Hubei Woman Dies Two Months After Being Harassed for Her Faith in Falun Gong

(Minghui.org)

Name: Luo YingChinese Name: 罗瑛Gender: FemaleAge: 70City: XianningProvince: HubeiOccupation: Retired, Sanliu Electric Machinery FactoryDate of Death: May 1, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 2008Most Recent Place of Detention: Maoershan Lockup

A resident of Xianning City, Hubei Province suffered a relapse of her old illnesses after being harassed at home on March 3, 2023 by the local authorities, who attempted to make her renounce her faith in Falun Gong. Falun Gong is a traditional mind-body cultivation practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Ms. Luo Ying never recovered and died on May 1, at the age of 70.

Ms. Luo, a retiree of Sanliu Electric Machinery Factory in Xian’an District, Xianning City, used to suffer from severe rheumatic heart disease. Her symptoms disappeared not long after she took up Falun Gong in December 1995.

After the persecution began four years later, Ms. Luo held firm to her faith and was repeatedly targeted by the authorities. She was arrested at least seven times, resulting in two forced labor terms totaling four years. Her home was also raided multiple times.

First Arrest Followed by Six Months of Detention

Ms. Luo and several other local practitioners took a train to Beijing on December 18, 1999 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. They were arrested and taken back to the Xianning City Detention Center, where Ms. Luo was brutally tortured during her six months of detention there. Guard Cao Yingjiu (then in her 40s) beat Ms. Luo savagely. She went on a hunger strike in protest and was force-fed by Cao and detention center doctor Li Guobin (then in his 50s).

Second Arrest Followed by 13 Days of Detention

On the fourteenth day of the 2001 Chinese New Year (February 6), deputy chief Zou Weiguo of the Xianning City Police Department, officers from the Nanshan Police Station, and Dong Yongxiang (then in his 60s, a workers’ union president at Ms. Luo’s workplace) worked hand in glove and deceived her into going to the Nanshan Police Station for questioning. 

They never released her as promised and instead sent Ms. Luo to the Maoershan Lockup in Xianning City. During her 13 days of detention there, she was ordered to write statements to renounce her faith and was also deprived of sleep.

Third Arrest Followed by One Year of Forced Labor

Ms. Luo’s third arrest took place a few months later, on April 14, 2001. She had just finished selling dumplings (a side business she had developed to earn some extra cash) when chief Yan (then in his 30s) of the Nanshan Police Station showed up at her vendor booth. He took her to the police station before transferring her to the Xianning City Detention Center that night. Deputy chief Zou of the Xianning City Police Department brought a group of officers to raid her home that same night, confiscating many of her Falun Gong books. 

The police gave Ms. Luo one year of forced labor twenty days later and took her to the Shizishan Rehabilitation Center (a labor camp in disguise), which declined to admit her due to her poor health. The police took her back to the detention center and tried the rehabilitation center again forty days later. The rehabilitation center still said no, but the detention center doctor Li Guobin used his connections to get the former to accept Ms. Luo, who ended up being held there for ten months.

Eight male guards once held Ms. Luo to the ground and shocked her with two electric batons simultaneously. When she did the Falun Gong exercises she was subjected to various forms of punishment. She was ordered to recite the labor camp rules and stand on one leg against the wall with the other leg up for extended periods of time. She would be beaten if her posture changed even slightly during the standing torture. 

Jiang Chengfang (then in his 50s and the 610 Office head at the rehabilitation center) was the one who instigated the guards to torture Ms. Luo. He once threatened to implicate her younger son. He was later promoted to Party secretary of the Hubei Province Brainwashing Center. 

Fourth Arrest Followed by Two Months of Detention

In order to deceive other local practitioners, deputy chief Zou of the Xianning City Police Department claimed that Ms. Luo had renounced her faith in Falun Gong. Upon learning of his lie, Ms. Luo went to his home twice in October 2003 to tell him and his family that the persecution was wrong. Zou was home the second time she went, and he called in police to arrest and beat her. He ordered the police to send Ms. Luo straight to the Xianning City Detention Center, where she developed high blood pressure and had cramps. She was released two months later.

Fifth Arrest Followed by Unknown Length of Detention

Ms. Luo was doing laundry at home one April day in 2004 when her family received a phone call from Ma Weihua (then in his 30s and security section chief of her workplace), claiming that their factory manager needed to see her. Ms. Luo went to the factory, only to have a group of people swarm all over her when she got there. They took her to the Hubei Province Brainwashing Center. The length of that detention remains unknown.

Sixth Arrest Followed by Three Years of Forced Labor

Ms. Luo was followed one day in October 2005 when she went to a local community college for some personal business. When she passed Xianning High School on her way home, Zeng Guohua (captain of the Xian’an District Domestic Security Office) stopped her and brought her to his office for interrogation. He and other officers searched her and snatched her keys. They raided her home and took her to the Xianning City Detention Center. She was held there for twenty days before being given three years of forced labor.

While held in Team Nine of Shayang Labor Camp, Ms. Luo was punished for refusing to answer roll calls, run laps, or memorize labor camp rules. She was beaten, injected with unknown drugs, and deprived of sleep.

Seventh Arrest Followed by Unknown Length of Detention

Ms. Luo and three other local practitioners went to Hesheng Bridge (a local tourist site) to talk to people about Falun Gong in July 2008 and were arrested. Agents from the Hesheng Bridge Police Station took them to the Maoershan Lockup at around 8 p.m. that night. It was unclear when she was released.

Two Recent Harassment Episodes

Three officers from the Yongan Police Station broke into Ms. Luo’s home at 3 p.m. on February 20, 2023. They intended to raid her home but relented upon her family’s strong protest. 

The director of the Nanshan Neighborhood Committee brought a group of people to harass Ms. Luo at home on March 3, 2023. This triggered a relapse of her old illnesses and she eventually passed away two months later on May 1.