Ms. Gu Jianmin from Shanghai was persecuted to death three years ago. The 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) authorities then arrested her younger sister, Ms. Gu Jihong, without cause and sentenced her to three years in prison because they were afraid that she would seek redress for the death of her older sister. Ms. Gu Jihong has now been deprived of her freedom for a total of seven years.
Ms. Gu Jianmin was arrested on March 1st, 2008, when she was 53 years old. Twelve days later, she was dead. Her family tried to hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit on her behalf, but their efforts were thwarted. A lawyer originally agreed to take the case, but the Shanghai 610 Office and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice authorities threatened to shut down the lawyer's business if he took Ms. Gu Jianmin's case. The Shanghai 610 Office authorities wanted to have Ms. Gu's body cremated as soon as possible to destroy any evidence of their wrongdoing. They coerced the family to agree to immediate cremation and threatened them not to appeal to higher authorities or expose their crimes, even trying to bribing them with cash to keep them quiet.
Four months later, in July 2008, the Shanghai 610 Office arrested Ms. Gu Jihong, Ms. Gu Jianmin's younger sister, and sentenced her to three years in prison to prevent her from appealing to the higher authorities and publicizing their crimes.
Both sisters practised Falun Gong and had been persecuted many times by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999.
1. Ms. Gu Jianmin Tortured to Death on March 13th, 2008
Ms. Gu Jianmin was 53 years old in 2008 and lived on Gushan Road in the Pudong District. She returned home in June 2007, after being persecuted in a forced labour camp for a year. On March 1st, 2008, she was arrested by officers from Yangjing Police Station in Pudong and was held in the Pudong Detention Centre. Within 12 short days, Ms. Gu, an originally healthy person, had been tortured to death.
Ms. Gu Jianmin began to practise Falun Gong in 1998. She lived according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and tried to become a better person. She was kind, tolerant, and ready to endure losses during conflicts. People who knew her praised her as a good person who quietly contributed without asking for a reward. Having experienced the extraordinary and wonderful nature of Falun Gong and the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, Ms. Gu explained the facts about Falun Gong to people with a sincere and unselfish heart. She hoped that more people would understand the facts about Falun Gong and that more people would become better for it.
Ms. Gu Jianmin was arrested on March 1st, 2008, while she was handing out materials explaining the facts about Falun Gong. She was held in the Pudong Detention Centre and was then a very healthy person. On March 13th, an agent from the 610 Office called Ms. Gu's husband and told him that they were going through procedures to release Ms. Gu on bail for medical treatment because her health was poor. The agent asked her husband which hospital he wanted his wife to be sent to, and also told him to go through the police station and the community residential committee in order to have his wife released on bail for medical reasons. At the same time, an unidentified person asked Ms. Gu's family to sign an arrest warrant for Ms. Gu. The authorities kept delaying the handling of procedures for Ms. Gu's release due to medical reasons and postponed it from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Ms. Gu's husband arrived at the hospital, but he wasn't able to pay a farewell visit to his wife. When he finally found her, she was in a room where people had their stomachs pumped, unconscious and already at death's door. Her eyes were bulging and blood was seeping from the corners of her mouth. There was no hospital staff nearby. Her husband rushed to find a doctor, who told him that his wife was already dying when she was brought in. Desperately, her husband knelt down and begged the doctor to save her. After going through the motions of administering emergency treatment, the doctor declared Ms. Gu deceased. Her husband had to watch his wife stop breathing and her heart stop beating.
Over 30 agents from the 610 Office, plainclothes officers, and security guards, who had all been waiting in the hospital, then showed up and held Ms. Gu's family at bay. They attempted to immediately take her body to the morgue. Her family was full of indignation and vowed to publicize the murder of their daughter. The officials were afraid of being held responsible and fled. Only a few plainclothes officers stayed and mixed in with bystanders to observe what her family wanted to do. According to a doctor, Ms. Gu was already dying when she was brought to the hospital, and the notice of critical sickness issued by the hospital was wrongly signed by someone other than Ms. Gu's family.
It was known that Ms. Gu had always maintained her innocence while she was held in the Pudong Detention Centre. She started a hunger strike in the middle of March to resist the persecution. Guards force-fed her, causing severe bleeding of her internal organs. Seeing things going wrong with Ms. Gu, guards in the Pudong Detention Center and agents from the Pudong 610 Office tried to shirk their responsibility. They did not try to save Ms. Gu, whose condition was critical. Instead, they lied to her husband, saying that her health was poor, and made him go through procedures to have her released on bail for medical reasons. With ill intentions they asked her husband to choose a hospital as they tried to buy time. They were afraid that Ms. Gu would expose their crimes if she could still talk when her husband saw her, so they did what they could to prevent her husband from seeing her until she was at death's door and unconscious.
Ms. Gu's family was determined have justice served and make sure that those responsible were punished. But several government agencies conspired to make it difficult for the family to get a lawyer to file a case. One was originally ready to take the case, but the 610 Office and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice threatened the lawyer, saying they would shut down his business if he did. They said that if anyone wants to take a case related to Falun Gong, he or she must first get permission from the local bureau of justice. With no permit, nobody is allowed to defend a Falun Gong practitioner.
The 610 Office wanted to have Ms. Gu's body cremated as soon as possible to destroy any evidence of their wrongdoing. They threatened Ms. Gu's family not to appeal to the upper level authorities or expose their crimes. They also sent an agent to follow her young sister, Ms. Gu Jihong. They attempted to bribe Ms. Gu's husband with cash and pressured him to stop Ms. Gu Jihong from taking part in her sister's case. They also pressured the family to agree to the immediate cremation of Ms. Gu's body.
2. Ms. Gu Jihong Sentenced Again
After the death of her elder sister, Ms. Gu Jihong was monitored by agents from the Shanghai 610 Office almost 24 hours a day. They appointed a special staff to watch and follow her using a special car, and they constantly harassed her by calling her or stopping by her house. Four months after the death of Ms. Gu Jianmin, the Beijing Olympic games were fast approaching. Afraid that Ms. Gu Jihong would appeal for redress for their grievances, agents from Putuo District 610 Office arrested her at her home without cause on July 26th, and sentenced her to three years in prison.
Ms. Gu Jihong is 55 years old and lives in the 3rd Village, Ganquan Zone, Putuo District, Shanghai. She has been practising Falun Gong for 14 years. She used to suffer from severe heart disease, but all her symptoms disappeared after she began to practise. She lives according to the universal principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and has since had a kinder heart and has been helping others.
The CCP began slandering Falun Gong in July 1999. To appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong, Ms. Gu Jihong mailed out informative materials explaining the facts about Falun Gong in 2000 and was consequently sentenced to three years in prison. She was brutally tortured and brainwashed in Songjiang Women's Prison in Shanghai. Her daughter was in school at that time, and her mother's absence was a very difficult time for her. Ms. Gu was released in 2003.
On June 14th, 2005, Ms. Gu was turned in by people who didn't know the truth about Falun Gong while she was handing out materials explaining the facts about Falun Gong. Officers in the Putuo District participated in the arrest. She was sentenced to forced labour for a term of one year. Because she refused to be brainwashed and shouted, “Falun Gong is good,” her term was extended and she was thrown into solitary confinement. The cell was three square metres, without a window, and all four walls were covered with rubber.
On the morning of July 26th, 2008, agents from the Putuo 610 Office pretended to be staff from the workplace and conned Ms. Gu's husband into coming to the community residential committee, where they coerced him to lead them to his house and open the door. They arrested Ms. Gu Jihong and took their satellite dish, computer, printer, materials explaining the facts about Falun Gong, and other items. Those that participated were Wu Juwei from the Putuo 610 Office, Zhang Shian, Bao Jiangming, Chen Ying from the Market Administration Team, Xu Zhinian, Xu Defang from the Ganquan Community Residential Committee 610 Office, officers from the Ganquan Police Station, among others. They fabricated charges and had her sentenced to three years in prison.
3. Ms. Gu Jihong Suffering Tremendously During Seven Years in Prison
Ms. Gu Jihong is now being held in the Second Ward in the Shanghai Women's Prison, where she has been suffering tremendously. She was originally healthy and pretty, but now, as a result of the persecution, her hair is white and her health has declined. Guards have tried to coerce her to write a guarantee statement to renounce practising Falun Gong, which she steadfastly refuses to do.
Ms. Gu is innocent and refuses to work as a forced labourer in prison. Chief guard Yan Junxia tried to coerce her do the labour. Yan directed inmates to beset and curse her, making everything difficult for her. They tortured her and caused her blood pressure to rise, then tried to force her to take medicine to make her blood pressure drop so that they could continue to torture her. Ms. Gu said that she originally had normal blood pressure and that the high blood pressure was a result of persecution. She refused to take the medicine in order to resist the persecution. Yan then directed six or seven stout inmates to hold her down and force-feed her with drugs.
Over the past nine years, the persecution of Falun Gong has brought grave torment to this family. Now Ms. Gu's term is almost over. We are asking everyone inside and outside of China to pay attention to this situation and help this terribly persecuted family and help Ms. Gu reunite with her family soon.
Shanghai Women's Prison (also known as the Songjiang Women's Prison):
Address: P. O. Box 601-410, Nanshou, Sijing Town, Songjiang District, postal code: 201601
Kan Chufang, warden of Shanghai Women's Prison: 86-21-57615998 extension 2202, 86-21-57615595
Li Ying, deputy warden of Shanghai Women's Prison: 86-21-57615998 extension 2202, 86-21-57615595
Yan Junxia, guard from the 2nd Team: 86-21-57615998 extension 4102
Related articles:
http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2008/3/19/95495.html
http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2008/9/21/100830.html
http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2009/1/17/103975.html
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/5/17/241009.html
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