(Minghui.org) Two residents of Shenyang City remain detained for trying to seek the release of a resident of Dalian City illegally imprisoned for exercising her right to freedom of belief.
Mr. Piao Dongfang and Ms. Zhu Weifeng, both Shenyang natives, were arrested days after they accompanied the mother of Ms. Zhou Haiyan, from Dalian, to visit the Kaifa District Court and Procuratorate, and the Huanghailu Police Station in Dalian.
Mr. Piao, Ms. Zhu, and Ms. Zhou are all practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
Ms. Zhou's mother, accompanied by Mr. Piao and Ms. Zhu, discussed her upcoming trial with judge Wang Qian on May 29. Wang notified the police of their visit.
Ms. Zhu accompanied Ms. Zhou's mother again on May 30 to visit the same departments, requesting the release Ms. Zhou.
When Ms. Zhu accompanied Ms. Zhou's mother a third time, on May 31, they were arrested outside of the mother's apartment complex. The mother was released hours later, but Ms. Zhu has since remained in detention. She was brought back to Shenyang on June 1.
As June 1 was a school holiday, Mr. Piao had taken his 9-year-old nephew and his 77-year-old mother to a local park. The nephew's father, Mr. Piao's younger brother, had been persecuted to death years ago for refusing to renounce Falun Gong.
Mr. Piao stepped out later that evening to run some errands but never returned. Moments after he left, more than ten police officers stormed into his apartment. Four of them restrained Mr. Paio's mother and the rest began searching the home.
Mr. Piao's nephew was so terrified that he cried out loud.
The police confiscated two computers, two printers, and Falun Gong books. They forced Mr. Piao's mother to sign and fingerprint a blank piece of paper. They refused to reveal where they'd taken Mr. Piao, and his mother later reported him missing.
