(Minghui.org) The lawyer for a 77-year-old woman detained for her faith has filed a request to have her released on bail upon learning of her declining health.
Ms. Zhou Guixiang, of Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, was initially arrested on May 27, 2022 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. While she was released on bail the next day, she was issued a formal arrest warrant on August 23, 2023 and taken back into custody on the same day. She has since been held at the Guiyang City Women’s Detention Center.
Her lawyer recently visited her and noted she appeared emaciated. She said she was taken to Sanjiang Hospital for a checkup not long ago and the doctors found tumor growths in her liver and intestines. The detention center guards, however, took her back without having her go through further examination. The detention center’s own in-house clinic could not perform a biopsy so it was unclear whether the growths were cancerous. Given this, the lawyer wrote a request to have Ms. Zhou released on bail. The detention center has yet to issue a decision.
Details of Arrest
Ms. Zhou was home alone on May 27, 2022 when the water and electricity were suddenly turned off. When she stepped outside to see what was wrong, she was seized by several officers from the Dayingpo Police Station. They yelled “freeze” and dragged her inside her house.
One officer held Ms. Zhou tight and said they were waiting for Zhang Zhu from the local Domestic Security office to come. She later noticed her wrists and arms were bruised where the police grabbed her.
Zhang soon arrived and led the officers to raid Ms. Zhou’s home. They took pictures of her home and confiscated a large amount of valuables. They next took her to an interrogation room in the case handling center of the Yunyan District Police Department. Officers Liu Hong and Nie interrogated her. They revealed that someone reported seeing a Falun Gong flyer at a certain place. They found out she left the flyer there after they viewed surveillance videos.
Ms. Zhou acknowledged that she did place that flyer and four copies of other Falun Gong informational materials, but she firmly denied having committed any crime as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong.
The police took her to the Guiyang City Police Department after the interrogation. They forced her to put on an inmate uniform and undergo a physical examination. While her blood pressure was measured, she suddenly felt dizzy, had heart palpitations, and her arms and legs felt weak. She also struggled to lift her head. Despite her condition, the police proceeded to interrogate her again and then ordered her to read and sign the interrogation records. She refused to comply.
The police kept her with other detainees in a room that night. The next afternoon, they took her blood sample and ordered her to sign materials that slander Falun Gong. She refused to comply. They then ordered her to sign a bail form but she refused. The police did not insist and said her daughter was waiting outside.
When she returned home, Ms. Zhou learned that her daughter was forced to sign her bail form in the Dayingpo Police Station before she was allowed to pick her mother up from the Guiyang City Police Department. The police threatened Ms. Zhou and told her not to leave town for one year; otherwise she would face severe consequences.
The Dayingpo Police Station called Ms. Zhou and ordered her to report to them. She did not go. She went to Shanghai, her hometown, to take care of some family matters. The Dayingpo Police Station accused her of violating her bail condition after they learned about her trip. They summoned her on March 10, 2023 and officers Xiang Chunguang and Xie Yu interrogated her. They summoned her again on August 12, 2023.
Prosecutors Chen Nana and Zhang Benli of the Guiyang City Procuratorate issued a formal arrest warrant against Ms. Zhou on August 23, 2023. Officers Zhou Yang and Zhang Zhu seized her from home that day and took her to the Guiyang City Women’s Detention Center.
Related Report:
77-Year-Old Guizhou Woman Faces Indictment for Practicing Falun Gong
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