Ms. Gao Jie in Critical Condition, Detention Centre Still Refuses to Release Her

On November 13th, 2007, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gao Jie was reported for telling people the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong. She was arrested while working in a clinic by state security police. Later the police ransacked her home, and her husband, Mr. Dong Qinyu, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was arrested as well. Both of them were taken to the detention centre.

Before practising Falun Gong, Ms. Gao had a brain tumour. While she was in the detention centre, she was tortured badly which caused her blood pressure to suddenly go up. Her past symptoms showed up again, she could not talk anymore and she was in very critical condition. At the time, Criminal Division Director Li Zhong of Tieling City, Yinzhou District Court, allowed her relatives to pick her up in order to receive treatment at home. Later Mr. Dong was sentenced to five years in prison and has been held and persecuted in the First Brigade of Panjin Prison, Liaoning Province.

During this period, Ms. Gao was afraid she might be arrested again, so she left home. Due to the intense pressure, around May 2010, her situation once again worsened. She could barely talk and had difficulty eating. Accompanied by her relatives and classmates, she went to a hospital for treatment. On June 12th, while undergoing a medical exam in the hospital, she was arrested by Li Zhong again.

On June 18th, the Yinzhou District Court and the Procuratorate put Ms. Gao on trial. Ms. Gao's relatives were there to listen. Li Zhong and other judges did not make a decision at the time. Ms. Gao's relatives asked the court many times to release Ms. Gao so that she could be treated. But the court turned them down, and Ms. Gao was held in the detention centre despite her critical condition due to cerebral infarction and high blood pressure.

On August 31st, Ms. Gao's relatives called the detention centre and asked to see her. Sun, the detention centre director, said that it would be okay for them to see her, but they would have pay 850 yuan (approximately 120 USD). Ms. Gao's father is 75, and her mother has heart disease. To see their daughter, the elderly couple borrowed the money and gave it to the detention centre. When they saw Ms. Gao, she could barely talk, her eyes looked very dull, and her colour was poor. Ms. Gao's parents were greatly saddened, and her mother's heart disease became worse.

On September 1st, Ms. Gao's relatives again asked the detention centre to release her. Sun said, "We can release her, but you'll have to pay another 6,000 yuan." The relatives did all they could and borrowed 2,000 yuan and gave it to the detention centre.

On September 8th, Ms. Gao's relatives went to the detention centre to ask for her release. Sun said he could not let her go until he received full payment. The relatives said plainly that Ms. Gao's parents were 75 years old and lived in rural area and had no income and that Ms. Gao's husband had been in Panjin Prison since 2007. They asked Sun to release Ms. Gao immediately due to her critical condition. Sun said, "Even if you pay the full amount now, we still cannot release her immediately. We must get the relevant departments to agree to allow her to serve her sentence outside the detention centre."

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/9/14/229627.html