Sichuan Woman Dies Eight Months After Release from Prison in a Vegetative State
(Minghui.org)
Name: Liao GuanghuiChinese Name: 廖光慧Gender: FemaleAge: 70City: MianyangProvince: SichuanOccupation: Food warehouse workerDate of Death: March 23, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 20, 2019Most Recent Place of Detention: Sichuan Province Women’s Prison
Ms. Liao Guanghui had become a vegetable by the time she was released on July 20, 2022, after serving a three-year prison term for practicing Falun Gong. The Mianyang City, Sichuan Province resident died eight months later on March 23, 2023. She was 70 years old.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Liao took a fall on March 10, 2021, while being incarcerated in Sichuan Province Women’s Prison. The prison denied her family’s request to release her on medical parole and held her in custody until the end of her term, despite the fact that she remained in a coma after the fall.
Because the prison hospital didn’t properly fix her skull during the craniotomy, she had a large sunken area on the right side of her head. She also had a suction tube in her throat, a feeding tube in her nose, and a urinary catheter. Her entire body was stiff.
Not knowing how to care for her and remove the sputum in the suction tube, her family took her to a local hospital hours after she was sent back home from prison on July 20, 2022. A week later on July 27, she suddenly had a whole body convulsion and her lips and upper body turned purple. Although she survived after being resuscitated, her family couldn’t afford to keep her in the hospital for further treatment. They took her home shortly after and cared for her themselves. They were devastated by her death on March 23, 2023.
Ms. Liao Guanghui in a coma
Arrest and Prison Sentence
Ms. Liao was arrested at home on July 20, 2019. The police spent hours ransacking her home and then took her to the Mianyang City Detention Center.
The Fucheng District Court held a trial for Ms. Liao on September 1, 2020, but her family wasn’t allowed to attend. When her son went into the gallery, the judge ordered the bailiff to remove him. While the judge sentenced Ms. Liao to a three-year prison term with four and a half years of probation at the end of the court hearing, he changed his mind later and revised her term to three years in prison with a 3,000-yuan fine. Ms. Liao was taken to the fifth ward at Sichuan Province Women’s Prison on January 21, 2021.
Unconscious After a Fall
Ms. Liao’s family received a call from a prison guard at 5 a.m. on March 10, 2021 and was told to go to the Huaxi Hospital to sign a consent form for her to have a craniotomy. The guard claimed that she “fell and hit her head while using the restroom,” but the doctor revealed that she had injuries to her trachea and one of her lungs.
When Ms. Liao’s husband, Mr. Li Shuangquan, and their son visited her in the hospital on March 14, her head was wrapped with gauze and she was on oxygen. Devastated to see her in a coma, her son called her, “Mom, mom!” But Ms. Liao had no response, and she didn’t even move her eyes.
While she still remained in a coma, the prison guards deceived her family into signing the consent form agreeing to transfer her back to the prison hospital, which had inferior care quality, on March 30, 2021. The guards promised that it would be easier for the family to visit her there, but they never allowed them to see her for the next 493 days or ever responded to their requests, either in writing or phone calls, to release her on medical parole.
Six days before Ms. Liao’s scheduled release on July 14, 2022, her husband demanded that the prison cover her medical costs going forward. But the prison refused, saying that they had already spent a lot on her.
Mr. Li and his son went to the prison hospital on July 20, 2022 to pick up Ms. Liao. The guards didn’t allow them to enter the prison hospital but sent her home in an ambulance. Only then did her family see Ms. Liao for the first time since their last visit to the hospital.
Financial Devastation
While Ms. Liao was serving time, the authorities suspended her pension, citing a policy that bars retirees from receiving benefits during incarceration, although no Chinese labor law has such a stipulation.
Her husband previously encountered similar ordeals, and had his pension suspended between July 2012 to July 2017, when he also served time for practicing Falun Gong.
Taking Up Falun Gong
Ms. Liao worked in a food warehouse. Her job was very stressful, which induced many ailments in her, including headache, insomnia, and anxiety. She sought various treatments, but none had much effects on her. She was later diagnosed with a gynecological disease, which caused her to be very weak and have a pale face. She was introduced to Falun Gong in 1999 and soon regained her health.
Because she did not give up her faith, she was previously arrested in 2002 and given 1.5 years in the Nanmusi Women’s Forced Labor Camp.
Related reports:
Sichuan Woman Now a Vegetable after Suspicious Fall While Serving Time for Her Faith
Sichuan Woman in a Coma for Three Months and Counting After Suspicious Fall in Prison
Woman in Her 60s Suffers Brain Injury Two Months After Being Imprisoned, Remains in a Coma
Four Mianyang City, Sichuan Province Residents Recently Sentenced for Their Faith