(Minghui.org) After being forced to live away from home for nearly two years to avoid being persecuted for their faith in Falun Gong, a married couple in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, were followed by the police and arrested in October 2022. They are now facing prosecution for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The police surrounded Mr. Wang Guohui and Ms. Yu Chunli’s rental place at 8:30 p.m. on October 27, 2022, and tricked the couple’s son into opening the door by saying that their home was leaking water. While arresting the couple, the police also confiscated their Falun Gong books, printer, and laptop.

The police kept Mr. Wang at the Jihongtan Police Station for over 40 days and Ms. Yu for over 80 days. In the first month there, both of them were handcuffed around the clock and given a tiny steam bun and some pickles for each meal. Their family sent clothes to them twice, but they never received anything.

Mr. Wang developed high blood pressure due to the abuse. He was transferred to a COVID quarantine center on December 15, but still not given enough food. Ms. Yu was taken there 40 days later.

The police kept barring the couple’s lawyer from visiting them and gave him the run-around between the police station, quarantine center, and procuratorate. The lawyer finally visited the couple after they were transferred to the Pudong Detention Center on February 7, 2023. Mr. Wang was found to have contracted Hepatitis B and Ms. Yu was in a relatively good state.

The latest arrests of the couple stemmed from the earlier persecution in 2018.

On the evening of June 1, 2018, one week before the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit to be held in Qingdao, the police broke into the couple’s home and arrested them, their son, and Mr. Wang’s mother. While their son and Mr. Wang’s mother were released the next day, the couple remained detained at the Jihongtan Police Station and were transferred to the Liuting Police Station on June 3. The police claimed that they would release them after the summit ended on June 10.

Mr. Wang was later taken to the Xifu Town Detention Center and Ms. Yu to the Pudong Detention Center. The police released them on bail on July 9, after forcing each of them to pay a 2,000 yuan bail bond.

The police harassed the couple again on November 14, 2018. They searched every room in their home, confiscating over 30 Falun Gong books and a laptop.

The couple was ordered to renew their bail condition twice for the next two years. Meanwhile, the low-income subsidies for Mr. Wang and his mother were suspended in November 2019.

The police and residential committee staff members harassed the couple two more times, first on March 25 and then on April 2020. Their Falun Gong-related materials were confiscated. Fearing being implicated, the manager of the factory Ms. Yu worked in got her fired in April.

The police in July 2020 submitted the couple’s case to the Chengyang District Procuratorate, which then was forwarded to the Jimo District Procuratorate.

The police summoned the couple to the police station on January 21, 2021. As they didn’t go, the police called them again and ordered them to show up before January 26. Upon confirming that they had been indicted and were facing trial by the Jimo District Court, the couple decided to live away from home to hide from the authorities days later.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Guo Shusheng (郭树升), president of Jimo District Court: +86-532-85559891, +86-532-85559817Gao Fei (高非), judge of Jimo District CourtYu Zhongjun (于仲君). President of Jimo District Procuratorate: +86-532-83012618Wang Chuankai (王传凯), officer of Jihongtan Police Station: +86-17667590713, +86-15318787997

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