Case Overview: Zhang Zhenggang (张正刚) (suspected organ harvesting victim)
Male, age 36, Huai’an City, Jiangsu Province
Zhang Zhenggang was born on August 6, 1964. He was an employee of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and began to serve as a volunteer assistant at a Falun Gong practice site in Huai’an in 1998. He died on March 31, 2000, at the age of 36.
In November 1999, Zhang wrote letters to Jiang Zemin and other central leaders of the Communist Party with information about Falun Gong. He was taken by the Huai’an Public Security Bureau for “questioning” and was beaten by police during this time.[1]
In 2000, Zhang went to Beijing to deliver a letter signed by a hundred Falun Gong practitioners demanding the recognition of Falun Gong’s legality. On March 2, the Huai’an Public Security Bureau again arrested Zhang and held him in Huai’an Detention Center. Zhang was beaten and left with severe head injuries. At around 8 a.m. on March 25, he was taken to Huai’an First People’s Hospital, where doctors performed a craniotomy and gave him oxygen and intravenous injections. He was in a coma but had a heartbeat and blood pressure.
His wife and mother rushed to the hospital and stayed by his side. However, his treatment plan, medical history, and medication status were withheld by police, who were monitoring the entire ward. Doctors performed an electrocardiogram on March 30 at 6:30 pm, at which time Zhang was still in a coma, his heartbeat was weak, and he was breathing.
Agents from the 610 Office met and called in forty to fifty police officers, who locked down the hospital corridors and patient ward. Officers told his wife and mother that they needed to discuss Zhang’s declaration of death, thereby taking them out of the room and forcibly separating them from Zhang. Officers then forced doctors to remove Zhang’s oxygen and IV tube. Zhang was subsequently injected with a drug. The officers rushed forward, pushed Zhang’s other relatives and spectators out of the way, and took Zhang away, claiming to be taking him to a crematorium. An autopsy was performed on Zhang’s body without his family’s consent or presence.[2]
The next day, Zhang’s wife, daughter, mother, and other relatives went to the crematorium to see his body. They were obstructed en route by police officers, who pushed and shoved them. Under pressure from spectators who had gathered at the scene, the officers relented and allowed the family to mourn Zhang at the crematorium. The entire process was directed and monitored by the Huai’an police department. The police did not allow relatives to ask questions, express condolences, lay a wreath, or petition higher authorities.[3]
Zhang’s mother was sentenced to three years in prison for practicing Falun Gong. His wife, Zhang Zhaoyun, was detained and fired from her job, also for practicing Falun Gong. She was sentenced to five years in prison in July 2001 and incarcerated at Nantong Women’s Prison. Zhang’s daughter, Zhang Zikai, was taken in by her aunt, Zhang Zhaoming.[4]
[1] Injustice! Zhang Zhenggang beaten to death. Minghui.org April 20, 2000.
https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2000/4/20/ -3833.html
冤哉！张正刚惨遭非法毒打致死. 明慧网. 2000年4月20日
[2] Exposing Labor Camps, Detention Centers, Prisons, and Hospitals in Various Areas. Minghui.org. May 3, 2006.
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/5/3/126634.html#2006-5-1-clue-3
曝光各地劳教所、看守所、监狱、医院. 明慧网. 2006年5月3日
[3] Injustice! Zhang Zhenggang beaten to death. Minghui.org April 20, 2000.
https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2000/4/20/ -3833.html
冤哉！张正刚惨遭非法毒打致死. 明慧网. 2000年4月20日
[4] Cases of Falun Gong practitioners in the finance system being persecuted to death. Minghui.org. May 16, 2019.
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2019/5/16/-387062.html
中国金融系统法轮功学员被迫害致死案例. 明慧网. 2019年5月16日