Ms. Cui Shuzhi, female, 63, resident of Zhaozhou County, Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province

Ms. Cui started practicing Falun Gong in July 1996. After that, all of her illnesses, including a uterine tumor, periarthritis of the shoulder, tuberculosis, heart disease, nephropathy, severe tracheitis, and aching heels completely cleared up. All her family members are practicing Falun Gong.

After the persecution against Falun Gong started in July 1999, local policeman Yu Jingxin, and local government officials went to her home many times to harass and threaten her and her family members. Because she persisted in her practicing of Falun Gong, Ms. Cui was sent to a forced brainwashing center in June 2000. At that time, her second daughter was detained because she had appealed to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong.

At the end of December 2000, Ms. Cui went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. She was arrested on Tiananmen Square and sent to jail. Several days later, she was escorted back to her hometown in Zhaozhou County, and detained for six months. While detained, she sustained brutal beatings. Once, during interrogation, Wang Xuejun, an officer from the Political and Security Department of the Zhaozhou County Police Station dragged her by the hair and slammed her head against the wall.

On January 7, 2002, her husband, Lou Lixun, passed away due to the pressure and harassments from the local government. Her second daughter was sentenced to forced labor.

At one point, Ms. Cui succumbed to the torture and forced brainwashing and wrote a statement renouncing Falun Gong. Afterwards, she felt so much remorse that she soon published a statement in a oversea website to state that her words were the result of forced brainwashing and it against her will. From then on, the officials intensified their harassment of her and came to her home frequently. The torture, constant harassment, the death of her husband and her daughter’s sentencing, affected her both physically and mentally. Ms. Cui passed away on March 1, 2005.

type=case, death; type=case,women;location=Heilongjiang, Daqing