Woman locked up in "mortuary" longs to reunite family

Chen Qingxia has been confined to a room among a row of former mortuary bungalows, for more than three years, with posters bearing cries for mercy acting as her only form of communication until her story was reported this week.

"My family has been broken up by the re-education through labor system," said Chen, a resident of the Dailing district of the city of Yichun in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Chen and her family first felt the pain of re-education through labor in June 2003, when her husband Song Lisheng was sentenced to one year and nine months in a re-education through labor camp for destroying public property.

Chen said her husband was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 2001 following a dispute with a neighbor.

After her husband served his sentence, Chen and her family traveled to Beijing in 2007 to protest his treatment, as she believes his mental condition should've been considered in his sentence.

However, more tragedy awaited her in the capital.

"Government staff from Yichun separated me from my only son when we traveled to Beijing in 2007 to protest. He is still missing," Chen said.

Chen herself was sentenced to one year and eight months in a re-education for labor camp in her home city as punishment for protesting. Although she was permitted to leave the camp around the end of 2008, the local government was not yet ready to truly set her free.

They settled her in a house that formerly served as a mortuary, where she has lived ever since. She is monitored by government staff and is not allowed to leave the house, although local officials have given her permission to speak with others following a Thursday report by China National Radio that detailed her plight.

Public criticism of the re-education through labor system has mounted following several recent incidents.

Last August, a woman in central China's Hunan Province was sentenced to 18 months in a labor camp after demanding tougher penalties for the seven men convicted of abducting, raping and prostituting her 11-year-old daughter.

Tang Hui was released within a week following complaints from academics, state media and the public.

It was announced at a national political and legal work conference held in early January that the government will work to reform the re-education through labor system this year.

The Dailing district government, pressured by mounting public criticism regarding Chen's case, said late Thursday that it will take care of her out of humanitarian concerns.

"The government settled her (in the house) due to medical convenience, as it is located near a welfare house and a hospital," said Xia Jingtao, head of the district government.

Xia said the district government has found a new apartment for Chen to live in and is looking for her lost son.

The local government has also agreed to cover all of Chen's medical and living expenses, said Zhang Yuewen, secretary of the Dailing District Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC).

"For Chen, having a complete family means having a healthy husband and an active child. The way to comfort her now is to find her son," said Zhang, adding that plans to compensate Chen and her family are being made.