(Minghui.org) A Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, man is facing indictment for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Ren Changbin, 59, was arrested at home during a police sweep on the evening of September 14, 2023. His son, who suffers from depression, witnessed the arrest. The arresting officers from the Songlin Police Station in Xiangyang District did not show their IDs or a search warrant when they raided his home. They also searched his mini-van and confiscated his personal belongings in the vehicle as well as his cellphone and passport.
The police took Mr. Ren to the Songlin Police Station for interrogation. He was transferred to the Qianjin District Police Department Case Process Center the next day to be questioned again. The Xiangyang District Procuratorate recently issued an arrest warrant for him. He is now awaiting an indictment while being held in the Jiamusi City Detention Center.
When Mr. Ren’s lawyer visited him on November 8, he told his lawyer that his practice of Falun Gong caused no harm to any individual or society at large, much less break any law as the police alleged. He asked the lawyer to enter a not guilty plea for him.
Sister Also Targeted by the Police
The day after Mr. Ren’s arrest, his sister received a call from the police, who pretended to be a delivery service, asking her to come out to pick up a package. She didn’t go. The police called her again, this time pretending to be from the property management office of her vacant residence. They said water was leaking downstairs. Her husband rushed over there to check on the situation, only to have four plainclothes officers barge in and ransack the place.
The police arrested Mr. Ren’s sister and brother-in-law and took them to the Shunhe Police Station in the Qianjin District for questioning. The couple wasn’t allowed to go home until late in the evening. When the police released them, they also searched her current residence but didn’t find anything of interest. No officers showed their IDs or search warrants during the raids.
The Group Arrest
Mr. Ren was among the more than 30 local Falun Gong practitioners arrested on the evening of September 14 and the morning of September 15, 2023. Besides Mr. Ren, at least eight other practitioners, including Ms. Dong Min, Mr. Huang Shaobo, Ms. Qu Yujie, Ms. Wang Yujia, Ms. Yang Guifen, Ms. Liu Yan, Ms. Li Guihua, and a practitioner with a first name of Xiaoping, also remain detained.
The Jiamusi City Police Department mobilized all of its subordinate police stations to carry out the group arrests. Each police station was not only responsible for the practitioners in its own jurisdiction but also practitioners in other jurisdictions.
The Songlin Police Station in the Xiangyang District that arrested Mr. Ren, for instance, also went to the Qianjin District and arrested several practitioners there. It’s unclear whether Mr. Ren lives in the Xiangyang District or the Qianjin District.
Chief Zhou Wei (+86-18804542999, badge number 053222) of the Songlin Police Station, 43, has been actively leading the persecution of local Falun Gong practitioners for more than a decade. He has often harassed practitioners in his jurisdiction, ransacked their homes and arrested them. Many of the practitioners he arrested over the years ended up being sentenced to prison.
During the latest police sweep, Zhou threatened to force all the practitioners in his jurisdiction to renounce their faith.
Bad Temper Changed After Taking Up Falun Gong
According to Mr. Ren’s sister, he used to work at a local glass factory. He and his wife broke up and divorced when their son was only three years old. The difficulties in his life always left him in a bad temper and he became addicted to drinking. He would beat up people when he was upset. He many times threatened to kill his ex-wife and her new family. He later contracted Hepatitis B and developed anhidrosis, a condition in which a person can’t sweat.
In deep despair, Mr. Ren took up Falun Gong and soon quit drinking. His Hepatitis B was gone and he could sweat normally. In addition to the improvement in his health, he also became kind and considerate. Because there was no light in his apartment building, he installed a sound-activated light at the entrance using his own electricity. He also swept the snow outside of the building when it wasn’t his responsibility. His relationship with his ex-wife also improved.
Mr. Ren’s sister said his changes after learning Falun Gong impressed many people who knew him. She couldn’t understand why such a good person is now being persecuted for his faith that changed him for the better. She is insisting that the authorities released him immediately.
Related reports:
Police Director Arrests Practitioners and Their Families, Threatens to Eradicate Falun Gong
Copyright © 2023 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
