(Minghui.org) A resident in Huanqu County, Shanxi Province was traveling in Beijing when she was deceived into returning to her hometown. Ms. Meng Lixia was seized as soon as she got off the train on May 22, 2017.
The local police have since kept her in Huanqu County Hospital with round-the-clock surveillance. Ms. Meng, who is over three months pregnant, is on a hunger strike in protest. In the meantime, her lawyer was badly injured while trying to resist being fingerprinted and having his blood drawn by police.
Targeted for Seeking Justice for Mother
Ms. Meng was targeted because of her continued efforts to seek justice for her mother, who is serving 4.5 years in prison for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline under persecution by the Chinese communist regime.
Also a Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Meng knew that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that her mother should never have been imprisoned for her faith.
While working to get her mother freed, Ms. Meng noticed the prosecution evidence was questionable, and she also suspected that her mother had been tortured at Shanxi Province Women’s Prison.
She filed multiple requests of information disclosure from the Prison Administration of Shanxi Province, Yucheng City Police Department, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but none of the agencies provided any response regarding her mother’s condition in prison. She then filed a lawsuit against the Prison Administration of Shanxi Province.
The local police responded by arresting Ms. Meng on August 3, 2016. As soon as she was released about three weeks later, she resumed her efforts to seek justice for her mother, which triggered her latest arrest.
Ms. Meng received a phone call from the local police on May 20, 2017 while she was in Beijing. They told her that the Provincial Appeals Office and other relevant agencies had promised to look into her lawsuit and asked her to return home as quickly as she could.
Ms. Meng came back two days later, only to be arrested at the train station.
Pressure to Drop Lawsuit
Ms. Meng was taken straight to the local hospital, where she was placed in a room with surveillance cameras. Three people were there to watch her 24 hours a day. They later revealed that they were from the Shanxi Province Political and Legal Affairs Committee and 610 Office, both non-judicial agencies tasked with carrying out the persecution of Falun Gong.
They kept pressing Ms. Meng to admit she had committed a crime and demanded she drop her lawsuit. She argued that it was within her constitutional right to file that lawsuit and she’d never drop it.
Lawyer Detained and Roughed Up
Ms. Meng’s sister and lawyer, Mr. Cheng Hai, visited the hospital on May 26. They noted Ms. Meng’s room was locked and no one answered the door. Several people, one being officer Chen Alin, suddenly came out of the next door and snatched away the sister’s phone. Mr. Cheng began to tape the scene with his phone, but was stopped.
Mr. Cheng was taken to the local police station, where deputy chief Zhang Jinbo and a few of his officers held down Mr. Cheng’s arms to forcibly take his fingerprints. They also tried to draw his blood, but he struggled to stop them.
Mr. Cheng wasn’t released until around midnight that day. He immediately went to an ER to get his injuries checked. The doctors confirmed that he suffered severe soft tissue injuries on his chest and multiple bruises on his arms.
Related Report:Woman Arrested in Retaliation for Requesting Information Disclosure
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