Chongqing Woman Dies After Repeated Incarceration, Harassment and Financial Devastation

(Minghui.org)

Name: Wen QihuiChinese Name: 文启惠Gender: FemaleAge: 73City: N/AProvince: ChongqingOccupation: N/ADate of Death: July 17, 2022Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 11, 2014Most Recent Place of Detention: Chongqing City Women’s Prison

Having endured two labor camp terms and a prison term, as well as countless episodes of harassment for practicing her faith in Falun Gong, a Chongqing woman passed away on July 17, 2022. She was 73.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Wen Qihui’s husband passed away decades ago. The hardship of life took a toll on her health and she struggled with many ailments. Just as she lost hope for her future, she was introduced to Falun Gong and started a new chapter of her life.

Because Ms. Wen refused to renounce Falun Gong when the communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999, she was subjected to constant harassment, arrests and incarceration.

She was arrested in 2001 and held at a brainwashing center, where she was beaten by agents of the 610 Office.

Ms. Wen was arrested again in 2004. She was first held at the Zhoujiaba Detention Center and then taken to the Maojiashan Women’s Forced Labor Camp to serve a one-year term.

Her next arrest was on August 13, 2009. More than ten officers broke into her home and took away many of her Falun Gong materials. She was given 1.5 years at the Chongqing Women’s Forced Labor Camp.

Only a few months after she was released, she was arrested one more time on July 25, 2011 and held at the Wanzhou District Brainwashing Center located on the sixth floor of a hotel.

While shopping at a Walmart store on November 17, 2012, Ms. Wen saw several police officers pushing an elderly woman on the ground. They searched her bag and ordered her to sign something. Ms. Wen went over and asked the police to stop. The police then ignored the woman lying on the ground and arrested Ms. Wen instead. They took her to the Wangjiang Police Station and held her there until 10 p.m.

Ms. Wen’s last arrest was on September 11, 2014. She was first held at a brainwashing center and then transferred to the Zhoujiaba Detention Center, before being sentenced to three years by the Wanzhou District Court in June 2015. She appealed with Chongqing City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original verdict in August.

Ms. Wen was subjected to constant abuse while serving time at the Chongqing Women’s Prison. As the authorities continued to harass her after she was released in 2017, her health kept deteriorating and she became paralyzed in one side of her body.

It dealt her another heavy blow when the Wanzhou District Social Security Bureau reduced her pension from several thousand yuan to 500 yuan per month in September 2020. The bureau claimed that she shouldn’t have received any retirement benefits during her prison term and thus cut her pension to pay back the fund. Ms. Wen argued no Chinese labor law has such stipulation, but to no avail. The mental distress further exacerbated her condition and she passed away on July 17, 2022.

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