(Minghui.org) A Leizhou City, Guangdong Province, resident remains jailed at the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison despite her declining health.
Ms. Chen Cuizhu, 61, was sentenced to five years and fined 5,000 yuan in June 2023 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. She was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer soon after she was arrested in September 2022, but the authorities did not offer her any medical treatment until after her trial on May 4, 2023. She was taken back to the Zhanjiang City Detention Center five days after her surgery.
Ms. Chen was transferred to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison at an unknown date following her sentencing. According to insiders, her hair has now all fallen out. It’s unclear whether it’s due to her cancer or chemotherapy (if any). She is also thin and extremely weak. Despite her condition, the prison authorities refuse to release her on parole.
Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Chen was previously given four years following her arrest in January 2002, also for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Chen was arrested on September 8, 2022, while studying Falun Gong’s teachings with 14 other practitioners. The police confiscated her cash and bankbook and claimed that she intended to use the money to engage in illegal activities.
Due to the poor living conditions, torture, and mental distress in the Zhanjiang City Detention Center, the once healthy and lively woman’s health quickly declined. Her skin began to fester and she felt extremely unwell. Only then did the guards take her to the hospital.
Ms. Chen was diagnosed with breast cancer, which had metastasized. The doctor recommended that she be admitted immediately or her life would be in danger. Her family hired a lawyer to seek her release on bail for treatment, but the detention center denied the request, with the excuse that she didn’t renounce her faith.
The Chikan District Court in Zhanjiang City tried Ms. Chen on May 4, 2023, despite her deteriorating condition. Even though she was emaciated, she was handcuffed and shackled. The handcuffs and shackles connected to each other, so she couldn’t straighten her back and had to remain bent over, her head almost touching her feet, throughout the hearing. The judge announced her sentence weeks later.
At her family’s repeated pleading, the detention center finally allowed her to be treated after the trial. Her loved ones were not allowed to see her in the hospital, where the guards patrolled outside her room. She was taken back to the detention center five days after the surgery, even though she still needed inpatient care. Her family is not sure if she received proper care in the detention center.
The Chikan District Court sentenced Ms. Chen to five years in June 2023.
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