Belated News: Husband Dies Seven Years after Wife’s Passing Due to Persecution of Their Shared Faith in Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Once healthy and strong, Mr. Li Guogang suffered incontinence, memory loss, and mental disorder when he was released after serving one year at the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

After struggling with failing health for nearly a decade, Mr. Li passed away at the age of 65 on January 3, 2020, seven years after his wife died due to the persecution of their shared faith.

Mr. Li’s Death

Mr. Li, who used to work in a paper mill in Linghai City, Liaoning Province, had prostate disease in 1995 and was hospitalized for a month. He was very weak after he was discharged and had to wear thick pants in the summer. In March 1996, he was introduced to Falun Gong. Not long after that, he recovered and returned to work. Amazed by his recovery, many of his family members also began to practice Falun Gong.

After the persecution began in 1999, Mr. Li went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. He was arrested in September 1999 and held in the Linghai City Lockup for a year. In 2003, he was arrested again and given one year in Jinzhou Forced Labor Camp.

On his way home after work on the evening of July 18, 2010, police officers stopped Mr. Li on a bridge and arrested him. He was taken to the Domestic Security Division for interrogation and held in the Linghai City Lockup for 15 days. He was then held in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp for one year.

Mr. Li was released on July 18, 2011. At 3:50 a.m. on July 23, he suddenly got up, woke his sister who was living with him, and said that he had to go outside as there was a foul smell in the home. He went out, only to come back five minutes later, saying the same smell was outside. As he was talking, he began to groan, fell down, and started convulsing and foaming at the mouth. The convulsion lasted for about 40 minutes and he lost consciousness for 15 minutes. The next day, he had four similar episodes and became incontinent.

Mr. Li’s family took him to the hospital for a blood test and brain imaging. The doctor said that his condition was caused by encephalitis and sent him home.

For the next few weeks, Mr. Li’s condition kept deteriorating. His memory declined rapidly. When he went out, he couldn’t find his way home. He was constantly hungry and kept eating. He also became irritable and often lost his temper.

Mr. Li’s daughter took him to the hospital for an MRI on September 7, 2011. Because Mr. Li kept having spasms, the doctor gave him three injections of a tranquilizer, which had no effect. The doctor suspected that he might have an infection of the central nervous system.

Mr. Li was hospitalized for ten days but still didn’t improve. Unable to afford to keep paying 1,000 yuan a day, his daughter took him home.

After that, Mr. Li got even worse. He couldn’t sleep. He often rolled his eyes and talked nonsense. Because his family wasn’t able to take care of him around the clock, they took him to a senior center.

After struggling with his mental condition for over nine years, Mr. Li passed away on January 3, 2020. His family suspects that he might have been injected with toxic drugs in the labor camp.

Wife’s Death

Mr. Li’s wife Ms. Wang Lanzhi went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in July 1999. She was arrested on October 28 in Beijing and held at the Dongcheng District Detention Center for 38 days before being transferred to the Beijing No.1 Detention Center (also known as the Changping Detention Center). On November 16, she was fired from the Jincheng Papermaking Company.

The authorities approved Ms. Wang’s arrest on December 4, 1999. A month later, she was taken back to the Dongcheng District Detention Center and later sentenced to six months by the Dongcheng District Court.

Ms. Wang appealed the verdict with the Beijing No.2 Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original sentence.

When her term ended on April 26, 2000, Ms. Wang was transferred back to Linghai. But the authorities took her straight to a brainwashing center and ordered her to write a statement promising not to practice Falun Gong or go to Beijing to appeal again. Her family was forced to pay the police 1,000 yuan bail.

Ms. Wang was arrested again in mid-February 2003 for hanging up a “Falun Dafa is good” banner. She was sentenced to six years in Liaoning Province Women’s Prison.

The evening she was admitted to the prison, the guards forced her to stand in the laundry room and ordered the inmates to beat her. They slapped her head, face, and shoulders with their slippers. Ms. Wang screamed in pain and woke up many other inmates.

Because Ms. Wang refused to renounce Falun Gong, the guards forced her to stand in the laundry room in just her underwear every night. During the day, she was constantly beaten and verbally abused. Inmate Zhang Yanping, who’d been convicted of murder, once slapped her in the face, pushed her down, and pulled her hair to force her to stand up because Ms. Wang refused to read books that slandered Falun Gong. Zhang herself once recalled that every time she beat Ms. Wang, she slapped her face more than 30 times.

Other inmates pinched Ms. Wang all over, which left her bruised. When the inmates were upset, they also beat Ms. Wang to let off steam. They bragged that they didn’t have to ask for permission from the guards to beat her. And the guards warned Ms. Wang that if she wanted to report the beatings, she had to get permission from the inmates that were assigned to monitor her.

When the inmates’ hands hurt from beating her, they hit Ms. Wang with their shoes or clothes racks. They stuffed her mouth with their clothes and didn’t let her talk. She had to eat and walk according to their requirements.

The torture caused Ms. Wang to have slow reactions and her eyes were dull. By the time she was released, she was already in a delirious state.

After Mr. Li was arrested in July 2010, the police ransacked their home when Ms. Wang was at home by herself. She was terrified, and her mental disorder worsened. She wandered about and didn’t dare to return home. On February 12, 2013, the third day of the Chinese New Year, Ms. Wang passed away.