(Minghui.org) Ms. Chen Ruiqin, a 44-year-old Tianjin resident, was tortured to death at the Tianjin Women’s Prison in January 2017. 

The prison waited until Ms. Chen’s tongue had dried and withered before informing her family of her death. After her family rushed to the prison, a group of guards surrounded Ms. Chen’s body, which was covered with a piece of cloth, and didn’t allow her family to get close. Intimidated by the prison, her family agreed to cremation of her body and brought her ashes back home. 

Fearing being implicated by the authorities, Ms. Chen’s family stayed silent on her death upon returning home. It’s only now that some of the details of her death have been exposed.

According to people familiar with the case, Ms. Chen’s body was covered with bruises and injuries from the torture before her tragic death. When she once asked an inmate named Pan Jie why she beat her so hard, Pan dipped someone's dirty socks into a urine bucket and stuffed them into Ms. Chen’s mouth. 

When Ms. Chen became incontinent and had a seizure from the torture, the guards videotaped her. They also took off her clothes and attempted to videotape her naked. However, only after taking off her pants half-way, did they notice that the skin on her legs had become infected, so they put her clothes back on.

After the incident, Ms. Chen began to have difficulty eating. Yet the guards didn’t stop torturing her. They threw her into solitary confinement. Several inmates who were assigned to monitor Ms. Chen often beat her up, despite the fact that she was already very weak. They also tormented her by giving her only a piece of cornbread for every meal, calling it the “Repentance Meal.”

After Ms. Chen died, guard Du Yan accused her of faking it. Du videotaped her, while inmate Pan kept kicking her in the head.

To cover up their crimes, the Tianjin Women’s Prison held an investigation of Ms. Chen’s death, but they ended up reducing terms of and offering other rewards to all those who participated in the torture of Ms. Chen. 

When Ms. Chen’s family agreed to take the 3,000 yuan offered by the prison and promised not to raise any other questions about her death, guard Du bragged in front of others, saying, “This is a day worth celebrating.” 

Others who are responsible for Ms. Chen’s death include guard Xu Liying and inmates Xu Lin and Wu Ping. 

Arrest and Sentencing

Ms. Chen was followed by the police while distributing Falun Gong informational materials on May 16, 2014. Officers from the Ji County Domestic Security Division and the Wenchangjie Police Station arrested her. She was tried by the Ji County Court on August 13, 2014 and sentenced to 4.5 years in 2015.

Because of not giving up Falun Gong, Ms. Chen was subjected to long-term brutal torture in the Fifth Ward of Tianjin Women’s Prison, including long hours of standing, sleep deprivation, freezing and being denied access to the restroom. After she was forced to relieve herself in her pants, the inmates in her cell blamed and attacked her.

While torturing her, some inmates stepped on her toes and caused them to bleed badly; some poured boiling water onto her face; some pinched her nipples and sexually molested her; and other forced her to eat feces and drink urine. 

With the protection of guard Du, the inmates beat Ms. Chen with whatever objects they could grab, from the urine bucket to a chair. Guard Xu also instigated the inmates to beat her, saying, “Go ahead! If she’s injured, I will take care of it.”

In an attempt to force Ms. Chen to renounce Falun Gong, the guards lied to her family, telling them that she only cared about Falun Gong and not her family at all. They pretended that they were trying to help Ms. Chen to “become a normal person.”

Believing the guards’ “good intention,” Ms. Chen’s family blamed her for the persecution and the pressure they were enduring. Crying and shouting in the prison, they demanded that Ms. Chen renounce Falun Gong. A guard also said to Ms. Chen, “Chen Ruiqin, how have you treated your daughter? You were taken to the labor camp when she was only six years old…”

After her family left, the guards tortured Ms. Chen even harder, until she died.

Related reports:

Imprisoned Woman Dies of Abuse, Family Pressured to Sign Waiver of Liability

Tianjin Woman Sentenced for Her Faith Being Severely Abused in Prison

Category: Torture of Women