(Minghui.org) Editor’s note: This is part of a series of death cases newly translated by the English site of Minghui.org. These cases have long been published on the Chinese site of Minghui.org but have not been translated until now.
Name: Sun XiuzhiChinese Name: 孙秀芝Gender: FemaleAge: 51City: JixiProvince: HeilongjiangOccupation: salespersonDate of Death: June 4, 2011Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 2003Most Recent Place of Detention: Heilongjiang Province Women’s Labor Camp
A 51-year-old resident of Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, died on June 4, 2011, while in displacement to avoid being arrested again for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Sun Xiuzhi’s passing capped her decades of persecution for holding firm to her faith, which she took up in June 1996.
Ms. Sun was arrested in July 1999 and detained for several hours. She went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in January 2000 and was arrested at Tiananmen Square. After she revealed her name and address, the Beijing police notified their counterparts working at Weihai (in Shandong Province)’s Liaison Office in Beijing. She was living in Shandong at the time. Four Weihai police officers soon arrived and took Ms. Sun to their office. That night they punched and kicked her. They also twisted one of her arms behind her back to be cuffed together with the other arm pulled over her shoulder from the front.
The next day police from Rushan City (which is under the administration of Weihai) picked Ms. Sun up from Beijing and took her to the Rushan City Detention Center. Her home was raided that day with all her Falun Gong books confiscated. She went on a hunger strike and was released on the 7th day (even though she was given a 15-day detention).
Ms. Sun was arrested again at an unknown time after being reported for doing Falun Gong exercises in a park. After being released, the Shandong police forced her to move back to her hometown in Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province.
Four officers from the Pinggang Police Station in Jixi City arrested Ms. Sun in November 2001 after receiving a tip that she talked to people about Falun Gong. They interrogated her and cuffed her hands to a heating pipe. That night she tried to escape but was quickly captured. The police put shackles on her and transferred her to the Jixi City First Detention Center the next day.
Five months later in April 2002, Ms. Sun was given one year of forced labor. Her family was forced to pay 200 yuan to cover the transportation cost to get her to Heilongjiang Province Women’s Labor Camp (located in the capital city of Harbin).
The police took Ms. Sun to a designated hospital for a mandatory physical examination first and she was found to be unfit for detention. The labor camp declined to admit her and she was taken back to the Pinggang Police Station the next day. The police demanded 2,500 yuan from her family in exchange for her release. Her family said they did not have that much money and the police eventually extorted 2,000 yuan and released her.
Four officers from the Jixi City Police Department arrested Ms. Sun in early April 2002 and held her at the Jixi City Second Detention Center. When her mother-in-law went to pick her up in May 2002, chief Rui Changqing from the Zhangxin Police Station said the 610 Office garnished 1,540 yuan from Ms. Sun’s husband’s pay to cover her transportation cost to Harbin.
Only six days after her release, Ms. Sun was arrested again and taken to the Jixi City Police Department. Officer Kong removed her socks and shackled her feet to a heating pipe. Officer Sun Fu used a PVC pipe to beat her bare feet and didn’t allow her to use the restroom when she had to go. He put a hard hat on her head and kept beating her. He also forced her to run laps. The torture lasted until past 2 a.m. when they took off to sleep. Officer Liu Honggui was tasked with watching her that night.
The next morning, officer Sun ordered Ms. Sun to sign the interrogation records. She said no and he wrote down, “She refused to sign.” He then drove her to the Jixi City Second Detention Center.
Chief Rui extorted several thousands of yuan from Ms. Sun’s family while she was in detention. Seven months later, in December 2002, she was finally released. She went to the domestic security division to demand the return of the confiscated 380 yuan cash during her arrest, but it was unclear whether the police gave the money back.
Ms. Sun was caring for her sick husband at home in February 2003 when about five plainclothes officers broke in and arrested her. Her mother-in-law went to seek her release but chief Rui fabricated evidence and gave Ms. Sun two years of forced labor. The local labor camp declined to admit her after she failed the required physical examination. Deputy chief Wang, officer Wang Rongfa, and a community worker surnamed Chen each gave the labor camp a 1,000 yuan bribe and got Ms. Sun admitted.
The labor camp guards beat her, force-fed her, and even ripped off her top to expose her breasts. They extended her term by three months in 2003 after catching her reading Falun Gong's teachings. She was released on June 11, 2005.
The authorities dispatched a person named Liang Hongmei to stay in a white car outside Ms. Sun’s home to monitor her on May 11-12, 2008. The next day (May 13), a tipster reported her talking to people about Falun Gong at a local fair that morning. At 9 a.m. that day, more than 20 officers descended on Ms. Sun’s home in three cruisers. They ordered her husband to step outside before raiding the home. They turned everything upside down. They even attempted to search the dog house.
Ms. Sun was not home that day. Her husband noted that the police seized their laptop, printer, portrait of the Falun Gong founder, four cell phones, electric razors, and 3,250 yuan in cash.
From that day on, plainclothes officers roamed inside and outside Ms. Sun’s home every day. When her husband went to pick firewood in the morning, he was followed by a white car. His mother went to seek the confiscated cash, and officer Liu Honggui accused Ms. Sun of taking her money.
The police also instructed Ms. Sun’s employer to freeze her pay account. They put her on the wanted list.
Ms. Sun remained in hiding in her final years and died in displacement on June 4, 2011.