(Minghui.org) Ms. Dong Lijuan from the Haizhu District in Guangzhou City was arrested on January 17, 2017, after helping a man who fainted when the security guard found out she practices Falun Gong. She has been detained at the Guangzhou City Detention Center for over five months.
Ms. Dong's arrest came 28 days after her husband died of an illness. Her 17-year-old-daughter is now alone.
Ms. Dong is not allowed to do the Falun Gong exercises at the detention center. She is in poor health and is depressed.
Detained for Helping a Stranger
Ms. Dong noticed that a man had fainted at the side of a road and no one was with him on January 17, 2017. She hurried over to help him. When he regained consciousness, Ms. Dong asked him if he wanted a Falun Gong symbol. He accepted. While she was putting it into his pocket, a security guard came over. He searched her purse and took her to the Changgang Police Station.
Officers from the Changgang Police Station ransacked her home that afternoon. They confiscated her Falun Gong books and a computer. Ms. Dong was taken to the Guangzhou City Detention Center.
Coming Out of Depression by Practicing Falun Gong
Ms. Dong had a traumatic experience in 1992, when she was beaten and sustained severe injuries. Afterward she developed depression. She went through psychiatric treatment but it did not help. She was physically and mentally exhausted and tried to commit suicide several times.
With her mother's help, she started to practice Falun Gong. Falun Gong helped her depression, and she now has a positive attitude. Her family said that she would not be alive if she did not practice Falun Gong.
Caring For Her Disabled Husband For Eight Years
Ms. Dong's husband had a stroke in 2008. He became handicapped after the surgery and was sometimes mentally confused. Their daughter was only nine-years-old at the time. The responsibility for raising the child and caring for her husband bore down upon her, but she was able to shoulder the burden with strength in her strong belief in Falun Gong.
However, the police did not leave Ms. Dong alone. On the morning of December 3, 2015, twelve policemen from the Haizhu District Domestic Security Division and the Changgang Police Station broke into Ms. Dong home and ransacked it. She was targeted because she exercised her right as a citizen and filed a criminal complaint against former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution of Falun Gong.
The police hit her and forced her husband, who was not mentally clear, to sign all the paperwork. Police carried Ms. Dong downstairs and detained her at the police station. She was released at midnight.
