Liang Ying - 梁瑛

Chinese name:
梁瑛
Gender:
Female
Age:
57
City:
Zhangjiakou City
Province:
Hebei
Occupation:
Date of Death:
2010-05-14
Date of Most Recent Arrest:
2008-10-23
Most recent place of detention:
Zhangjiakou City Detention Center
Case Description:

Ms. Liang, who worked as a Party cadre, began to practice Falun Gong in 1995 and was able to recover from severe kidney disease and other illnesses through the practice. She was well regarded at work, where she earned the "Excellent Worker" award several times, as well as within her family and the community.

Ms. Liang's husband, also a practitioner, was illegally arrested by the local police in April 2001 for the third time. He was sentenced to two years in prison after refusing to sign a guarantee statement. Ms. Liang and several other practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong, but they were arrested and detained.

During her detention in August 2001, the local officials tried to force Ms. Liang to be publicly denounced in front of the town alongside some death row inmates. When she refused to go, five policemen forcefully carried her outside and into the police car while her clothes were pulled up, exposing her chest, abdomen, and back. The officers then took her to the venue to be denounced and humiliated. Then they hung a sign around her neck, put her in the back of a pick-up truck, and paraded her through the streets.

Ms. Liang was sentenced to five years in prison on August 27, 2002. She went on a hunger strike several times to protest the persecution, but the guards force-fed her, and her health deteriorated. Her weight decreased from 75kg to less than 40kg, her body swelled up, and she had symptoms of heart disease, high blood pressure, and difficulty eating.

Ms. Liang's family also suffered greatly at the time of her and her husband's imprisonment. Her mother-in-law passed away while grieving. The officials tried to extort money from her father to pay for her medical expenses, which were legally required to be covered by the detention center. Her two school-aged children had to be raised and supported by relatives.

Ms. Liang was transferred to Baoding Mancheng Prison in August 2003, and subsequently transferred to Shijiazhuang Number Two Prison and then to Hebei Women's Prison. Her physical condition continued to deteriorate: She became very weak, her lower jaw trembled, and she was forced to take medication to stay alive. She was released on May 9, 2006.

Ms. Liang was subsequently arrested and detained three additional times between 2006 and 2010. Her health continued to worsen due to the mental and physical torture endured throughout the persecution. The illnesses she acquired while imprisoned, including heart disease, asthma, and recurrence of kidney disease, became more severe, and she died from a heart attack on May 14, 2010.