(Minghui.org) Falun Gong Practitioners Ms. Cheng Shujie, Ms. Wang Zhiqin, Ms. Zhang Fenghua, Ms. Wang Weijie and Zou Wenpeng were arrested by officers from Sandaogou Police Station on March 19, 2014, for posting information exposing the persecution of Ms. Cheng's husband, Mr. Shang Xiping.

Deputy director of the Huanan County Forestry Bureau, Shi Yinglin, went to visit a forest farm at around 9:00 a.m. and saw the flyers. Shi reported the incident to the police, who arrested the practitioners.

Head of the local domestic security division Li Peng and deputy director of the Huanan Forestry Bureau Police Department Lin Zhigao later took the five practitioners to the Xinlin Police Station for interrogation. They were then transferred to the Huanan Forestry Bureau Detention Center, where they are now held.

Ms. Cheng Shujie

Ms. Cheng Shujie and Mr. Shang Xiping Arrested and Detained

Ms. Cheng and Mr. Shang were arrested at their fruit shop on September 30, 2004, by the Xinlin police, including officers Song Dianlin and Guo Junlin. Their shop was ransacked, and the police confiscated Falun Gong books, truth-clarification materials and their cash.

Officers interrogated Mr. Shang for three days and four nights. Ms. Cheng was tortured in an attempt to extract a confession from her. She was hung up from a metal gate with her arms stretched out. Her hands turned black and she lost consciousness before they let her down.

When the couple's case was referred to the Procuratorate, the public prosecutors handed their case over to the court without conducting an investigation.

Three different trials were held against Ms. Cheng and Mr. Shang. At the first two trials, both husband and wife told the court about Falun Gong and the persecution. In the third trial, on March 28, 2005, the judge sentenced Ms. Cheng to one year in prison and Mr. Shang to 10 years in prison. When Ms. Cheng's family members asked why she was sentenced to one year, the judge replied, “Because she is Shang's wife.”

Ms. Cheng, 47, was a former employee of the construction company affiliated with the Huanan Forestry Bureau. Since the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999, she has been arrested and detained four times. She was once held at a forced labor camp for 17 months and was made to pay around 30,000 yuan.

Mr. Shang was the former deputy director of the Sandaogou Police Station, a level 3 police officer. He was dismissed from his job because he refused to renounce his belief. He has been detained six times since the persecution began.

Ms. Cheng and her daughter have been separated from Mr. Shang for the past nine years. During this time, she has pleaded for her husband's release, and believes it's her responsibility to stand up and appeal for her husband and to rescue him.

On March 19, 2014, Ms. Cheng went to Sandaogou with fellow practitioners to distribute truth clarification materials to expose the persecution suffered by Mr. Shang.