(Minghui.org) A native of Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, is facing indictment in Chongqing for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999.
Ms. Zhao Li, around 65, has been living with her daughter’s family in Yubei District, Chongqing, in recent years. She wrote a letter to judge Liu Lipeng of Wujiang District Court in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province in June 2022, upon reading news about the judge’s sentencing of innocent Falun Gong practitioners. She urged Liu to stop participating in the persecution.
Liu forwarded the letter to Xinpaifang Police Station in Yubei District. Tao Jinglin from the police station and four officers from Yubei District Police Department, including one surnamed Wang, broke into Ms. Zhao’s daughter’s home on July 18, 2022. They confiscated Ms. Zhao’s computer, printer, and other personal belongings. They interrogated her at the police station and threatened her to not disclose her arrest to the outside world or she’d face grave consequences. They also forced her to sign the interrogation record before releasing her on bail that night.
In May 2023, officer Wang and a police officer surnamed Lu interrogated Ms. Zhao again and submitted her case to the Jiangbei District Procuratorate, using the letter as evidence against her.
Jiangbei and Yubei are among the 26 districts in Chongqing. Jiangbei District Procuratorate has been designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the region.
Ms. Zhao was summoned to the procuratorate on June 6 for questioning. She asked prosecutor Liu Jie what law she had allegedly broken. Liu blurted out, “There are laws all over the place outside on the street. Go find a law yourself!” Ms. Zhao couldn’t believe a government official would talk such nonsense and again demanded to see legal documents to justify the persecution of Falun Gong. Liu remained silent. Ms. Zhao refused to sign the interrogation records. She said a clerk surnamed Wang was also present.
This is not the first time that Ms. Zhao has been targeted for her faith in Falun Gong. She went to Tiananmen Square in Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong shortly after the persecution began in July 1999. She was taken back to Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province and given one and a half years of forced labor. She was brutally tortured at Shaanxi Province Women’s Labor Camp and barely survived.
The Supreme People’s Court issued “registration system reform opinions” in 2015, promising to guarantee the registration and processing of all complaints filed. After this new policy took effect on May 1, 2015, Falun Gong practitioners across China began to file criminal complaints against former CCP leader Jiang Zemin for ordering the persecution of Falun Gong and causing them irreparable damage.
Ms. Zhao also joined the wave of filing lawsuits against Jiang and became a target for persecution again. She was on her way home after finishing her night shift on the early morning of April 15, 2016, when she was arrested by agents from the Yanta District Domestic Security Office in Xi’an City. They held her at the Yanta District Detention Center and they also accused her of “having established contacts with so many people.” The Yanta District Court sentenced her to two and a half years at the Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison in early February 2018.
Ms. Zhao’s husband died shortly after her daughter was born and she raised their daughter all by herself. Her daughter landed a job in Chongqing after graduating college. Ms. Zhao moved in with her daughter after she was released to help take care of her granddaughter.
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