Crimes Committed in the Persecution of Falun Gong by 3 Key Authorities at Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison

(Minghui.org) July 20, 2022 marked 23 years since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress Falun Gong in 1999. Falun Gong practitioners in 38 countries submitted this year's updated list of perpetrators, including those in the law enforcement, judiciary branches, as well as the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, to their respective governments, urging that those on the list (and their family members) be barred from entry and their assets frozen.

The 38 countries are: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Czechia, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Croatia, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, Malta, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Israel, Mexico, Chile, and Dominica.

Please refer to the article “ New List of Perpetrators Submitted to 38 Governments on the 23rd Anniversary of the Persecution of Falun Gong” for details.

Yang Mingxin, director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison, Shi Genghui, the political commissar, and Tao Shuping, the chief of the ninth section, are on the list.

Perpetrator Information

Full name of perpetrator: Yang (last name) Mingxin (first name) (Chinese: 杨明昕)Gender: Male

Yang Mingxin

Title or Position

January 2019 – September 2021: Director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s PrisonSeptember 2021 – Present: Director of the Harbin Prison in Heilongjiang Province

Full name of perpetrator: Shi (last name) Genghui (first name) (Chinese: 史耕辉)Gender: Female

Shi Genghui

Title or Position

2011 or earlier – 2018: Vice director in charge of transformation at the Women’s Prison2019 – Present: Vice secretary of the standing committee of the CCP and the political commissar at the Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison

Full name of perpetrator: Tao (last name) Shuping (first name) (Chinese: 陶淑萍)Gender: FemaleBirthday: August 1965

Tao Shuping

Title or Position

- Chief of the politics department dedicated to persecuting Falun Gong practitioners at the Women’s Prison- Chief of the ninth section of the Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison

Major Crimes

Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison is the only women’s prison in Heilongjiang Province. The number of practitioners detained here are among the highest in the country, with at least 1,000 practitioners having been incarcerated here.

As of December 2021, at least 37 practitioners have died from torture in the prison. At least 90% of those incarcerated here were permanently injured and continue to suffer from the long-term effects after being released.

During their tenure, Yang Mingxin, the director of Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison, Shi Genghui, the political commissar, together with Tao Shuping, one of the prison’s section chiefs, implemented the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Prison guards and inmates were instigated to torture and brainwash the practitioners with all means possible. Some practitioners were also administered toxic drugs. Tao often beats the practitioners herself.

Torture reenactments

The images show some of the torture methods used in the prison, including the tiger bench, violent beatings, the death bed (or stretching bed), electric shocks, being suspended in the air by handcuffs, force feedings and drugs administration.

At least six practitioners, including Ms. Meng Hong, Ms. Yang Lihua, Ms. Wang Fang, Ms. Li Guiyue, Ms. Su Yunxia and Ms. Liu Yaqin died from the torture at Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison between 2019 and 2021. Many others became disabled or suffered severe injuries.

Select Death Cases

Case 1: Imprisoned Mother of U.S. Resident Dies Nine Months Before Scheduled Release

Ms. Meng Hong, a Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province resident and mother of a U.S. resident, died suddenly on July 26, 2019, moments after she was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.

According to her daughter Ms. Li Xuesong, a San Francisco resident, the Heilongjiang Women’s Prison called her family on the afternoon of July 26, 2019, and said that her mother was suffering from an episode of high blood pressure and a heart problem. They were asked to immediately go to the No. 2 Hospital of Harbin Medical University with some cash to pay for her medical expenses.

Moments after the family arrived at the hospital, the ambulance carrying Ms. Meng also arrived. They saw two paramedics performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on her inside the vehicle. Ms. Meng was pronounced dead ten minutes after she was taken to the emergency room. She was 79.

Ms. Meng’s sudden death came nine months before her scheduled release from a 7-year prison term for not renouncing her faith in Falun Gong.

Ms. Li Xuesong said that her mother had been very healthy before, and during the six-plus years that she was imprisoned. She suspects foul play in her death.

Case 2: Heilongjiang Woman Dies While Imprisoned for Her Faith, Family Forced to Consent to Cremation of Her Body

Ms. Yang Lihua, a Sunwu County, Heilongjiang Province resident, died around one and a half years into her imprisonment for her faith in Falun Gong. She was 43.

Ms. Yang’s family was informed by the Heilongjiang Women’s Prison on November 5, 2019, that she was in critical condition. When her family rushed to the hospital, they found her unconscious. She passed away later that day.

Ms. Yang’s family demanded to see her medical record. A prison guard flashed the paperwork in front of them without allowing them to read any details. When her family asked why her body was covered with bruises, the prison guard said it was livor mortis.

Ms. Yang’s family requested an autopsy, but the prison authorities said they had to ask for permission to perform an autopsy and it would take months for the higher-ups to approve it.

The prison authorities eventually intimidated Ms. Yang’s family into signing a consent to have her body cremated. Her loved ones brought her ashes back on November 9 and buried her.

Ms. Yang was serving a prison term of three to four years for appealing to the government for the right to practice Falun Gong, after the police forced the gas station where she worked to fire her.

Case 3: Heilongjiang Teacher Dies Two Months After Prison Release

Ms. Wang Fang, an elementary school teacher from Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on October 3, 2018. At the Lanxi Detention Center, she was tortured for refusing to give the police her name. After she was transferred to Anda City Detention Center, she was forced to wear heavy shackles around the clock for over a month.

Ms. Wang was later sentenced to two years and taken to the Heilongjiang Women’s Prison. There, she was subjected to physical and mental abuse. She suffered from headaches, numbness in her hands, dementia, fainting, and high blood pressure as a result.

Ms. Wang returned home in early October 2020, only to find that she had been fired by the Shangzhi Elementary School after having taught there for 30 years. Only two weeks after she started tutoring at a private agency to resolve her financial hardships, she passed out at home on December 30 and was taken to a hospital. She was diagnosed with brain stem hemorrhage and passed away the next day. She was 54.

Case 4: Beaten Daily During Five-year Prison Term, Woman Dies a Year After Release

After enduring multiple arrests, intense forced labor, imprisonment, and torture for her faith in Falun Gong, Ms. Li Guiyue, a Yilan County, Heilongjiang Province resident, passed away on August 6, 2021. She was 52.

Ms. Li was arrested in May 2015 for passing out Falun Gong informational fliers and sentenced to five years in prison. At the Heilongjiang Women’s Prison, she was routinely beaten, made to sit on a small stool for long periods of time, insulted, and verbally abused on a daily basis.

Ms. Li was emaciated and almost unrecognizable when she was released on May 16, 2020. She suffered from body pain, muscle weakness, drowsiness, and loss of appetite.

For a year after she was released from the prison, she sometimes suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, trembling in fear while mumbling to herself. Sometimes she refused to eat with her family, but carried her bowl to the side, squatted on the ground, and quietly ate with her head lowered. She often said to herself, “They have been beating me every day! They beat me every day!” Scared and nervous, she looked around constantly and her eyes were filled with fear and sadness. Her family suspected that she was given unknown drugs while in the prison, causing irreparable damage to her physical and mental health.

After struggling with poor health for a year, Ms. Li passed away on August 6, 2021. She was 52.

Case 5: Woman Dies in Prison Two Days Before Scheduled Release

Ms. Su Yunxia from Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested by Sankeshu Police Station officers in the Daowai District, Harbin City, on September 7, 2016. On March 31, 2017, she was sentenced to five years in prison by the Daowai District Court and admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison, where she was brutally tortured. Two days before her release date on September 4, 2021, she died at the age of 67.

Case 6: 69-year-old Woman Dies Five Months After Prison Release

Ms. Liu Yaqin was arrested on July 22, 2018 and later sentenced to three years with a 3,000-yuan fine. After she was taken to Heilongjiang Women’s Prison, she was put into the “transformation group.” Five inmates were assigned to torture her, in order to force her to renounce Falun Gong. She was subjected to constant beating and verbal abuse.

When Ms. Liu refused to write a statement renouncing Falun Gong, the inmates forced her to sit upright on a small stool with both legs together and both hands in their laps until 2 a.m., and splashed water on her whenever she closed her eyes. They then woke her up at around 4:30 a.m. They also restricted her food and toilet use. The torture lasted for over 50 days.

Torture re-enactment: Sitting on a small stool for extended periods of time

Ms. Liu was releaed in May 2021 and passed away on October 31, 2021. She was 69 years old.