Ms. Wang Chunling, 52, of Henan Province Died after Seven Years of Persecution in Prison

Name: Wang Chunling
Gender: Female
Age: 52
Address: Residential area, Huaiyang County Textile Factory in Zhoukou
Occupation: Cadre of Huaiyang County Textile Factory in Zhoukou
Date of Death: May 3rd, 2013
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 20th, 2004
Most Recent Place of Detention: Xinxiang Women's Prison in Henan
City: Zhoukou
Province: Henan
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, extortion, physical restraint, home ransacked, detention
Key Persecutors: Section chief with last name Tong at Xinxiang Women's Prison in Henan

Ms. Wang Chunling passed away early in the morning on May 3rd, 2013. She was sentenced to ten years in prison in July 2004 and sent to Xinxiang Women's Prison in Henan.

Details of the tortures Ms. Wang endured in prison are unclear. From Ms. Wang's limited recount and the fear on her face when the topic of prison was brought up, one can only speculate on the extent of the brutality.

Those who knew Ms. Wang say in disbelief, “Such a nice person, the government ruined her life and family... such a nice family, all gone...”

Those who knew Ms. Wang only had good things to say about her. She was very pretty and kind, and treated others with compassion. At work, she was quick and reliable, and her handsome calligraphy was well known. Her family was financially well off, and she had two sons and a loving husband. She was also extremely kind to her in-laws.

Prior to the beginning of the persecution in 1999, Huaiyang County had over 30,000 practitioners, more than any other county in Henan Province. As a result, the persecution in this area has been especially severe.

Left home after being frequently harassed

Ms. Wang started to practise Falun Gong in 1996. She believed it to be the highest level of cultivation and thus practised it diligently. After the Chinese government started to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Wang and a few other practitioners went to the Huaiyang County Party Committee to seek justice for Falun Gong. Officials there did not listen to them and took them to the Chengguan Town Police Station.

In October 1999 when Ms. Wang went to Beijing to seek justice for Falun Gong, she was arrested and sent to the Huaiyang Detention Centre. At the detention centre, she was forced to do hard labour. She was beaten, not allowed to sleep, and not given enough food if she did not finish her assigned work quota. To rescue Ms. Wang, her family gave assistant political commissar Ren Wei and Domestic Security Division deputy chief Zhao Min each a set of name-brand outfits. The family gave expensive gifts to police officers Zhao Jishan, Chen Jiachang, and Geng Shouling. Ms. Wang was released after her family paid an additional sum of 4,000 yuan¹.

Ms. Wang was frequently visited and harassed by the police after that. One time, the police station told Ms. Wang to stop by and watch a video, saying it wouldn't take long. It was a trap, and Ms. Wang was arrested as soon as she arrived at the station and was detained for four months.

Ms. Wang was harassed even more after she was released. Her whole family was disturbed. To avoid getting arrested again, Ms. Wang left home.

The police went to Ms. Wang's home in November 2000 and asked for her. Ms. Wang's husband said, “She is not at home.” The police did not believe him, so they broke in and ransacked the home. One policeman yanked her son off the bed to make sure he was not Ms. Wang. They also harassed Ms. Wang's parents and parents-in-law.

After she became homeless, Ms. Wang did not forget her responsibility as a Falun Gong practitioner. To help her fellow villagers learn the truth about Falun Gong, she and other practitioners made pamphlets and delivered them to her former supervisors and colleagues.

Innocent people sent to prison

Police officers from Zhoukou arrested 18 Falun Gong practitioners on February 20th, 2004. Ms. Wang was arrested in Taikang and sent to the Taikang County Detention Centre.

On the morning of July 8th, 2004, the Zhoukou City Court secretly tried 12 Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners shouted together in the court room: “Falun Gong is righteous. Falun Gong is good!” When the presiding judge announced the charges, Ms. Wang shouted, “We are innocent! Falun Gong is innocent!” The rest of the Falun Gong practitioners then shouted, “All those charges are lies!” Ms. Wang was sentenced to ten years in prison and sent to the Xinxiang Women's Prison in Henan.

Bedridden after being persecuted

In June 2011, Ms. Wang's family received a phone call from the prison that Ms. Wang had had a brain haemorrhage. Her family went to visit her at the Xinxiang People's hospital. She was laying on the bed, and her feet were chained. Ms. Wang had gone through cranial surgery, and a piece of 4 cm x 4 cm piece of her skull was taken from the right side of her head.

Ms. Wang was released to get further medical attention in the middle of August and was carried home. She could not hear, had muscle atrophy in her right arm, and, could not use her right hand because of constant spasms. Her right leg was stiff and she was unable to move it. She could only move her head slightly.

Ms. Wang's husband divorced her many years ago, and her mother took care of her. Ms. Wang was bedridden. No one could understand what she murmured, and she could not hear. Her family wrote questions on a piece of paper and showed them to her. Ms. Wang looked at the paper for a long time, then rolled the paper into a ball and put it in her mouth.

After a period of recovery, Ms. Wang was able to move her right leg and sit up. A few months later, she was able to get out of bed. She had difficulty walking as she did not have full use of her right leg and she also had lost the use of her right hand. Her words became more comprehensible. When her friend asked her about the persecution she suffered in prison, she made a tight fist with her left hand but did not answer the question.

In a previous article on Minghui.org, her family reported seeing wounds on Ms. Wang's face and neck when they visited her in prison. When she was asked how she got them, Ms. Wang started to slowly recount what had happened: To “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] her, guards told criminal inmates to torture her and not let her sleep, so they stabbed her with needles on her neck. She also said that section chief Tong persecuted her personally. One time chief Tong fabricated a repentance statement to renounce practising Falun Gong and forged her signature. When upper level officials came to see the letter, Ms. Wang told them that she did not write or sign it. Ms. Wang did not say what else happened after that, and her friend did not ask more for fear of making her more upset.

Ms. Wang passed away after “return visits”

Ms. Wang's mother passed away in June 2012. By that time, Ms. Wang was able to take care of herself. She lived in an old apartment in the textile factory compound. She was able to go down the stairs, and her condition was improving.

The prison has a procedure called “return visit” for those who were released for medical attention. The prison did not visit Ms. Wang at first since her condition was grave. Once the prison found out Ms. Wang was recovering, they started to visit her frequently.

In August 2012, prison and county officials in charge of persecuting Falun Gong went to Ms. Wang's home. They saw Falun Gong literature on her bed and wanted to take them, but she stopped them. The same group of officials went to her home again in December 2012. She was home alone that time, and she collapsed when they came in. A physician in the group took her blood pressure and said that it was very high, about 200 mmHg. It is not yet known what else had happened during the visit.

In the morning a few days later, Ms. Wang was found unconscious on the floor. She had had another brain haemorrhage and was taken to the hospital. She was bedridden after that and was only able to take a few sips of milk. Her condition deteriorated. By April 21st, 2013, she was unable to take anything by mouth and was completely blind. She passed away at 3:40 am on May 3rd, 2013.

Note

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