(Minghui.org) A married couple in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province was formally arrested on October 9 after being seized from their home on September 3. Mr. Li Fubin, 65, and his wife, Ms. Zheng Shu, 59, now face indictment for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
The couple was home when about two dozen plainclothes officers pried their door open and broke in. While some officers drove the couple away, the rest searched the apartment for several hours. Officers confiscated two carloads of valuables and impounded Mr. Li’s electric bike.
Mr. Li, a retired worker from Donggang Food Company, remains at Xiguoyuan Detention Center. Ms. Zheng, a retiree from the Lanzhou City Land Resources Department, has been denied medical parole despite a spike in her blood pressure after the arrest. She is held at the Lanzhou City First Detention Center.
This is not the first time the couple has been targeted for their faith. The past 17 years since the persecution began have seen the couple’s once-happy life shattered time and again.
Both Mr. Li and Ms. Zheng filed criminal complaints in 2015 against former Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin for initiating the persecution of Falun Gong that resulted in their family’s ordeals.
One officer threatened the couple’s son that his parents could be given heavy prison terms for suing Jiang.
Husband’s 8-Year Imprisonment and Torture
Mr. Li used to suffer from chronic colitis and had to make frequent trips to the restroom. He also had to avoid vegetables and fruits so as to not trigger his symptoms.
His colitis disappeared not long after he began to practice Falun Gong in November 1997. He was able to eat whatever he wanted and enjoy life to the fullest.
His happy life didn’t last long, however. Since the Chinese communist regime launched its attack on Falun Gong in July 1999, he has been repeatedly arrested for refusing to renounce the practice.
Mr. Li was sentenced to eight years in prison in November 2003 after being arrested in February 2002. While serving time at Lanzhou Prison, he was subjected to constant beatings, solitary confinement, starvation, and sleep deprivation. He was also denied family visits.
He soon became emaciated and developed a myriad of health problems, including high blood pressure. At one point, he could not even walk by himself.
Mr. Li struggled to make a living upon his release. His former employer had suspended his pension in October 2003 and gave him only a monthly allowance of less than $70. His pension still has not been restored.
Mr. Li was arrested again on June 11, 2012 and given 18 months of forced labor. Due to his poor health, he was released on medical parole.
Wife’s Difficult Decision to Divorce Husband
Ms. Zheng joined her husband in practicing Falun Gong after witnessing how he returned to health and became kinder and more considerate of others.
While Ms. Zheng had never been detained for extended periods of time, she had to fend off never-ending pressure from the authorities to make her husband renounce Falun Gong.
Following her husband’s arrest in January 2001, the supervising agency of her workplace summoned her and demanded that she persuade her husband to write a statement promising to give up his belief in Falun Gong.
Ms. Zheng knew that her husband would never break away from the practice that had transformed his life, so she refused to comply with the demand.
The officials threatened her, “Then you must take unpaid time off work to watch your husband until he changes his mind!”
With a son and mother to support, Ms. Zheng had no way but resort to divorce. This way, the pressure on her would not be as great as if she and Mr. Li remained legally married. She, however, continued to live with her husband upon his release.
Her workplace called her in again on September 7, 2001. Several police officers awaited her and demanded to know where her husband was. She said she did not know and begged the police to allow her to go home, as her mother had just passed away the day before.
The tremendous pressure took a toll on Ms. Zheng’s health. She developed high blood pressure and heart problems, which became so severe that she had to take an early retirement not long after her mother’s passing.
Ms. Zheng again worked hard to seek her husband’s release after he was sentenced to prison in 2003. The prison, however, declined to grant her visits, saying she had divorced her husband.
She quickly filed papers to remarry her husband, but she was still denied visits on some occasions during her husband’s imprisonment.
Ms. Li was completely cut off from her husband after he was arrested again in 2012. The labor camp denied her visits on the grounds that she also practices Falun Gong.
Her son was allowed to see his father, but not before he was forced to write a statement promising never to practice Falun Gong.
Background
In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the Chinese Communist Party, overrode other Politburo standing committee members and launched the violent suppression of Falun Gong.
The persecution has led to the deaths of many Falun Gong practitioners in the past 16 years. More have been tortured for their belief and even killed for their organs. Jiang Zemin is directly responsible for the inception and continuation of the brutal persecution.
Under his personal direction, the Chinese Communist Party established an extralegal security organ, the “610 Office,” on June 10, 1999. The organization overrides police forces and the judicial system in carrying out Jiang's directive regarding Falun Gong: to ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically.
Chinese law allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are now exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.
Related Reports:Gansu Retiree Files Lawsuit Against Jiang Zemin for His Eight Years of ImprisonmentMr. Li Fubin Persecuted for Eight Years in Lanzhou Prison (Photos)
Falun Dafa Practitioner Mr. Li Fubin from Gansu Province Unable to Walk Due to Torture at Lanzhou PrisonPractitioners Mr. Li Fubin and Mr. Sun Hong from Lanzhou City Illegally Sent to Forced Labor CampsElderly Practitioner Detained in Lanzhou City, Family Visitation Denied
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