Hunan Man Dies One Month After Prison Release, Family Suspects Foul Play

A Xiangtan City resident serving seven years for his faith wasn’t released on medical parole until he was on the verge of death. The local hospitals declared him beyond care and sent him home, where he died one month later.

Mr. Wang Guilin, 65, was arrested in January 2014 for talking to people about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. He was later sentenced to 7 years and transferred to Wangling Prison located in Nanyou County around February 2015.

The prison guards subjected the retired worker from Xiangtan Textile Factory to various forms of abuse for refusing to renounce Falun Gong. Mr. Wang gradually lost his ability to take care of himself, but his family’s request for medical parole was repeatedly turned down.

Mr. Wang’s family got a big surprise on July 8 of this year when several guards suddenly showed up and left Mr. Wang with them.

The family noticed that Mr. Wang was reduced to skin and bones, having lost more than half of his normal weight. He was also unable to eat or drink.

They sought treatment for Mr. Wang, first at Xiangtan Central Hospital and then at Xiangtan Second Hospital. It was too late, however–both hospitals advised his family to prepare for the worst.

Mr. Wang died at home on August 8.

His family suspects that he may have been drugged by prison officials. Another Falun Gong practitioner from the same textile factory, Ms. Yang Shunying, died in 2012–two days after being sent home from the same prison. Ms. Yang told her family that she was injected with an unknown pink-colored drug. Mr. Wang’s family noted that his symptoms in his final days were very similar to those of Ms. Yang’s.

The local authorities had Mr. Wang's body forcibly cremated and did not allow his family a chance to perform an autopsy.