(Minghui.org) After a prosecutor in Cangzhou City, Hebei Province returned the cases against four local Falun Gong practitioners to the police for insufficient evidence, the police harassed one of the practitioners and another practitioner’s daughter in an attempt to collect information and fabricate evidence against the four practitioners.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The four practitioners, Ms. Liu Zaiyun, Ms. Su Chunfeng, Mr. Hou Shuyuan, and Ms. Hu Xiumei, were arrested on January 11, 2022, after being followed by the police while out distributing informational materials about Falun Gong.
Ms. Su was released on bail on January 14 due to her health condition, Mr. Hou was taken to the Cangzhou City Detention Center on January 16, and Ms. Liu and Ms. Hu were taken there two days later.
Gao Fusong, head of the Xinhua District Domestic Security Office who arrested the practitioners, submitted the practitioners’ cases to the Xinhua District Procuratorate in early April, and the cases were transferred to the Yunhe District Procuratorate on May 14.
When one of the defense lawyers called prosecutor Kong Lingxia on June 20 to inquire about the cases, Kong claimed she had returned them to the police for more evidence, but she refused to reveal when she did it. The lawyer later confirmed that the cases were returned on June 14.
Officer Gao called Ms. Su on July 3 and asked to meet with her. Although Ms. Su rejected him, Gao nonetheless showed up at her door at 7 p.m. Upon finding out that she wasn’t home, Gao ordered her husband to tell her to come to the Xiaozhuang Police Station the next morning.
As Ms. Su refused to cooperate with the police, Gao and four other plainclothes officers went to her store on July 5. They forcibly carried her by her arms to a police car. The inner sides of her arms were bruised from the officers’ violent grabbing and the pain lasted a few days.
At the Xiaozhuang Police Station, Gao attempted to force Ms. Su to reveal more information about the other three practitioners and details of their distributing the materials. She refused to answer any questions.
Gao then asked her how she started to practice Falun Gong. Ms. Su still didn’t answer. The interrogation lasted over three hours and Ms. Su returned home at around 8:30 p.m.
The police submitted the four practitioners’ cases to prosecutor Kong again a week later. When one practitioner’s lawyer went to the Procuratorate on August 3 to review the case document, Kong didn’t allow him to take photos of the document initially. She later relented after the lawyer threatened to file a complaint against her.
On August 17, three days after the prosecutor returned the practitioners’ cases the second time, still citing insufficient evidence, the police harassed Ms. Liu’s daughter and interrogated her.
Four Hebei Residents Face Prosecution for Their Faith