(Minghui.org) A 71-year-old man in Weifang City, Shandong Province, was taken back into custody at the Weifang City Detention Center on August 7, 2024, to serve a 3.5-year term he was given in 2022, for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Zhu Tianfu’s ordeal stemmed from an earlier arrest on April 5, 2022, together with another practitioner, Mr. Ma Lichun, for talking to people about Falun Gong. The arresting officers from the Nanliu Police Station ransacked both mens’ homes and beat Mr. Zhu’s brother, who shared the residence with him. The younger Mr. Zhu had bruises around his eyes and on his face as a result of the beating.

Mr. Zhu Tianfu and Mr. Ma were held at the police station overnight, with their hands cuffed behind their backs the entire time. They were released on bail the next afternoon. (Mr. Ma was arrested again on April 20, 2023, and sentenced to three years on July 18, 2023. He is now serving time in Shandong Province Prison.)

Torture illustration: Handcuffed behind the back

Two officers broke into Mr. Zhu’s home on April 10, 2022, and forced him to sign his case document. The police returned twice two days later to harass him, breaking into his home by scaling his neighbor’s fence the second time they returned. Mr. Zhu was arrested again on April 13, 2022, and held at the police station until 7 p.m.

To avoid further persecution, Mr. Zhu lived away from home to hide from the police, only to be arrested at his sister’s home on December 6, 2022, and taken to the Fangzi District Brainwashing Center.

Officer Liu Guangyong went to Mr. Zhu’s cell in the brainwashing center on the evening of December 8. He verbally abused him, his parents, and Falun Gong’s founder, while keeping him restrained in a metal chair. Liu also threatened to shoot Mr. Zhu to death if he dared to leave the brainwashing center.

The police submitted Mr. Zhu’s case to the Fangzi District Procuratorate on December 9, 2022. On December 23, Jiang Xiaohui, the head of the brainwashing center, told Mr. Zhu that he was scheduled to tried that day. Jiang opened a virtual meeting on his phone and connected Mr. Zhu to the Fangzi District Court. A judge announced that Mr. Zhu was sentenced to 3.5 years after a 20-minute trial. Jiang deceived Mr. Zhu into signing the verdict and didn’t give him a hard copy. He was allowed to go home shortly after due to a local COVID-19 outbreak.

Officers from the Fangzi District Police Department took Mr. Zhu back into custody on August 7, 2024, and put him in the Weifang City Detention Center.

Past Persecution

Mr. Zhu used to suffer from severe rheumatism and back pain. When he was just in his 40s, he was no longer able to do hard labor. He tried herbal remedies, acupuncture, and several different qigong schools, but to no avail. One month after he learned Falun Gong in 1995, he recovered. He also changed his bad temper and became a better person. Impressed by this, his wife, Ms. Zhang Ximei, also took up the practice and regained her health.

Because they refused to renounce Falun Gong after the persecution started in 1999, Mr. Zhu was sentenced to 5 years in 2002 and Ms. Zhang was given a 1.5-year labor camp term in 2007. She was in a delirious state as a result of the relentless torture. Mr. Zhu’s younger brother, who also practices Falun Gong, was arrested and given a labor camp term as well.

Earlier Arrests and Detention

Mr. Zhu was first arrested on December 30, 1999, by Cheliu Police Station officers when he was on his way to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Yu Naikong, the police chief, and Wang Youxiang, the police instructor, beat him with a broom. The police stripped off his clothes and left him in the yard overnight in the cold. The next morning, they handcuffed him to the utility pole outside the police station to humiliate him. He wasn’t given any food or water during the day and was transferred to the Fangzi District Detention Center that evening. He was held there for 15 days.

Ms. Zhang also went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in March 2000. She was arrested and held in the Weifang City’s Liaison Office in Beijing. She held a hunger strike for three days. After she was taken back to Weifang, Cheliu Police Station officers beat her with a rubber baton until she was on the verge of death. She was taken to the Fangzi District Detention Center the next day. Fifteen days later, she was transferred to the Chenliu Township government, where she was held for another 15 days.

From then on, the police often arrested the couple on major holidays or anniversaries related to Falun Gong, and kept them detained from two weeks to two months at a time.

On September 25, 2000, to prevent practitioners in their area from traveling to Beijing to appeal on October 1, the day the Communist Party formally seized power in China, the Cheliu Township government arrested all the local practitioners, including Mr. Zhu and Ms. Zhang, and ordered them to write statements to renounce Falun Gong. The couple also had 6,000 yuan extorted from them.

In the fall of 2001, shortly after Mr. Zhu’s younger brother returned to their shared residence around 1 a.m. after finishing a night shift, someone pounded on the door. When they didn’t open it, the person scaled their neighbor’s fence and entered their yard. He smashed the door and window. Mr. Zhu negotiated with the person and he agreed to settle the matter in the morning.

Shortly after sunrise, over 40 officers from the Mucun Police Station and Mucun Township government arrested Mr. Zhu and his brother and took them to the Mucun Township government. That night, officers with rubber batons dragged the brothers into separate rooms and beat them until they themselves were exhausted. Both brothers were badly injured and unable to move. Mr. Zhu Tianfu was released after seven days of detention. His brother was detained for over ten days and had 1,500 yuan extorted from him.

Husband’s 5-Year Prison Sentence

Mr. Zhu and Ms. Zhang were reported for putting up Falun Gong posters and arrested by Cheliu Town Police Station officers and the secretary of Zhangguan Village on February 25, 2002. Mr. Zhu was severely tortured in the detention center and later sentenced to five years in Weibei Prison without due process.

Although Ms. Zhang was released, she was forced to live away from home to hide from the police. With Mr. Zhu still serving time, their two teenage children were left unattended. Their son left home and went to work at the age of 18. Their 15-year-old daughter moved frequently for several years.

Because Mr. Zhu refused to renounce Falun Gong, he was twice taken to the Weibei Brainwashing Center. The guards forced him to watch videos slandering Falun Gong every day. He was also forced to write statements to renounce Falun Gong and fingerprint them.

Mr. Zhu also witnessed the death of Mr. Li Guang, 28, of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, as a result of days of electric shocks all over his body and sexual assault.

Mr. Zhu once recalled, “During those five years, every day felt like a year. Except for the freedom to breathe, I had no other freedom at all. I worried every day whether I would be tortured to death.”

Wife and Younger Brother Given 1.5-Year Labor Camp Terms

On March 28, 2007, not long after Mr. Zhu was released, officers from the Caiyuan Village Committee searched his home. Upon finding Falun Gong materials, they called the Mucun Police Station, which dispatched officers to arrest Mr. Zhu, Ms. Zhang, and Mr. Zhu’s younger brother, Mr. Zhu Tianzhong.

Mr. Zhu Tianfu was released the same day. Ms. Zhang and Mr. Zhu Tianzhong were transferred to the Weifang City Detention Center unfrt criminal detention; both of them were given 1.5 years at the Wangcun Forced Labor Camp. Ms. Zhang was severely tortured in the labor camp and fell into a delirious state as a result.

Related Report:

Shandong Man Sentenced to 3.5 Years after a 20-Minute Virtual Trial by Phone