(Minghui.org) Two months after he was married in 2021, Mr. Luan Changhui, a senior boat engineer in Huludao City, Liaoning Province, was arrested at work for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
After Mr. Luan was arrested in July 2021, his wife Ms. Liu Cong, also a Falun Gong practitioner, began to learn about the laws in China and became his family defender. After Mr. Luan was sentenced to four years by the Lianshan District Court in November 2021, she filed an appeal with the Huludao City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold his original verdict. Ms. Liu continued to seek justice for her husband and filed a motion to reconsider the wrongful sentence with the intermediate court. It’s not clear whether a decision regarding the motion was issued.
Ms. Liu’s persistent efforts to seek her husband’s release, however, resulted in retaliation by the authorities. At around 5 a.m. on July 12, 2024, officers of the Xijie Police Station deceived her into opening the door by pretending to be her downstairs neighbor. More than ten officers from the Longgang District Domestic Security Division and its subordinate Xijie Police Station broke in and confiscated her Falun Gong books, a laptop, a cellphone, some computer memory cards, and the legal materials she prepared for her husband’s case.
She was taken to the Longgang District Police Department and accused of “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used to frame Falun Gong practitioners in China. The police held her at the Huludao City Detention Center. She is now facing prosecution after her arrest was approved on July 26, 2024.
Ms. Liu’s parents and older sister currently live in Japan. With Mr. Luan still imprisoned, his sister is the only one available to visit his wife in the detention center and hire a lawyer for her. Her family is calling for her immediate release.
Ms. Liu began practicing Falun Gong in 1998. She credits the practice for turning her from a sickly and introverted woman into someone who is healthy, bright and upbeat. Since the communist regime began the persecution in 1999, she has been detained several times for not renouncing her faith.
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