(Minghui.org) Two farmers in Qi County, Henan Province, were arrested on August 16, 2019, for practicing Falun Gong. The police ransacked their home and confiscated more than 40,000 yuan in cash.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
According to the neighbors of Mr. Jia Zhongmin, 59, and Ms. Zhang Xuanping, 62, the police made a scene during the hours-long home-ransacking, loading the police car with the couple's Falun Gong books, related materials, computer, printers, and several cellphones.
One neighbor said an officer held a bag filled with cash. When Ms. Zhang demanded the return of the money, the officer refused and said, “I will have to hold onto it.”
According to the couple's family, the 40,000 yuan in cash that was confiscated includes their income from selling home-grown corn and garlic, the money their son saved for their grandchildren's schooling, and some of their older daughter’s savings.
The police also took the couple's house key. When their neighbors tried to insist that the police leave the key for their children, the police refused.
The couple's younger daughter was also arrested with them and held at the police station for a day.
The police stayed outside the couple's house for a few days after their arrests, waiting to see if other local Falun Gong practitioners would come to visit them.
With Mr. Jia now in the Gegang Detention Center and Ms. Zhang at Kaifeng City Detention Center, their family is in disarray. Their son and daughter-in-law, who had been working out of town, rushed back home to care for their own children, who had been living with Mr. Jia and Ms. Zhang. They also struggled to tend to the older couple's corn and peanut fields.
This is not the first time that Mr. Jia and Ms. Zhang have been arrested for appealing for Falun Gong.
Mr. Jia was given one year of forced labor in 2004 for talking to people about Falun Gong. Jiao Guocheng, the then-head of the Shawoxiang Police Station, confiscated 2,300 yuan in cash from him. Mr. Jia had set it aside for his daughter to go to a vocational school.
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