(Minghui.org) A woman in Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province was arrested on October 10, 2018 for not renouncing her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual meditation practice being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Her family hasn't been told of her whereabouts since she was transferred from a local detention center to another facility in February 2019.
Another woman, also in Zhaoyuan City, has been detained for nine months and is currently awaiting a verdict for practicing Falun Gong following a court hearing in January 2019.
Ms. Zhao Yuhong's Forced Disappearance
According to a person who was released from Yantai Detention Center in October 2018, she saw Ms. Zhao being admitted to the detention center, with both her hands and feet shackled. But shortly after her admission, that person didn't see her again before she was released.
One month later after her arrest, the police informed Ms. Zhao's family that her arrest had been approved and her case submitted to the court. Since then, her family hasn't received any notification from the procuratorate or the court.
On February 1, 2019, her family received a text message from the local Judicial Bureau, which said that Ms. Zhao's case had been closed and her family could go to the “Chinese Trial Procedure Information” website to look for her case.
Her family went to the website following the instructions, but couldn't find anything about Ms. Zhao. Then they went to the local Domestic Security Division and Judicial Bureau to inquire about her case, but both agencies denied having her case on file.
The family next visited the detention center to check on her. They were told that Ms. Zhao had been transferred to a different facility, which the detention center refused to disclose. At the time of writing, her whereabouts remain unknown.
Ms. Zhao was an employee of Zhaoyuan Department Store. Because of not renouncing her faith in Falun Gong, she has been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned in the past 20 years. She was severely tortured and injected with unknown drugs during her previous detention. She developed a mental disorder as a result.
Ms. Wang Shupei Detained for Nine Months, Awaits Verdict
Ms. Wang was sent to Yantai Detention Center on the same day she was arrested on August 17, 2018. Her family has frequently gone to the Domestic Security Division to seek her release, but to no avail.
The officers initially told her family that they would release Ms. Wang after one month of criminal detention, but one month later, they informed her family that her arrest has been approved and she is facing further prosecution.
When Ms. Wang's family refused to sign her arrest-approval notice, Wang Yucheng, the head of the Domestic Security Division, said, “It's fine that you haven't signed the form. We've already informed you about it. It doesn't change the fact that we are going to prosecute her.”
In the following months, Ms. Wang's family was given the runaround between the Domestic Security Division and the procuratorate, as the prosecutor said they had returned the case to the police due to insufficient evidence, while the police claimed that they had submitted the case to the procuratorate.
Ms. Wang was tried by Zhaoyuan City Court on January 17, 2019. The judge notified her family of the change of hearing location shortly before it took place. The family had to rush from a court in Yantai City to Zhaoyuan City Detention Center, about 70 miles away.
Only Ms. Wang's sister and daughter were allowed to attend her hearing. Her other two family members who also came along had to wait outside the makeshift courtroom.
The judge briefly read the evidence against Ms. Wang and then said he would sentence her to three to seven years. The judge didn't allow Ms. Wang to defend herself and adjourned the hearing in less than 15 minutes.
Her family only saw her from behind, noticing that all of her hair had turned gray. The bailiff also refused to take the clothes they had brought for her.
Ms. Wang's daughter kept crying and was unable to say anything after the hearing.
Now five months after the hearing, Ms. Wang's family still hasn't received any updates regarding her case.
Related reports:Ms. Zhao Yuhong's Whereabouts Unknown
Zhaoyuan, Shandong: 20 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested Since August 2018
