(Minghui.org)

Chinese Name: 刘淑花Gender: FemaleAge: 76City: ChaoyangProvince: LiaoningOccupation: N/ADate of Death: October 2021Date of Most Recent Arrest: November 9, 2015Most Recent Place of Detention: Liaoning Province Women’s Prison

Ms. Liu Shuhua died three days after she was carried home unconscious by prison guards in mid-October 2021, a few weeks before her scheduled release on November 9, 2021. She had been serving a six-year prison term for practicing Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual discipline. 

Ms. Liu, from Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province, was arrested during a police sweep on November 9, 2015. Over 100 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested that day, targeted for filing criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin, former leader of the Chinese Communist Party, for initiating the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. 

A special task force was created by the Chaoyang City 610 Office and Political and Legal Affairs Committee, both extra-judiciary agencies tasked with orchestrating the persecution. The task force ordered the police to ransack the practitioners’ homes and force them to sign statements promising to withdraw their criminal complaints against Jiang or force them not to file such complaints in the future. Those who refused were detained for an extended period of time or sentenced.

Ms. Liu Shuhua, who refused to give in to the authorities, was sentenced to six years on March 8, 2016 by the Beipiao Court, to be served in the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison.

After six years of torture, Ms. Liu was carried home by prison guards in mid-October. Emaciated and unconscious, she passed away three days later. She was 76.

Ongoing Persecution in Liaoning Province Women’s Prison

Ever since the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, Liaoning Province Women’s Prison has followed the persecution policy closely.

The torture methods frequently used to try to force practitioners to renounce their faith include pouring boiling water on them, injecting them with unknown drugs, electric shocks, force-feeding with chili pepper water, inserting chili peppers into their private parts, hanging them up by their handcuffs, stripping them naked and pouring cold water on them, and intensive forced labor. 

Some practitioners were forced to work for extended periods of time every day until they collapsed. Only then were they taken to the hospital. But before they fully recovered, they were forced to work again.

According to available data, at least 37 Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to death in the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison, and many have been tortured to the point of mental collapse and disability. Ms. Li Guirong, a retired elementary school principal from Shenyang City, was persecuted to death after being beaten severely by prison guards in mid-January 2020, when her five-year term was almost over.

Related reports:

Ongoing Torture of Falun Gong Practitioners in Liaoning Province Women’s Prison

Chaoyang, Liaoning Province: 29 Sentenced for Suing Jiang Zemin