(Minghui.org) A father and his son in Changchun City, Jilin Province, were arrested on July 15, 2024, while distributing information to expose the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing persecution of their faith, Falun Gong.
The police raided the rental place shared by Mr. Zhang Guozhi and his son, Mr. Zhang Yue (in his 30s), and confiscated their Falun Gong books, portraits of Falun Gong’s founder, printer, cell phones, cash, and other valuables.
The men’s family learned in early December 2024 that they were taken to the Changchun City Detention Center. Mr. Zhang Guozhi contracted pneumonia and it’s not clear if he received any medical care.
This is not the first time that the older Mr. Zhang has been targeted for practicing Falun Gong, which he took up in February 1999. He was arrested on February 16, 2008, after being reported for talking to fellow passengers about Falun Gong on a bus from Changchun to Jiutai City (also in Jilin Province). He was interrogated at the Jiutai City Police Department and an officer kicked him hard. That night he was transferred to the Jiutai City Lockup. On February 29, 2008, he was admitted to the Yinmahe Labor Camp to serve a 1.5-year term.
Guard Chen Shuguo instructed inmates Li Xiaoguang, Wang Fuchang, and Zhang Haibo to “give him a good education.” The trio held him in isolation and showered him with punches and kicks when he refused to write statements to renounce his faith. One of them used a broom stick to hit him on the knees.
Mr. Zhang was released on May 27, 2009, only to be arrested again on April 4, 2012, while distributing Falun Gong informational materials at a university in Changchun City. Officers from the Jingyue Police Station beat him for more than 20 minutes straight and later took him to the Changchun City Detention Center. He refused to wear the inmates’ uniform and went on a hunger strike in protest. On the seventh day, he was taken to the Chaoyanggou Labor Camp to serve another 1.5-year term.
Team lead Zhang Guangfeng and others force-fed Mr. Zhang for three days after he went on a hunger strike in protest. He held firm to his faith and was later forced to sew textile bags for nine hours a day every day.
Mr. Zhang and more than 70 other detained practitioners held a group hunger strike on July 20, 2012. The Chaoyanggou Labor Camp then separated the practitioners and moved them to different labor camps.
Mr. Zhang was reassigned to the Fenjin Labor Camp, which intensified the persecution of practitioners in late December 2012. Shen Quanhong, the head of the 610 Office in the labor camp, brought in 20 inmates from other labor camps to carry out the new persecution campaign. He had 2-3 guards work with three inmates to target Mr. Zhang. They divided into four groups and took turns abusing him for three hours each shift. They forced him to squat for a few hours before giving him a brief break and then they resumed the squatting torture. He was not allowed to sleep, use the restroom, or clean himself. After three days of such abuse, his legs became swollen and he had trouble walking. He was released on August 30, 2013.
Mr. Zhang was arrested at 1 a.m. on December 13, 2014, and taken straight to the Changchun City Detention Center. He was released two weeks later.
While doing odd jobs at a local university on December 14, 2015, Mr. Zhang gave a few students anti-firewall software and this was discovered by school security. They turned him over to the Kuanping Boulevard Police Station. He refused to reveal his name and was released after 15 days of detention.
One day in mid-May 2021, a local village secretary called Mr. Zhang and ordered him to videotape himself and send in the footage. He refused to comply and his son was harassed on the phone afterwards.
Guards Persecute Practitioners at Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp in Changchun City