(Minghui.org) A total of 22 Falun Gong practitioners from Jilin City, Jilin Province, received unexpected visits from the local police between June 17 and July 3. Police ransacked their homes and seized personal belongings.
All but five were taken to police stations to be interrogated. The police questioned where they obtained the criminal complaint template they used to file lawsuits against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin.
Most of those arrested remain detained at the time of this report. The police charged them with “undermining law enforcement.” When one practitioner's lawyer went to inquire about the case, a police officer threatened him at gunpoint.
Since May of 2015, Falun Gong practitioners in Jilin have been filing criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin, who launched the violent persecution that has continued for 16 years. The lawsuits have been sent to the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Supreme People's Court.
Local authorities responded by ordering the post office to stop processing criminal complaints from Falun Gong practitioners. When practitioners used other means to deliver their complaints, the police began to harass and arrest them and raid their homes.
More than 20 plainclothes officers stormed Ms. Wang Wenjun's home on June 17, 2015, and seized her Falun Dafa books, cell phones, and three computers. She was interrogated at Linjiang Police Station and asked about her criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin.
Officers threatened to take her to their base of operations; she was aware that the base contained “tiger benches” and other instruments of torture. They also showed her gruesome photos of Falun Gong prisoners who had been killed and their organs harvested. “You are too old for organ harvesting, but they can use your corneas,” they said.
Horrified, Ms. Wang passed out. The next day, they attempted to force her to sign a confession. After she refused, she was taken to Shahezi Brainwashing Center for eight days.
She was sent back to Linjiang Police Station on June 25. Plainclothes officers beat and threatened her: “If you still don't sign the statement to give up your belief, we will shock you with an electric baton.” Ms. Wang signed the statement against her will. She is now in Jilin Detention Center, pending trial.
When Ms. Wang's attorneys went to Linjiang Police Station to see about her, they were kicked and denied access. The director and deputy director of the station had disappeared. Police officer Xu Yan came out, waved his gun at them, and refused to reveal the officer handling the case. The attorneys later discovered from another source that Xu was in charge of the case.
In addition to Ms. Wang, 21 other practitioners were also harassed and/or arrested. Below are the dates of their arrest:
June 17: Ms. Yang Mingyan was arrested and her home raided. She is in Jilin Detention Center; her trial is pending.
June 17: Mr. Liang Baofan was called home by plainclothes officers pretending to be Internet repairmen. They arrested Mr. Liang when they found the Minghui website on his computer. After spending seven days in a brainwashing center, he was sent to the Jilin Detention Center. He was charged with “using cult organizations to undermine law enforcement,” a line regularly used by the communist regime to sentence Falun Gong practitioners.
June17: Ms. Wang Shuzhen was arrested and her home raided. She later escaped and was forced to live away from home to avoid capture.
June 23: Mr. Yan Dianfang and his wife Ms. Zhao Shufan were arrested and their home raided. They were released the same night.
June 24: Mr. Xu Chuanlin and and his wife Ms. Zheng Mingxia were arrested and their home raided. Ms. Zheng managed to escape.
June 29: Mr. Xing Chunrong, Ms. Xing Chunyan, Ms. Jiao Xiuping, and Ms. Liang Yuling were arrested. Ms. Jiao was released. The others' whereabouts are unknown.
July 1: Ms. Li Yuqin, Ms. Li Yaqin, and Ms. Li Xiuqin are three sisters who were arrested on their way to mail their complaints. They are now in the Changchun City Weizigou Detention Center.
July 2: Ms. Du Limei and Mr. Yu Fang were arrested. Mr. Yu's home was raided the next day.
July 3: A police car drove to the home of Mr. Tao Yawei and his wife Ms. Liu Ruiyun. The couple were able to escape, and have not returned. The husband received a strange phone call a week before, with the caller attempting to verify their address.
Practitioners who were harassed by the police: Ms. Xu Min, Ms. Zhang Junyun, and Ms. Zhao Qiumei.
Li, deputy director, Jilin Yananjie Police StationXu Yan, in charge of Ms. Wang Wenjun's caseYangan Police Station: +86-432-64873707