76-Year-Old Heilongjiang Woman Drugged, Beaten, and Forced to Sit for Long Hours While Serving 6 Years for Her Faith
(Minghui.org) A 76-year-old woman in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, has been subjected to ongoing abuse since she was admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison to serve a 6-year term for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Sun Shuyun was arrested on May 20, 2023, and sentenced to six years on November 25 that year. She was admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison in early 2024. She filed a motion to have her case reconsidered, but the prison's prosecutor-in-residence never responded.
Forced to Sit on a Small Stool for 28 Days
Ms. Sun was reassigned from the strict management team to team 606 in the eighth division on February 2, 2024. She refused to renounce Falun Gong, and the guards put her in the washroom and forced her to sit on a small stool (15 cm tall and 10 cm wide) that had spikes on the surface.
Torture illustration: the small-stool sitting torture.
The sitting torture, from 4 a.m. to midnight, lasted 28 days, with Ms. Sun barred from cleansing herself, brushing her teeth, or doing laundry. Liang Xue, head of the prison 610 Office, and guard Xiao Lijuan arranged for the inmates to watch her in two-person shifts.
Head inmate Dong Xiaofeng, in charge of team 606, threatened her, “We’ll make you sit until your bottom rots and sores break out all over your body. If you fall ill, your family has to cover your medical expenses. If you die, we’ll simply toss your body outside!”
While other inmates had winter coats on, Ms. Sun was only allowed to wear a thin layer. She was also often not allowed to use the restroom. She peed in the basin given to her to wash her face, and the inmates smashed a hole in the basin.
Face Covered and Unable to Breathe
Ms. Sun was moved into a cell in early March 2024 after the sitting torture. She was not allowed to leave the cell or talk to anyone.
Head inmate Dong was reassigned to team 503 in late March 2024 but moved back to team 606 in early August 2024. The second night she was back in team 606, she spotted Ms. Sun sitting in the bed with her legs crossed.
Dong ordered Ms. Sun to keep her legs straightened. She refused to comply, and Dong instructed other inmates in the cell to push her down. She screamed in pain, and Dong grabbed a blanket to cover her nose and mouth. She was unable to breathe.
In her struggle to get away, Ms. Sun subconsciously grabbed Dong’s wrists so hard that the latter’s wrists turned purple. Only then did Dong remove the blanket.
Dong reported Ms. Sun to the guards and accused her of biting her on the wrists. Ms. Sun only had one loose front tooth left and could not possibly cause biting injuries.
Drugged
A new inmate named Liu Haiyan was admitted to the prison in the summer of 2024. She went to head inmate Dong at 8 p.m. every day to pick up her depression medication. One day, another inmate casually asked what medications she was picking up, and she blurted out, “My own medication and Sun Shuyun’s.”
The other inmate wondered, “What medications is auntie Sun taking?”
Liu replied, “I thought you all knew?”
She then implored the other inmate, “Don’t ever say it’s me who told you about this.”
Only then did Ms. Sun know that head inmate Dong had been instructing inmates to lace her morning congee with drugs that caused adverse effects on the liver and kidneys. No wonder she struggled to urinate and had a bloated abdomen. She had no gray hair before her prison admission, but her hair turned gray in prison. She suspected it had something to do with the drugs too.
Pushed to Ground and Head Injured
One Sunday in October 2024, two inmates argued about the space to place their basins. The prison gave two basins to each inmate for daily use.
Ms. Sun offered her own space for the two inmates to store their basins. Head inmate Dong claimed they were only allowed to keep one basin. Ms. Sun corrected her and said she’d double-check with head inmate Chen Yang (who was in charge of all cells on the sixth floor).
As Ms. Sun walked towards the cell door, Dong pushed her so hard that she fell and hit her head on the ground. She was unable to move for a long while. Dong still attempted to hit her but was stopped by another practitioner, Ms. Wang Yabin.
The inmates then carried Ms. Sun to her bed. She knelt and bent forward, resting her head on the bedding with her eyes closed, unable to speak. After she eventually felt a bit better, she said she’d report Dong to the guards. Dong instructed other inmates to stop her from getting out of bed. She struggled to catch her breath. At the time, she had been on a hunger strike for two days.
That afternoon, an egg-sized bump appeared on her forehead. Dong threatened to put her in solitary confinement. One week later, the guard in charge finally took her to an outside hospital for treatment.
Beaten for Doing Falun Gong Exercises
Ms. Sun was taken to the washroom and forced to sit in mid-February 2025 because she did the Falun Gong exercises. As soon as she did exercises again in the washroom, Dong yanked her hair and beat her. She was brought back to her cell on February 18, 2025. Dong and other inmates still beat her as soon as she did the Falun Gong exercises. They also pushed her down on the bed with her head and upper body hanging off the bed edge.
Dong once twisted her arms behind her back so hard that she had excruciating pain.
The entire team 606 was merged into team 605 on June 20, 2025, with Dong still in charge of all the inmates. She instructed inmate Zhu Yimin to abuse Ms. Sun.
When the central government’s inspection team visited the prison on July 17, 2025, they surveyed some inmates to see if they were bullied by other inmates. Ms. Sun filled out the survey and indicated clearly that Dong constantly abused her.
The inspection team came another time and stopped at Ms. Sun’s cell. They didn’t come in but asked through the door if she had anything to report. Dong stopped her and told the inspection team that she was a mental patient. Ms. Sun, who had suffered severe hearing loss due to abuse, was unable to refute Dong’s lie about her in time. The inspection team then left.
Dong allowed Ms. Sun to do the Falun Gong exercises afterwards but still watched her closely. Dong and other inmates also taunted her using foul language, causing endless psychological harm to her.
Beaten for Filing Complaint
Ms. Sun wrote a complaint in February 2026 and submitted it to vice team captain Sha. She requested that Dong be held responsible for her abuse and that an investigation be held to see who withheld her motion to reconsider her case.
She also requested to meet with newly appointed team captain Guo. Guo ignored her.
Ms. Sun managed to get out of her cell around 2 p.m. on March 28, 2026. She yelled outside Guo’s office, “Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is being wronged!”
A group of inmates emerged to stop her. Wang Yingxin and Li Bo covered her mouth, while others pushed her down on the ground. Zhu Yimin grabbed one of her arms, and Zhang Yanjie dragged her by the feet. Wang Tang punched her.
These inmates were all trained by Dong to “handle” Ms. Sun, when Dong held sessions every Saturday, instructing them what to do with Ms. Sun under what circumstances.
Confined in Cell Since Prison Admission
Head inmates Dong and Chen also didn’t allow Ms. Sun to step out of her cell. She reported this to the guard in charge. He asked if she could guarantee she would not talk to anyone if outside of her cell. She said yes, and the guard asked Chen to lift the restriction. Chen said no, so Ms. Sun has not been allowed outside of her cell even once since she was admitted to prison. [The prison gave head inmates discretion in abusing Ms. Sun because it needed the inmates to carry out the persecution of her.]
Dong and Chen also forced her to sit on a small bench for long hours every day, resulting in poor blood circulation in her body. Her legs were very thin, and her abdomen was so bloated that she looked five months pregnant.
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