(Minghui.org) A police chief climbed through Ms. Yang Liyun’s bedroom window around 6 a.m. on August 9, 2019 and arrested her.
The Sanhe City, Hebei Province resident, in her 50s, was targeted for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
More than 20 police officers proceeded to ransack Ms. Yang’s home without a warrant and confiscated her Falun Gong books.
As Ms. Yang’s husband and son both work out of town, she lives with her mother, who is in her 90s. Ms. Yang was arrested despite her strong protests that she needed to care for her mother.
The officers dragged Ms. Yang to a police cruiser. She resisted by holding on to the edge of the car door. While the officers shoved her into the car, three fingers on her left hand were severely injured.
She was then brought to Liqizhuang Police Station, where the officers handcuffed and interrogated her.
Cao Aibo, the police chief, claimed that they had discovered a banner with information about Falun Gong along the railway and suspected that it was Ms. Yang who had put it up. He threatened to sentence Ms. Yang to prison and said he wouldn’t let her go easily.
Cao also bragged about sending one of his acquaintances, 80-year-old Mr. Ma Weishan, to serve a five-year prison term for refusing to renounce Falun Gong. He boasted that he had no mercy when it came to persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.
After several hours of interrogation and her repeated requests to go back home to care for her mother, Ms. Yang was released in the afternoon.
Past Persecution
Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, Ms. Yang has been repeatedly targeted by the authorities in the past 20 years.
She was first arrested on October 12, 2006 after being reported for posting information about Falun Gong in public areas.
The police ransacked her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books. After two days at Dachang County Detention Center, she was transferred to Langfang Brainwashing Center, where she was held for a month and once placed in solitary confinement and intimidated for not renouncing her faith. The officers extorted 500 yuan from her family before releasing her.
Ms. Yang was arrested again on July 20, 2008 by more than 20 officers. She was interrogated, beaten, verbally abused, and monitored around clock while being kept at Sanhe City Detention Center.
She shared a small room with four other detainees, and they slept, ate and relieved themselves in the same tiny place. With no bed in the room, they were forced to sleep on the bare concrete floor.
Seven days later, the police gave her a 1.5-year term at Shijiazhuang Women’s Forced Labor Camp without due process.
Because she and four other Falun Gong practitioners refused to wear inmates uniforms in November 2008 as a way to protest the persecution, the guards handcuffed the five of them together and put them in solitary confinement. Wherever one went, the other four had to go together.
Meanwhile, the guards forced them to sit on a stool for hours, threatened and verbally abused them.
After they were allowed to return to a regular cell in February 2009, the guards still handcuffed the five of them together. They also forced the practitioners to wear winter sweaters and pants in the summer in a room that didn’t have air conditioning or even a fan.
Ms. Yang's family was harassed by the officers and local government officials on June 21, 2012, when she wasn’t home. The officers forced her family to sign a statement smearing Falun Gong by threatening to prevent her son from attending college.
