Elderly Falun Gong Practitioner Unconscious and Unable to Care for Herself After Being Tortured in Zhejiang Women's Prison

Two years ago, Chinese authorities sentenced Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Du Lanrui to three and a half years in prison because she refused to give up her belief. In Zhejiang Women's Prison, the guards tortured Ms. Du physically and mentally and injected her with nerve damaging drugs. Ms. Du was tortured until she fell unconscious and was unable to care for herself. Prison authorities then released her to her family.

Ms. Du, 71, is from Canglingjiao Village, Huzhen Town, Jinyun County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province. On May 25th and 26th, 2011, Ms. Du went to the Jinyun County 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), asking to void the statement that she made against her will in June 2010 renouncing Falun Gong. In the morning on May 26th, agents from the 610 Office arrested her, and the local judicial authority sentenced her to three and a half years. She was locked up in Zhejiang Women's Prison on October 13th, 2011.

To coerce Ms. Du into giving up her practice, the prison authorities tortured her until she was physically ruined. The prison doctor injected her with unknown drugs that caused her a great deal of pain, and she gradually lost consciousness. Her eyes were dull and she could not walk. She could not use the toilet without help from others.

Seeing that Ms. Du was dying, the prison quickly released her. Ms. Du's husband is 75 years old and her son is mentally challenged. They could not take care of her.

Ms. Du began to practise Falun Gong in 1997. In July 1999, Ms. Du went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Agents from the Jinyun County 610 Office, police from Huzhen Town Police Station, and staff from Huzhen Town government together arrested, detained and tortured her. When the weather was nine degrees below zero, they forced her to take off her shoes and socks. They poured cold water on her feet, and then forced her to stand on concrete. They beat her, slammed her head against the wall, and deprived her of sleep.

In 2000, agents from the Jinyun County 610 Office, police from Huzhen Town Police Station, and staff from Huzhen Town government arrested dozens of Falun Gong practitioners, including Ms. Du, and locked them in the brainwashing centre in Dayang Town. People at the centre repeatedly stomped on her buttocks with heavy boots until she had open wounds. She's been walking crippled since then.

In 2002, Ms. Du was arrested when she was distributing Falun Gong materials. She was later sentenced to five years in prison. Inside Zhejiang Women's Prison, Ms. Du was forced to read materials slandering Falun Gong, renounce her belief against her will, and perform forced labour. After she was released, she could not walk normally or straighten her body.