(Minghui.org)
Name: Zhao WenxiuChinese Name: 赵文秀Gender: FemaleAge: 83City: Lu CountyProvince: SichuanOccupation: N/ADate of Death: around March 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 2019Most Recent Place of Detention: Chengdu Women’s Prison
An 83-year-old woman in Lu County, Sichuan Province died around March 2025 while serving a 7.5-year term for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Zhao Wenxiu was arrested in March 2019 and secretly sentenced months later. The Lu County Court never updated her family on her case status or responded to their repeated inquires. They didn’t learn of her wrongful conviction until the Chengdu Women’s Prison (also known as Longquanyi Women’s Prison) notified them of her prison admission. When they asked the court for a copy of the verdict, they were told that it was only issued to Ms. Zhao when, by law, family defenders and lawyers are also entitled to a copy.
Despite her already declining health, Ms. Zhao was admitted to the prison on May 7, 2019. The caller who notified her family said she was found to “have no illness at all” after a physical exam. She died around March 2025.
Ms. Zhao’s latest prison sentence was preceded by two prior ones. She was given three and a half years in 2004 and served time at the Sichuan Province Women’s Prison (located in Yangma Town, Jianyang City). She was sentenced to another five years in August 2014 and was allowed to serve time at home. See the related report for details of her past persecution and latest prison sentence.
Ms. Zhao was not the first Falun Gong practitioner who died while serving time at or shortly after being released from the prison.
Chengdu Women’s Prison is located at 200 Longhong Road in Hong’an Town, the Longquanyi District, Chengdu City. The torture methods the guards used on jailed Falun Gong practitioners included: shocking with electric batons, hanging up by handcuffs, exposure to extremely cold or hot weather, forced standing or sitting for long hours in military positions, force-feeding, injections with nerve-damaging drugs, tying up in unnatural positions, forced blood draws, needle jabs, waterboarding, slamming their heads against a wall, limited toilet use, solitary confinement, denial of family visits, and having unknown drugs added to their food. The guards also played videos that slandered Falun Dafa and its founder in an attempt to brainwash the practitioners.
At least seven other practitioners died as a result of torture since 2013. They include Ms. Chen Shikang, Ms. Hu Xia, Ms. Yan Hongmei, Ms. Hu Yanshun (also known as Hu Tingshun), Ms. Liang Wende, Ms. Ding Guoqin, and Ms. Gao Chunxiu. Many more became disabled or mentally incapacitated after being tortured.
77-year-old Woman Given Third Prison Term for Her Faith Without Family Knowledge