(Minghui.org) Five residents of Qingyuan County, Liaoning Province were arrested on March 10, 2021, while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. They were later sentenced to six to nine months in prison.
One of the practitioners, Ms. Zhu Qinghua, recalled the details of their arrests and sentencing below.
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I’m Zhu Qinghua. A 56-year-old retired employee of the Hongtou Mountain Mine.
On the evening of March 10, 2021, Mr. Yang Bailiang gave me, Ms. Yang Xiaozhi, Ms. Shi Hongxiang, and Ms. Lin Guiland a ride to nearby Tieling City to distribute informational materials about Falun Gong. He left after dropping us off there. A few villagers reported us. Two officers soon came. They kicked us and pushed us into their car, bringing us to the Huangqizhai Police Station. We refused to tell them our names and where we came from. They took us to the Kaiyuan City Domestic Security Office overnight.
It was already 11 p.m. by the time the four of us were taken to the domestic security office. Wang Yi, the Domestic Security Office’s director, was on duty. The local practitioners in Tieling had talked to him many times in the past and urged him not to participate in the persecution, but he refused to listen.
Wang arranged four officers to interrogate us. I was handcuffed with Ms. Yang. They first asked for her name and address. As she remained silent, they slapped her in the face and kicked her. Then they turned to me and I also remained silent. The police kicked me and threatened they had ways for us to talk.
Moments later, the police shocked Ms. Yang with electric batons. Many people heard her painful screaming. After that, Ms. Shi and Ms. Lin were brought in for interrogation.
The police later found our information in their database. When I refused to let them take my photo, Wang forcibly removed my hat, loosened my hair and took my photo.
One officer asked Wang whether they should release us. Wang said he couldn’t let us go so easily; otherwise, the overnight interrogation would be in vain. He had the four of us taken to the Tieling City Lockup the next day.
On the third day at the lockup, Ms. Yang developed extremely high blood pressure. Her eyes were bloodshot. She was so dizzy that she didn’t dare to move. Fearing that she might die there, the guards called her family to pick her up. Yet Wang didn’t approve her release immediately but interrogated her for a few more hours regarding the details of how we got to Tieling and who was the driver. He didn’t allow Ms. Yang to return home until 8 p.m.
After our lockup detention expired, Wang took us to the Tieling City Police Department for another round of interrogation in separate rooms. The police again questioned me about who organized our trip, who was the driver, the color of the car, and the license plate. I remained silent.
In the evening, a police director tried to persuade me to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong by promising to “go easy on me.” He also attempted to have my family “work” on me. But I wasn’t moved.
After physical examinations in the hospital, we were taken to the Diaobingshan Detention Center at 11: 30 p.m. The guards refused to accept me due to my dangerously high blood pressure and fast heartbeat. The police spent half an hour, trying to buy medicine to bring down my blood pressure. But as it was so late, all of the pharmacies were closed. They reported it to Wang, who then called the detention center and pressured the guards to accept me.
My blood pressure remained very high in the detention center and I also began to experience cardiac arrest. Seven days later, Ms. Shi, Ms. Lin, and I were transferred to the Tieling County Detention Center. As I hadn’t eaten anything since I was taken to the Diaobingshan Detention Center, I began to have blood in my urine. Yet the detention center doctor refused to treat me when an inmate reported my condition to him.
On March 24, we were transferred to the Tieling City Detention Center, where we were forced to sit on small stools without moving for long hours each day. I heard that two months before we came, another Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Li Yuhua, was hung up and beaten because she did the Falun Gong exercises in her cell. The guards also chained her to a ring fixed on the ground. She developed high blood pressure and diabetes and was unable to walk. Shortly after, she was sentenced to four years. The Dabei Prison initially refused to accept her due to her health condition and returned her to the detention center. But the detention center forced the guards to admit her two months later.
Ms. Shi, Ms. Lin, and I were transferred back to the Diaobingshan Detention Center on April 15.
Following our arrests, the police went to Qingyuan County to review surveillance videos and found the route we took to get there and where we distributed materials. One officer said that they made almost daily trips there and bragged that they tried almost all the local restaurants there.
After collecting enough information about our driver Mr. Yang, the police went to his home to arrest him. It happened that he wasn’t home when they came. They set surveillance of his car and arrested his nephew, who borrowed his car to do an errand. The police also impounded Mr. Yang’s car. They threatened to hold his nephew in custody if Mr. Yang didn’t turn himself in. On March 30, Mr. Yang was arrested when he went to the police station to seek the return of his car. Wang and two other officers interrogated him and then took him to the Kaiyuan City Detention Center.
The Changtu County Court held a trial of Ms. Yang, Ms. Shi, Ms. Lin, Mr. Yang, and I on October 3, 2021. Ms. Shi, Mr. Yang, and I were all sentenced to eight months, Ms. Lin was given nine months, and Ms. Yang received six months. Each of us was also fined 2,000 yuan. Mr. Yang served time at the Kaiyuan City Detention Center. Ms. Lin, Ms. Shi, and me served time at the Tieling City Detention Center. Although Ms. Yang was allowed to serve time at home at first due to her health condition, the police later took her back into custody at the Tieling City Detention Center to serve her six-month term.
Ms. Shi and I were released on November 9, 2021. Mr. Yang and Ms. Lin returned home on November 30 and December 9, respectively.
When I went to my bank to make a withdrawal in the summer of 2022, I found that 2,000 yuan was missing from my account. The bank teller who helped me said that the Changtu County Court forcibly withdrew 2,000 yuan as my court fine. The police also refused to return my iPhone which was confiscated when they raided my home.