(Minghui.org) “Both of my daughters and my one grandson were arrested, and I am in so much pain that it feels like I am being stabbed,” sobbed an 85-year-old man. “I am too old to take care of myself. With my only two children taken away from me, how am I going to survive? Why do the police harm innocent people like this? They even confiscated my savings. I want my daughters and grandson back!”
Mr. Lin Tong of Maoming City, Guangdong Province, is often in tears and has been unable to eat for several days. His daughters and grandson were arrested in late August 2018, right around his birthday. He was roughed up by the police when he tried to stop them. The police later found and took his pension savings.
Mr. Lin's loved ones were targeted because they refused to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since July 1999. They were not the only victims of the persecution in the family. Mr. Lin's late wife passed away a few years ago after being traumatized by their daughters' repeated arrests for refusing to give up their faith.
More than 20 officers descended on Mr. Lin's home on August 29. They broke in and turned everything upside down without a search warrant. They confiscated two computers, six printers, Falun Dafa books and materials, and 20,000 yuan in cash. They also arrested Mr. Lin's daughter, Ms. Lin Yanmei, and her nephew, Mr. Wu Chaoqi, who were visiting at the time.
When Mr. Lin tried to stop the police, the officers grabbed his arms so roughly that they tore his skin and made his arms bleed. Lu Shanghui, head of the Dianbai District Domestic Security Office, kicked open the door to Mr. Lin's room and took all the cash he found inside. Mr. Wu Chaoqi was detained for 24 hours, during which time he was interrogated and threatened.
Ms. Lin Yanmei's older sister and Mr. Wu's mother, Ms. Lin Lizhen, was arrested two days later, on August 31, while staying with her father to celebrate his birthday.
Ms. Lin Yanmei's lawyer visited her on September 4 and learned that the arrest was ordered by Binhai New District Police Department. She, her sister, and her nephew are still being held in the Maoming City First Detention Center.
The Lin sisters have both been repeatedly arrested in the past for refusing to renounce their faith.
The younger sister, Ms. Lin Yanmei, was first arrested on November 27, 2004, after being reported to police for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was released 10 days later, only to be taken back into custody a month later. She was taken to the Sanshui Women's Forced Labor Camp and forced to work without pay on only two hours of sleep a night. Guards beat her and force-fed her unknown drugs in their attempt to force her to give up her belief. She lost more than 20 pounds in just a short time. Even several years after her release, she continued to suffer from headaches, dizziness, and memory loss.
The older sister, Ms. Lin Lizhen, 57, credits Falun Gong for curing her insomnia, migraines, stomach problems, and sinus problems. Her pursuit of health landed her in police custody on multiple occasions. Her latest arrest was preceded by six prior arrests.
Her first detention was in July 2000, when her former employer, a leather plant, and local police held her at a deserted factory for one month. She was arrested again in December 2000 and put in Dianbai County Second Detention Center. A deputy director surnamed Liu ordered guards to force feed her with a high-concentration saline solution and threatened to put her and other female practitioners in the male inmates' cells.
Ms. Lin's third detention was in the Hexi Brainwashing Center, followed by the Hedong Brainwashing Center, with a combined time of nearly one year. She spent her fourth detention, also about a year, in the Maoming Brainwashing Center. Wen Ruxiong, director of the center, ordered guards to hang her up with her feet off the ground for three days, eight hours a day from evening till 3 a.m. She was unable to sleep at all.
Ms. Lin was detained for one week at the Dianbai First Detention Center when she was arrested for a fifth time.
Her sixth arrest happened on August 19, 2017, when she was reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. Four police officers interrogated her and beat her. One of them, a plainclothes officer, smacked her in the head and swore at her. The officers grabbed her hand to get her fingerprint on one document.
Her son, younger sister, and father went to Huangling Police Station to see about her, but the police drove them away, bruising her father's arms as they did.
The three family members had already walked out the door when chief Feng Yanqiang odered five officers to chase them down and grab Ms. Lin's son. They slammed the young man to the ground so hard that his head swelled and his nose bled. They gave him a savage beating.
The family members went to their local appeal center and police supervisory office to file a complaint. But they have never received a response.
Lu Shanghui, head, Dianbai District Domestic Security Office: +86-13902511787Wu Xiaojun, Director, Maoming City First Detention Center: +86-668-2728309
85-year-old Father Subjected to Police Brutality During Home Ransacking