(Minghui.org) A 51-year-old woman serving 15 years for her faith in Falun Gong was ordered to cover her own medical expenses even though the prison authorities are required by law to provide medical care to inmates.
Ms. Niu Xiaona of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, developed progressive rheumatoid arthritis while a college student in the 1990s. Her knees were extremely swollen and bent nearly 90 degrees. Her arms were also swollen and crossed in front of her chest. Her finger joints were deformed from the swelling as well.
After she began to practice Falun Gong, her pain disappeared and the swelling subsided. But because the membrane that covered the outer surface of her bones and where her muscles and tendons attached had already deteriorated, her legs were so badly deformed that she couldn’t stand up on her feet anymore. She remains wheelchair-bound and unable to get out of bed, walk, shower, or use the restroom on her own.
Before she was transferred to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison in late May 2024 to serve the 15-year term, she only got to wash her face four times with the help of other inmates during the two months she was held in the detention center.
Ms. Niu’s father, 79, visited numerous government agencies to seek her release but to no avail. His daughter’s medications were only available from a particular pharmacy that only accepts cash. He also had a hard time coming up with funds to put in his daughter’s commissary account.
Still mourning his wife’s death on November 5, 2023, he doesn’t know how much longer he can keep this up.
Ms. Niu was sentenced to prison after she was arrested on April 19, 2021. Despite her disability, the authorities held her in detention for three months before releasing her on bail. They arrested her again on March 19, 2024, and put her in the Harbin City Second Detention Center.
The Harbin Railroad Transportation Court convicted Ms. Niu in late September 2022, ordering her to serve a 15-year sentence, including a 14-year term handed down in 2004, which Ms. Niu already served outside of prison per court order due to her disability. Following her latest conviction, however, the Harbin Railroad Transportation Court claimed that Ms. Niu failed to provide official documentation proving she served the 14-year sentence outside of prison and thus ordered the combined term of 15 years. Ms. Niu was also fined 1,000 yuan. She appealed the verdict to the higher court but there is no report yet regarding the outcome of her appeal.
To avoid being jailed, Ms. Niu went into hiding, only to be seized on March 19, 2024, while she was still mourning her mother’s death.
Ms. Niu’s mother, Ms. Tuo Wenxia, was arrested with her on April 19, 2021, also for practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Tuo was later released on bail. While on bail, she was diagnosed with late-stage endometrial cancer. Her doctor couldn’t operate on her, because she had hyperthyroidism, which caused a metabolic disorder and influenced the progression of the endometrial cancer. In the months that followed, her condition continued to worsen. She ran a fever and was in constant pain. When she was taken to a hospital, the doctors discovered that her cancer had spread to her other organs. She died on November 5, 2023, at the age of 73.
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