gong teachings with other practitioners on the evening of July 21, 2016. Four police officers dragged her up to the sixth floor before 18 more officers showed up. They searched every corner of her home, confiscating three laptops, six printers, and other personal belongings.

Ms. Zhang was taken to Xintun Police Station around 2 a.m. and locked in a narrow metal cage. She was interrogated, but she refused to answer any questions or sign any documents. After 14 hours in the cage, she was taken to Fushun Nangou Detention Center the next afternoon.

Ms. Zhang went on a hunger strike to protest her treatment, only to be beaten and force-fed by the inmates for over a week. They sometimes dragged her back and forth between different rooms.

The inmates grabbed her hair and banged her head against the wall, and she temporarily lost her sight. They pinched all over, including her nipples and the inner sides of her thighs and her arms, turning her body black and blue. They pushed her down on the restroom floor and forced cold water down her throat. Her lips were cut open, four of her front teeth loosened, three teeth were chipped, and a lower incisor was cracked. They also beat her and wouldn’t let her use the restroom.

Torture reenactment: Pulling hair and banging head against the wall

Tortured in Liaoning Women’s Prison

Ms. Zhang was sentenced to three years and ten months in 2018 and transferred to Shenyang No. 1 Women’s Prison in 2019. Instigated by the guards who promised their sentences would be reduced, the inmates relentlessly tortured the practitioners. For every practitioner who renounced Falun Gong, the inmates would have eight days deducted from their sentences.

To make her renounce Falun Gong, the inmates forced Ms. Zhang to do unpaid work during the daytime and to squat motionlessly in the corner of the cell at night. She was not allowed to put on warm clothes in the winter. To increase her suffering, the inmates purposely left the windows open and turned the fan on her.

When Ms. Zhang remained firm in her faith, inmate Wang Shuling hit her head with a stool. Wang also barred her from using the restroom and forced her to urinate in her pants. She said to Ms. Zhang, “I will beat you to death if you don’t ‘transform.’ It’s nothing if you die. We are given a death quota every year.”

As a result of the torture, Ms. Zhang grew very weak. She had hypertension and felt dizzy all the time. Despite her condition, the guards still made her sleep in the upper bunk bed. She was not allowed to call home or buy daily necessities, especially toilet paper. The 3,000 yuan deposit her family made for her was appropriated by other inmates.

While waiting in line to get back to the cell one night, Ms. Zhang passed out. Even so, an inmate pinched her arm and kicked her. As Ms. Zhang struggled with ever-worsening delirium, she was taken to the prison hospital for a CT examination. The doctor found she had cerebral thrombosis and a heart condition that caused her to have chest pain and difficulty breathing.

But instead of treating Ms. Zhang, the prison doctor injected her with unknown drugs. She had severe chest pain for the whole night. The hospital’s vice president also ordered every patient to read books praising the Chinese Communist Party. When Ms. Zhang refused to comply, the doctor forced her to sit on the floor and verbally abused her and Falun Gong.

Financial Persecution

Upon returning home, Ms. Zhang was devastated to discover that the authorities had suspended her pension during her prison term. The Xinfu District Court also withdrew 10,000 yuan from her bank account to pay the court fine. With no other savings, Ms. Zhang, in her 60s and now physically disabled from the torture, had to find odd jobs to make a living.

Family Suffering

Prior to her latest incarceration, Ms. Zhang served three years in a forced labor camp in 2003. She went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was released when she was on the verge of death.

To avoid being arrested again, she and her husband went into hiding. Both of them lost their jobs as a result. The financial constraints and mental pressure took a toll on her husband’s health. He couldn’t sleep at night for fear that the police would come knocking on the door at anytime. He developed lung cancer in 2004 and passed away in March 2006. He was 52.