(Minghui.org)
Name: Kong FanqinChinese Name: 孔繁芹Gender: FemaleAge: 73City: ShulanProvince: JilinOccupation: N/ADate of Death: October 10, 2024Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 24, 2022Most Recent Place of Detention: Jilin City Detention Center
A Shulan City, Jilin Province resident suffered declining health after she was sentenced to three years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. She passed away on October 10, 2024. She was 73.
Ms. Kong Fanqin was arrested at home on February 24, 2022. Her Falun Gong books and paper currency printed with information about Falun Gong were confiscated. The police interrogated her regarding who printed the messages on the banknotes. She refused to answer. (Due to strict information censorship in China, Falun Gong practitioners use creative ways to raise awareness about the persecution, including printing information on paper currency.)
When the police took Ms. Kong to the local lockup in the evening, she was denied admission due to her high blood pressure. The police released her on bail after extorting 2,000 yuan from her son.
The Shulan City Court held a hearing of Ms. Kong’s case in mid-November 2022 and sentenced her to three years with a 4,000-yuan fine on December 30. Her verdict bore the signatures of presiding judge Hou Yang, judges Sun Ying and Xu Jiamei, and court clerk Bai Xintong. The court didn’t order her to start serving time immediately after her conviction, but sent her a letter in February 2023, urging her to pay the fine.
Six officers from the Shuiquliu Police Station arrested Ms. Kong at home on May 15, 2024 and took her to the hospital for a physical examination, in preparation for her prison admission. She was found to have a heart condition, but the police still took her to the Jilin City Detention Center, which refused to admit her. It was too late to return to Shulan (which is under the jurisdiction of Jilin City and about 50 miles away). The police booked a hotel in Jilin City that night and took Ms. Kong home the next day.
Three other officers came again a day later on May 17 and still attempted to detain Ms. Kong in Jilin. As no detention center agreed to admit her, the officers drove her back home.
Ms. Kong had already suffered from declining health with reduced vision following her sentencing. The police harassment and their attempts to put her in jail further terrified her and rendered her unable to live a normal life. She lost most of her vision after June 2024 and was unable to live on her own. Her children sent her to an assisted living center. She took a fall in September and had two of her toes amputated. She passed away on October 10, 2024. She was 73.
Prior to her latest persecution, Ms. Kong was arrested another time on December 18, 2000, for going to the Tiananmen Square to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was first detained at the Mentougou Detention Center in Beijing and later transferred to the Langfang City Detention Center in Hebei Province.
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