Ms. Wang Chunxiang, 55, Tortured to Death in Liaoning Province Women's Prison

Name: Wang Chunxiang
Gender: Female
Age: 55
Address: Zhenxing District, Dandong City
Occupation: Retired from the Highway Engineering Division of Dandong City
Date of Death: September 25th, 2011
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 31st, 2006
Most Recent Place of Detention: Liaoning Province Women's Prison
City: Dandong
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, imprisonment, home ransacked, detention

Dandong City practitioner Ms. Wang Chunxiang was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2006, and incarcerated in the First Ward in the Ninth Prison District in Liaoning Province Women's Prison. She died in prison on September 25th.

Prison Authorities Refused to Reveal Cause of Death

A division head, Wu, called Ms. Wang's family on September 25th, saying, “Wang Chunxiang is having a heart attack. She is getting emergency treatment now.” Half an hour later, Wu called again, “The effort to revive Wang Chunxiang was futile. She died.”

Ms. Wang's husband and other family members took a bus and arrived in Shenyang City the next morning. Wu told them, “Yesterday before lunch, Wang Chunxiang said she didn't feel well. She went to bed, but her lips started to quiver and she couldn't speak. We sent her to the prison district clinic for medical treatment, and later to the prison hospital.” Ms. Wang's husband asked, “You transferred her from the prison to the prison district clinic, then from the clinic to the prison hospital. That should have taken a lot of time. However, you called me twice in half an hour. Could you do all that within half an hour?” Wu said, “Specific things are done specifically.” Ms. Wang's husband asked again, “Do you have her forms from the hospital?” Wu said, “Yes.” But he couldn't produce them. Ms. Wang's husband asked for Ms. Wang's clothing and letters, and Wu said there was nothing. In the end, Wu issued a death certificate at Ms. Wang's family's repeated requests.

Ms. Wang's family saw Ms. Wang's emaciated body at the funeral home. There were no external bruises. Shortly after, the prison guards asked Ms. Wang's family to sign the consent form to cremate her. They signed the form at around 8:00 p.m. that night. The next day, they took the urn with Ms. Wang's ashes back home.

Tortured in Prison

In the winter of 2007, a prison guard ordered inmates Wang Xiulan and He Yijie to whack Ms. Wang on the head with the soles of their boots and kick her in the genitals because she wouldn't give up her belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. She was also locked in an icy warehouse where she was further tortured. Her illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure recurred and she never recovered after that.

During a visit, Ms. Wang told her family that the guards didn't give her water when she was forced to go to the worksite. The guards' reasoning was that, if given water, she would need to use the restroom, and two inmates would have to go with her to monitor her. That would delay their work and they wouldn't be able to finish on time. Ms. Wang's sister once visited her and saw that one of her eyelids was green and blue. The sister asked a guard and the guard said Ms. Wang had hit her eye on something.

Arrest and Sentence

Ms. Wang started practising Falun Gong in 1996. She followed Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and became a better person. She was highly regarded among her relatives and colleagues.

On October 31st, 2006, she was followed by plainclothes officers when she went outside. When she returned home and was opening her door they arrested her and ransacked her home. The police confiscated a computer, a printer, Falun Gong books. and other personal belongings. According to an eyewitness, they filled half of a car with confiscated items. According to one neighbour, the police later ransacked Ms. Wang's home for the second time. Ms. Wang and her family estimated that about 2,000 yuan¹ in cash was stolen from the house.

Ms. Wang was taken to the Dandong Detention Centre. Her family went to visit her at the detention centre and she told them that the guard had kicked her lower back and she was still in pain. Guard Wang Jing slapped her face and handcuffed her for a night.

Ms. Wang was later sentenced to eight years in prison by Zhenxing District Court. The first time she was sent to Liaoning Province Women's Prison, the prison authorities refused to admit her because a physical exam revealed heart problems, high blood pressure, and other illnesses.

The guards at the detention centre later sent Ms. Wang to the prison again. The guards didn't ask her to bring her personal belongings. They didn't notify her family, either. In the afternoon, her family got a phone call from the prison, asking for Ms. Wang's medical record. The family went to the Dandong Detention Centre several times and asked guard Wang Jing for the medical record, but to no avail.

Ms. Wang later told her family that it was because she was deceived by guard Wang Jing that she ended up in prison. In 2010, Ms. Wang's family went through all the procedures to have Ms. Wang be released on medical parole and their request was approved. Ms. Wang was diagnosed with heart problems, high blood pressure, and brain and kidney problems. However, the prison authorities refused to release her because she would not curse Falun Gong.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/10/10/247691.html