(Minghui.org) A Xupu County, Hunan Province resident is facing prosecution after she was recently arrested for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Zhang Xiaoying, also known as Mao Yanping, was seized by the police during a group arrest of nine Falun Gong practitioners on October 16, 2023. When her husband, Mr. Chen Deshun, returned home that evening, he was swarmed by twenty officers who had been staking out the apartment building. They snatched his home key and opened the door. Ms. Zhang was home at the time.
The police confiscated the couple’s Falun Gong books, informational materials and a portrait of Falun Gong’s founder. Both Mr. Chen and Ms. Zhang were taken to the Xupu County Domestic Security Office for interrogation.
Another seven practitioners were arrested around the same time, including Ms. Zhang Chunyan, Ms. Shu Qiuju, Ms. Yang Lanying, Ms. Shu Wanlan, Ms. Wen Guihua, Ms. Zhang Meiying and Ms. Wang Juying.
According to an insider, the Xupu County Police Department began to monitor the practitioners in June 2023 per an order from the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong. Xia Haofeng, the new Xupu County Domestic Security Office Director, organized the group arrest on October 16.
The police kicked Mr. Chen during the interrogation. Although he was later released, Ms. Zhang was given 15 days at the Huaihua City Police Supervision Center on charges of “disrupting national security.” She was later transferred to the Huaihua City Detention Center, where she remains and is denied family visitation. The situation of the other seven practitioners is unclear.
The police accused Ms. Zhang of being a coordinator of the arrested practitioners, citing Falun Gong materials confiscated from her home. Officer Xia is now preparing to submit her case to the local procuratorate to seek her prosecution.
Ms. Zhang took up Falun Gong in 2007 and her lumbar disc herniation soon disappeared. After seeing her changes, Mr. Chen also joined her in practicing Falun Gong.
Because of their filing criminal complaints in 2015 against the former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for ordering the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, the police confiscated their passports and often harassed them over the phone. Mr. Chen was unable to work due to the harassment.
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