62-Year-Old Ms. Qi Changping of Suining City, Sichuan Province, Dies as a Result of Persecution

Due to the Chinese Communist Party's long term persecution of Falun Gong, Ms. Qi Changping, a 62-year-old practitioner from Suining City, Sichuan Province, was forced to leave her home. She had to live a life in the harsh environment of homelessness until her death on February 11th, 2008.

Ms. Qi was detained many times and sentenced to a forced labour camp twice because she refused to give up her practice of Falun Gong. She was caught appealing for justice for Falun Gong. Even her relatives were harassed, and the police ransacked their homes. Her husband had nowhere to go to appeal for justice and passed away. Ms. Qi was harassed constantly by the local police. In addition, her husband's company (the 75th Team of Daying County Transportation Company) also harassed her constantly. In order to avoid this she felt she had to leave home for a long time. In 2007, members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from her home town and her employer broke into her home, ransacked it, and recorded videos while nobody was there. They also announced a reward of 500 to 1000 yuan¹ for information about her.

Ms. Qi Changping was a farmer in Liangfeng Township in the Anju District of Suining City, Sichuan Province. She started to practise Falun Gong in June 1996, and her anaemia of more than 2 years was cured. Ms. Qi Changping once said, "Falun Gong saved me and my family."

Since July 1999, The CCP has wantonly fabricated lies to slander Falun Gong and persecute practitioners. Ms. Qi went to Beijing to appeal for justice twice, and she was arrested and detained twice.

In the middle of August 2000, Ms. Qi went to visit her younger sister, who was detained in the Wujiawan Detention Center. The superintendent of the camp, Luo, apprehended Ms. Qi and had her sentenced to a labour camp for one year. On October 10, 2000, Ms. Qi was taken to the Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zizhong County. She was subjected to brainwashing; forced to stand next to a wall for a long period of time; and had to pose in military positions, kneel down on the ground for long periods of time, and run without stopping (practitioners who did not run fast enough would be punched and kicked).

On February 7th, 2002, Ms. Qi Changping was reported to the police when she distributed leaflets exposing the persecution at Buyun Township. She was arrested and taken to the Baima Police Station. Party Secretary Zhou punched and verbally abused her. He also touched her indecently. Another officer named Zhou shouted, "Let's beat her to death. Even if she is beaten to death, we won't be legally responsible." Ms. Qi was imprisoned for 40 days in Lingquansi Detention Centre and then sent to a forced labour camp again. In this labour camp, she was severely tortured. She was forced to pose in military positions, kneel down on the ground for a long time, was not allowed to go to the toilet. She was not allowed to move. The labour camp authorities assigned two inmates to monitor her. She would be punched if she moved even slightly. She had to get up at 3 a.m. and was not allowed to go to sleep until after midnight.

Ms. Qi was released at the end of December 2003. While she was in the labour camp, her husband suffered from anxiety, fear, and high blood pressure and was harassed continually by the authorities. As a result, he became seriously ill. There was nobody to take care of him and he soon passed away.

In the middle of the night on October 7th, 2004, Ms. Qi was arrested again and detained in Lingquansi Detention Centre for more than 20 days.

At around 5 p.m. on June 28th, 2007, policemen in Suining City destroyed four sites producing leaflets exposing the persecution and arrested many practitioners. Police took away several desktop computers, printers, a paper cutter, staplers, laminating machines, and satellite TV receivers. Since that day, the police have searched for Ms. Qi everywhere, including her children's homes. They posted a bounty with a 1,000-yuan reward for her capture. Ms. Qi was forced to leave home and went from place to place to avoid arrest until her death.

Note

1. "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://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/2/29/173315.html