(Minghui.org) Thirteen residents of Yinchuan City, Ningxia Province were arrested in September 2019 for their faith in Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Eight of the practitioners are scheduled to appear in the Xixia District Court on July 28, 2020. Several of the practitioners’ families have hired lawyers for them.
As Mr. Xie Nanfang, 64, one of the 13 arrested practitioners, died on February 28, 2020 at the Yinchuan City Detention Center, the Xixia District Procuratorate dropped his case on May 20, 2020. Details about Mr. Xie’s death remain under investigation.
Over 50 police officers arrested 13 Falun Gong practitioners in Yinchuan on September 19, 2019. A guest of two of the practitioners, who does not practice Falun Gong, was also arrested.
The guest, who happened to be visiting Mr. Ren Chuntian, 84, and his wife, Ms. Chen Shuhui, 79, when the police arrived, was arrested and interrogated at the police station as well. The police ransacked the elderly couple’s home and later released them on bail.
Mr. Nan Yongsheng, who has a disability and works at the Yongning County Civil Administration, was arrested at work. The police ransacked both his home and workplace. He has been released on bail.
Mr. Jiang Tao and his wife Ms. Zhu Haiyan were also arrested at work. Mr. Jiang has been released on bail after 30 days of detention. Ms. Zhu remains in custody.
When the police went to Mr. Xie’s home, no one opened the door for them. The officers ordered a locksmith to open his door and realized that no one was at home. They waited outside of his apartment building and arrested Mr. Xie when he came back around 2 p.m. His home was ransacked.
Ms. Chen Bo exhibited high blood pressure of 240 mmHg after she was arrested and was denied admission to the local detention center. The police forced her to take some medicine and coerced the detention center to take her. They didn’t inform Ms. Chen’s son of her situation until one week later.
The remaining six practitioners who were arrested the same day include Ms. Na Qin, Ms. Jiang Chunmei, Ms. Sun Fanghong, Ms. Xiao Yanzhi, Ms. Wang Xiuhua and Ms. Ma Xiaofeng. The Xixia District Procuratorate approved their arrests, as well as those of Ms. Zhu, Mr. Xie, and Ms. Chen, on October 25, 2019.
The police submitted the nine practitioners' cases to the prosecutor on December 11, with the recommended charge of “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” a standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners.
The prosecutor returned the cases to the police twice, on January 22 and April 2, 2020, respectively. The police resubmitted them each time, on February 20 and April 24. Mr. Xie died in custody in February 2020 while awaiting indictment.
On May 20, 2020, the prosecutor decided to not indict Mr. Xie, three months after his death.
On May 21, the prosecutor indicted the other eight practitioners and forwarded their cases to the Xixia District Court.
Yinchuan City, Ningxia: 13 Arrested in One Day, 9 Face Prosecution