(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhou Zequn, 70, a retired teacher from the Sipaifang Primary School in the Jiangjin District, died as a result of torture on May 2, 2014. She had been sentenced to a four-year prison term in 2011, due to her belief in Falun Gong.

Ms. Zhou was arrested at her home on December 5, 2011, by over a dozen officers from the local Domestic Security Division and police station, and Liu Zenghuai from the Comprehensive Administration Office in the Jijiang Residential Office. She was held at the Jiangjin District Detention Center and later sentenced to four years in the Chongqing Women's Prison.

Guards Evade Responsibility

Ms. Zhou's family was notified by prison guards on February 18, 2014, to come and take her home. They family found out that Ms. Zhou had been tortured. She could no longer walk and had blood in her urine and stools. She had also been injected with unidentified drugs that destroy the central nervous system. She had lost her memory and could no longer recognize any words.

Officials at Chongqing Women's Prison didn't want to be held responsible for Ms. Zhou's condition, so they informed her family that she would be released on medical parole. Her family took her to Xicheng Hospital for treatment.

Officials from the Jianjin District 610 Office and the local residential office monitored everyone who went to see her in the hospital. The local officials also threatened her family to keep other practitioners from seeing her.

Persecution History

Ms. Zhou had previously been sentenced to one year of forced labor. Liu Zenghuai from the Jiangjin District Residential Office ordered his underlings to hit her with a car a few times, expecting that she would be killed. Fortunately they weren't successful.

Another time, Deputy Party Secretary Wang Fenghua, from the Jiangjin District Political and Legal Affairs Committee, ordered four people to wait outside Ms. Zhou's home and throw unknown substances in her face when she left her home.

Ms. Zhou was frequently harassed, resulting in her becoming mentally unstable for a long period of time. She became unable to recognize even members of her own family. With help from practitioners she later recovered and started practicing Falun Gong again.

Ms. Zhou Zequn was once recognized as an "Outstanding Teacher" in China.

Summary of Key Persecution Facts: Name: Zhou Zequn (周泽群) Gender: Female Age: 70 Address: Jijiang Town, Jiangjin District, Chongqing, Sichuan Province Occupation: Retired Teacher from Sipaifang Primary School in the Jiangjin District, Chongqing Date of Death: May 2, 2014 Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 5, 2011 Most Recent Place of Detention: Chongqing Women's Prison (重庆市女子监狱) City: Chongqing Province: Sichuan Persecution Suffered: Forced labor, illegal sentencing, forced injections/drug administration, imprisonment, home ransacking, interrogation, detention.