(Minghui.org) Having lost her mother to the persecution of Falun Gong and seeing her father imprisoned for practicing Falun Gong, a woman in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province was dealt another blow when her father was arrested again recently and is facing prosecution.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Guo Hongshan’s daughter saw a police car parked next to their apartment building on the afternoon of May 26, 2021 when she returned home. A police officer called her and asked where her father was. She replied that she didn’t know. To avoid the police following her back home, she left and stayed at a relative’s place.
According to a local Falun Gong practitioner who called Mr. Guo at around 3 p.m. that day, Mr. Guo told him that the police had come to his home. It’s not clear whether he was home or outside when he answered the call.
Another local practitioner went to Mr. Guo’s home on the evenings of May 27 and 31, but no one answered the door. When Mr. Guo’s daughter returned home on May 31, she found that her key could no longer open the door. It’s not clear when the police changed the lock and arrested Mr. Guo.
On June 2, Mr. Guo’s daughter dialed back the number that called her on May 26. The person who picked up the phone claimed that his last name is Wang.
Wang claimed that they arrested Mr. Guo to follow up a case from back in 2015. Mr. Guo was arrested on November 18, 2015 while making informational materials about Falun Gong. While he failed the physical examination and was released back then, the police are attempting to renew the case and pursue prosecuting him.
Wang also revealed that Mr. Guo’s case is being handled by the Heping Street Police Station without providing further information.
Mr. Guo is currently being held at the Funing County Detention Center in Qinhuangdao City. It’s not clear whether his daughter has been allowed to visit him.
Mr. Guo, 65, worked in the Security Department of the Yaohua Glass Group Corporation. He suffered from neurasthenia and weak kidneys. His wife, Ms. Sun Yufeng, suffered from headaches, rheumarthritis, endocrine imbalance, and potassium deficiency. The couple was in poor health for a long period of time. They were on medication all year round, and as a result, also in poor financial condition. Their daughter also suffered due to her parents’ illnesses.
Shortly after the couple started to practice Falun Gong in May 1996, their illnesses disappeared, and the family lived a very happy life.
After the communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, on October 27, 1999 Mr. Guo and his wife went to Beijing to speak up for Falun Gong after having benefitted from the practice. Upon arriving in Beijing, they were quickly arrested, and taken to the local detention center the next day. Both were detained 30 days. Mr. Guo was put on furlough and Ms. Sun was fired by her workplace afterwards.
Mr. Guo was permanently laid off by his company in February 2000, following his second arrest and 45 days of detention, after being reported for speaking to people about Falun Gong. He was given a 200 yuan monthly low-income subsidy.
Three months later, his company sent him to a brainwashing center. Not being able to bear the pressure of persecution, Ms. Sun jumped off a building and was severely injured. Mr. Guo was then released to take care of her.
The police kept harassing the couple. On May 14, 2001, Mr. Guo was deceived into going to the police station, where seven police officers punched and kicked him, after he refused to provide the information they asked for. The injuries from the beating were so severe that he was hospitalized twice for treatment. Five days later, he was taken to Qinghuangdao Detention Center.
Mr. Guo was sentenced to a ten-year prison term by the Haigang District Court in May 2002, and taken to Shijiazhuan Prison in September. He refused to perform unpaid labor to protest the persecution, and was repeatedly tortured and confined.
When Ms. Sun went to reason with the police and demanded Mr. Guo’s release, the police also arrested her and took her to a mental hospital.
Their daughter was forced to live by herself while the couple was detained. With no income, she was forced to give up the opportunity to attend college, even though she had been admitted. She worked to support her family while taking care of her mother, after she was released.
Ms. Sun was taken to a mental hospital for the second time in 2006. She was tortured in the hospital, which further damaged her physical and mental health. She was shocked by an electric chair, given poisonous injections, given various unknown medications, and force-fed with filthy water.
The two mental hospital incarcerations, which added up to a year in duration, took a toll on Ms. Sun’s health. She passed away in August 2012, a year after Mr. Guo was released from serving the lengthy prison tern. She was 56 years old.
After Mr. Guo was released from the prison in May 2011, he went back to his workplace, asking for his job to be reinstalled, but was met with rejection.
When Mr. Guo reached the retirement age of 60 in March 2016, he demanded to complete his retirement procedure, so that he could start receiving pension. He was again rejected.
Persecution of Practitioners in Qinhuangdao City and the Impact on Their Children