Ms. Tang Xuzhen, a Retired Associate Professor from Luzhou Medical Institute, Secretly Sentenced

Name: Ms. Tang Xuzhen
Gender: Female
Age: 73
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Retired Associate Professor
Date of Most Recent Arrest:
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jianyang Prison
City: Luzhou
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, physical restraint

Ms. Tang Xuzhen, a Falun Gong practitioner from Sichuan Province who is a retired associate professor from the Luzhou Medical Institute, was sentenced to three and a half years of imprisonment after being detained for eight months at Naxi Detention Centre in Luzhou City. She was sent to Jianyang Prison on February 8th, 2010.

Her family was not informed about this sentence. While Ms. Tang was detained, the Jiangyang District Police Department officials issued an arrest warrant on July 23rd, 2009. However, Luzhou City Procuratorate and Court never held a trial for Ms. Tang Xuzhen. Several months later, the detention centre officials announced the prison sentence at the detention centre office.

Prior to Ms. Tang's being sent to Jianyang Prison, she met with her family once. The first words she said was, "It's fortunate that you can see me today. If it weren't for Falun Gong, I would have died several days ago."

The family visit was very short. During the eight months of detention, nobody had been able to get the details of Ms. Tang's experience at the detention centre. However, it was obvious to her family that her health condition was not normal. While being detained her life had been endangered. According to an information source, Ms. Tang was kept handcuffed during the hot summer season. She had been tortured to the point that she could not take care of herself. She had to be fed by others and her skin was mutilated.

Why was Ms. Tang still sent to prison on February 8th, 2010 despite the fact that she is elderly, as well as in her current weakened health condition?

Read related persecution accounts at http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2009/8/7/109833.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/3/25/220413.html