Ms. Ding Zhenfang, 62, Liaoning

Name: Ding Zhenfang (???)
Gender: Female
Age: 62
Occupation: Bookstore owner
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 16, 2007
Date of Most Recent Release: Died in custody
Date of Death: August 1, 2011
Province: Liaoning
City: Dalian
Most Recent Place of Detention: Liaoning Province Women’s Prison (???????)

Case Details:  

In July 2008, Ms. Ding Zhenfang was sentenced after a sham trial to an eight-year prison term for talking about Falun Gong.  Emaciated and covered with disfiguring wounds, she died on August 1, 2011.  

Since 1999, Ms. Ding was detained several times for “talking about Falun Gong” and spent at least seven years in prisons and detention centers, including Masanjia and Yaojia Detention Centers. Ms. Ding’s husband was allowed to visit her in 2010 at the Liaoning Women’s Prison where she whispered to him, “I’m going to die here. They beat me everyday.”  

Torture methods she suffered reportedly included wrapping her entire body in plastic wrap and making two small holes, one for breathing and one for force-feeding.  In another instance, her neck, wrists and ankles were chained to a single metal ring on the floor so that she was forced to sit, hunched over. She was kept in this position for over 40 days.

Several times family members were allowed to visit her, but they could not recognize her as a result of her injuries. Several days before she died, her husband encouraged her to eat more, seeing that she was emaciated. Too weak to answer, she pointed at her stomach, communicating that she could not hold down food.  

Prison personnel transferred Ms. Ding to the Shenyang No. 739 Hospital on the eve of her death and videotaped doctors trying to resuscitate her, telling her family members, “Ding chose this path. We tried our best. You see that we have a video of the hospital trying to save her. If you file a lawsuit, we are not afraid.”