(Minghui.org) Four residents in Luzhou City are facing indictment for raising awareness of the Chinese communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Ms. Dong Guozhen, Ms. Gao Xianying, Ms. Zhang Yuanhua, and Ms. Zou Mingying were arrested on July 12, 2017, while distributing Falun Gong informational materials at a fair in neighboring Hejiang County. All of them were interrogated at the Jiuzhi Town Police Station, where they were deprived of food and water for a whole day.
Ms. Dong and Ms. Gao, both in their 70s, were released on the following day and placed under house arrest. Ms. Gao, however, was taken back into custody on July 26 after she was deceived into going to the police station. Ms. Gao was previously given three years for her faith and served her time outside of prison.
Ms. Zhang and Ms. Zou were detained for more than one month before they were released on bail.
At the time of writing, the cases against Ms. Gao, Ms. Zhang, and Ms. Zou rest with Hejiang County Procuratorate. Hejiang police had also submitted Ms. Dong's case to the procuratorate, but the latter returned it, citing insufficient evidence. The police are preparing to resubmit the case with additional fabricated evidence against Ms. Dong.
Ms. Zhang and Ms. Zou were twice summoned to the procuratorate for questioning in March 2018. When Ms. Zhang visited the procuratorate, the staff told her that had she written a statement to renounce Falun Gong, the case against her would have long been dropped. She refuted the charges against her, as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong.
The staff cited Falun Gong books and a copy of her complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin as evidence against her. She countered that it is legal to own Falun Gong books and that it was her constitutional right to seek the prosecution of Jiang for initiating the persecution of Falun Gong.
Ms. Dong was twice summoned to Hejiang Police Station in March 2018. The last time, her daughter accompanied her there. One officer told her that she should listen to her daughter, now that the younger woman is her legal guardian. He said she should stop practicing Falun Gong if her daughter told her to do so.
In fact, Ms. Dong's daughter is not her guardian, as she is not in any way incapacitated. Moreover, her daughter respects her right to freedom of belief. Ms. Dong believes that the police tried to coerce her daughter into persuading her to give up her belief.
Ms. Dong refused to cooperate with the police.
The four practitioners have also faced unexpected and unwanted visits from police, who tried, unsuccessfully, to make them renounce Falun Gong.
Officers Wang Zhonghe and Ren Wei and prosecutors Wang Yankai and Hai Xiping are responsible for prosecuting the four practitioners.
Luzhou, Sichuan: Seven Arrested for Passing Out Materials Exposing Persecution of Falun Gong