(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Hou Guimin, a Falun Gong practitioner in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, was employed at the Shanhaiguan Shipyard Labor Service Company. She had practiced Falun Gong since 1997, and everyone in the company knew that she was a good person. The general manager once said, “If everyone practiced Falun Gong, it would be easy for me to run this company!” On July 25, 2001, police besieged her home and began battering down the door. Suddenly and unexpectedly faced with such a terrifying situation, she felt that she had no other choice but to try and escape through the window. Unfortunately, she fell from the building and lost her life. She was only 44 years old.

'侯桂敏'

Ms. Hou Guimin

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong, Ms. Hou and a dozen other practitioners went to Beijing to appeal on January 30, 2000. They took a taxi to Huilongguan, a Beijing suburb. At around 4:00 p.m. the same day, Beijing police surrounded them, illegally arrested them, and put them into a van. Over 30 practitioners were crowded into the van. That night, they were sent to the Changping County Police Department in Beijing, and were detained there for the next 72 hours. The police wouldn't allow them to sleep or use the restroom. The weather was very cold, and one practitioner who came from southern China didn't have warm clothes. Ms. Hou gave that practitioner her own down jacket so that she could be warm.

On February 3, 2000, over 20 practitioners who came from the Qinhuangdao area were sent to the Qinhuangdao Liaison Office in Beijing and were detained there for 24 hours. Among them, the practitioners who came from Shanhaiguan were sent to the Development Zone Police Department the next day. The police demanded that each practitioner pay them 400 yuan, claiming it was a transportation fee. That same night, they were transferred to Qinhuangdao City No. 1 Detention Center. Ms. Hou remained in detention and did not return home until late June 2000.

On July 25, 2001, in order to avoid being harassed by the CCP, Ms. Hou let her son move her Falun Gong books to their relatives' house in another region. While at Shanhaiguan Train Station the police found the books, and detained her son at the police precinct in the train station.

That day at noon, police from the Development Zone Police Department and Shanhaiguan Train Station Police Station came to Ms. Hou's home, which was in the Shanhaiguan Shipyard staff family dormitory. They began battering down the door in an attempt to arrest her again. At that time, she was alone at home and didn't open the door. She tried to escape through the window, and unfortunately ended up falling and losing her life.

The police cordoned off the area and would not allow anyone to come near. Afterward, the police refused to take any responsibility for Ms. Hou's death. No investigation was conducted and the entire incident ended inconclusively.