(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhao Yuanying has been detained since her arrest in May 2013.

One of Ms. Zhao's relatives went to the Jinniu District Procuratorate in Chengdu City on February 7, 2014 and demanded her release. Zhang Lijuan from the Public Prosecution Section of the Procuratorate said that her case had been submitted to Jinniu District Court in late January 2014.

Asked which laws Ms. Zhao had violated by being a good person and improving her health by practicing Falun Gong, Zhang Lijuan said they were only following procedures in documents from the 610 Office. Members of Ms. Zhao's family went to the Jinniu District Court to look for records of the proceedings against Ms. Zhao but could not find any.

When a family member returned to the Procuratorate, he told Zhang Lijuan that the constitution guarantees freedom of belief, and that telling people about the benefits of practicing Falun Dafa is not illegal. He hoped Zhang Lijuan would uphold justice and drop the charges against Ms. Zhao.

When Zhang Lijuan refused, the family member told her that she would be held accountable for the rest her life since her signature was on the document, and according to regulations, "officials in public security organs, procuratorial organs and people's courts are responsible for having properly handled their cases for life." The staff in Zhang Lijuan's office said they were cooperating with the Procuratorate.

Ms. Zhao Yuanying, 60, worked at Chengdu Railway Bureau First Kindergarten. She was arrested by Guangrong Police Branch Station office on May 10, 2013, while she was clarifying the truth about Falun Dafa in a residential area near the Shazhou Road Railway Bureau. Police raided her home that evening and took computers, printers, Shen Yun DVDs, Dafa books, etc. Ms. Zhao is still being detained in the Pi County Detention Center.

Ms. Zhao Yuanying's son wrote the following letter to the leaders of Jinniu District Procuratorate, urging them to follow the law and release his mother.

Dear Leaders of Jinniu District Procuratorate,

I am Zhang Yanchao, Zhao Yuanying's son. My mother, Zhao Yuanying, is 60 this year and used to work at the Chengdu Railway Bureau's Kindergarten. She has had a hard life. My father died of acute pancreatitis when I was three.

My mother brought me up while suffering many hardships. She had to work and take care of me. She had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, muscle strain, and other ailments by the time she was 30. The pain was so severe that sometimes she could not get out of bed.

To be able to work, she bought a lot of equipment for physical therapy. To cure the rheumatoid arthritis, she tried a variety of Chinese and Western medicine, but did not improve much. Her finger joints were swollen and deformed. When qigong was popular in the 1990s, she practiced several types, but after several years, did not improve.

My mother heard in early 1999 that Falun Gong had miraculous healing effects, so she started to practice it. She then changed a lot, and her temper also improved. She had not had a good relationship with my grandparents and my aunts, and they did not even want to see each other.

After she began practicing Falun Gong, she often went to visit them and took care of them. Our family became a happy one. We also had good relationships with our neighbors. My mother was in charge of purchasing for a kindergarten. Certain dealers gave kickbacks to sell more, but my mother would not take any of these kickbacks after she began practicing Falun Gong. She only paid attention to the quality of goods, and traded with them fairly. Kindergarten leaders said to her, “We trust you absolutely.”

The ailments my mother had suffered for decades disappeared after practicing Falun Gong. She no longer has back pain, and her swollen knuckles returned to normal. This happened within just a few months. My family members and I witnessed it. Such miracles make people believe in Falun Dafa. Even my stepfather, who did not believe in any qigong, changed and wanted to read Dafa books after seeing how my mother improved.

But the good times did not last long. The persecution of Falun Gong started. Because my mother previously did the exercises in public, people in our area all knew she practiced. The residential committee ordered my mother turn in her Falun Dafa books and write a guarantee statement. My stepfather was afraid and submitted the books and wrote the statement without my mother's knowledge. He did this against his own judgement, because we all knew that Falun Dafa was good.

My mother felt she needed to explain Falun Gong to the government based on her own experience so they could understand that Falun Gong was truly beneficial. She visited the provincial government. She was closely monitored after she returned. Everyone in our family was under pressure and afraid that the residential committee or someone from a police station would knock on the door at any time.

Our family did not understand and asked Mother why she continued to tell the facts about Falun Gong. She told us that she believed in freedom of belief. She did it for the good of all Chinese people. She said, "Falun Dafa is the Buddha Fa and can save everyone. But this good practice is being slandered, and so many people are being deceived. This is disastrous for them. Chinese people who do not know the truth deserve pity!" Although I do not quite know how to express what my mother means, that is the idea.

A security guard reported her in May 2005 for talking about Falun Gong in the mall. She was arrested and detained in the Pi County Detention Center, then transferred to Jinniu Brainwashing Center. One woman told me, “Our 'study class' uses the most humane methods.” I later learned that they deprived my mother of sleep for an entire week to try to "transform" her. My stepfather could not stand such pressure and divorced my mother. Our happy family came apart.

Because my mother was detained, I was scared. My mother told me not to be afraid, because the Chinese people who do not know the truth are in the most danger.

My mother went out to tell people the facts about Falun Gong on May 10, 2013, and was reported again. Officers from the Guangrong Police Branch Station arrested her and confiscated many her personal belongings.

My mother has been detained in the Pi County Detention Center for more than eight months. I hope her back pain does not return. Many people in our area have learned that my mother is being detained. They all say, “Ms. Zhao is a good person. This detention is really wrong."

Do you know that, on August 12, 2013, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Committee published a guideline stating, “Officials in public security organs, procuratorial organs, and people's courts have a lifelong responsibility for the quality of their cases”? Many major websites in China re-published this guideline. It also says, “In order to improve the court system and the handling of cases, judges, prosecutors, police administrators, and police officers are responsible for life for the quality of their handling of a case within the scope of their official duty. They must have a clear understanding of the standard of wrongful convictions and procedures for correcting those convictions in order to set up a sound mechanism of accountability for wrongful convictions. Violators will be severely punished according to the law if torture, evidence obtained through violence, concealing evidence, and other acts of forgery are found.” This is the recent introduction to the CCP's Practical Guidance on the Prevention of Wrongful Convictions.

Before when I asked you to help, you always said, “I am not in charge. I am carrying out an order from my superiors.” When the time comes to find the person accountable, will your superiors admit they gave the orders? Don't you see that this guideline serves only to help upper level officials avoid responsibility for their crimes?

The ultimate responsibility will fall on the heads of those who directly handled the case. That means you. Now I understand why my mother said, "Chinese people who do not know the truth deserve pity." I heard Li Dongsheng, director of the CCP Central Committee 610 Office and deputy minister of Public Security, has been removed from his post. This is directly related to the persecution of Falun Gong.

Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution says, "Citizens have freedom of religious belief." Falun Gong is a faith, so my mother has a right to her belief, guaranteed by the Constitution. My family does not understand why her telling others how she benefitted from practicing Falun Gong violates any law.

I believe you can uphold justice. I hope that in the spirit of justice and kindness, you will find my mother innocent and release her.

Zhang Yanchao
Zhao Yuanying's son
February 2014

Parties Involved in Persecuting Ms. Zhao:

Lian Xiaoke (连小可), attorney-general of Jinniu District Procuratorate: +86-28-87611300
Zhang Yu (张宇, female), chief of the Arrest Warrant Section, Jinniu District Procuratorate: +86-28-87620552 (Fax)
Wang Feng (王峰), director of Jinniu District Police Department
Zhang Zhiwei (张志伟), dean of Jinniu District Court