Older Falun Gong Practitioner Dr. Liu Deqing Dies from Torture in Heilongjiang Women's Prison

Name: Liu Deqing
Gender: Female
Age: Approximately 60
Address: Hailun City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Medical Doctor
Date of Death: November 27th, 2011
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 10th, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison
City: Hailun
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labour, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, imprisonment, extortion, physical restraint, detention, denial of toilet use

Ms. Liu Deqing, a doctor at the Hailun Health Hospital, was persecuted in Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison for more than two years because she practised Falun Gong. Her belly and entire body were swollen as a result of torture and abuse suffered in detention. Because the prison didn't want to take responsibility for her condition, she was sent back to Hailun City at 11:30 p.m. on February 1st, 2011. Ms. Liu could not recover her health, and she died on November 27th.

Ms. Liu benefited a great deal after she started practising Falun Gong in 1996, but she was sentenced to two forced labour terms since 1999, when the persecution of Falun Gong began. She was later given a five-year prison sentence in 2008. Ms. Liu, in recounting her experiences before her death, said, “One day in 2000 while I was working, several people came to question me. After I said, 'Falun Gong is good' only once, they took me to a detention centre for eight months. In an attempt to stop me from doing the Falun Gong exercises, I was forced to lie down, and was only allowed get up to eat or use the toilet. My workplace later bailed me out.”

Ms. Liu was arrested for the fourth time on December 10th, 2007, and sentenced to five years in prison. She was transferred to the Ninth Division of Heilongjiang Women's Prison in Harbin on July 23rd, 2008. The guards forced her to sit on a tiny stool that was placed on a tile, and made to maintain that position for long periods of time. She was severely beaten if she moved out of the boundary set by the tile. Ms. Liu said, “The tile was about 50 cm. wide and 50 cm. long (20x20 inches). I was forced to sit on a tiny stool from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., with my hands on my knees. I wasn't allowed to go out of the boundary set by the tile. It was called 'post military status.'”

Ms. Liu said, “There were eight rooms in the Ninth Division and about a dozen people in each room. There was a Falun Gong practitioner in each room and everyone else could manage you. Zhao Tiexia was in charge of all eight rooms. With a word or even a look from Zhao, several others would go over and beat practitioners. If one did not follow the orders, they would step on one's mouth. Starting November 17th, more inmates were assigned to monitor me. I was only allowed to wear a sweater in the winter and had to sit on the floor. I was deprived of sleep for more than ten days. I was mentally clear for the first four or five days, but on the sixth day, I became very drowsy. However, whenever I shut my eyes, I was stabbed with a toothpick or a needle, beaten with a stick or brush, they grabbed my hair and smacked me into a wall, as well as kicked me, and denied me use of the toilet. If I urinated on the floor, I had to use my own clothes to wipe it up. When I lost consciousness, they fed me with unknown drugs.”

After the forced administration of drugs, Ms. Liu's stool turned black and her belly kept swelling up. Her haemoglobin count was below 6 g. at the time and she could not tolerate cold, yet the guards forced her to stay in the cold. Ms. Liu said, “It was easier during the day. At night, I didn't dare make any noise since there were ten people in the room. I had to endure silently. My belly and my entire body kept swelling up.”
Chief guard Zheng later brought Ms. Liu to the hospital for an exam. She was diagnosed with middle-stage liver cirrhosis, ascites, anaemia, and low haemoglobin. Chief guard Zheng was afraid that Ms. Liu might die before the Chinese New Year, which was on February 3rd, 2011. Therefore, she was taken back to Hailun City at 11:30 p.m. on February 1st, 2011. Unable to recover her health, Ms. Liu died on November 27th.

Heilongjiang Women's Prison has persecuted Falun Gong practitioners for many years, causing many practitioners to become disabled, and a number of practitioners have died as a result of the torture and abuse. The prison authorities reduce sentences for prisoners who take part in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. They encourage prisoners to torture practitioners in order to pressure them to write the three statements to give up their belief. The tortures and abuse at Heilongjiang Women's Prison have included the following: practitioners' are stripped of their clothes in winter and then splashed with cold water and forced to stand outside in the wind; jabbing practitioners with needles; forced drug administration; electric baton shocks; hanging heavy objects from practitioners; long-term handcuffing; sleep deprivation; forced standing or squatting without moving; confined in small rooms; hanging practitioners by their legs; handcuffing their hands behind their backs with heavy shackles for 24 hours or more; hanging up by handcuffs; forced sitting on a bench for long periods; stabbing practitioners' eyelids with toothpicks; hitting their faces with plastic rulers (width 7-8 cm. and length more than 30 cm.); denial of restroom use; being forced to sit on the floor; forced to read Chinese Communist Party propaganda; forced-feeding; beatings and verbal abuse.

Earlier report:

Doctor Liu Deqing from Hailun, Heilongjiang, Persecuted in Prison (Photos)
(http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/2/26/123482.html)

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2012/2/12/252973.html