(Minghui.org) A five-year-old boy in Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province, was terrified when several plainclothes officers suddenly surrounded his father on the morning of May 11, 2024, as they were getting ready to go to his kindergarten.
The boy cried in fear and kneeled in front of the police, “Please, don’t arrest daddy!”
The police still handcuffed Mr. Tian Pengfei and followed him as he biked his son to kindergarten. The scene caused quite a commotion with many parents and teachers watching in horror. The little boy told everybody that his daddy was arrested by the police. Unbeknownst to him, his paternal grandfather, his mother, and her brother were also arrested on the same day. The three of them were released on bail late that night but his daddy remains detained to this day.
None of the adults in the Tian family broke any law. They were targeted because Mr. Tian’s parents both practice Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. While Mr. Tian, his wife, and his brother-in-law are not Falun Gong practitioners themselves, they were implicated for their support of Falun Gong.
Mr. Tian stood trial in December 2024 and is currently still held at the Chaoyang District Detention Center. His mother is now in hiding to avoid being prosecuted.
Latest Persecution Stems from an Episode in 2021
Mr. Tian and his wife, Ms. Sun Limin, ran a computer repair shop and shared the same residence with his parents, who helped care for their two young sons, age 7 and 5.
A group of officers, including Wu Dali, broke into Mr. Tian’s home on January 19, 2021, and confiscated his computer, printer, and more than 40,000 yuan in cash. The police stayed at their home for a whole night before taking him, his wife, and his mother to the Xiangyang Police Department in Shuangta District. The three of them were later released on bail but faced constant harassment from the police.
Officer Wu ordered Mr. Tian to report to him every day and send in pictures of him, his wife, and his parents at home from time to time (to ensure they did not go out to raise awareness of the persecution). He and his wife were also ordered to sign statements to denounce Falun Gong. They firmly refused. His wife was arrested on January 18, 2022, and detained for five days. Wu had intended to put her in a detention center but she was denied admission due to poor health.
The police submitted the case against Mr. Tian’s mother, Ms. Sun Xiaomei, to the Longcheng District Procuratorate on January 20, 2022, when her one-year bail ended. The procuratorate deposed her the next day. She refused to admit guilt in practicing Falun Gong and they called Mr. Tian about three weeks later, threatening to give her three years with a 2,000-yuan fine if she did not admit guilt. That same day, her case was submitted to the Longcheng District Court.
To avoid being prosecuted, Ms. Sun went into hiding. When she managed to see her two grandsons in 2024, the five-year-old boy no longer recognized her. His seven-year-old brother still remembered their grandmother and held her hand saying, “Granny, let’s go home and hide upstairs. There’s no police there.” Ms. Sun’s heart was broken into pieces hearing the words.
Details of Latest Persecution
Days before his latest persecution, Mr. Tian received a call from officer Wu, who threatened to put his mother on the wanted list if he did not send in her latest pictures. He had no other way but to go to her rental place to ask for pictures. The police shadowed him and discovered his mother’s shelter place.
Mr. Tian was taken straight to the Qianjin Police Department on May 11, 2024, after dropping off his younger son at kindergarten. The police also attempted to arrest his mother on the same day. She was not in, and they raided her rental place.
Mr. Tian stood trial at the Shuangta District Court in December 2024. The case status of his father, wife, and brother-in-law, who remain on bail, is not clear.
Prosecutor Bai Yanli said that according to Jiang Zonglin, one of the arresting officers, Mr. Tian possessed many Falun Gong-related items. He refuted that those items belonged to other arrested practitioners, not him. His lawyer followed up saying that Mr. Tian did not break any law by running a computer repair shop.
Bai called the Qianjin Police Department on the spot and the latter soon emailed her photos of additional prosecution evidence. Mr. Tian’s lawyer pointed out that such action is a blatant violation of the law, which requires that any additional investigation and evidence must be submitted within one month after the police turn in a case to the procuratorate.
The photos allegedly showed the scene of Mr. Tian’s home being raided. They were dated May 27, 2024, when his home was raided on May 11. Judge Geng Hongyan and prosecutor Bai had no answer to the date discrepancy. Yet they remained silent when the lawyer argued that the photos were inadmissible in the trial.
Mr. Tian remained at the Chaoyang City Detention Center after the trial. His wife has struggled to support their family with the computer shop closed and the confiscation of over 40,000 yuan in savings (only 5,000 yuan of which was returned by the police).
Copyright © 1999-2025 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
