Mr. Zhang Beiqi Given Additional Seven-Year Sentence After Eight Years of Wrongful Imprisonment and Torture
Name: Zhang Beiqi (张倍齐)
Gender: Male
Age: 48
Address: Antu County, Jilin Province
Occupation: Engineer
Date of most recent arrest: February 27, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Gongzhuling Prison in Jilin (吉林省公主岭监狱)
City: Gongzhuling
Province: Jilin
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, solitary confinement, torture, dismissal from workplace, interrogation, detention, forced labor, extortion, tiger bench, soaked in cold water.
(Minghui.org) “Four days and three nights of torture made me lose consciousness. They poured cold water over my body and opened the window to freeze me. They pulled me along the ground, dragging me by my hair. They beat me with their fists. When they saw that I had lost consciousness, they tried to remove me from the tiger bench from where I fell onto the floor. They produced the prepared statements and forced my fingers onto the paper to get my fingerprints, taking advantage of the fact that I was unconscious. These statements turned out to be what they wanted.”
The above is only a small part of Mr. Zhang Beiqi’s description of his interrogation by thugs from the Yanji National Security Team. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used the fake statements to sentence Mr. Zhang to seven years of imprisonment. Mr. Zhang had previously been sentenced twice to a forced labor camp and once to prison. In total, he had previously been sentenced to eight years of wrongful imprisonment.
Mr. Zhang Beiqi, born in 1964, is from Pingdu City, Qingdao Province. In 1990, he moved to Antu County in Yanji City, Jilin Province to start a construction and renovation business that he privately owned. He also once worked as a manager for the No. 2 Construction Company of Antu City. In 1996, Mr. Zhang and his wife Liu Meijun started to practice Falun Gong. Soon after beginning cultivation, Mr. Zhang quit his several years’ habits of drinking and smoking. He also changed his hot and explosive temper. His wife Liu Meijun has recovered from many illnesses.
After the CCP started to persecute Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, Mr. Zhang and his wife were detained several times and sentenced to forced labor camp and imprisonment. In July 2000, Mr. Zhang was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp. In December 2001, he was sentenced for the second time to a forced labor camp, returning home in July 2003. In March 2004, Mr. Zhang was again arrested. In late October 2004, he was sentenced to a five-year prison term, where he was tortured to the point of near-death. On March 19, 2009 Mr. Zhang was released from prison.
On February 27, 2010, Mr. Zhang was again arrested in his hometown of Qingdao by authorities from the Yanji National Security Team. He was interrogated and tortured, and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. He is currently being held in the Jilin Gongzhuling Jail. The following statements were made by Mr. Zhang from the jail on November 21, 2010. The statements passed through many hands and places to get them out of the jail.
"My name is Zhang Beiqi, residing in Antu County, Jilin Province. I am currently jailed at Gongzhuling Jail. I want to expose the physical torture I was subjected to by Xiao Bin, Xu Xiaofeng, and Zhang Wenxiu, etc., from the Yanji City National Security Team. As a result of this torture, my head and lower back are in intolerable pain.
At around 2:00 p.m. on February 27, 2010, I was in my hometown of Pingdu, Shandong Province when suddenly Xiao Bin and other plainclothes police officers broke into my home and dragged me into a van. They threatened me, saying, “Don’t move, don’t cry out. Otherwise we will shoot you to death!” I asked, “Who are you and why are you randomly arresting me? Do you have any ID?” One of them came up to me and took away my glasses, which I wear for near-sightedness, and then produced a notebook and flashed it before my eyes, and said, “We are from the Public Security Bureau. What is your name?” After I told them my name, they said, “It is you that we want to arrest.” I said, “I did not violate the law! Why do you randomly arrest me?" They asked, "Did you attend the Helong Court?" I said, “Yes. It is legal for a citizen to attend the court when it is in session. The court allowed us to attend. I did not violate any law.” They replied, “It is good that you admit it as you organized to attack the court, and that is why we came from Yanji to arrest you!” This is absolutely unlawful, and defamation against me.
I was taken to an office building in Pingdu. They confiscated my cell phone, an electronic book reader, a bank card, over seventeen hundred yuan in cash (which they have never returned) and my ID, etc. Later, they recorded what I said, handcuffed me, and took me to the detention center. There they beat and threatened me, and I felt heartache beyond description. The staff on duty at the detention center asked the hospital to give me a health check before admitting me. Xiao Bin and his associates forcibly took me to the Pingdu City Hospital to have a medical check-up. Since my physical situation was very bad, they were afraid that the detention center might not accept me, so they lied and told the doctor that I was an escaped criminal. The doctor used the excuse that I did not co-operate to give me just a simple check-up. I was then taken back to the detention center and detained in the No. 8 Cell.
The cell was less than thirty square meters in size. There were about 70 inmates who were also detained. I was forced to lie on the ground for one full night. Early the next morning, the guard and prisoners dragged me outside to the washroom. It was snowing outside and very cold. The guard and the prisoners beat me and verbally abused me with foul language. Over two hours later, two prisoners took me to the office. I told the guard on duty the true situation, but instead of punishing the prisoners for their actions, the guard accused me of not following the guard's instructions. I was then detained in the No. 7 Cell.
On the seventh day, four police officers, including Xu Xiaofeng and a man with the last name of Zheng, took me from the Pingdu Detention Center. We flew from Qingdao to Yanji. They made a new recording of my statements. I asked them, “Why did you arrest me? It is legal for me to go to the court, and also, it was an open court. The court allowed us to go in.” They said, “You are the head organizing this, to attack the court. No one is allowed to defend Falun Gong in court. This is the instruction from above. We just followed the instructions to arrest you. You should just accept this.” I was detained in the No. 15 Cell at the Jilin Detention Center. A police officer with the last name of Jin was in charge. On March 10, I was again transferred, to the No. 28 Cell, and the officer in charge was Cui Zhenghao.
Torture re-enactment: Iron chair
At around 3:00 p.m. on March 17, over ten police officers, including Xu Xiaofeng from the National Security Team, forcibly took me from the detention center to the second floor of a hotel, on the north of Yanji Village, Yanji City. They covered my head with a cloth and held me in a room. They handcuffed me to a tiger bench, which had been prepared beforehand. They affixed a thick steel rod at one end, and the other end was padlocked. As a result, my entire body was unable to move. Over ten police officers divided themselves into several teams, with two officers per team, each led by Xu Xiaofeng and Mr. Zheng. They took turns torturing me around the clock. They didn't allow me to close my eyes. I said to them, “I answered all the questions, why do you still treat me like this?” They said, “We have instructions from above. There are some questions you must answer. You should answer exactly the way we want you to. Otherwise we will show you how powerful we are. You will hardly be able to bear it.”
I lost consciousness from the four days and three nights of torture. They poured cold water over my body and opened the window to freeze me. They pulled me along the ground, dragging me by my hair, and beat me with their fists. When they saw that I was close to death, they took me down from the tiger bench and I fell down to the ground. Then they forced my fingers onto the prepared statements to get my fingerprints while I was unconscious. These statements turned out to be what they wanted.
They then tried to return me to the detention center, but were afraid that the doctor might be suspicious of my injuries, so they deceived the doctor, who ended up believing their lies. The doctor made an irresponsible diagnosis that allowed them to take me back to the detention center. The officer on duty at the detention center dared not take me since he saw that my injuries were serious. The doctor from the detention center said, “We will only take him if the hospital issues a statement, otherwise no one would dare to take the responsibility.” They again took me back to the hospital. With the hospital’s statement in hand, they took me back to the detention center. The guard, named Cui Zhenghao, found two prisoners to take me back to the cell.
As a result of torture by the Yanji National Security Team, my legs were numb and I could hardly stand up or walk. My legs regained some feeling only after two weeks in the cell. It gradually got better after several months, but I have never completely recovered. My head ached a lot and sometimes it was so painful that I lost consciousness. My legs and lower back were often numb and painful as well.
However, based on the falsified statements provided by the Yanji National Security Team, the court sentenced me to seven years, and defamed me.
I ask that the supervisors at different levels please investigate this matter, give me due justice and freedom, so that my physical body can heal. At the same time, I ask that the supervisors look into the legal obligations of the staff at Yanji National Security Team, including Xiao Bin, Xu Xiaofeng, and Mr. Zheng, to compensate me for my loss. I will appeal through the various channels. Please unconditionally release me immediately. I have the right to freedom and a healthy body.
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