(Minghui.org) Five residents in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province were arrested while reading Falun Gong books in a private home on August 15, 2019. Three of them are facing indictment now.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since July 1999.
The police from Luquanchengguan Police Station in Shijiazhuang broke into Ms. Chen Xianhua's home while she and four other Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Zhang Yun, Ms. Ma Surui, Ms. Zhang Zhiqing and Ms. Xue Wenling, were reading Falun Gong books together.
Ms. Zhang Zhiqing and Ms. Xue were released after a few days of detention. Ms. Chen was released on bail due to her health issues. Ms. Ma and Ms. Zhang Yun are being detained in Shijiazhuang City Second Detention Center.
The police filed the cases against Ms. Zhang Yun, Ms. Ma, and Ms. Chen with Luquan District Procuratorate on November 21, but the cases were later re-assigned to Qiaoqi District Procuratorate. The three practitioners are facing indictment for their faith.
Ms. Zhang Yun, 64, was a senior police officer. Prior to her latest arrest, she served three terms of forced labor for a total of 4 years and 9 months between 2001 and 2010. She was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after her arrest in 2013. While serving time in the Hebei Province Women's Prison, Ms. Zhang was subjected to horrific torture and intensive brainwashing, which left her on the verge of death several times.
Ms. Ma Surui had been given a forced labor term once. She was arrested together with Ms. Zhang Yun in 2013 while they were distributing materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. She was sentenced to three years in prison.
Ms. Chen Xianhua, in her 60's, was arrested in 2016 when she and another practitioner told people about Falun Gong. Both of them were forced to pay an unlawful fine of 25,000 yuan before they were released the next day.
Once Incarcerated for Nine Years, Former Senior Police Officer Arrested for Her Faith Again