Elderly Falun Dafa Practitioner Ms. Ma Jingfang Died as a Result of Police Brutality

Ms. Ma Jingfang, 59 years old, was a resident of Dongcheng District, Beijing, and a music teacher at Beijing Normal University. After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, Ms. Ma continued to practise Falun Dafa steadfastly. She was sentenced to forced labour terms twice. On March 8, 2005, as a result of relentless harassment by the police after police brutality had left her in an extremely weakened physical condition, Ms. Ma died.

On the night of July 12, 2001, while Ms. Ma Jingfang and another practitioner were distributing leaflets exposing the persecution, the police arrested them and took them to Dongcheng Detention Centre, where Ms. Ma was tortured for 7 days because she refused to tell the police her address. Finally the police took photos of her and took them to all the community centres in the district. Her local community centre staff recognised her and provided the police with her address. The police then ransacked her home and took away all her Falun Dafa books. Ms. Ma was sentenced to two and half years of forced labour.

At Daxing Female Forced Labour Camp, Wang Zhaofeng (head of the No. 7 Group) brutally persecuted Ms. Ma because she refused to give up her belief. Wang claimed that Ms. Ma faked "transformation" (1) and planned to extend her term. After Ms. Ma had been tortured for almost a year, her health had deteriorated and she was very weak. In July 2002, she suddenly fell unconscious, and was sent to the emergency room of Daxing Hospital. After spending a few hours in the emergency room, Ms. Ma regained her consciousness. The police staff knew that they had persecuted Ms. Ma severely. Afraid of taking the responsibility if she were to die, they released her for medical treatment.

After Ms. Ma returned home, her chest felt very tight and she had difficulty breathing. Sometimes her whole body swelled up. She was hospitalized many times and was diagnosed with serious heart weakness, which is life threatening. The prognosis was that she could die any minute. Yet, the police did not let up. They came to her home or phoned her many times. They did not stop harassing her, and the local community centre staff monitored her.

In June 2003, when Ms. Ma and another practitioner went to visit a practitioner who was newly released from a forced labour camp, the police arrested her again. Ms. Ma's body swelled up on the spot. The police had no choice but to send her to Anzhen Hospital for a medical exam. After the exam, the police wanted to take her with them, but the hospital staff refused their demand: "She is in such serious condition, she must stay in the hospital for medical treatment!"

Although the persecutors did not arrest Ms. Ma at the hospital, they sentenced her to 3 years of forced labour. Because of her extremely weak physical condition, the forced labour camp refused to accept her and let her serve her term outside the forced labour camp. The local police station and community centre closely monitored her at home, limiting her freedom to go out. They told Ms. Ma that once her condition improved, she would be sent to a forced labour camp. On March 8, 2005, due to the torture and subsequent relentless harassment, Ms. Ma Jingfang died.

Note:

(1) "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/3/27/98200.html