Ms. Yan Guangbi Dies after Losing her Eyesight as a Result of Persecution in Chongqing City

Name: Yan Guangbi
Gender: Female
Age: In her 50s
Address: Family housing inside Chongqing City 18th Middle School
Occupation: Retired teacher employed by Mitingzi Elementary School in the Jiangbei District
Date of Death: October 3rd, 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 29th, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Chongqing City Shabao Women Labour Camp
City: Chongqing
Persecution Suffered: Forced Labour, Beatings, Solitary Confinement, Torture, Home Ransacked, Interrogation, Detention

Ms. Yan Guangbi was a practitioner in Chongqing. Her husband is a practitioner employed by the Chongqing City 18th Middle School, which includes both junior and senior high. They both firmly kept their faith after the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, and were consequently arrested and detained many times. Ms. Yan was detained several times and was forced to go through brainwashing three times. She had to leave home for more than a year to avoid being arrested. Due to being brutally mistreated in brainwashing sessions in the Chongqing City Women's Forced Labour Camp, she lost sight in both eyes. Her husband, Mr. Chen Changjun, was sentenced to forced labour two different times. As a result of torture, he had to use crutches after he was released.

During the May 1st, 2000, holiday season, Ms. Yan and her husband went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise and were arrested and detained by the Beijing police. Mitingzi Elementary School where she worked deducted from her salary all expenses incurred as a result of sending people to pick her up. The Chongqing City 18th Middle School Security Office chair, Zhang Zurong, spent nearly 3,000 yuan¹ to pick up Mr. Chen, and the expense was also deducted from his pay. Ms. Yan left home for more than a year to avoid being arrested. Mr. Chen was detained in the Jiangbei District Detention Centre. Ever since then, the 18th Middle School Security Officers started closely monitoring all Falun Gong practitioners that lived in family housing or worked in the school. These people would follow the practitioners wherever they went, especially on during "sensitive days."

Mr. Chen was sentenced to the Xishanping Forced Labour Camp, where he endured numerous tortures. At the beginning of May 2001, detained practitioners did group exercises while the administration gathered prisoners together. Guard Tian Xiaohai led more than a dozen guards to beat practitioners with police and electric batons. More than 30 practitioners were severely injured.

In February 2004, the 18th Middle School administration found out Mr. Chen had copied five truth clarifying fliers. This was reported to the Jiangbei District Police Department. The police ransacked his home, arrested Mr. Chen, took him to the Guanyinqiao Community Police Station, and detained him for 15 days in the Jiangbei District Detention Centre. On the 16th day, the school forced Mr. Chen to attend the Chongqing City Jingkou Brainwashing Centre for four months. The school paid 4,500 yuan each month to the brainwashing facility.

On March 15th, 2005, Ms. Yan and her husband were explaining the facts about Falun Gong in the Gailan Brook Neighbourhood. The 18th Middle School Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary, Xiong Kerong, and the principal, Ma Peigao, hired spies that gathered information and reported it to the police. The officers arrested the couple and held them in the Jiangbei District Detention Centre for one month. More than a dozen officers ransacked their home. Ms. Yan was released on April 14, 2005, but Mr. Chen was secretly taken to Xishanping Forced Labour Camp for a two-year term. He was transferred to a strictly controlled ward in May 2005 and tortured until he could hardly walk or talk. He lost at least 11 pounds in the first month. One guard beat him with a metal stick in the middle of the night. Although he screamed, the guards on duty did not stop the brutality, but tried to stop Mr. Chen from screaming. Mr. Chen's stomach problems recurred, but he was not allowed to receive any treatment. He had to endure inhuman torture accompanied with severe stomach pain. In the Seventh Ward, Tian Xin in the Second Section, under the Seventh Ward leader, Lei Jinke, locked up Mr. Chen and other practitioners for a long term in a small cell. Other inmates watched them 24 hours a day and gave them very little food, just enough to keep them alive. They all became very thin.

On June 1st, 2007, at around 8:30 a.m., Ms. Yan and her husband were walking near the Jianxin Train Station. Someone shouted, "Yan Guangbi!" Seven to eight officers descended upon the couple and arrested them, ransacked their home, but found nothing. They took Ms. Yan to the Lushan Village Brainwashing Centre located in the Yubei District, and then transferred her to the Jiangbei District Detention Centre on June 13th, 2007. They took Mr. Chen into custody at the Jiangbei District Police Department but released him soon after.

On April 21st, 2008, at 5:00 p.m., the police stormed into Ms. Yan's home, arrested her, and took her to a forced labour camp. She soon appeared to suffer uraemia due to being brutally mistreated and was sent home. Blind in both eyes, she was closely watched at home.

On April 25th, 2009, Ms. Yan went to Chengdu City with her husband to sit in on the trial of Mr. Chen's younger brother, Mr. Chen Changyuan, who was on trial for practising Falun Gong. The next day, the 18th Middle School CCP secretary, Xiong Kerong, deceived their daughter, Chen Yan, into going to her parents' home and opening the door. When they found the couple was gone, they ordered Ms. Chen to call all her relatives to inquire about the couple's whereabouts.

When the couple arrived at the Chengdu City High-tech Zone Court on April 29th, the CCP was waiting, and surrounded them. They did not allow them to sit in on the trial and detained them in the Appeal's Office. They escorted the couple back to Chongqing City immediately after the trial ended.

Ms. Yan was sentenced to forced labour again and taken to Chongqing Shabao Women's Forced Labour Camp. She was released for medical treatment and was then rushed to the hospital for emergency care. The police were still closely monitoring her when she was in the hospital. She died on the morning of October 3rd, 2009, in Chongqing 324 Hospital. Her husband is still being closely watched 24 hours a day at home.

Luo Chuanmei, director, Chongqing Shabao Women's Forced Labour Camp
Chongqing Shabao Women's Forced Labour Camp Gate: 86-23- 67549131
Chen Yanyan and Su Can, both are Fourth Ward wardens
Hu Xiaoyan, Zhao Yuanyuan, and Yang Qian: all Fourth Ward Section Leaders
Fourth Ward Warden Office: 86-23-67549181
Fourth Ward Office: 86-23-67549185
Chongqing City 18th Middle School: 86-23-67728942/67724703
Ma Peigao, Chongqing City 18th Middle School Principal

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.ca/mh/articles/2009/10/10/210107.html