Older Practitioner Ms. Liang Ying from Chicheng County, Hebei Province, Dies as a Result of Persecution

Name: Liang Ying
Gender: Female
Age: 57
Address: Chicheng County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province
Occupation: Cadre
Date of Death: May 14th, 2010
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 23rd, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Zhangjiakou City Detention Centre
City: Zhangjiakou
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Force-feedings, detention, imprisonment, paraded through the streets

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Liang Ying passed away in the morning of May 14th, 2010, after enduring over 10 years of persecution.

Ms. Liang, who worked as a Party cadre, began to practise Falun Gong in 1995 and was able to recover from severe kidney disease and other illnesses through the practice. She was well regarded at work, where she earned the "Excellent Worker" award several times, as well as within her family and the community.

Ms. Liang's husband, also a practitioner, was arrested by the local police in April 2001 for the third time. He was sentenced to two years in prison after refusing to sign a guarantee statement to renounce practising Falun Gong. Ms. Liang and several other practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong, but they were arrested and detained.

During her detention in August 2001, the local officials tried to force Ms. Liang to be publicly denounced in front of the town alongside some death row inmates. When she refused to go, five policemen forcefully carried her outside and into the police car while her clothes were pulled up, exposing her chest, abdomen, and back. The officers then took her to the venue to be denounced and humiliated. Then they hung a sign around her neck, put her in the back of a pick-up truck, and paraded her through the streets.

Ms. Liang was sentenced to five years in prison on August 27th, 2002. She went on a hunger strike several times to protest the persecution, but the guards force-fed her, and her health deteriorated. Her weight decreased from 75kg to less than 40kg, her body swelled up, and she had symptoms of heart disease, high blood pressure, and difficulty eating.

Ms. Liang's family also suffered greatly at the time of her and her husband's imprisonment. Her mother-in-law passed away while grieving. The officials tried to extort money from her father to pay for her medical expenses, which were legally required to be covered by the detention centre. Her two school-aged children had to be raised and supported by relatives.

Ms. Liang was transferred to Baoding Mancheng Prison in August 2003, and subsequently transferred to Shijiazhuang Number Two Prison and then to Hebei Women's Prison. Her physical condition continued to deteriorate: She became very weak, her lower jaw trembled, and she was forced to take medication to stay alive. She was released on May 9th, 2006.

Ms. Liang was subsequently arrested and detained three additional times between 2006 and 2010. Her health continued to worsen due to the mental and physical torture endured throughout the persecution. The illnesses she acquired while imprisoned, including heart disease, asthma, and recurrence of kidney disease, became more severe, and she died from a heart attack on May 14th, 2010.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/5/25/224298.html