(Minghui.org) Ms. Liu Rongxian, 65, a retiree from Kunming Textile Factory, was released from the Yunnan No. 2 Women's Prison on November 30, 2013, but officers from the Xiaonan Police Station have been continuously harassing her. They called her home, pressuring her to sign a memo. They asked when she had been arrested and why. The police also called her several more times after that, causing Ms. Liu and her husband tremendous pressure and distress.
Ms. Liu was sentenced to three years in prison by the Kunming People's Intermediate Court in October 2011 for distributing DVDs of Shen Yun Performing Arts, a New York based performing arts group that strives to revive the authentic Chinese culture. Shen Yun consists primarily of Falun Gong practitioners.
Arrested and Home Ransacked
When Ms. Liu and Ms. He Guizhen (71, retired from Yunnan Towel Factory) visited a farmers' market in the Panlong District on March 31, 2011, they told people about Shen Yun and distributed DVDs of the show. Two security officers took them out of the market and four police officers surrounded them. One of the officers was Ma Bin from the Domestic Security Division of the Wuhua Police Department, an officer who has been involved in the persecution of Falun Gong for many years.
After they were taken to a nearby police station, agents from Panlong 610 Office searched the two practitioners and their bags. A policewoman interrogated them, asking how long they had practiced Falun Gong and why they distributed Shen Yun DVDs.
The police took Ms. Liu and Ms. He along when they ransacked their homes that afternoon. On the way, the police also spotted another practitioner, Ms. Li Huimin. After finding Shen Yun DVDs in her bag, they arrested her as well.
At Ms. Liu's home, the police confiscated a portrait of Falun Gong’s founder, Falun Gong books and other materials, a computer, a printer, paper, blank DVDs, and mobile hard disks. They took the practitioners to Panlong First Detention Center, and subjected them to a strip search.
Detention and Forced Labor
In the detention center, the police interrogated the women three times; guards interrogated them twice, and the Panlong 610 Office interrogated them twice.
Ms. Liu was forced to work for two months in the detention center making teabags, bags for toothpicks, and packing chopsticks. She was then ordered to wash dishes for 90 days, followed by work as a “guard.” She was forced to do this work until she was sent to prison.
Sentenced to Three Years
Ms. Liu, Ms. He, and Ms. Li were tried in the Kungming People's Intermediate Court on October 21, 2011. There were no defense attorneys present, and family members were not notified. Even the practitioners themselves did not know about the trial in advance. They all pleaded not guilty. The chief judge was Yang Xiaoping.
The verdict was not issued until February 17, 2012. All three were sentenced to prison. Ms. Liu and Ms. He were each sentenced to three years, and Ms. Li was sentenced to three years with five years' probation. Ms. Liu and Ms. He were taken to the Yunnan No. 2 Women's Prison on September 12, 2012.
Forced Labor in Prison
Ms. Liu was placed in Ward 9 of the prison. Guard Zhu Ling ordered her to sit on a small stool for four hours in the morning and do forced labor (sewing beaded embroidery) all afternoon and evening until after 10 p.m.
Zhu and other guards often pressured Ms. Liu and other detained practitioners to give up practicing Falun Gong. They transferred Ms. Liu to Ward 7 on October 25. Ms. He Guizhen and Ms. Ding Guiying were transferred to Ward 4.
The forced labor continued after Ms. Liu was transferred to Ward 7. She had to work on sewing beaded embroidery and skirt decorations from 7:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. every day. Many other practitioners, for example, 72-year-old Ms. Chen Xiangzhen, had to do the same. Because of long-term forced labor, she was in very poor health, with back pain, leg pain, and high blood pressure.
Background Information
Ms. Liu Rongxian had many health problems from the time she was in her 30s, including Meniere's disease, a duodenal ulcer, herpangina, atrophic rhinitis, a heart condition called sinus bradycardia, chronic colitis, and arthritis. She tried different treatments, but nothing worked.
After a friend introduced Falun Gong to her in March 9, 1999, Ms. Liu started to practice. The atrophic rhinitis that had bothered her for years was cured within a week. Through reading Zhuan Falun, she continued to improve her xinxing and her arthritis disappeared soon afterwards. Her other health problems disappeared as well.
