Ms. Liu Xinlan, 58, from Hubei Province Dies As a Result of Persecution

Name: Liu Xinlan
Gender: Female
Age: 58
Date of Death: January 13th, 2013
Address: Ezhou City, Hubei Province
Occupation: Retired from Xishan Sanitation Station in Ezhou City
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 9th, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Ezhou Administrative Detention Centre
Detention City: Ezhou
Detention Province: Hubei
Persecution Suffered: Brainwashing, beatings, hung up, physical restraint, detention, denial of toilet use

Ms. Liu Xinlan, a Falun Gong practitioner from Ezhou City, Hubei Province, was retired from the Xishan Sanitation Station in Ezhou City. She died on the afternoon of January 13th, 2013, at the age of 58, due to harassment and persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Ms. Liu began to practise Falun Gong in 1998 and had benefited physically and mentally. She refused to renounce her belief in Falun Gong after the persecution started in 1999 and explained the facts about the practice to people she met.

Previous arrests

In 2001, agents from the Ezhou City 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) arrested Ms. Liu and held her in the Lianhuashan Brainwashing Centre for over a month. At the time, the director was Huang Xiaoshan. Ms. Liu was later transferred to the Ezhou First Detention Centre.

In November 2002, officers from the Ezhou 610 Office arrested Ms. Liu again and took her to the Lianhuashan Brainwashing Centre, where she was tortured for two weeks.

Officers from the Luojiaping Police Station of Ezhou City Public Security Bureau Xishan Division detained Ms. Liu in the police station for 15 days.

In September 2003, staff from the Ezhou City 610 Office and from the Ezhou City Sanitation Bureau took Ms. Liu to the Hubei Province Brainwashing Centre near Tangxun Lake in Wuhan City, where she was tortured for a month.

Torture affected her health

On the morning of February 1st, 2010, officers from Ezhou City Public Security Bureau Xishan Division, Fenghuang Police Station and Gulou Police Station of the Echeng District Public Security Bureau, carried out a mass arrest of practitioners in Ezhou City.

Ms. Liu was again arrested and taken to the Ezhou City First Detention Centre. She went on a nine-day hunger strike. Zhou Qichi and Liu Shaofa from the Ezhou City Public Security Bureau Xishan Division force-fed her until her health deteriorated and she was near death. Officials at the detention centre released her because they were afraid of being implicated in her death.

Staff from the Ezhou City 610 Office and police from the Ezhou City Public Security Bureau Xishan Division took her to the Hubei Province Forced Labour Camp in Shayang County within 45 days of her last release from the detention centre. The camp refused to take her in because of her weakened condition. This didn't stop the police from torturing her in the station.

Wan Jinlou, head of the Political Safety Division of Ezhou Public Security Bureau Echeng Division, once hung Ms. Liu up and beat her for 24 hours. She was scarred permanently. She was also not allowed to use the toilet.

On July 9th, 2011, Ms. Liu was in Zelin Town, Ezhou City, talking to the locals about Falun Gong. Officers from Zelin Police Station of Ezhou Public Security Bureau Echeng Division arrested her and held her in the Ezhou Administrative Detention Centre for 15 days.

Workplace persecution

Ms. Liu worked at the Xishan Sanitation Station and Ezhou Sanitation Bureau. These employers assisted the Ezhou 610 Office in persecuting Ms. Liu. She was often assigned to clean dirty streets, even during busy traffic.

In 2003, Ms. Liu was walking down a slope with a cart full of garbage when a car hit her. She had three broken ribs. The driver offered to give her 2,000 yuan ($300), but Ms. Liu refused to accept it because she was determined to follow the Falun Gong principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Her supervisor chastised her for not taking the money and then looked for the driver. He pocketed the 2,000 yuan.

Around 2005, Shu Zhongyu, head of the Xishan Sanitation Station, assigned Ms. Liu to clean up the local produce distribution centre, a large, dirty place, which was a difficult task for just one person. One morning Ms. Liu was hit by a motorcycle. She passed out and lay on the ground until a passerby found her. She was taken to a hospital. Her head was swollen and there was blood in her ears. She did not stay in the hospital and recovered by doing the Falun Gong exercises.

Ms. Liu's family was dependent on her tiny income. Her husband had lost his job and her daughter was in college. Her supervisor refused to give her any days off before she retired and warned her that if she did not show up for work, he would cut her salary.

In March 2006 when Ms. Liu was held at the Lianhuashan Brainwashing Centre, her husband, Xiong Lianghuang, was forced to do Ms. Liu's job despite high blood pressure. He had a stroke and died at the age of 59. Ms. Liu could not bare the pain of losing her husband so young and was mentally disoriented for some time.

During the Chinese Communist Party's 18th Congress in October 2012, the Ezhou 610 Office ordered the police to arrest Ms. Liu again. Her family resisted and the police did not succeed.

The Ezhou 610 Office ordered Ms. Liu's employer to mistreat her. They criticised her performance, refused to give her days off, or to find a substitute when needed. They forced her to clean more streets than other employees and assigned her to dangerous sections. She was never given a raise or compensations like everyone else. Ms. Liu was forced to work one more year after she had reached retirement age. She was given the lowest pension possible--1,080 yuan per month.

Pension withheld

Shu Zhongyu, the head of Xishan Sanitation Station, withheld part of her retirement pay, just how much no one really knows. Her pension was always short. At first it was 200 yuan per month, and even then she had to find her supervisors for their signatures and approvals. Her former supervisors often taunted her, “Why don't you ask Falun Gong for your pension?” After her older brother fought for her benefits, she got 800 yuan monthly.

The Ezhou 610 Office, Ezhou Sanitation Bureau, and Xishan Sanitation Station constantly had Ms. Liu monitored, including her phone calls. She was arrested many times and taken to brainwashing centres, detention centres, and forced labour camps. Officials also came to her home and harassed her frequently.

After she retired, Ms. Liu often did not receive her pension, so she lived in poverty. She was emaciated and under mental stress.

In December 2012, Ms. Liu did not have money to buy warm clothes for the winter. She caught a cold and developed pneumonia. She was hospitalized in January 2013. The hospital expenses were 3,000 yuan (US$ 500) a day. She had to give up treatment because she could not pay. She died on January 13th, 2013 at 3:50 p.m., the day she was released from the hospital.