(Minghui.org) A Qingdao City, Shandong Province resident is facing prosecution for her faith in Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Zhao Renxia and her husband, Mr. Xing Zigang, both around 50, were arrested at home on the morning of January 6, 2020. Ms. Zhao was interrogated at Lingzhushan Police Station for two days before being transferred to Pudong Detention Center, where she has been held since.
Mr. Xing was detained for four days and released around noon on January 9. The police once cuffed his hands behind his back for five hours.
Ms. Zhao was issued a formal arrest warrant on February 14, 2020. She now faces indictment for her faith.
The latest arrest of Ms. Zhao and Mr. Xing was preceded by multiple prior arrests in the past three years.
On June 6, 2017, a group of officers broke into their home and attempted to arrest Ms. Zhao. As she wasn’t home, the police arrested Mr. Xing and their son, Mr. Xing Haodong. The couple’s computer, printer, Falun Gong informational materials and boxes of copy paper were confiscated.
Although the younger Mr. Xing was released on the next day, his father was sent to Pudong Detention Center. After the Huangdao District Procuratorate refused to approve his arrest, he was released on July 13.
Ms. Zhao was arrested at home on June 2, 2018, but was released on bail due to her poor health on July 10, 2018.
The police returned to Ms. Zhao’s home and attempted to arrest her on January 7, 2019. As she wasn’t home again, the police arrested her husband and held him in the police station for one day. The police ordered him to go back to the police station several times and questioned him regarding Ms. Zhao's whereabouts.
Ms. Zhao was captured by the police on June 28, 2019 and sent to Pudong Detention Center on the next day, where she experienced persistent high blood pressure.
Mr. Xing was summoned to the police station on July 25, 2019 and interrogated about where he and his wife bought the supplies, which were confiscated during his June 2017 arrest, to produce Falun Gong materials at home and who taught them to do so. Mr. Xing refused to answer the questions.
Ms. Zhao was later released in August, after she was forced to sign a document against her will, admitting that she “undermined law enforcement with a cult organization,” a standard pretext used by the authorities to frame Falun Gong practitioners.
The police interrogated Mr. Xing again about the computer and Falun Gong materials confiscated in June 2017 after his latest arrest in January 2020.
Related report:Shandong Man Released after Procuratorate Declines to Issue Arrest Warrant
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