(Minghui.org) Since July 2020, nearly 20 Falun Gong practitioners in Youyi County, Heilongjiang Province have been harassed and ordered to sign statements to renounce their faith.
The harassment was part of the new “Zero-out” campaign launched by the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) in a concerted effort to force every practitioner on the government’s black lists to renounce Falun Gong.
Since the Chinese Communist Party began to persecute Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual discipline, in July 1999, the PLAC has been playing a central role in making and executing persecution policies.
Upon arriving at each practitioner’s home, the police officers first asked if they still practiced Falun Gong. When the practitioners said yes, the officers then told them that as long as they signed the renouncing statement and promised not to practice Falun Gong, they would leave them alone in the future.
When the practitioners refused to comply, some officers threatened to arrest them and send them to brainwashing centers. Other officers threatened to suspend the practitioners’ pension and terminate their children’s jobs and education.
One officer said to a practitioner, “If you don’t sign it, you will disappear if we order it.”
Ms. Yang Wenshu, a practitioner in her 80s who has moved out of town, and Mr. Lin Zehua, who became bedridden after being persecuted at Jiamusi Prison for eight years, were also harassed.
In order to force Ms. Li Shuqin to sign the statement, Lu Donglei, the head of Youyi Town Police Station, forced Ms. Li’s children to come back from out of town to cooperate with him.
