Three Elderly Lady Practitioners Die After Facing Persecution

Mrs. Wei Peixiu, 67, was a Falun Gong practitioner in Changyi City, Shandong Province who died as a result of the persecution. Mrs. Ren Fengying, 76, passed away after her daughter and son-in-law had been persecuted. Mrs. Zhu Zongtao, a practitioner from Xiangfan City, Hubei Province, was detained repeatedly and finally died.

Mrs. Wei Peixiu was a retired worker of Huayu Inc. in Changyi City, Shandong Province. She suffered from many illnesses before she became a Falun Gong practitioner, and became healthy afterwards. Mrs. Wei was known for being friendly and hospitable. Early on in the persecution Mrs. Wei went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, was arrested, and was subjected to brainwashing for three days in the company warehouse.

In March, 2000, Mrs. Wei went to Beijing again. She was arrested in Tiananmen Square and detained for one month. Yang Zhili, the Political and Judicial Committee Secretary in Liutuan Town, and Wang Ruibo, Deputy Director of Liutuan Town, escorted Mrs. Wei to a government building. There she was beaten, kicked, forced to kneel on bricks and forced to carry bricks on her back. Her knees bled, and her waist and back were injured from the torture.

At noon on December 21st 2004, the Changyi City 610 Office¹director, Chen Xiaodong, led Liutuan Town substation police to barge into Mrs. Wei's residence and arrest her. The police ransacked her house and extorted 5000 yuan². Mrs. Wei was detained for 15 days and then brainwashed for a day at Weifang City Industrial Management School. Due to the almost incessant harassment from the police, Mrs. Wei Peixiu died on the evening of September 1st 2005.

Contact information

Changyi City Police Station, Shandong Province
Wang Wei, director: 86-536-7116909

Mrs. Ren Fengying, 76, lived in Zaodangbo Production residence, Dianzi Town, Guan County, Shandong Province. Her daughter and her son-in-law, Mr. Dong Xinhai, are Falun Gong practitioners. Since the persecution began in 1999, Mrs. Ren's home has been ransacked several times. She was harassed, arrested, and fined about ten thousand "yuan." Her daughter and Mr. Dong were arrested many times. Mr. Dong was taken away on March 16th 2004. Mrs. Ren and her mentally retarded grandson were left at home alone. Mrs. Ren Fengying passed away on November 17th 2004.

Ms. Zhu Zongtao, 52, was a Falun Gong practitioner in the Second Department of the Electrical Bureau in Xiangfan City. Practising Falun Gong cured her heart disease. On May 1st 2000, Ms. Zhu went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was jailed in Beijing for three months. The Zhongyaun Police Station in Xiangfan City picked her up from Beijing and Ms. Zhu's family had to pay over 10 thousand yuan under the table to the detention centre to bring her home. In total Ms. Zhu was arrested and forced to undergo brainwashing in Wuhan City five times simply because she told the facts about Falun Gong.

On December 28th 2004, the police arrested Ms. Zhu and another practitioner for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution. Both practitioners were detained in the Xiangfan City Second Detention Centre for 10 days. Physical examinations conducted by the detention centre doctor and by a local hospital indicated that Ms. Zhu had high blood pressure and serious heart problems. The 610 Office, however, secretly sentenced the practitioners to one and a half years in the Wuhan City Female Forced Labour Camp.

The camp physician decided that Ms. Zhu's health was too poor for her to be kept in the forced labour camp, so on January 10th 2005, she was released. Because Ms. Zhu's relatives did not practise Falun Gong, they blamed her for the financial losses and mental sufferings of the family. Ms. Zhu died of myocardial infection on June 20th 2005.

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/10/3/111669.html