(Minghui.org) Three Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province residents were arrested on July 1, 2020, while putting up information about Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The police ransacked the practitioners’ homes and confiscated their Falun Gong books and materials, as well as their personal computers. Ms. Xu Yanping and Ms. Zuo Ying have been detained at Jiamusi Detention Center since. Ms. Li Shuxian was released on bail after she was denied admission due to high blood pressure.
The police threatened Ms. Xu’s husband: “She was arrested on July 1, which is the Chinese Communist Party’s birthday. It’s also an important day for the Communist Party to pass the security law in Hong Kong. Now we’ve put her in criminal detention, and we are planning to give her a prison term, three years at least.”
Fearing that Ms. Zuo’s bedridden, eighty-year-old mother-in-law couldn’t withstand the agony of her arrest, her family told her that Ms. Zuo had gone on a trip and would return after a while.
Below are more details about the persecution Ms. Xu and Ms. Zuo have suffered for refusing to renounce their faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Xu Yanping
Ms. Xu, 58, took up Falun Gong in 1996. She credits the practice for improving her health and elevating her mind.
For appealing for the right to practice Falun Gong at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on March 30, 2002, Ms. Xu was arrested and taken to the Miyun County Detention Center in suburban Beijing.
The police handcuffed her and forced her to stand barefoot on the concrete floor. When she refused to answer questions about herself, the officers slapped her in the face and beat her hands and ankles with a rod. Her hands and feet were bruised.
After she was taken back to Jiamusi four days later, the local police brought her to the Changsheng Police Station for interrogation. She developed a serious medical condition and was released. The police extorted 13,000 yuan from her husband. Both of her thumbs remained numb for over two months from the beatings.
Ms. Xu was arrested again around 9 p.m. on April 9, 2002. Many of her Falun Gong books were confiscated. She developed a medical condition again in the detention center and was carried back home around midnight.
Ms. Xu’s next arrest and home-ransacking was on October 30, 2007. The police gave her one year of forced labor and extorted 16,000 yuan from her husband together with the detention center guards. After 20 days of detention, Ms. Xu became seriously ill and was released on medical parole.
In addition to the arrests and detention, the police also frequently harassed Ms. Xu at home and work. Her husband developed a heart problem after living in fear every day for years. Their son was forced to drop out of middle school in September 2002 and moved out of town to work. He died in an accident years later.
Ms. Zuo Ying
Ms. Zuo, 56, has also been arrested several times in the past 21 years for her faith in Falun Gong.
Officers broke into her home on April 11, 2001. They searched all over her place and confiscated her 10-year-old son’s toy gun, leaving the boy in tears. Ms. Zuo and her husband, who doesn’t practice Falun Gong, were taken to the police station for interrogation. She refused to answer their questions and wrote “Falun Dafa is good” on a piece of paper. The police held her hands and pressed her fingerprints on the paper. Although Ms. Zuo was released shortly thereafter, her husband was held in custody overnight. The police also extorted 1,000 yuan from the family.
The police ransacked Ms. Zuo’s home again on June 3, 2011, and confiscated her computer and a calendar printed with information about Falun Gong. While she wasn’t home, the police arrested her husband and son and interrogated them for a few hours. Her son was beaten by the police and suffered multiple broken ribs. Ms. Zuo was forced to live away from home for months to hide from the police.
Ms. Zuo was arrested again on July 15, 2014, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. She was held in Jiamusi Detention Center.
Related reports in Chinese:佳木斯好儿媳遭绑架-家人不敢对瘫痪婆婆讲实情佳木斯市左英一家近期遭恶警迫害
