Man Faces Trial in China, Wife and Son in Florida Call for His Release

(Minghui.org) A senior geological engineer of Shengli Oilfield, Dongying City, Shandong Province is scheduled to appear in court on August 25, 2022, for his support for Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been targeted by the communist regime since 1999. His wife, a Falun Gong practitioner who currently resides in Florida with their son, is calling for his release.

Mr. Zhou Deyong and Ms. You Ling came to the U.S. to visit their son in late 2019. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 in early 2020, they could not return to China at the originally scheduled time. In October 2020, Mr. Zhou flew back to China, while Ms. You decided to stay in the U.S. out of fear of being targeted again for her faith in Falun Gong back home. 

On April 23, 2021, only six months after Mr. Zhou returned to China, he was arrested by officers of the Binhai Police Station in a police sweep, in which over 10 practitioners and their family members were arrested. The police raided Mr. Zhou’s home and confiscated over 100 Falun Gong books that belonged to his wife and some informational materials. He has been held at the Binhai Detention Center since. 

Six of the arrested practitioners, including Mr. Geng Shoutian, Mr. He Baiqing, Ms. Meng Yu, Ms. Meng Fanyun, Ms. Guo Hongyan, and Ms. Liu Yanmei, have already been tried in the Dongying District Court. 

According to an insider, Ma Jian, the deputy head of Binhai Police Station, and An Maosen of the Domestic Security Office, reported Mr. Zhou’s case and those of the arrested practitioners’ to the National Security Bureau in Shandong with high priority. 

On April 26, three days after Mr. Zhou’s arrest, his son in Florida contacted his Congressman Gus Bilirakis, who then wrote to Xi Jinping, the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, urging him to release Mr. Zhou. Congressman Bilirakis’ letter was also sent to the Shengli Oilfield Administration and Binhai Police Department.

Mr. Zhou’s lawyer had tried to make appointments to visit him since early May 2021 but was turned down each and every time. On May 19, the lawyer went to the police department to demand to see his client. While the police agreed for him to visit Mr. Zhou on May 26, they informed the lawyer a day before the visit that due to bad weather, certain electronic devices used for such visits were malfunctioning and the meeting was canceled. 

Despite the police’s blatant violation of Mr. Zhou’s visitation right, the lawyer still travelled to Dongying as scheduled on May 26. Meanwhile, Mr. Zhou’s son called the Dongying District Procuratorate to report on the police’s violation of his father’s visitation right. He also told the authorities that his Representative in the U.S. had written to chairman Xi about his father’s case. 

One hour later, the lawyer was informed by the detention center that he could visit Mr. Zhou.

In addition to Representative Bilirakis, who is very concerned about Mr. Zhou’s case, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, also joined the effort to rescue him.

Senator Rubio wrote to the Secretary of State Antony Blinken on August 30, 2021, calling on the U.S. government to help free Mr. Zhou. The Department of State responded on November 3, stating that the U.S. government has always been very concerned about the Chinese Communist Party’s violation of human rights, and have sanctioned a 610 Office agent that year. The Department of State is very concerned about the CCP’s mistreatment and detention of Mr. Zhou, and the government will consider negotiating with the CCP at the right time and urge the CCP to abide by the freedom of religion stipulated in its Constitution.

Representative Bilirakis said, “It’s really unforgivable some of the things the Chinese Communist Party has done to these wonderful people. This just should not happen anymore. We’re not going to back down, and we’re not going to be intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party.” He wrote to Xi again in November 2021, calling on him to release Mr. Zhou and to stop the persecution of Falun Gong.

Perpetrators’ contact information: 

Ren Yaohai (任耀海), prosecutor of Dongying District Court who indicted Mr. Zhou: [phone]Zhang Ting (张婷), presiding judge of Dongying District Court in charge of Mr. Zhou’s case: [phone], [phone]Ji Penghui (纪鹏辉), judge of Dongying District Court: [phone], [phone]Yan Xiaohui (闫晓辉), judge of Dongying District Court: [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)