(Clearwisdom.net)

On July 1, 2008, police from Mancheng County, Hebei Province made a mass arrest of Falun Gong practitioners in Dakanxia Village. Falun Gong practitioner Lian Fengzhen was forcibly arrested at her home. Her whereabouts are unknown.

Ms. Lian Fengzhen, 58 years old, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Mancheng County, Hebei Province. Lian Fengzhen always suffered from leg pain before practicing Falun Gong. She had tried many medical treatments but none of them worked. She used to be very hot-tempered, and only thought of herself when doing things, neglecting to discuss with others or consider others' feelings. Her husband was very unhappy with her. She also had conflicts with her husband's sister over the care of her parents-in-law. All these conflicts brought endless pain to her children and the entire family.

In 1998, Lian Fengzhen started practicing Falun Dafa. After that, she became a completely new person. Her leg pain disappeared, and her family also became harmonious and very happy.

But since the CCP began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, the police and CCP personnel started to monitor, follow, and harass Lian Fengzhen and her family, and illegally confiscated her home and arrested her. The persecution has never stopped.

On July 1, 2008 at around 4 a.m., more than 60 people, including all the government officials in Bailong Town, Mancheng County, the police from the Mancheng County Police Department, and the police from the Mancheng County Third Criminal Police Team, arrived at Dakanxia Village in Bailong Town and made a mass arrest of Falun Gong practitioners. More than 10 police officers, led by the Bailong Town Judicature and Bailong Town 610 Office officer Cai Tao, broke into Lian Fengzhen's home and forcibly arrested her. Lian Fengzhen's husband held her arm to prevent the police from taking her away, but the police dragged Lian Fengzhen outside and pushed her into the police vehicle. Lian Fengzhen shouted loudly, "I did not break any law. Why are you arresting me?" The police did not respond.

While the police dragged Lian Fengzhen to the police vehicle, six or seven other officers broke into her room and ransacked it. They pried her closet open and threw her clothes all over the floor. The bed and the bedding were also thoroughly searched. The calendar on the wall was torn to pieces. The whole room was a mess.

After Lian Fengzhen was arrested by the police, her family members did not receive any notice. They searched for her and finally found out that she was detained at the Mancheng County Third Criminal Police Team. Three days later, her family members went to the village head Yin Zhiqiang's home and got a so-called Arrest Notice. The notice said, "Lian Fengzhen committed the crime of using a [slanderous term omitted] organization to disrupt the execution of the law."

Lian Fengzhen's family members went to the police department, the Third Criminal Police Team, and the Bailong Town government to request the release of Lian Fengzhen, but none of the officials wanted to deal with them. The police department officials said that it was the criminal police team who arrested Lian Fengzhen, so her family members went to the Third Criminal Police Team, but the police there said they just coordinated with the Bailong Town Police Station to arrest Lian Fengzhen, and the Bailong Town Police Station said they just followed the Mancheng County Police Department's order.

Lian Fengzhen was transferred and illegally detained at the Mancheng County Detention Center on July 1 at 11 a.m. Her family members went to the detention center several times, yet the police would not let them see her directly, but only through the surveillance television via a camera installed in the detention center. After her family members visited her on July 10, Lian Fengzhen was transferred elsewhere. When her eldest son went to the detention center to visit her again, he was told that Lian Fengzhen was not at the detention center anymore, and that she had been transferred to the Balizhuang Forced Labor Camp. Yet the Balizhuang Forced Labor Camp is only used for male prisoners. Women are normally transferred to the Shijiazhuang City Women's Forced Labor Camp. To this day, Lian Fengzhen's family members have not received any written or oral notice about her transfer or her whereabouts, which remain unknown.

Lian Fengzhen's eldest son works far away and he cannot go back home frequently. Her younger son has had to help his father with the farm work and has been unable to return to his own work. Under the grief of his wife's illegal arrest and the pressure of extensive farm work, Lian Fengzhen's husband is becoming more and more emaciated every day.

August 4, 2008