Additional Information on 85-Year-Old Woman Released from Prison in Critical Condition (Graphic Photo)
(Minghui.org) Minghui.org recently reported that 85-year-old Ms. Yao Jingjiao was returned to her hometown in Jieyang City, Guangdong Province, by ambulance on October 25, 2024, after she became critically ill while serving a three-year prison term for practicing Falun Gong. This article provides additional information on Ms. Yao’s current condition.
Falun Gong is a self-cultivation practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Yao broke her right leg on September 9, 2024. The Guangdong Province Women’s Prison (located in the capital city of Guangzhou) did not notify her family of her condition until mid-September. Her loved ones were asked to go to the prison to sign a consent form so she could have surgery. They went, but were not allowed to see her. After they signed the form, the prison suddenly said the surgery was canceled due to Ms. Yao’s weak physical condition.
In mid-October 2024, the prison called the family again and asked them to seek approval from the Jieyang City 610 Office to have Ms. Yao released on parole. Her loved ones sprang into action, but the 610 Office waited one week before finally approving the request. The prison, however, did not immediately release Ms. Yao. They demanded money from her family three times (the total sum extorted was either 90,000 or 30,000 yuan).
In the wee hours of October 25, 2024, the prison dispatched an ambulance to drive Ms. Yao to the Jieyang City Chinese Medicine Hospital. Her family, who waited at the entrance, was shocked to see an almost unrecognizable Ms. Yao being carried out of the ambulance. She was in a near-vegetative state with her mouth open. She could not talk and could only move her eyes. The guard that escorted her back said her right leg was still fractured and she had multiple organ failure. He declared that the prison was now formally turning her over to her family. Her loved ones immediately rushed her inside the hospital, where she remains in the ICU at the time of this report.
Ms. Yao Jingjiao when she was carried out of the ambulance
Arrest and Sentencing
Ms. Yao was arrested on June 14, 2020 and released on bail the next day. The police and the local street committee kept harassing her at home. Her bail conditions were renewed twice, in June 2021 and June 2022. The Jiedong District Procuratorate indicted Ms. Yao on April 22, 2022, and the Jiedong District Court tried her in August 2022. She was sentenced to three years and fined 30,000-yuan in November 2022 and remained on bail afterwards.
The Rongcheng District Domestic Security Office took Ms. Yao for a physical examination on May 5, 2023. She was found to have high blood pressure, but the police still took her to the Jiedong District Detention Center, where she was held until she was transferred to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison (located in the capital city of Guangzhou) in early July 2023. Due to her persistent high blood pressure and declining health, the prison placed her in its in-house hospital on the day of her admission.
The prison guards forced Ms. Yao to write various statements to renounce and denounce Falun Gong against her will, which further aggravated her pre-existing health conditions. She was eventually released in critical condition on October 25, 2024.
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