Older Woman Dies of Strokes Induced by Prison Sentence and Non-stop Police Harassment

(Minghui.org)

Name: Zhang GuiyunChinese Name: 张桂云Gender: FemaleAge: 73City: AnshanProvince: LiaoningOccupation: N/ADate of Death: January 16, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 28, 2019Most Recent Place of Detention: Anshan City Women’s Detention Center

Ms. Zhang Guiyun was repeatedly harassed after she finished serving one year in prison for practicing Falun Gong. The mental distress caused her to suffer several strokes. She passed away on January 16, 2023. She was 73.

Ms. Zhang Guiyun

Before Ms. Zhang, a native of Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, took up Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline, she suffered from nephritis and cystitis. She constantly fought with her husband because of his addiction to gambling. She often complained about having to do almost all the household chores by herself and felt life was miserable. By practicing Falun Gong, she regained her health and let go of her grudge against her husband.

After the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Zhang was arrested with her daughter for doing the Falun Gong exercises outdoors. She was detained for 15 days and her daughter for over 40 days.

The mother and daughter were arrested again in November 1999 while doing the Falun Gong exercises at home. At the station, the police chief slapped them in the face, causing their faces to swell. Ms. Zhang’s son-in-law was also arrested later on and held at the police station for a day. He was not allowed to use the restroom. The family had 3,000 yuan extorted from them.

Ms. Zhang and her daughter went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in 2000 and were arrested. After three weeks of detention, both of them were given forced labor camp terms. Due to Ms. Zhang’s health, she was released 14 days later. Her daughter served the full one-year term.

Shortly after Ms. Zhang’s daughter was released, Ms. Zhang herself was arrested again and detained for two weeks. After she returned home, the authorities arranged for four people to watch her around the clock in two shifts for two more weeks. For the next few months, the police kept harassing the family and tried to force their landlord to evict them. They also forbid others from renting properties to them.

To avoid the harassment, Ms. Zhang moved to Anshan City, Liaoning Province. She and her husband were financially strapped after her husband’s former employer stopped making pension payments to him due to its poor financial performance. Consumed by anxiety, her husband passed away in 2004. Ms. Zhang went back to Qiqihar to apply for a low-income subsidy but was denied any benefits.

While Ms. Zhang wasn’t arrested again during the next decade, several police officers in Anshan broke into her home on August 23, 2018, when she was out. They raided her place, confiscated her Falun Gong books, and began to monitor her daily activities. On January 28, 2019, on a train to visit her daughter in Tianjin, she was arrested and taken to a detention center.

The Lishan District Procuratorate, which has been designated to handle all Falun Gong cases in Anshan City, approved Ms. Zhang’s arrest on February 3, 2019. Her family went to the procuratorate on March 13 to inquire about her case, but the receptionist refused to reveal the name of the prosecutor in charge.

Ms. Zhang was tried in the Lishan District Court on May 28 and June 24, 2019. The police claimed that Ms. Zhang distributed Falun Gong materials somewhere, but without providing any evidence or witness accounts.

Ms. Zhang’s lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for her. He argued that she didn’t violate any law by practicing her faith because the Constitution stipulates that Chinese citizens are guaranteed the freedoms of belief, assembly, and expression.

Ms. Zhang also recounted how Falun Gong gave her a new life and that she practiced it to improve her health and be a good person.

The judge later sentenced Ms. Zhang to one year. The police continued to harass her after she was released. Due to the mental distress, she suffered a stroke on January 27, 2021, and had several more strokes later. Unable to afford any medical intervention, she passed away on January 16, 2023.