77-Year-Old Woman Denied Parole Despite Her Serious Condition While Serving Third Prison Term for Practicing Falun Gong
(Minghui.org) Ms. Lyu Sanxiu is so weak that she is unable to sit, stand, or walk on her own, yet the Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison still refuses to release her on parole. They insisted that the 77-year-old woman finish her three-year term because she practices Falun Gong.
Ms. Lyu Sanxiu
Ms. Lyu, of Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province, was arrested in December 2023, but it’s not known when she was sentenced. Her family is calling on people who have more information about her to come forward.
Two Prior Prison Terms and Two Labor Camp Terms
Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Lyu served two prison terms and two labor camp terms, totaling eleven years, since the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.
Ms. Lyu was first arrested on October 27, 1999 and detained in the Beijing Third Detention Center, after she went to Beijing to appeal. She was taken back to the local detention center six days after she began a hunger strike. On January 18, 2000, Ms. Lyu was sent to the provincial women’s prison after she was sentenced to three years.
At the end of October 2002 when Ms. Lyu’s term expired, the police and staffers from the local 610 Office gave her an additional three years in the forced labor camp because she refused to renounce her faith.
At the labor camp, when Ms. Lyu refused to watch videos or read books that slandered Falun Gong, the inmates wrapped a pillowcase around her head, held her down on her bed and beat her.
Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, the police put toxic substances in her food, causing her to feel thirsty, nauseous, and delirious five minutes after she ate. A month later, she was only semi-conscious and could not take care of herself when she had her menstrual period. She also put her hands in shoes and crawled on the floor, kicking the cell and shouting to be released. The guards only laughed at her.
Ms. Lyu climbed out of the window and fell. Her feet and back were injured.
She returned home in May 2005, resumed practicing Falun Gong and soon recovered.
Ms. Lyu was arrested again in June 2007. She was held in a detention center for seven days and sentenced to two more years of forced labor. Because she refused to give up her belief, her term was extended for more than 20 days, and she was released on July 12, 2009.
After another arrest on September 2, 2017, for talking to locals about Falun Gong, Ms. Lyu was given another three-year prison term. She was taken to the Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison in the spring of 2018.
The prison guards forced Ms. Lyu to watch videos and read materials that slandered Falun Gong. She was beaten and threatened when she refused. A guard threatened her, and said that she was trained as a special agent and she would hang Ms. Lyu up for three days and torture her to death if she didn’t renounce Falun Gong.
In an attempt to force Ms. Lyu to renounce her faith, she was monitored around the clock, forced to stand for hours, and deprived of sleep for the next three months. During the day, she had to stand in a corner of the workshop. At night, she had to extend her arms and she was handcuffed to two bed frames in her cell. The guards didn’t allow her to use the restroom and gave her very little to eat every day, just a small amount of rice.
The prison sent Ms. Lyu to “transformation” classes between March and April 2020 to force her to renounce her faith. The education chief, guards, and two inmates tried to transform her.
To avoid being held responsible for the abuse inflicted on her, the guards tried to force Ms. Lyu to sign a pre-written will, which stated that if she died, the guards and prison would not be responsible as it was her decision not to eat. When Ms. Lyu refused to sign the will, the guards grabbed her hand and forced her to sign it.
The guards and inmates changed shifts once every two hours around the clock and continued to try to force Ms. Lyu to renounce her faith. They made her walk on a board covered with nails and sprayed her eyes, nose, and mouth with an unknown drug if she stopped walking. The guards subjected her to sleep deprivation at night. In order to restrict her from using the restroom, they provided her with very little food, and sometimes they gave her no food.
For more than 10 days while in the “transformation” class, Ms. Lyu was made to do extensive physical training. While she squatted, the inmates kicked her legs, causing her to have difficulty walking. The inmates also ran a toilet brush inside her mouth and tore the skin inside.
Because Ms. Lyu smiled at another Falun Gong practitioner when she saw her in the prison, both practitioners were dragged to the guards’ restroom and beaten. She was also forced to sign a document to guarantee that she would not stage a hunger strike.
A guard taped Ms. Lyu’s eyes shut and threatened to leave the tape on for a week. When the education chief instructed someone to remove the tape on the fifth day, her eyes were in excruciating pain and she could not see. The chief also hung Ms. Lyu up by her wrists with her hands tied behind her back.
Torture re-enactment: Handcuffed behind the back and hung up
When Ms. Lyu was released in early September 2020, she was emaciated and had severe vision loss in both eyes, difficulty walking, body pain, and difficulty sleeping.
Related Reports:
Woman in Her 70s Tortured in Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison
Woman Arrested Once Again After Three Years of Imprisonment and Five Years of Forced Labor