(Minghui.org) Ms. Ran Guanquan, 75, from Tianjin is experiencing serious medical conditions after being detained for three months for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Ran Guanquan was arrested by five officers from the Xiangyang Police Station on December 1, 2023 and taken to the Binhai New District First Detention Center. Her arrest was approved by the Binhai New District Procuratorate on December 15.
On February 2024, Ms. Ran began feeling weak. She needed help to walk and get out of bed. Her eyesight became blurry. She fainted twice and was incontinent. Her family said she was perfectly healthy before her arrest and they were worried that she became ill as a result of torture and abuse.
Shortly after Ms. Ran fell ill, she was taken to the Tanggu Hospital by Zhang Xiapeng, deputy head of the detention center, and two male guards. Because she refused to cooperate with Zhang during the examination, he slapped her face at least four times. Zhang also refused to reveal her examination results. Even though her symptoms persist, she is still held in the detention center.
Despite her condition, prosecutor Wang Tian threatened to get Ms. Ran sentenced to four years if she refused to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Past Persecution
Ms. Ran used to suffer many ailments in her 30s, including a heart condition, shortness of breath, and a frozen shoulder and neck problem. She went to many large hospitals in Beijing and Tianjin hoping for a cure, but with no success. Just six months after she began practicing Falun Gong, she completely recovered. After the persecution started in 1999, she was repeatedly targeted for not renouncing her faith.
Ms. Ran was arrested in June 2010 by officers of the Tanggu Police Station and detained for ten days. She was arrested again in September 2014 by officers from the Xiangyang Police Station and her home was ransacked. The Binhai New District Court held two hearings of her case, before sentencing Ms. Ran to 3.5 years. She appealed to the Tianjin Second Intermediate Court, but that court ruled to uphold her original verdict without a hearing. Neither her lawyer nor her family were informed of the decision.
On July 10, 2023, just five months before Ms. Ran’s latest arrest, she was seized by officers from the Xiangyang Police Station, but was released hours later.
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