(Minghui.org) Ms. Liu Rangfang, a Falun Gong practitioner in Baoqing County, Heilongjiang Province, went missing in December 2019. It was recently confirmed by Minghui.org that she had been sentenced to three years in prison for distributing Falun Gong materials at a supermarket.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
It was reported that Ms. Liu is currently held at Heilongjiang Women's Prison.
Prior to the latest arrest, Ms. Liu, a 65-year-old former teacher, was arrested nine times.
Ms. Liu started practicing Falun Gong in 1998 and saw her pancreatic tumor gone. After the persecution of Falun Gong started in July 1999, she went to Beijing three times to appeal for the practice and was arrested each time.
On October 26, 1999, Ms. Liu was arrested for the fourth time and taken to No. 852 Detention Center. Ms. Liu was later transferred to Hongxinglong Detention Center, where she was held for three months.
Ms. Liu was taken to Xigemu Forced Labor Camp on January 7, 2001.
At the labor camp, Ms. Liu went on a hunger strike to resist the persecution and was force-fed with cornmeal and concentrated brine. To “transform” Ms. Liu (force her to renounce her faith), the guards beat and tied her to a bed spread-eagle several times. She once had to relieve herself in a basin while tied to the bed in solitary confinement for several days. Ms. Liu was also forced to work from morning to night picking sunflower seeds and red beans without pay.
Ms. Liu suddenly passed out in September 2001. Upon waking up, she couldn't talk or walk. The labor camp told her local police to pick her up. The police held her in custody for one day before sending her home.
Ms. Liu was arrested soon afterwards and detained for half a month. Her sixth arrest took place on April 23, 2002, and she was again detained for two weeks.
Ms. Liu was arrested a seventh time on November 6, 2002 and taken to a local brainwashing center, where she was detained for six months.
On October 8, 2011, Ms. Liu was arrested, but she managed to escape hours later.
Ms. Liu's ninth arrest on November 12, 2011 was followed by a five-year prison sentence. She was tortured at Heilongjiang Women’s Prison.
In an attempt to “transform” Ms. Liu, the inmates forced her to sit on a small stool for a long period of time without being allowed to move or risk being beaten. While this form of torture may seem mild, sitting on the stool for a long time often results in the victim’s buttocks becoming bloody and festered.
Ms. Liu recounted, “There are no words for me to describe the pain. Every second felt like infinity. Time itself became an unbearable burden for me. The pain was so excruciating that I’d choose to be beaten and kicked by them rather than sit there for one more second.”
The continual torture resulted in Ms. Liu becoming extremely weak. She was so frail that she had no strength to go to the restroom or pick up her spoon. Once, she was wheeled in for a physical exam after she couldn't move her body. She was diagnosed with heart disease.
However, inmates accused her of faking her illness and tried to force-feed her with medicine. Ms. Liu refused, and the force-feeding caused some of her teeth to loosen and fall out.
Ms. Liu was released on October 11, 2016 after serving her term. When her sister, Ms. Liu Rangying, came to pick her up, her hometown police forcibly took her away and assigned two women to monitor her. She eventually regained her freedom on November 1.
Ms. Liu Rangfang from Heilongjiang Province Illegally Sentenced to Five Years in Prison
Heilongjiang Woman Seized by Police Moments after Her Release from Prison
Parties involved in persecution:Liu Shizhong (刘世忠), director of No. 852 Farm Public Security Bureau: +86-15145479456Wang Chengkui (王承奎), section chief of No. 852 Farm Human Resources and Social Affairs Bureau: +86-13734500626
(Contact information for more perpetrators is available in the original Chinese article.)