(Minghui.org)
Name: Tuo WenxiaChinese Name: 佗文霞Gender: FemaleAge: 73City: HarbinProvince: HeilongjiangOccupation: teacherDate of Death: November 5, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 19, 2021Most Recent Place of Detention: Railway Domestic Security Office
A 73-year-old woman in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province died on November 5, 2023, after suffering more than two decades of persecution for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Ms. Tuo Wenxia’s death followed her last two arrests in two months for practicing Falun Gong. She was initially arrested on April 19, 2021 but denied admission to the local detention center after she was found to have fluid accumulation in her lungs during the required physical examination. She was then released on bail. The police took her back into custody on June 10, 2021 before releasing her on bail again after an unknown period of detention.
The Harbin Railway Domestic Security Office summoned Ms. Tuo in early March 2022 and threatened to indict her. Since mid-March 2022, she began to have systemic pain and constantly felt cold. She was found to have late-stage endometrial cancer, but the doctor couldn’t operate on her as she also had hyperthyroidism, which caused a metabolism disorder and influenced the progression of the endometrial cancer.
When Ms. Tuo’s bail expired on April 20, 2022, the police placed her under residential surveillance and threatened to arrest her again. They ordered her to report to them to sign the residential surveillance paperwork, but she was too weak to even walk out of her house. She also said no when the police demanded to have her ID as she needed it to seek treatments in the hospital.
In the months that followed, Ms. Tuo’s conditions kept worsening and she had fever and pain every day. She was taken to a hospital and the doctors found that her cancer had spread to other organs. She died on November 5, 2023.
Ms. Tuo was not the only person in her family who faced the persecution of Falun Gong. Her daughter, 47-year-old Ms. Niu Xiaona, was also arrested on April 19, 2021 for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Niu, who is disabled, was ordered to serve 15 years, including a 14-year term previously given in 2004. She was allowed to serve the prior 14-year sentence outside of prison due to her physical disability. Following her latest conviction, the Harbin Railroad Transportation Court claimed that Ms. Niu failed to provide official documentation proving she had served the 14-year sentence outside of prison and thus ordered the combined term of 15 years. Ms. Niu was also fined 1,000 yuan.
Taking Up Falun Gong
When she was still a college student in the 1990s, Ms. Niu developed progressive rheumatoid arthritis, the same disease that killed her grandfather. Tormented by the disease, she became emaciated and lost almost all her hair. Her knees were extremely swollen and remained bent nearly 90 degrees. Her arms were also swollen and crossed in front of her chest. Her finger joints were deformed from the swelling as well. Confined to bed, she bore constant excruciating pain all over her body.
After trying various medicines, her disease wasn’t cured, but the side effects damaged many of her internal organs. Spending many nights sleepless, she developed thoughts of suicide.
At that time, Ms. Tuo, a school teacher in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, heard about the recovery of a former student from practicing Falun Gong and she recommended that Ms. Niu give it a try. Both mother and daughter started to practice Falun Gong.
Unable to stand up, Ms. Niu sat in bed and followed the hand movements of the Falun Gong exercises. Soon, the pain disappeared and the swellings subsided. But as her joint periosteum, the membrane that covers the outer surface of bones and provides attachment for muscles and tendons, had already rotted, she couldn’t fully stand up on her feet anymore and she stayed at home most of the time.
Thrice Arrested in 2000
After the persecution started in July 1999, Ms. Tuo was arrested seven times and had her home ransacked several times.
Ms. Tuo was first arrested on January 19, 2000, and detained for 15 days. She was arrested again weeks later on March 3 and detained for 40 days. While she was still detained, Ms. Niu sought help from another practitioner, Mr. Wang Jiguo, to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on March 5, only to be arrested and taken back to Mudanjiang on March 9, 2000. Ms. Tuo’s husband paid a 200-yuan fine.
Ms. Tuo was arrested one more time on October 6, 2000, and detained for 60 days. The police extorted 5,000 yuan out of her.
Put on Wanted List After 4th Arrest
On January 17, 2001, Hu Xiaosong, Gao Huazhi and another official of the local residential committee ransacked Ms. Tuo’s home. Around the same period, the authorities often called her home phone number to check whether Ms. Niu was at home. As long as Ms. Niu answered the call, the person would hang up without saying a word.
In early March 2001, officer Hu harassed Ms. Niu and asked her to write her understanding of the Tiananmen self-immolation hoax, a staged propaganda stunt put on by the communist regime to demonize Falun Gong. Ms. Niu instead wrote about how her health recovered from practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Tuo was arrested on October 17, 2001 and had her home ransacked again. She held a hunger strike and was released 12 days later. To avoid further persecution, she was forced to live away from home on April 23, 2002. During the time she wasn’t home, the police twice arrested her husband, who doesn’t practice Falun Gong.
Ms. Tuo, Mr. Ning Jun, Ms. Ye Lianping and Mr. Wang Yongqiang were put on the police’s wanted list with a 50,000-yuan reward if any of them were arrested. The other three practitioners were later persecuted to death after they were arrested.
Arrested a 5th Time While Hiding in Beijing
In order to arrest Ms. Tuo, the police forced her neighbor to move out of their rental apartment and moved in themselves to monitor Ms. Niu and her father’s daily activities. Any local Falun Gong practitioner who went to visit them would also be monitored.
In late 2003, the police deceived Ms. Niu’s father into going to the police station when she just went out. With no one at home, the police sneaked in and installed a listening device. Through monitoring their phone calls, the police located Ms. Tuo in Beijing and also found out that she had bought electronic readers for practitioners in Mudanjiang.
Ordered by Li Changqing, head of the Mudanjiang 610 Office, and Li Fu, head of the Domestic Security Office, the police orchestrated a mass arrest of over 100 practitioners in October 2003. Around two dozen practitioners were sentenced to prison, with five of them, including Mr. Wang Xinmin, Ms. Jiang Chunmei, Mr. Liu Zhiyuan, Ms. Wang Shue and Ms. Niu, sentenced to 14 years. Another two practitioners, Mr. Kang Yuncheng and Mr. Jin Youfeng, who were arrested and sentenced, later died as a result of torture in custody.
Ms. Tuo was arrested in Beijing at the same time as the above practitioners. As Ms. Niu was allowed to serve time outside of prison, both she and her parents later lived away from home to hide from the police, before eventually settling in Harbin City.
Last Two Arrests in Harbin City
Ms. Tuo’s husband was stopped by two plainclothes officers at 4:30 a.m. on April 19, 2021, when he went out to do morning exercises. The officers snatched his keys and went to raid his home. Ms. Niu and Ms. Tuo’s 79 Falun Gong books, four laptops, several cellphones, over 300 thumb drives with information about Falun Gong, and dozens of yuan in cash with information about Falun Gong printed on the bills (as a way to raise awareness about the persecution given strict censorship in China) were confiscated.
All three were taken to the police station for interrogation. Ms. Tuo and her husband were released hours later, but Ms. Tuo was later taken back into custody on June 10, 2021 before being released on bail again.
Ms. Niu was interrogated from noon until midnight after her latest arrest on April 19, 2021. She was taken to the local detention center the next day and admitted despite her disability.
Her condition worsened following her latest arrest. She couldn’t move her right ankle. Unable to walk, she had to move by her buttocks. In only a few days, the skin on her buttocks had rubbed off.
Unable to move up the stairs leading to the restroom, Ms. Niu had to ask for the inmates’ help to carry her there. And also because she couldn’t squat due to her rigid knees, she often soiled her pants when urinating. Later she bought a commode chair for defecation. She ate very little to avoid using it. During the three months she was detained, she only defecated four times and each time would require hours to finish.
When Ms. Niu’s family visited her in early June, she told them that she had chest tightness and extreme pain all over her body, including in her head and eyes. Her hands were also deformed and she was emaciated.
After keeping her in custody for three months, the police finally released her on bail on July 9, 2021. The police interrogated her again in early March 2022 and accused her of having a bad attitude by not cooperating with them.
The Harbin Railroad Transportation Court tried Ms. Niu in late September 2022 and sentenced her to 15 years, included the 14-year term previously given in 2004.
Related Reports:
Severely Disabled Woman Ordered to Serve 15 Years for Her Faith in Falun Gong
Elderly Mother and Disabled Daughter Face Prosecution for Practicing Falun Gong
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