Tortured to Complete Blindness in Custody, Woman Dies 22 Years Later After Enduring Non-stop Police Harassment

(Minghui.org)

Name: Cai ChangzhenChinese Name: 蔡常珍Gender: FemaleAge: 83City: WuhanProvince: HubeiOccupation: Wuhan Water Company employeeDate of Death: March 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 19, 2008Most Recent Place of Detention: Etouwan Brainwashing Center

A Wuhan City, Hubei Province resident became blind in 2001 after 14 months of detention and torture in a brainwashing center for practicing Falun Gong. Despite her condition, the police never stopped harassing Ms. Cai Changzhen, leaving her living in constant fear. She passed away in March 2023, at the age of 83.

Ms. Cai worked for the Wuhan Water Company before she retired. She used to suffer severe neck and back problems, rheumatoid in her fingers, as well as a condition with her stomach, kidney, and liver. All of the conditions disappeared after she took up Falun Gong in March 1993.

Three months after the communist regime ordered the persecution in July 1999, Ms. Cai went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was arrested, taken back to Wuhan, and held at the Etouwan Brainwashing Center for over a month.

Ms. Cai was arrested again in early August 2000 for distributing Falun Gong materials. In the Etouwan Brainwashing Center, she was subjected to constant beating and being hung up by the wrists. She became completely blind in January 2001 due to the torture, but the guards didn’t release her until September 2001.

Torture reenactment: being hung up

Ms. Cai once recalled how she went blind in custody, “A police officer interrogated me as to where I got the materials about Falun Gong. As I refused to tell him anything, he punched me in the face and my eyes bled as a result. Then he pushed me to the vent of the air conditioner. At the same time, there was a ceiling fan above me and another fan blowing at me from behind. I wasn’t allowed to sleep for three weeks. A few days later, the police hung me up after lunch and continued to question me about the source of the materials. I remained silent and then fainted. I first lost vision in my right eye due to the injury from the beating. Gradually, I also lost the vision in my left eye and I became completely blind.”

Only a year after Ms. Cai was released, the police attempted to arrest her again on September 30, 2002. It happened another practitioner was at her home. As the police were pounding on her door, the residents in her neighborhood all came over and condemned the police for persecuting a blind woman who just wanted to be a good person. The police gave up their arrest attempt and left. To avoid further persecution, Ms. Cai went into hiding for over a month.

Several officers knocked on Ms. Cai’s door on January 7, 2003. As soon as she opened the door, they rushed in and took her to the Etouwan Brainwashing Center, where she was held for eight days.

Weeks before the Beijing Summer Olympics, the police arrested Ms. Cai, who was nearly 70 back then, on July 19, 2008, and took her to the Etouwan Brainwashing Center again. Given strong protest from her son, Ms. Cai was released three days later.

Several people knocked on Ms. Cai’s door at 4 p.m. on April 25, 2014, asking to check her electricity meter, even though it wasn’t located inside her home. Ms. Cai refused to open the door. The police spent one hour prying open her two doors. Her Falun Gong books, an MP3, and her only savings of 35,700 yuan were confiscated. The police attempted to arrest her but were stopped by her neighbors. After one hour of standoff, they left at around 7 p.m.

Two officers came again on June 16, 2016, and deceived Ms. Cai into opening the door, by claiming to check her water meter. They seized her Falun Gong books, a photo of Falun Gong’s founder, some informational materials, and a media player.

The non-stop harassment left Ms. Cai living in fear all these years. Her blindness made it even harder for her to manage life while living on her own. Succumbing to the decades of hardship, she passed away in March 2023.

Related report:

Call for Rescue of Senior Ms. Cai Changzhen, Tortured to Blindness