(Minghui.org) A 72-year-old resident of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, serving time for her faith has been tortured so badly that she is now bedridden. Ms. Tang Zhuyin is also experiencing intermittent, sharp gallbladder pain. It is unclear whether she has been given any medical attention.
Ms. Tang, a retired employee of the Harbin Tungsten Platinum Material Factory, was arrested on April 8, 2020, while making phone calls to the public about how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had been using similar tactics from the persecution of her faith, Falun Gong, to cover up the coronavirus epidemic. Six other local Falun Gong practitioners were also arrested on April 7-8, 2020.
All seven of them were sentenced to prison on November 17, 2021, with Ms. Tang given nine years and four months and fined 50,000 yuan.
Ms. Tang was transferred from the Daqing City Second Detention Center to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison (located in Harbin) on January 7, 2022. Her health quickly declined as a result of the various forms of abuse she suffered.
Ms. Tang Zhuyin
Abused in Prison
Ms. Tang was assigned to Division Eight’s Team Five on the sixth floor upon her prison admission. Team lead Wu Guiru has been actively persecuting jailed practitioners, not only in her own team but from other teams too. Whenever she saw a practitioner refusing to renounce Falun Gong, talking to other practitioners, or doing the Falun Gong exercises, she’d join other team leads and inmates in torturing the concerned practitioner.
In addition to Wu, Gao Wentao (a 50-year-old Harbin resident who was transferred from Division Nine), Wang Min, Yuan Jingfang, Sun Jing, Chen Yang, and Xin Xiaolei also used various means to torture Ms. Tang and other jailed practitioners.
The prison’s top priority has been “transforming” Falun Gong practitioners since the persecution began 24 years ago. Whoever, be they guards or inmates, managed to make the most practitioners renounce Falun Gong would receive the most rewards, in the form of bonus, term reduction, more family visits, more phone calls with families, or other privileges.
The prison authorities took full advantage of the inmates’ desire to be released early and instigated them to torture practitioners, often hand-picking the most brutal criminals to carry out the persecution. Many inmates even fought for “such position.” The guards also saw their own job evaluation and pay tied to how many practitioners they’ve transformed. Under such circumstances, the guards and inmates worked hand in glove to inflict the most harm on practitioners.
Ms. Tang’s health quickly declined as a result of the various forms of abuse she was subjected to. Her gallbladder in particular hurt really bad. Whenever a pain episode came, she felt like dying.
Division Eight ordered all inmates to gather in the lobby every evening to watch the CCP’s evening news and sing pro-CCP songs. Practitioners were also ordered to attend a full-day brainwashing session once every week. Despite some practitioners’ poor health, as long as they could sit, they would be dragged to the lobby for the brainwashing session.
Ms. Tang had become so weak that she couldn’t even remain seated in bed with others’ help. The guards gave up ordering her to do the daily news-watching and monthly brainwashing sessions.
Two other practitioners, both from Daqing City and serving five years, Ms. Wang Jingcui, 81, and Ms. Li Yanjie, 55, had also become bedridden due to the abuse in prison. (Note: their sentencing cases were unrelated to Ms. Tang’s.)
Ms. Wang needed three people to help if she must leave the cell, with one person carrying her on her back and two others holding up her legs.
Ms. Li is experiencing Parkinson’s symptoms. She couldn’t walk and experienced pain all over her body. She had trouble falling asleep. In the beginning, the guards still dragged her to the lobby every evening, but she couldn’t remain seated in a chair. They placed her on the ground and she again slumped over. Only then did they allow her to stay in bed all day long, with several inmates monitoring her around the clock.
Past Persecution of Ms. Tang
Ms. Tang was previously arrested several times for her faith in Falun Gong. On July 22, 1999, two days after the communist regime formally announced the persecution of Falun Gong, she was arrested for appealing for Falun Gong outside the provincial government in Harbin. Her next arrest was in September 1999 when she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Guards at the Chaoyang District Detention Center in Beijing tortured her and poured cold water over her head. She wasn’t released until 15 days later.
She was arrested three times in 2000. The first time was in Harbin in January and she was detained for 100 days. She went to Beijing twice later that year, in October and November, and was arrested both times.
Ms. Tang was given two years of forced labor after she was arrested on April 8, 2001. The same Nangang Police Station gave her a second labor camp term on August 10, 2006. She was held in Wanjia Forced Labor Camp and then Qianjin Forced Labor Camp for a total of one and a half years.
At Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, the guards tied her legs, hung her up, and shocked her head, arms, and hands with electric batons. The injuries on her left arm and hand took a long time to heal. The guards said to her, “This is an order from above. We are merely their tools. If you want to seek justice, you need to talk to Jiang Zemin (the former head of the communist regime who ordered the persecution in 1999). This is our job and we don’t have a choice.”
Related Reports:
Seven Heilongjiang Residents’ Wrongful Sentences Upheld by the Intermediate Court
Seven Heilongjiang Residents Given Up To Almost 11 Years for Making Phone Calls About Their Faith
Four Heilongjiang Residents Stand Trial for Their Faith, Lawyers Refute False Claims Against Them
70-year-old Woman Still Recovering from Recent Surgery Forced to Attend Court Hearing
Harbin, Heilongjiang Province: Twelve Arrested in Same District in Two Days, Six Face Prosecution
Seven Heilongjiang Residents Tried for Raising Awareness of Religious Persecution
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