78 Year Old Woman Brutally Beaten to Being Crippled

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Shi Lanfang, 78, was a picture of health with a face that glowed. However, she now has a humped back and is lame in one leg after being brutally beating by a police officer.

Ms. Shi was arrested in early 2001 for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. A police officer beat her with a rubber-wrapped baton for over two hours. As a result, her forearms were broken, much of her hair was pulled out, and her body was bruised all over. Her back became bent and she became crippled after the beating.

She was detained at the Xinjin Brainwashing Centre, an illegitimate facility to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their beliefs, in 2004, 2009, and 2011. She has also been held at detention centres seven times and was beaten several times.

The authorities at Ms. Shi's work stopped her pension in 2009. She was told that only when she writes a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong can she get her pension back.

Ms. Shi is a retired worker from the Aerospace Technology Institute in the Longquanyi District of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province.

Injured by Brutal Beatings

Officer Gong Jianguo from the Hangtian Police Department arrested her in 2001 for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. Despite her age, he beat her with a rubber-wrapped baton for over two hours, not caring where he hit her. When she fell to the ground, he pulled her up and kept beating her.

Her forearms were broken and the skin around her eyes turned black. Her head was so swollen that she could not open her eyes. Much of her hair had been pulled out and her body was bruised all over.

After the beating, Gong took her to the Beigandao Police Station in Longquanyi District. Even the officers were shocked when they saw her and said that they didn't think that the detention centre would accept her.

They took her to the Aerospace Institute Hospital and had her arms set. Despite all the injuries, she was still taken to the Longquan Detention Centre two days later and held for 15 days.

The beating caused serious after-effects on Ms. Shi. Her back went from straight to bent. She became crippled and has difficulty walking.