Falun Gong Practitioner Chang Guiyun Dies on March 8th, Never Recovering From the Effects of Sustained Abuse in Prison

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Chang Guiyun was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2008. She was incarcerated in the Heizuizi Women's Prison in Changchun City. Due to ongoing torture and abuse in the prison, she suffered a stroke and became partially paralysed, unable to take care of herself. She eventually lost all her teeth, her face was permanently disfigured, she could not speak clearly and her hair turned white. She was finally released on medical parole in 2012 and died on March 8th, 2013, at the age of 62.

(Editor's note: "medical parole" in this case is another way of saying that the practitioner's health had deteriorated so much that the officials feared she might pass away whilst in their custody, and they thought that by releasing her that they could escape responsibility for her death. However it is widely believed in the Western world that "what goes around, comes around," and practitioners similarly believe that those who persecute Falun Gong shall meet with ultimate justice for all of their evil deeds. No one can hide from what they have done, and good and evil shall be rewarded in kind.)

Summary of Key Facts:

Name: Chang Guiyun
Gender: Female
Age: 62
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Retired employee
Date of Death: March 8th, 2013
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 21st, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Heizuizi Women's Prison
City: Jiaohe
Province: Jilin
Persecution Suffered: Brainwashing, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, torture, extortion, physical restraint, home ransacking, interrogation, detention, denial of toilet use.


Subjected to Persecution After Reaping Benefits from Falun Gong

Ms. Chang started practicing Falun Gong in 1996, and her illnesses disappeared shortly after. After the Chinese Communist regime began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, Ms. Chang went to Beijing twice to legally appeal for the right to practise. Due to the continual threat of arrest, she was forced to leave home for many years.

Ms. Chang was arrested by officers from the Chang'an Police Station in the spring of 2007. The police ransacked her home and confiscated photos of the founder of Falun Gong, along with informational materials.

The police extorted a “confession” from Ms. Chang and took her to a detention centre. While at the detention centre, Ms. Chang became seriously ill. When the guards took her to see a doctor, Ms. Chang found an opportunity to escape from the hospital. She was subsequently constantly harassed by the local police and the neighbourhood association.

Ms. Chang was again reported and arrested on March 21st, 2008 by officers from the Jilin City Domestic Security Division and the Chang'an Police Station. During a subsequent home ransacking, the police confiscated a TV, DVD player, and satellite dish receiver from her home. Ms. Chang was taken to the Riot Police Brigade. She was interrogated under torture, by such methods as being hung by her handcuffed wrists and the tiger bench torture. Ms. Chang was subsequently taken to the Jiaohe Detention Centre.

Sham Trial

Ms. Chang was tried on July 4th, 2008 by the Jiaohe City Court. She was sentenced to eight years in prison on a fabricated charge. Before the trial, her family members were threatened by the Jiaohe City Procuratorate in an effort to prevent them from hiring an attorney to defend her.

Abuse in Prison Leads to Severe Deterioration in Health

Ms. Chang was transferred to the Heizuizi Women's Prison on October 12, 2008. She was closely monitored by inmates and subjected to brainwashing in an ongoing effort to try to force her to renounce her belief.

She was made to sit on a plastic stool 15 hours per day while watching video programmes that slandered Falun Gong, and also forced to write reports and verbally slander Falun Gong. She was not allowed to sleep if she didn't finish her written assignments. Ms. Chang's arm was fractured during one violent brainwashing session.

After a year of this treatment in prison, Ms. Chang's hair turned completely white, and the left side of her body became paralysed. All of her teeth fell out, and she could no longer speak clearly. After becoming paralysed, Ms. Chang could no longer take care of herself, and someone had to feed her. Because of her difficulty eating and the short time allotted for meals, she could never get enough food. She also became incontinent, and needed help using the toilet.

The prison finally ordered Ms. Chang's family to give them several thousand yuan for medical expenses, however no one knows if the money was actually used for Ms. Chang's treatment. Her health continued to deteriorate, and despite her condition, the guards still arranged for inmates to monitor her closely.

Other Falun Gong practitioners in the prison were not allowed to talk to or help Ms. Chang. She had to be supported by two monitoring personnel when her family came to visit her. Her family repeatedly asked the prison authorities to release her on medical parole, but the prison always refused.

Another Report Summarised Her Mistreatment This Way...

A practitioner sent in an article to the Minghui website describing Ms. Chang Guiyun experiencing a stroke in prison. The prison guards claimed that she was pretending.

The guards beat her every day, forced her to stand for extended periods of time, and did not let her use the restroom or drink water. She sometimes resorted to drinking water from the toilet, and was beaten when this was discovered. She eventually became incontinent and paralysed.

The article said Ms. Chang was tied with ropes because the prison authorities thought she had not been “transformed” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] well enough. Ms. Chang couldn't straighten out her fingers afterwards. Scars from the ropes were still present two years later.

Hardly Recognisable, Ms. Chang is Finally Released

Ms. Chang's condition became so dire in late 2011 that the prison officials finally eased up the persecution of her slightly. After collecting 10,000 yuan¹ and several guarantee statements to renounce practising Falun Gong from her family, the prison finally allowed her son to carry her home in early 2012.

After her release, everyone who saw Ms. Chang was shocked by her appearance. They wondered how a healthy person could change so much after three years in prison, why she was bedridden, partially paralysed with no expression, and unable to take care of herself.

Despite her condition, the prison authorities still demanded that Ms. Chang's son report on her situation or send in a letter certified by the local police station every month.

Ms. Chang was so severely injured both physically and mentally that she was unable to recover, despite her family's care. She passed away on March 8th, 2013, just over a year after her release.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.