79-Year-old Retired Government Employee Framed for Practicing Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhang Shanying, 79, is a retired government employee in Hefei City, Anhui Province. Because of practicing Falun Gong, she has been repeatedly harassed by local police.

On October 14, 2021, Xiaoyaojin Police Station issued a “Residential Surveillance Decision” against her. The decision also indicated she was part of a crime ring without explaining what the crime ring was.

When reviewing her case documents, her lawyer discovered that Xiaoyaojin Police Station had twice given her “Administrative Detention,” one in September 2016 and another in April 2020, without her knowledge or ever detaining her. Together with the new Residential Surveillance Decision, the police established a case against her and forwarded it to the Shushan District Procuratorate.

Ms. Zhang was shocked by her lawyer’s discovery, as the police had never notified her of the two incidences of administrative detention. More importantly, she didn’t break any law by exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief. She believes that the police were simply framing her and violating the law themselves in their attempt to prosecute her.

Below are more details of the police’s persecution of Ms. Zhang.

One day in September 2016, three men showed up at Ms. Zhang’s home. One of them broke in and went straight to her bedroom. He and the other two men didn’t reveal their names or show any IDs. They simply said they were from Xiaoyaojin Police Station and ordered her to go to the police station without explaining why.

Ms. Zhang refused to comply and said it was illegal for them to enter a private residence without permission or a search warrant. The officers left and did not come back. She thought that was the end of the harassment episode, only to learn from her lawyer later that the police had secretly given her an Administrative Detention on the record without notifying or detaining her.

Starting in 2017, however, Xiaoyaojin police returned repeatedly to harass Ms. Zhang at home. When they came the 16^th time on April 16, 2020, they again did not show any IDs, and simply ordered her to sign statements renouncing her belief in Falun Gong. Ms. Zhang said no as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong.

After the police left, she called the police station, and an officer surnamed Shi answered the phone. Ms. Zhang explained that practicing Falun Gong is protected by the Constitution and that the cult list issued by the Ministry of Public Security had never included Falun Gong. Shi stopped her and swore at her, all the while slandering Falun Gong.

Shi later also called Ms. Zhang’s children repeatedly to threaten them. He even summoned them to the police station to listen to the phone conversation between him and their mother.

On April 26, 2020, Xiaoyaojin police deceived Ms. Zhang into going to the security office of her community, where an officer said she calling the police station had violated Article 300 of the Criminal Law, which states that anyone using a cult to undermine the implementation of the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They even claimed that her call caused Shi to fall ill. Ms. Zhang refuted the allegation, saying she was just calling the police station to report the fact that the persecution of Falun Gong had no legal basis. She challenged the police to explain what law enforcement she undermined with her phone call. She also asked if Shi had any medical records of him falling ill due to her phone call.

The police couldn’t answer her questions and let her go. They again secretly issued her an Administrative Detention, putting it on the record without notifying or detaining her.

On October 14, 2021, Wu Bin and two officers from Xiaoyaojin Police Station summoned Ms. Zhang to meet at the security office of her community. After a brief interrogation, Wu abruptly handed her a Residential Surveillance Decision and left.

Ms. Zhang became confused after reading the residential surveillance decision notice carefully. The notice mentioned that she was part of a crime ring, “5.24 Team of Persuading People to Quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).” She had no clue what the 5.24 Team was about so she called the police station to seek clarification. She was told the decision would be explained face-to-face.

When Wu Bin and Xie Hanmin from Xiaoyaojin Police Station met Ms. Zhang at the security office again on November 11, 2021, however, Wu claimed the meeting was an interrogation session and started to question her. He asked if she admitted to her crime and she said she didn’t break any law by practicing Falun Gong.

Her husband, who accompanied her there, said there was no official document that labeled Falun Gong a cult. Xie took him outside and threatened him. Xie also threatened his daughter, who was there too, that her mother would be subject to a heavier sentence since her attitude was bad.

Wu and Xie didn’t mention anything about the 5.24 Team. Ms. Zhang learned later from local practitioners that the Hefei authorities had fabricated the 5.24 Team in their attempt to frame local practitioners and accuse them of working as a team on May 24 to persuade people to quit the CCP.

After the November 11 interrogation, Xie often called Ms. Zhang's son, a surgeon, even when he was out of town on business trips. They also sent him and his sister text messages to intimidate them, threatening to suspend their mother’s pension and throw her into jail.

Contact persons at Xiaoyaojin Police Station:

Xie Hanmin (deputy director, in charge of Ms. Zhang’s case): [phone]Wu Bin (officer): [phone]