(Minghui.org) Mr. Xie Yujun, a 56-year-old Xingning City, Guangdong Province resident, stood trial on October 18, 2024, for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. His daughter entered a not guilty plea for him and recounted the family’s ordeal over the past 25 years of Mr. Xie’s ongoing persecution for his belief.
A group of officers from the Xingning City Police Department broke into Mr. Xie’s home on April 24, 2024. As he wasn’t home, the police restrained his wife and ten-year-old son instead. After Mr. Xie was seized the next day, the police continued to monitor his wife and son afterwards. One officer verbally abused the boy when he asked for his late biological mother (who had passed away two years before) and two residential committee staffers followed the boy when he went to school.
Mr. Xie, who is detained at the Xingning City Detention Center, appeared in the Meixian District Court on October 18, 2024. A second hearing was scheduled for November 12.
Over the past 25 years, Mr. Xie has served two labor camp terms totaling 4.5 years and a prison term of 5 years. He was subjected to torture while in custody, including solitary confinement, electric shocks, beatings, sleep deprivation, forced drug administration, forced feeding, and other abuses.
His daughter, Ms. Xie Xiaoting, was only one when Mr. Xie was given the second labor camp term. His prison sentence came shortly after her sixth birthday. She lived in fear and constantly worried whether her father would be arrested again. She was dealt a hard blow when her mother passed away in 2022, succumbing to the mental pressure and years of hard work caring for the family. Her little brother struggled to cope and still often asks where their late mother is. The siblings’ father later remarried.
Now a senior student at the Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Ms. Xie is also targeted by the authorities for her faith in Falun Gong.
Below is part of Ms. Xie’s defense statement.
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As long as I can remember, it was always my mother taking care of me and I rarely saw my father. I often asked my mom, “When will Dad come back home?”
In June 2000, my father went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was given two years at the Sanshui Forced Labor Camp. The authorities had my uncle and aunt try to persuade him to give up Falun Gong or from going to Beijing again. He maintained that he hadn’t done anything wrong. After his term expired, the police didn’t release him, but took him to the Xingning Detention Center. He held a hunger strike and was finally allowed to go home. He later went to Shenzhen City for a job opportunity, only to be arrested there and sent back to Xingning.
In September 2002, only weeks after my father returned home, the Xingning 610 Office took him to a brainwashing center. Three months later, they moved him to an unknown location, where he was held for another month. The 610 Office, local police and residential committee continued to harass him after his release.
Around the same time, he met my mother and got married. I was born in September 2003.
Once, at work, a coworker was being unreasonable and my father commented on his behavior. That person went into a rage and slapped my father in the face in front of others. My father realized that he shouldn’t have passed judgment on him in the first place and he apologized to the coworker. That person didn’t expect that my father would respond this way. He was embarrassed and walked away.
On January 19, 2004, when I was only four months old, a group of 610 Office agents broke into our home, raided our place and arrested my father again. The police also spread rumors smearing my mother among her family and friends, which greatly stressed her.
As my mother couldn’t afford to send me to daycare, she took me to work every day and her coworkers sometimes helped feed me. On her days off, she went to the police station to seek justice for my father. The police often came to our home to harass her and followed her. To avoid being arrested herself, she quit her job and went into hiding with me. The police put her on the wanted list and posted rewards for people to report our whereabouts. It was so hard for my mother to care for me while dodging the police during those few months.
On July 10, 2004, shortly after my father was released, he found a job repairing motorcycles, only to be reported and arrested for talking to a motorcycle owner about Falun Gong. He was given 2.5 years at the Sanshui Forced Labor Camp, where he was shocked with electric batons, deprived of sleep, forced to do hard labor without pay, and subjected to other corporal abuse. I couldn’t imagine how he survived that!
My mother found another job. Her salary was less than 300 yuan a month. With 70 yuan for rent and 90 yuan for my daycare, there wasn’t much left to pay for utilities and food. She often complained when she had to spend 90 yuan to refill the natural gas tank for cooking at home.
My mother later told me that I often asked for my father during the time. She always tried her best to comfort me. Sometimes she wrote to my father, and their correspondence gave her courage to carry on.
The only incident I remembered before I was four was that my mother went out grocery shopping when I was sleeping. I was terrified when I couldn’t find her upon waking up. It was raining and thundering outside. I was really scared and feared that my mother had been arrested as well. I knocked on my neighbors’ door and sought help. It took me a long time to calm down.
In 2007, my father was finally released. We only lived a peaceful life together for about two years when he was arrested again on October 27, 2009. During his court hearing, I wasn’t allowed to go into the courtroom because I was too young. I stayed in the hallway. When my father entered the courtroom, I called to him and he smiled at me, asking me to be a good girl at home. I will remember that scene forever.
My father was later sentenced to five years and taken to the Guangdong Province Third Prison. I couldn’t understand why the police always arrested my father, simply because he practiced Falun Gong to be a good person. My mother asked me not to hate those people, explaining that they themselves were the true victims.
My school teacher was also ordered by the higher-ups to persecute us. With the excuse of visiting my family, she came to our home with several strong officers, who later raided our place.
At school, I didn’t dare to tell others that my father was jailed because of practicing Falun Gong. I didn’t know if they could understand it. My mother told me that the truth will always be truth; it’s not a shame to practice Falun Gong and it’s the police who violated the law in persecuting good people.
I was so afraid that my mother would be arrested as well. I followed her everywhere she went. If she didn’t sleep, I wouldn’t go to bed. I would cry if I lost sight of her. I had nightmares every day of uniformed officers coming to my mother’s workplace to arrest us. I didn’t dare tell my mother about my nightmares, fearing that it would become true if I said it out aloud. There were so many times that my mother held me in her arms, comforting me and telling me not to be afraid.
At school, the teachers taught us to be a person of integrity, who is always ready to help, who is tolerant and has a sense of justice. They also said that the police are protecting good people and punishing bad people and they are the role models for us to learn from. I believe that everyone who chose to become a police officer wished to be like that in the beginning, but how many of them can stay unchanged?
In the monthly letters my father wrote to us, he often asked my mother not to work too hard or worry about him. He apologized for not being present in our life. He also asked me to study well and to be a good girl. Sometimes he drew some simple things to cheer me up. I also wrote some simple words or drew things in reply.
Every few months, my mother took me to see my father. The travel was quite expensive and her salary was low. Knowing about our financial situation, our family and friends paid for most of our food and my clothes.
Despite all the difficulties, my mother still tried her best to help others. Once, she found a wallet and she waited there for the owner to come back. The owner offered her some money as a token of appreciation and she kindly declined. I admired my mother’s tenacity, kindness and her strong faith. When everything went against us, she still chose to be kind and remained hopeful.
My father was released in 2014. But our happy family life didn’t last for very long. In 2022, my mother suddenly passed away as a result of the mental distress and hard work over the years. In the face of such a sudden blow, it was Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance (the main principles of Falun Gong) that gave us hope in life and enabled our family to get through this difficult time.
More then 20 officers broke into our home on April 24, 2024, raided the place and intimidated my stepmother and ten-year-old brother. When my brother cried for our biological mother, the police accused him of being out of his mind. My father was arrested the next day.
As my father was the sole breadwinner for the family, we are left in a dire situation after the police froze our family’s bank account.
I recently found that my brother was being bullied at school because of our father’s situation. He has also become very sensitive and has frequent nightmares. I try to comfort him, just like our mother comforted me in the past: “Don’t be afraid. Face it bravely. You can tell them that our father was arrested for his faith. He didn’t violate any law and we shouldn’t feel ashamed for being a good person.”
I believe everyone has a kind heart. I truly hope that the judge and prosecutor can acquit my father. Our family needs him.
Related Reports:
Xingning City, Guangdong Province: Five Still Detained for Their Faith, Four to Stand Trial
Xingning City, Guangdong Province: Four Locals Face Trial for Practicing Falun Gong
Meizhou City, Guangdong Province: 14 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Three Days
College Student Detained and Threatened with Expulsion, Her Father Implicated and Still in Detention
Mr. Xie Yujun, Mr. Chen Shenghui, and Ms. Wen Chunru Arrested
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