​Woman in Critical Condition Denied Parole, Dies One Month Later

A woman became critically ill while serving time for her faith in Falun Gong. She passed away shortly after the prison authorities rejected her family’s latest request for her medical parole.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Liu Jianying, a resident of Dehui City, Jilin Province, had trouble keeping food down and suffered from intestinal adhesion since her arrest on July 15, 2018 for talking to people about Falun Gong.

When Ms. Liu appeared in the Dehui City Court on November 22, 2018, she was so weak that she couldn’t stand.

Her family repeatedly requested that she be released on bail, but they were rejected each time.

The Dehui City Court sentenced Ms. Liu to 2.5 years in Jilin Province Women’s Prison in March 2019 without her family’s knowledge.

She was force fed in the prison when protesting against the persecution. Meanwhile, she continued to have difficulty keeping food down and her weight kept dropping.

Ms. Liu became so weak that she was unable to walk to the visitation room to meet with her family. The prison gave her family special permission to enter her cell to visit her in November 2019, on the condition that they make an effort to try to persuade her to give up Falun Gong.

Her family noticed that she had lost two front teeth, and a guard said it was because she couldn’t keep her balance and fell.

Ms. Liu’s family applied for medical parole for her shortly after the visit. The prison authorities rejected the request, even after she was given a critical condition notice.

Ms. Liu passed away in the prison on December 30, 2019, at the age of 57. The authorities had her body cremated on the next day against her family's wishes and without conducting an autopsy.

Her 80-year-old mother is devastated by her passing.