Elderly Woman Develops Serious Medical Condition in Prison

(Minghui.org) A 66-year-old woman has developed a heart condition and high blood pressure while serving time for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Yet the prison authorities prevented her family from applying for medical parole for her by demanding a high bail amount.

Ms. Tang Gemei, a Pingjiang County, Hunan Province resident, stayed at her son’s home in Shunde City, Guangdong Province to help take care of her grandson in 2019. In her spare time, she went out to distribute informational materials about Falun Gong to raise awareness about the persecution.

Ms. Tang was reported to the police on May 16, 2019, and followed by plainclothes officers on her way home. The officers ransacked her son’s place and arrested her. She was first held at the Ronggui Detention Center and later transferred to a hospital after she developed some health conditions. Her family was allowed to see her once through a video meeting when she was in the hospital.

During Ms. Tang’s virtual court hearing, the authorities found a woman pretending to be her. Only after her son pointed out that the woman in the video wasn’t his mother, did the authorities finally show Ms. Tang lying in the hospital bed.

Ms. Tang was later sentenced to 3.5 years in prison with a 5,000 yuan fine.

Since Ms. Tang was taken to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison on May 10, 2020, her family hasn’t been allowed to visit her once. In a letter sent by the prison on December 2020, her family learned that she had developed a severe heart condition, high blood pressure, and carotid atherosclerosis (the hardening of carotid arteries).

Ms. Tang’s family is now very worried about her health and the potential complications from her symptoms. They intended to apply for medical parole for her, but the prison authorities demanded a bail amount of 100,000 yuan before they would approve the request. Unable to pay the money, her family had to abandon the application.

Past Persecution

Ms. Tang used to work at a power company before retiring. She took up Falun Gong in October 1997 and credits the practice for improving her health. After the communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999, she was arrested and detained several times for upholding her faith.

Ms. Tang was first arrested in October 2001, after she was reported to the police for trying to stop officials from her workplace from writing slanderous messages about Falun Gong.

During her 37-day detention at the Pingjiang County Detention Center, the guards held her in solitary confinement for three days, and poured cold water onto her body three times, after finding that she did the Falun Gong exercises. Her family paid over 1,000 yuan as a fine and 400 yuan for her food in exchange for her release.

Ms. Tang was arrested again in August 2002 and had her home ransacked. Police smashed open her front door. At the Domestic Security Office, the police interrogated her for four days. They didn’t allow her to sleep or sit, but forced her to stand or kneel down. When she refused to comply, officer Li Jianzhou beat her with a wooden club. When she still refused to kneel down, Li beat her with a thicker club.

This time, Ms. Tang was detained for seven months and released on February 27, 2003. She was forced to pay 1,000 yuan for the food and fined 1,500 yuan.

Ms. Tang was arrested and had her home ransacked again on November 4, 2003. The authorities kept her at the county detention center for 30 days and often handcuffed and shackled her.

Following her next arrest in December 2006, Ms. Tang was sentenced to three years at the Changsha City Women’s Prison and subjected to various torture methods for refusing to renounce Falun Gong.