(Minghui.org) Mr. Wu Zixiang was home alone on September 21, 2017, when police broke in and seized him. They never informed his family of his arrest, and it wasn’t until the third day that the local detention center called his sister upon his insistence.
Mr. Wu’s sister immediately went to check his home and saw the door still open and the whole house in a big mess. Mr. Wu was targeted because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual practice being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
The Xiangcheng City Procuratorate has issued a formal arrest warrant for Mr. Wu. The 65-year-old man is now awaiting an indictment for his faith at Xiangcheng City Detention Center.
This is not the first time that the former Director of Xiangcheng City Farm Equipment Bureau, who is also an army veteran, has been targeted for his faith.
Mr. Wu was diagnosed with late-stage cirrhosis in 1996 and given at most three months to live. However, he made a full recovery soon after he started practicing Falun Gong.
Mr. Wu’s pursuit of health was disrupted when the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999. As a government official, he faced tremendous pressure to stay in line with the communist regime. To avoid implicating his family, he wrote a statement promising to renounce his faith. However, he still practiced Falun Gong in private. A subordinate later found out and reported him to police.
More than a dozen agents descended on his home one winter night in 2001. They scaled the fence of his courtyard and pried open the door.
Mr. Wu was not in. The police yanked his wife, children, and a 1-year-old grandson out of their beds. The young and old, with only pajamas on, were ordered to stand by the door.
Officer Ma Zhefeng brandished his gun and demanded to know where Mr. Wu was. His wife was terrified and revealed that her husband was in his hometown caring for his mother.
Police soon arrived at his mother’s home to arrest him, ignoring the elderly woman’s plea to not take her son away.
Mr. Wu was held in a local hotel for more than half a month. His wife saw him handcuffed to a chair when she went to deliver food to him. He said he had been interrogated with torture.
Mr. Wu looked unkempt and weak when he was released. He was able to keep his post as the bureau director, but he was so traumatized that he completely stopped practicing Falun Gong in the next few years.
His old symptoms resurfaced. When medical treatments failed to work, he picked up the practice of Falun Gong again and soon recovered again.
He also resigned from his post to avoid facing further pressure.
His mother had gallstone surgery in 2009 and needed care around the clock. Mr. Wu and his three brothers took turns taking care of their mother. He did all night shifts until she passed away in 2013 at the age of 92. Many locals commented that she was lucky to have such a filial son. Upon learning of Mr. Wu’s latest arrest, they were baffled why such a good person had to pay a dear price for simply trying to improve his mind and body by practicing Falun Gong.
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