Jilin Woman Loses Ability to Talk While Serving 6 Years in Prison

Ms. Jin Min (金敏), born 1967, is a 55 year old resident of Tonghua City, Jilin Province. She was formerly an employee at Tonghua Iron and Steel. On September 11, 2020, she was arrested by the Shuanghe Town authorities after being reported for telling local taxi drivers about the persecution of Falun Dafa by the Chinese Communist Party. On September 14, she was arrested again by Chuanying District police. A hearing took place in secret without notifying her family, and she was sentenced to six years in prison at the Jilin City Detention Center by the Chuanying District Court. On August 29, 2022, Ms. Jin was transferred to Division 8 of Jilin Province Women’s Prison. She is expected to be released on September 16, 2026.

Ms. Jin is currently being denied family visits and phone calls. It was reported that Ms. Jin’s family was notified of this via an automated message when her father had called the prison warden as well as the head of Division 8 multiple times in early September. It was also stated that anyone who attempts to help Ms. Jin contact her family would be punished.

In November, Ms. Jin’s sister went to the prison in an attempt to see her, but no one received her at the prison gate.

In early December, Ms. Jin’s niece was notified by the vice-head of Division 8, Gao Yang, via phone call that Ms. Jin had suddenly lost the ability to talk and asked for her medical history. Ms. Jin’s daughter, who was with her at the time, had requested if she could talk to her mother. However, she was told that her request needed reviewing. As of the time of this writing, the prison has yet to contact her regarding the request.

It was reported that Ms. Jin’s family was allowed to deposit money into her commissary account in early December. Ms. Jin’s niece had deposited 500 yuan, but it is not clear whether Ms. Jin ever received the money.

The authorities have a history of withholding information regarding Ms. Jin’s imprisonment. In mid-October, 2021, Ms. Jin’s family learned about her unlawful sentence by the Jilin Chuanying District Court. They hired a lawyer to file a complaint to the Jilin Intermediate Court, but they upheld the sentence without hearing, and her family eventually learned that she had been transferred to Jilin Province Women’s Prison.

With recent developments of Ms. Jin inability to talk, her family now suspects that she is being abused in prison.

Since the persecution of Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, by the Chinese authorities in 1999, Ms. Jin has been arrested many times. Prior to her latest sentence, she was once sentenced to prison and assigned forced labor on three occasions, and endured brutal torture at various detention facilities for a total of eight years.

Based on a report published by Minghui.org.