(Minghui.org) Two residents of Guiyang City remain detained following their arrest more than five months ago.
Mr. Zhou Xiaochao and Mr. Shi Denglin were driving in Guiding County on July 7, 2017 when their car was pulled over. They were targeted because police suspected them of using pseudo base stations to send bulk text messages about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
Police indeed found several pseudo base stations in the car, but they had no evidence that Mr. Zhou and Mr. Shi had used the stations to send texts about Falun Gong. In order to extract “confessions” from the two Falun Gong practitioners, police ran a marathon interrogation at the Guiding County Detention Center for two straight days, during which time Mr. Zhou and Mr. Shi were not allowed to sleep. Mr. Zhou went on a one-week hunger strike afterwards to protest the mistreatment.
Hours after arresting the two practitioners, about three dozen agents from the Guiding County Police Department, the Guiyang City Police Department, the Bihai Police Station, and the Guizhou Province Public Security Bureau Special Task Force descended on Mr. Zhou’s parents’ home. Without showing any ID or search warrant, they searched the home from about 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. the next day. They left with several bags of confiscated Falun Gong books.
About two dozen agents went to Mr. Zhou’s home on July 10. No one was home, and they opened the door with a master key. They didn’t find any evidence they wanted and ordered the local utility company to cut off the electricity and natural gas to Mr. Zhou’s home.
According to insiders, the arrest of Mr. Zhou and Mr. Shi has been reported to the provincial government, and the case is now considered a key case in authorities’ attempt to find out who sent out group texts about Falun Gong. The insiders also revealed that police are trying to find another Falun Gong practitioner to add to the case. By law, if there are at least three suspects involved in a case, it will then be considered a group crime, and the suspects will be subjected to heavier punishment.
Related Article in Chinese:贵阳周小朝、石登林被非法关押二月余