(Minghui.org) A Changsha resident has been denied family visits since her latest arrest more than six months ago. She was scheduled to face trial on January 4, 2018, and the details of her court hearing remain to be investigated.
Ms. Yang Hong, 61, moved from Yongzhou City decades ago to Changsha City, where she and her husband opened a clothing store. She credits Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that is being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime, for returning her to health and reducing her stress in running a family business. Whenever there is a chance, she talks to her customers about the illegality of the persecution of her spiritual faith.
A woman named Li Fang asked for a copy of Falun Gong informational material while shopping at the clothing store. Days later, on June 28, 2017, police broke into Ms. Yang’s home and arrested her and her husband. She learned later that Li had reported her to police and was rewarded with 3,000 yuan.
Ms. Yang’s husband was released hours later, but she was taken to Changsha City Fourth Detention Center, where she remains to this day. The local procuratorate issued a formal arrest warrant for her weeks later, and she was set to appear in Yuelu District Court on January 4, 2018.
Ms. Yang’s latest arrest was preceded by an earlier arrest on January 13, 2017, when she was seized at a bus stop for giving a passenger Falun Gong informational materials.
She was interrogated at Guihuaping Police Station in Changsha City. Six officers, including Zuo Yang, forcibly took her fingerprints. One of them hit her hard on the head. They also twisted her arms and cuffed her hands behind her back. Her arms turned red and swelled.
The police took Ms. Yang to a local detention center in the wee hours of the following morning. She wasn’t released until 10 days later. On the day of her release, she was told to go to the police station to pick up items confiscated from her. She signed a statement affirming that the 30 copies of confiscated Falun Gong materials were returned to her
Unbeknown to her, police mailed her signed statement to their counterparts in her hometown of Yongzhou City. Between March and April 2017, agents from Yongzhou City went to Changsha City three times to try to make her sign a statement promising to renounce Falun Gong.
Yongzhou police didn’t know her address in Changsha, but they found her clothing store. Two people showed up the first time, three the second time.
The third time, eight people showed up, with one man brandishing a gun. Neither she nor her husband was around. The Yongzhou agents then found her residence.
They knocked on the door, claiming to be selling shampoo. Ms. Yang refused to open the door, and they began monitoring her until Changsha police arrested her.
