Christian He Shuiyin Dies After Police Intentionally Delay Medical Treatment While in Custody

He Shuiyin, female, born on October 19, 1967, aged 46, resident of Village No.5, Longmen Town, Fuyang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province; joined The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in 2008.

In June 2009, He Shuiyin was diagnosed with malignant gastric lymphoma. After receiving chemotherapy and pharmaceutical treatment, her conditions were basically stablized. Around April 2010, when she was discharged from the hospital, the physician explained to her family that she needed to properly convalesce and continue to take Chinese herbal medicine at home. After returning home, she managed to perform housework and ride a scooter to participate in gatherings and gospel preaching. Her physical condition was relatively good.

In December 2012, He Shuiyin was arrested and detained for 15 days by the police of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for preaching the gospel. During detention, the police knew that she was suffering from malignant gastric lymphoma, but deprived her of medication. Coupled with the poor and inadequate food of the detention center, her originally stable conditions deteriorated as a result. By the time she was released, her cancer cells had spread beyond treatment. On November 9, 2013, she died at the age of 46. The following is the story of He Shuiyin’s fatal persecution:

On the afternoon of December 16, 2012, while preaching the gospel in Village No.5, Longmen Town, Fuyang District, He Shuiyin and another Christian were arrested by two policemen from the Longmen Town Police Station and escorted to the Longmen Town Police Station.

At the police station, they were forcibly searched, photographed and interrogated by the police. The police clearly knew that He Shuiyin had cancer and needed medication daily, yet in the end they still sentenced her to detention for 15 days for “disrupting public order.” In the early morning of December 17, she was escorted to the Qiufeng Detention Center in Fuyang District.

The food at the detention center was poor. Breakfast was a thin rice soup and a 77 little mixed vegetable. Lunch and dinner were some yellowish coarse rice, stale meat and braised radish with a strong muttony odor. The radish was laced with mud and the vegetable overcooked without oil. Some of the eggs in the so-called tomato eggdrop soup were already spoiled. She was malnourished. The cold and damp of the prison room, coupled with the thin and dirty blanket, made her unable to sleep at night because of the chill. Her body resistance rapidly deteriorated. She became increasingly weak. The lymph nodes on her neck and waist became inflamed and swollen.

On the seventh or eighth day of her detention, He Shuiyin’s husband visited her and discovered that there were numerous lymph nodes on her neck. Her husband left some western medicine with the prison guards for He Shuiyin, but the prison guards never gave it to her.

On December 24, He Shuiyin told her cellmate, a Christian named Jiang Xingchen, that she was having a malignant gastric lymphoma attack and experiencing severe pain. She also said that her husband and elder sister had given her medical report to the prisoner, but the prison guard still insisted on detaining her for the entire 15 days. When Jiang pressed the bell for the medicine to be brought to He Shuiyin, the prison guard came in and said fiercely, “What medicine? Die when it is time to die!”

In the following days, He Shuiyin’s condition became increasingly worse. The lymph nodes on her neck and waist grew to the size of a quail egg. She really could not stand the pain. So she reclined on the wide bed. Two or three minutes later, the prison guard said fiercely, “Get up and fold the blanket! You are a prisoner. Who gave such freedom? You just lie down when you want to lie down?!” He Shuiyin had no choice but to get up quickly while bearing the pain.

Due to malnutrition and deprivation of medication by the prison guards, He Shuiyin’s conditions deteriorated rapidly. The swellness of the lymph nodes on her neck and waist did not subside. She was tormented by illness every day and unable to sleep at night. She endured and struggled with the pain until the release date.

On January 1, 2013, He Shuiyin was released from prison. Her husband immediately took her to the Fuyang City People’s Hospital for examination. After the examination, the physician said that the cancer cells had spread beyond cure. There was no need for chemotherapy. She stayed in the hospital on intravenous infusion for two weeks, but the swelling of the lymph did not subside. The only thing she could do was to go home with some medicine. While she was on medication, her body became weaker and weaker. She could only take several mouthfuls of liquid food each day.

By July 2013, He Shuiyin’s physical condition was already very serious. The lymph nodes under her armpits and inner thighs were swollen to fist-size. The lymph nodes below her cheeks also swelled beyond the grasp of one hand.

On November 9, 2013, He Shuiyin died of illness at the age of 46.