(Minghui.org) Four roommates in Beijing were arrested in early August 2019 for their faith in Falun Gong. Two of them remain in custody and are facing indictment.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline with meditative exercises that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Officers from Xisanqi Police Station broke into the four young women’s shared apartment around 10 p.m. on August 7, 2019 and ransacked their place. The practitioners’ Falun Gong books, printers, laptops, and 40-50 copies of informational booklets about Falun Gong were confiscated.
A prosecutor later revealed that the four practitioners were recorded by surveillance cameras entering a residential area and were suspected of distributing Falun Gong materials there. The pamphlets found by officers in the neighborhood were later used as prosecution evidence against them.
The four practitioners were brought to Haidian Detention Center, where they were interrogated and ordered to write statements to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Jiang Shan, 24, and Ms. Wang Xuhui wrote the statements under pressure. They were later released.
The officers then showed Ms. Jiang and Ms. Wang’s statements to Ms. Liu Zixuan, 27, and Ms. Ye Linlin, 29, in an attempt to sway them. Ms. Liu and Ms. Ye still refused to write any statements to renounce their faith.
Ms. Liu and Ms. Ye were recently issued formal arrest warrants and are facing indictment at the detention center.
Family’s Efforts to Rescue Ms. Liu
Ms. Liu’s father and grandparents traveled more than 120 miles from their hometown of Cangzhou City, Hebei Province to Beijing on September 12, 2019 to seek her release.
Ms. Liu’s grandparents talked to Liu Zhenglong, the officer in charge of the case, on the next day. Ms. Liu’s grandmother said with tears in her eyes, “My granddaughter is a good child. She graduated from one of the top colleges in China and lives by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.” She urged officer Liu to release her and said that officer Liu would be committing a crime himself if he sends Ms. Liu to prison.
Officer Liu rejected her demand.
Ms. Liu’s father, Mr. Liu Zesheng, waited in his car during the meeting. After his parents came back and got into the car, a group of people clad in black surrounded the car and identified themselves as Cangzhou police working in Beijing. They knocked on his car window and asked him to come out to take a photograph.
Having been arrested before for practicing Falun Gong himself, Mr. Liu locked his car door and left.
Mr. Liu later called director Li of the Cangzhou Police in Beijing Office and demanded that he release his daughter. Li replied that the only way to get Ms. Liu released was for her to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Liu’s lawyer visited her on September 17, 2019 and learned that her arrest had already been approved on September 13, the day when her grandparents talked to the police. But the police never mentioned that during their conversation.
Ms. Liu’s father once went to the police station and demanded that they return her laptop and the key to her apartment.
Officer Chen Qian shouted at him, “No way! That’s absolutely not possible! She is against the communist regime and the government. For such cases it’s absolutely impossible for you to take her computer back. We’ve already been lenient in not closing down their apartment.”
When Ms. Liu’s younger sister urged the police to release her, the police intimidated her and questioned whether she practices Falun Gong herself.
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