(Minghui.org) Four Gongzhuling City, Jilin Province residents were arrested on February 6, 2023 for their faith in Falun Gong. Three of them developed various symptoms, but the police refused to release them.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Luan Dewu, Ms. Wang Li, Ms. Liu Guijie and Mr. Zhang Qian were arrested by officers of the Shuanglong Town Police Station on February 6 and taken to the Gongzhuling City Lockup to serve a 13-day administrative detention.
The police informed Ms. Liu’s family of her arrest two days later, but didn’t allow them to visit her, despite their strong requests.
Ms. Liu’s family found out on February 10 that a dresser had been rummaged through and her computer had gone missing. Her daughter, Ms. Li Jing, reported the incident to the police, believing that some officers had raided their home. Shortly after, several plainclothes officers showed up and dragged Ms. Li to the police car. They hit her on the head as she resisted getting into the car.
At the Daling Town Police Station, the police questioned Ms. Li whether she practiced Falun Gong herself and how long her parents had been practicing. The police also confiscated two work cellphones and examined her call records. They took her car to the police station. They continued to interrogate and intimidate her before allowing her to go home. It’s not clear whether they returned her car.
In the local lockup, Ms. Liu developed dangerously high blood pressure and irregular heartbeat and was hospitalized. Mr. Zhang was also taken to the hospital after he held a hunger strike for six days.
An officer from the Shuanglong Town Police Station contacted Ms. Liu’s family on February 11 and told them that they were planning to release her. But when the family rushed to the hospital the next morning, the police changed their mind. They said that they weren’t in charge of her case and directed the family to the Gongzhuling City Domestic Security Office if they had any questions about her case.
On February 19, the lockup called the four practitioners’ families and asked them to pick up their loved ones the next morning at 8:30 a.m. but before the practitioners’ families arrived, the police came in the early morning and took Mr. Luan and Ms. Wang to the same hospital where Mr. Zhang and Ms. Liu were staying for physical examinations. The police also ordered the hospital to discharge Mr. Zhang and Ms. Liu the same day.
All four practitioners were taken to the Jiutai City Detention Center in the evening for criminal detention. Ms. Liu, Mr. Zhang and Ms. Wang were all rejected admission due to their poor health. The police had to take them back to Gongzhuling.
The police took the practitioners to the hospital for another physical examination on February 21, before forcing the Jiutai Detention Center to accept them for a short quarantine.
Ms. Liu, Mr. Zhang and Ms. Wang are currently held at the Gongzhuling City Detention Center. The whereabouts of Mr. Luan isn’t clear.
Ms. Liu: A Kindhearted Small Business Owner
Ms. Liu, 60, used to be headstrong and dominant. Once her daughter was bullied at school by another student. Ms. Liu almost fought with that student in the classroom, if the teacher didn’t stop her. After she took up Falun Gong, she turned into a forgiving and considerate person.
Ms. Liu had a storefront with her family living in the same building. At one point she opened a restaurant there and enjoyed good business. As some of her customers sometimes parked their cars in front of her neighbor’s home, her neighbor charged her a lot for the parking. Ms. Liu later turned her restaurant into a healthcare product shop and her neighbor opened a car repair shop. She never charged the neighbor for his customers parking in front of her place.
When the pandemic broke out in 2020, Ms. Liu never raised the price of the masks and sometimes gave out masks for free.
Ms. Liu’s Past Persecution
Because Ms. Liu refused to renounce Falun Gong, she has been repeatedly targeted for upholding her faith.
She was arrested on December 4, 2009 for talking to people about Falun Gong and given 1.5-year term at Heizuizi Women’s Forced Labor Camp. She suffered all kinds of torture and developed dangerously high blood pressure. Thanks to her family’s persistent efforts to rescue her, she was released eight months later.
The police stayed outside of Ms. Liu’s home several days in July 2014 to monitor her.
Upon finding out that local Falun Gong practitioners had filed criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Communist Party who ordered the persecution, the police arrested several of them at around 5 a.m. on October 21, 2015. Ms. Liu managed to escape.
Two officers harassed Ms. Liu on June 24, 2020 and asked her whether she still practiced Falun Gong. They also asked for her phone number and threatened her not to go out to put up information about Falun Gong or appeal for it.
The police returned on October 12, 2020 with a government official and ordered Ms. Liu to sign a statement renouncing Falun Gong. They threatened to visit her every week if she didn’t comply.
She was harassed two more times, on September 11 and December 15, 2021, respectively.
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