Tan Zaizhi - 谭再芝
Ms. Tan used to work for the Chinese Herbal Pharmacy in the Dongchuan District Traditional Chinese Hospital in Kunming City, Yun'nan Province. Before Ms. Tan practiced Falun Gong, she suffered from nephritis, a chronic inflammation of the kidney, and several other illnesses. Because she did not have enough money, she left her illnesses untreated. Her nephritis eventually turned into uremia, an accumulation in the blood of waste products normally eliminated in the urine that produces a severe toxic condition.
After Ms. Tan started to practice Falun Gong in 1997, all of her illnesses disappeared without any medical treatment. She became very healthy from then on. On February 14, 2000, the local police abducted her because she participated in a group exercise practice in Dongchuan, and illegally detained her for 27 days. After she was released, the Traditional Chinese Hospital fired her from her job because she would not renounce Falun Gong. The area's "610 Office" and the local police not only put her under surveillance around the clock, but also went to her home and harassed her. They also pressured her husband, who worked at the Agriculture Bank, into making her stop practicing Falun Gong, or they would suspend his salary. Her husband and her son gave in to their terrorist tactics and smashed her boom box and exercise tapes so that she could not practice the Falun Gong exercises. They also hid her Falun Gong books so that she could not read them any more. As a result, Ms. Tan's nephritis resurfaced, and her body became swollen. Her family plotted with a doctor and coaxed her to the hospital. They then held her to the bed while giving her infusions and drugs against her will. Their brutal acts caused her illness to accelerate, and Ms. Tan died at midnight on April 26, 2001.
