(Minghui.org) Being pregnant with twins is a happy thing for most people, but Ms. Yang Cuiling hasn't been able to enjoy her pregnancy because she has to comfort her young son, who constantly asks for his grandfather, who was recently sentenced to four years for his faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Yang's husband also practices Falun Gong like her father-in-law and has been forced to live away from home to avoid police harassment. She is now left to take care of their son and do the farm work by herself.
Having witnessed the police arresting his grandfather and raiding their home, Ms. Yang’s preschooler son was terrified and resisted going to kindergarten. He often hides behind Ms. Yang when seeing a stranger on the street. He constantly cries and asks for his grandfather. Whenever he sees a police car, he says to Ms. Yang, “Mom, close the door, the police are coming again!”
Ms. Yang’s own family and her father-in-law, Mr. Chen Shuyi, 66, live together in Laishui County, Hebei Province. Mr. Chen was arrested at home on May 25, 2020. The police turned the family home upside down and took both Mr. Chen and Ms. Yang to the local police station for interrogation.
The police deceived Ms. Yang's husband, Mr. Chen Shuai, into going to the police station, where they interrogated him about where his father got the Falun Gong books and materials confiscated from him. The younger Mr. Chen, a mechanic at a car repair shop, was so nervous and frightened that he passed out. He and his wife were both released in the evening.
To avoid further police harassment, the younger Mr. Chen lived away from home and was put on a wanted list. The police sometimes came back to harass his wife and son.
Mr. Chen Shuyi was held at the Laishui County Detention Center following his arrest. The authorities blocked his family from visiting him or sending in clothes for him.
In early March 2021, Mr. Chen’s family learned from sources that he had been secretly sentenced to four years. In the imprisonment notice they received weeks later, it only stated that Mr. Chen was sentenced by a people’s court for practicing Falun Gong, without specifying which court it was or what crime he had committed. The notice also said he had been taken to the No.4 Jidong Prison on March 16, 2021, but it didn’t have signatures of people handling the case and only had the official prison seal.
Prior to his latest sentencing, Mr. Chen, with a disability in one leg due to an accident, had served two labor camp terms for a total of four years and nine months between 2001 and 2011, also for practicing Falun Gong.
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