Heilongjiang Teacher Sentenced to 2.5 Years for Practicing Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Minghui.org confirmed in mid-November 2024 that a Linkou County, Heilongjiang Province resident has been sentenced to two and a half years for practicing Falun Gong.

Ms. Liu Benzhi, a school teacher, was arrested on the morning of May 11, 2023, while distributing Falun Gong informational materials at a local fair. After a brief detention at the Gucheng Police Station, she was taken to the Linkou County Police Department, where the police forcibly collected her biometric information, including her pictures, iris images, fingerprints, and voice.

While Ms. Liu was held at the basement of the police department, about eight officers raided her home at around noon that day. They confiscated her computer, printer, cell phone, and Falun Gong books.

The police took Ms. Liu to the Linkou County Hospital for a physical examination on May 12, 2023. She was then given 15 days of detention at an unknown facility. The police twice interrogated her there. They took her back to the police department on May 26, 2023 and processed her “release on bail” paperwork.

While she was on bail, Ms. Liu and her family were harassed numerous times by the police. The police took her to the Yabuli Town Procuratorate (in Shangzhi City, Heilongjiang Province) for deposition on November 1, 2023. After she was sent back home, she decided to go into hiding to avoid further persecution.

Ms. Liu was taken back into custody in August 2024 and later sentenced to two and a half years. It is unclear which procuratorate and court indicted and convicted her. She is currently being held at an unknown location in Mudanjiang City, which oversees Linkou County.

This is not the first time that Ms. Liu has been targeted for her faith. Two officers from the Linkou County Police Department raided her home in January 2005 and confiscated her Falun Gong books and informational materials. They interrogated her and collected her fingerprints at the police department. They also extorted 3,000 yuan from her family before releasing her at an unknown date.

Ms. Liu was tutoring two students at school on the afternoon of April 15, 2005 when two officers from the Nanshan Police Station showed up. They took her home, where several other officers were already waiting. They turned her house upside down, terrifying her elderly parents-in-law, who lived with her family.

After the raid, the police took Ms. Liu to the Linkou County Police Department for interrogation. They cuffed her hands behind her back and smeared mustard oil into her nose. Officer Wang Chunming slapped her in the face. Shortly after 10 p.m. that night, the police took her to a local detention center.

While Ms. Liu was in detention, the police extorted 9,000 yuan from her husband by threatening to give her three years of forced labor if he failed to pay. He was further extorted another 6,000 yuan when he asked an old classmate with connections to talk to the police to secure her release. He also had to buy a new computer worth more than 3,000 yuan for chief Cui Weiye of the Nanshan Police Department.

The couple’s son was also extorted 5,000 yuan by the police, who alleged that he broke the law by teaching his mother to use a computer. Despite all the money extorted, the police not only did not release Ms. Liu earlier, but extended her initial 15-day detention by one month. She was released on May 31, 2005. The police never returned the 60 plus yuan they snatched from her pocket during the arrest.

Ms. Liu’s school barred her from resuming work after her release. Her husband asked for help from Zhang Shijie, an agent at the Linkou County 610 Office, only to be extorted 1,000 yuan.

While Ms. Liu was never given a three-year forced labor term, the 610 Office summoned her in May 2008 (supposedly the end of her “three-year term”) to do an “exit-survey.” She was then forced to sign the paperwork.

Her husband received a call from an officer from the Nanshan Police Station on October 22, 2023. The caller threatened to arrest Ms. Liu if she held firm to her faith.

Ms. Liu was arrested in Mudanjiang City on October 15, 2017 and detained for five days. An officer from the Nanshan Police Station harassed her on the phone on October 1, 2019. Officer Xu Haitao from the same police station called Ms. Liu’s husband on September 19, 2022 and demanded to visit them. He refused and Xu ordered him to send in a picture of his wife. He complied, but Xu said the picture did not meet the requirement to show that Ms. Liu was at home. Her husband said he did not have such pictures. Xu showed up the next day to videotape the couple’s home.