(Minghui.org)
Name: Guan HongyanChinese Name: 关洪艳Gender: FemaleAge: 63City: QitaiheProvince: HeilongjiangOccupation: unknownDate of Death: early November 6, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 11, 2022Most Recent Place of Detention: Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison
The Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison notified Ms. Guan Hongyan’s family on November 6, 2023 that she had died of “an illness” that day. According to insiders, however, she succumbed to the injuries sustained after being repeatedly tortured by the guards and inmates.
The torture death of Ms. Guan, a 63-year-old resident of Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province, occurred about 16 months into her 7.5-year prison term for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Ms. Guan and about ten other local practitioners were arrested on July 11, 2022 and taken to the Qitaihe City Detention Center. Captain Bi Shuqing of the Qitaihe City Police Department orchestrated the group arrest. His subordinates monitored the practitioners’ phones and whereabouts for about six months before conducting the police sweep.
The Qiezihe District Court sentenced Ms. Guan to 7.5 years with a 10,000-yuan fine in late December 2022, and she was admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison. The guards there ordered her to renounce Falun Gong. She held firm to her faith and was subjected to various forms of torture, which eventually claimed her life in November 2023.
While the details of Ms. Guan’s torture are still being investigated, upon prison admission, she was likely first held in the strict management team, which was designated for newly admitted Falun Gong practitioners.
According to practitioners once placed in this team, they were each made to sit on a small stool from 3:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, all the while being forced to watch anti-Falun Gong videos on loop. They were not allowed to talk to each other. Those who still refused to renounce Falun Gong were verbally abused and brutally beaten. They were also not allowed to use the restroom and some soiled their pants as a result. The guards also restricted or totally barred them from purchasing daily necessities, while limiting their meals to two per day on the weekends.
Many practitioners imprisoned here were injured and at least 32 of them (including Ms. Guan) died as a result of torture over the years. Days after Ms. Guan’s passing, Ms. Li Yuzhen, a resident of Harbin (the capital city of the province), died in early January 2024 while serving a four-year term.
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