(Minghui.org)
Name: Zhou GuixiangChinese Name: 周桂香Gender: FemaleAge: 77City: GuiyangProvince: GuizhouOccupation:Date of Death: October 23, 2024Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 23, 2023Most Recent Place of Detention: Guiyang City Women’s Detention Center
A 77-year-old resident of Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, died in custody on October 23, 2024. Her body had already been cremated without her family’s consent by the time they rushed to a local detention center upon receiving notice of her passing.
Ms. Zhou Guixiang’s tragedy stemmed from her arrest on May 27, 2022 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. While she was released on bail the next day, Ms. Zhou was issued a formal arrest warrant on August 23, 2023 and taken back into custody that same day.
Ms. Zhou’s lawyer visited her at the Guiyang City Women’s Detention Center in early August 2024 and noted that she appeared emaciated. She said she was taken to Sanjiang Hospital for a checkup not long before and the doctors found tumors in her liver and intestines. The detention center guards, however, took her back without having her undergo further examination. The detention center’s own in-house clinic could not perform a biopsy, so it was unclear whether the growths were cancerous. Given this situation, the lawyer wrote a request to have Ms. Zhou released on bail.
It is unclear whether the detention center denied Ms. Zhou bail or never responded to her lawyer’s request before she died on October 23, 2024. The authorities also forbade her family from arranging a wake for her.
Details of Arrest
Ms. Zhou was home alone on May 27, 2022 when the water and electricity were suddenly turned off. When she stepped outside to see what was wrong, she was seized by several officers from the Dayingpo Police Station. They yelled “freeze” and dragged her inside her house.
One officer held Ms. Zhou tightly and said they were waiting for Zhang Zhu from the local Domestic Security office to arrive. Her wrists and arms were bruised where the police grabbed her.
Zhang soon arrived and led the officers to raid Ms. Zhou’s home. They took pictures of her home and confiscated a large amount of valuables. They next took Ms. Zhou to an interrogation room in the case handling center of the Yunyan District Police Department. Officers Liu Hong and Nie interrogated her. They revealed that someone reported seeing a Falun Gong flyer at a certain place. They found out she left the flyer there after they viewed surveillance videos.
Ms. Zhou acknowledged that she did place that flyer and four copies of other Falun Gong informational materials, but she firmly denied having committed any crime as no law in China has criminalized Falun Gong.
The police took Ms. Zhou to the Guiyang City Police Department after the interrogation. They forced her to put on an inmate uniform and undergo a physical examination. While her blood pressure was being taken, she suddenly felt dizzy, had heart palpitations, and her arms and legs felt weak. She also struggled to lift her head. Despite her condition, the police proceeded to interrogate Ms. Zhou again and then ordered her to read and sign the interrogation records. She refused to comply.
The police kept Ms. Zhou with other detainees in a room that night. The next afternoon, they took her blood sample and ordered her to sign materials that slander Falun Gong. She refused. They then ordered her to sign a bail form but she refused. The police did not insist and said her daughter was waiting outside.
When she returned home, Ms. Zhou learned that her daughter had been forced to sign her bail form in the Dayingpo Police Station before she was allowed to pick her mother up from the Guiyang City Police Department. The police threatened Ms. Zhou and told her not to leave town for one year, as otherwise she would face “severe consequences.”
The Dayingpo Police Station called Ms. Zhou and ordered her to report to them. She did not go. She went to Shanghai, her hometown, to take care of some family matters. The Dayingpo Police Station accused Ms. Zhou of violating her bail conditions after they learned about her trip. They summoned her on March 10, 2023 and officers Xiang Chunguang and Xie Yu interrogated her. They summoned her again on August 12, 2023.
Prosecutors Chen Nana and Zhang Benli of the Guiyang City Procuratorate issued a formal arrest warrant against Ms. Zhou on August 23, 2023. Officers Zhou Yang and Zhang Zhu seized her from her home that day and took her to the Guiyang City Women’s Detention Center.
Related Reports:
77-Year-Old Guizhou Woman Faces Indictment for Practicing Falun Gong
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