(Minghui.org) About 20 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested on April 25, 2013, in Benxi City, Liaoning Province. The mass arrests were carried out by agents from the Benxi City 610 Office and Police Department starting around 3 a.m. Many of the practitioners were sent to detention centers in the evening of the same day. No legal documents were presented.
The following is a partial list of the practitioners who were arrested on this day. (Some of the names are pending further verification.)
Among those arrested around 7 a.m. by agents from the Benxi City Police Department's Domestic Security Division were Ms. Wang Xiuyan, Ms. Wang Xiulian, Ms. Sun Yuxia, Xiaoqing, Mr. Gao Cong, Ms. Li Yan, Mr. Gao Gang, Ms. Ma Xiang, Mr. Gao Gang, and Ms. Li Hongyan.
Mr. Gao Cong was also arrested and taken to the Jinshan Police Station in the morning. At 8 p.m., he was taken to the Dabailou Detention Center. A female practitioner was also arrested at the same time; her name is unknown.
Mr. Li Yi was arrested at home by around seven officers on the morning of the same day. He is being held at the Benxi City Detention Center.
Ms. Li Yan was also arrested in the morning. Reportedly, she was later released.
Ms. Wang Xiuyan was arrested at home at noon. Her older sister and Ms. Heng Yanyun were arrested in the morning. Ms. Heng was released on the morning of the following day.
Recently, a practitioner residing near Fengyang Pool in Qianjin Dongfeng Community of Benxi City was also arrested at his residential building. According to a witness who lives nearby, he rented an apartment there. The arrested practitioner was in his fifties or sixties, around 5 foot 5 inches tall with gray hair, reported the witness. Approximately 10 police officers were involved. One police officer carried a bag with a computer and other items confiscated from the apartment.
Around four other practitioners were arrested at Beitai by officers from the Xinming Police Station in Benxi City. Reportedly, these practitioners had been monitored by police for over a year prior to the arrest.
