(Minghui.org) A Suining City, Sichuan Province, resident was arrested in June 2022 for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. The police submitted her case to the local procuratorate, and the latter decided to dismiss her case in July 2023, making it the first case of a Falun Gong practitioner being cleared of prosecution in the region.
Ms. Zhang Bihua, 71, was arrested around 8:40 a.m. on June 23, 2022, while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. Seven other practitioners, including Mr. Zhang Qilin, 80, Ms. Zhou Yunyan, 70, Ms. Li Zhongxiu, 80, Ms. Cao Deyuan, 79, Ms. Liu Zhongying, 66, Ms. Yang Guangrong, in her 60s, and a practitioner surnamed Li, were also arrested around the same time. The practitioners later learned the arresting officers from the Jiefu Road Police Station had been following them and monitoring their daily activities for six months before arresting them.
At around 2 p.m., the police raided most practitioners’ homes. Ms. Zhang had her Falun Gong books, ten informational cards, thirty brochures and ten pieces of banknotes printed with information about Falun Gong (as a way to raise awareness about the persecution given strict censorship in China) seized from her home. At the police station, she was restrained in a tiger bench and interrogated. All eight practitioners were released in the evening.
Torture illustration: tiger bench
On July 5, 2022, several officers from the Jiefu Road Police Station went to Ms. Zhang’s home to look for her. As she happened to be out, the police forced her son to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong on her behalf. The police returned two days later and said that the statement written by her son didn’t count and their supervisor demanded to have Ms. Zhang's fingerprint on the statement. She was forced to comply.
One officer of the Jiefu Road Police Station called Ms. Zhang’s son in mid-August 2022 and ordered him to bring her there in the afternoon. She went there and was ordered to sign her case document. She refused to sign upon noticing the discrepancy over the amount of materials confiscated from her home.
According to Ms. Zhang, the 30 brochures became over 200, 10 pieces of banknotes with information about Falun Gong became 60 pieces, and 10 informational cards became 10 bags. Her son was shocked to see how the police fabricated information to frame his mother.
After half an hour of standoff, Ms. Zhang was forced to sign her bail release document. Then the police took her and her son to the Chuanshan District Procuratorate, submitted her case documents to the receptionist there, and had her sign on the documents.
A prosecutor called Ms. Zhang’s son on September 22, 2022, and summoned him and her to verify some information. Ms. Zhang recounted how the police altered the number of confiscated materials. The prosecutor made notes of it.
Ms. Zhang experienced a medical emergency on May 8, 2023, and was found to have a tumor in her abdomen. She had surgery to remove the tumor and the procuratorate sent a plainclothes officer to the hospital to verify she was indeed sick.
The police called Ms. Zhang’s son again in mid-July 2023 and summoned her to the police station. They lifted her bail condition. Shortly after, the prosecutor also dismissed her case, citing insufficient evidence and her physical condition.
Previous Persecution of Ms. Zhang
Ms. Zhang is a retired worker at the local textile factory. She took up Falun Gong in December 1998 and credited the practice for enabling her to fully recover from severe neck problems, back pain, and a kidney condition. As she remained firm in her faith after the communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999, she has been subjected to four arrests before her latest ordeal.
First Arrest
At 7 p.m. on April 6, 2000, Sun Yunhua, the chief of Yucai Road Police Station, led three officers to Ms. Zhang’s home shared with her son’s family. Her daughter-in-law opened the door. When the police barged in, they attempted to turn off the TV Ms. Zhang’s grandson was watching. As the boy’s mother was trying to argue with the police, Ms. Zhang heard their conversation and came to the living room.
When the police realized Ms. Zhang was the one they were looking for, they began to search her place and took away her two Falun Gong books. Then they brought her to the police station for interrogation. She later learned that four other practitioners, including Ms. Xia Daixiu, 65, Mr. Huang Fengqi, 75, Mr. Liao Yonglun, in his 70s, and a practitioner surnamed Kang, were also arrested that night.
The five practitioners were interrogated three rounds in the evening and held in the police station overnight, before being transferred to the Wujiawan Detention Center the next day.
When Ms. Zhang’s two sons went to the police station to demand her release, the police ordered them to pay a 2,700 yuan fine and prevent her from going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. The other four practitioners were all extorted by the police, with Mr. Liao paying 5,000 yuan, Mr. Huang 4,000 yuan, Kang 4,000 yuan, and Ms. Xia 2,000 yuan. All five practitioners were released on the evening of April 7.
Second Arrest
Ms. Zhang and two other practitioners, Mr. Huang Fengqi and Ms. Chen Jiaxiu, went to Daan Town on March 15, 2009, to distribute informational materials about Falun Gong. As they went to different locations, Ms. Zhang and Ms. Huang didn’t know that Ms. Chen was arrested after being reported to the Daan Town Police Station. They returned home separately without finding Ms. Chen.
Zheng Dashuang and Li Bo of the Suining City Domestic Security Office took more than ten officers to Ms. Zhang’s home at 7 p.m. on March 21 and raided her place. Her Falun Gong books and some informational materials were confiscated. Zheng claimed that as long as she provided information about who printed the materials, he wouldn’t arrest her. She refused to comply and was taken to the Beimen Lockup in the evening. The police interrogated her eight days in a row and she didn’t provide them with any information about how the materials were printed.
After nine months at the Yongxing Detention Center, Ms. Zhang was sentenced to three years by the Anju District Court. She was allowed to serve time at home and was released from the detention center on November 30.
Third Arrest
Ms. Zhang and another practitioner were arrested in Pengxi County on September 18, 2010, after they were reported for talking to people about Falun Gong there. They were taken to the Dashi Police Station, where they were searched and had their photos taken and fingerprints collected. The police found Ms. Zhang’s name on a receipt she had with her.
The police interrogated both practitioners from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. without providing lunch to them. The police then took them to the Pengxi County Hospital for physical examinations before sending them to the Pengxi County Detention Center. Both practitioners were released on the next day.
Fourth Arrest
Ms. Zhang was arrested again on November 19, 2021, after being followed by a plainclothes officer while distributing Falun Gong materials on the street. She was detained for five days.
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