Ms. Qi Yuzhen, 60, from Jilin City Died as a Result of Frequent and Continuous Persecution

Name: Qi Yuzhen
Gender: Female
Age: 60
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: April 8th, 2010
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 20th, 2004
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jilin City Detention Centre
City: Jilin
Province: Jilin
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, beatings, torture, force-feedings, interrogation, detention, harassment

Elderly practitioner Ms. Qi Yuzhen from Jilin City was subjected to gross abuse and mistreatment during the past eleven years of the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Ms. Qi died as a result of the persecution on April 8th, 2010.

Ms. Qi was arrested five times, and was held in more than a dozen facilities, including the Tiananmen Police Station, the Dongtieying Police Station in the Fengtai District, the Fengtai District Detention Centre, the Tiananmen Police Department Branch, the Qinghe Detention Centre in the Xicheng District, the Guanqunei Police Station in the Xicheng District, the Shenyang City Administrative Detention Centre, the Shenyang City Detention Centre, the Liaoyang City Detention Centre, the Longshan Forced Labour Camp and Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Qi was subjected to nearly 600 days of severe abuse and torture during her detention, bringing her to the verge of death.

Since she started practising Falun Gong in April 1998, she conducted herself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Her illnesses, such as high blood pressure and heart problems, disappeared. Her family and neighbours also praised Ms. Qi for having become a better person.

After the Chinese Communist Party's frenzied persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20th, 1999, Ms. Qi went to Changchun to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. She avoided police checkpoints at local bus transfer stations, managed to take a bus and arrived at the provincial government office to tell the officials the true situation of Falun Gong.

Ms. Qi continued on to Beijing. She arrived at Tiananmen Square on October 27th, 2000, and did the second Falun Gong exercise (Falun Standing Stance) on the square. Five police officers arrested her while verbally and physically abusing her. Ms. Qi shouted, "Falun Gong is good!" "Restore Falun Gong's reputation!" Police officers grasped her shoulders and dragged her into a police vehicle against her will. They slapped her in the face and drove her to a detention centre.

Ms. Qi refused to tell her captors her name and age. Four guards verbally abused her. One guard used a lit cigarette to burn her nose and face, and then forced her to take off her overcoat and shoes, leaving her to stand on the cold concrete floor in her bare feet. A guard then slapped Ms. Qi in the face and kicked her in the stomach. When she fell down, he grabbed her hair, pulled her up and kicked her again. He also stomped on Ms. Qi's bare feet and ripped out a big clump of Ms. Qi's hair. The torture did not stop until after 11:00 p.m., when the perpetrator had exhausted himself.

Shortly after, officer Zhang from the Pre-trial Office entered the room and immediately shocked and beat Ms. Qi with an electric baton. Ms. Qi still refused to tell them her name and home address. She then started a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Guards ordered a detention centre doctor to force-feed her, but he dared not to do it because Ms. Qi's blood pressure was at 220. Ms. Qi was released that evening.

Ms. Qi walked to Tiananmen Square again on the morning of November 25th, 2000. She unfurled a banner while shouting, "Falun Gong is good!" and was subsequently taken to the Tiananmen Police Department. When her city's liaison office in Beijing sent people to pick her up, Ms. Qi and another practitioner escaped and safely returned to their hometown.

Ms. Qi and another practitioner arrived in Beijing by train once again on December 8th, 2000. They distributed information and spoke with people about Falun Gong. They went to Tiananmen Square again on December 28th, 2000, doing the sitting meditation and shouting "Falun Gong is good." They were subsequently taken to the Tiananmen Police Department. More than 700 practitioners from across the country were sent to different detention centres in Beijing that day. She was sent to the Qinghe Detention Centre in Xicheng District, and was later transferred to the Guanqunei Police Station in Xicheng District.

Beijing Ministry of Public Security officials used more than 100 police vehicles on December 31st, 2000, with each vehicle holding 14 Falun Gong practitioners, and took them to other provinces. Ms. Qi was sent to Liaoning Province. Practitioners in eight police vehicles were sent to the Shenyang Detention Centre. More than 100 practitioners were further divided into three groups. The first group of more than 40 practitioners remained in the detention centre. Ms. Qi's group was sent to the Shenyang City Administrative Detention Centre and then transferred to the Shenyang City Detention Centre on February 1st, 2001.

Later on, Shenyang City Political and Judiciary Committee officials transported Ms. Qi to the Longshan Forced Labour Camp, and then to the Liaoyang City Detention Centre. The persecutors eventually subjected her to three years of forced labour and held her in the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

Ms. Qi resisted the persecution while in the camp. She did not wear a labour camp uniform, refused to recite the camp rules and regulations, nor did she do any camp exercises, perform forced labour or answer roll calls. Ms. Qi was subjected to 575 days of gross abuse and torture, and held seven hunger strikes. She was brutally force-fed, breaking all of her teeth in the process. She experienced near-death many times during the force-feeding. In particular, during her 100-day hunger strike, she was handcuffed and tied to a bed for a long time. The nasal feeding tube was left in her for a long time. She received IV injections, and was force-fed highly concentrated salt solutions that damaged her mouth and oesophagus, caused gastric ulcers, and made her vomit blood profusely.

Ms. Qi's suffering awakened the conscience of some guards. They told Ms. Qi, "You'd better eat something. I can't bear to see you suffer. You can do the [Falun Gong] exercises when I'm on duty."

Ms. Qi was unconditionally released on July 9th, 2002. She was emaciated and her hair had turned white. She could not walk steadily and was unable to straighten her lower back. Her hands were not even strong enough to hold chopsticks. She was on the verge of death upon her release from the camp, but later recovered.

Ms. Qi and another practitioner were arrested on May 9th, 2004 when they visited a former practitioner. Officer Gao Yang and others from the Dongjuzi Police Station in the Changyi District made the arrest. Ms. Qi was handcuffed behind her back. The other practitioner was handcuffed to a heating pipe. Changyi District Domestic Security Division head Du Xingze arrived in the police station and beat the two practitioners. Ms. Qi was covered with bruises and was locked in a metal cage at the backyard of the Changyi Police Department that night. She was sent to the Jilin City Detention Centre the next day.

Over the course of eleven plus years, Ms. Qi was subjected to prolonged, terrible persecution. She died on April 8th, 2010, as a result of all that she has suffered.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/11/12/232362.html