(Minghui.org) A 78-year-old resident of Lanzhou City, Gansu Province was recently indicted for upholding her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Wu Yuying got a phone call from her daughter on June 16, 2023, saying that the local Liujiabao Police Station had ordered her to get her mother to report to them that day, otherwise, she would not be allowed to go to work.
Ms. Wu thus went to the police station at 2 p.m. that afternoon. When she asked about their threat to her daughter, all the officers present denied having ever contacted the younger woman. Ms. Wu decided to leave, but the police stopped her.
Ms. Wu suddenly felt dizzy and fainted. When she came to, she wanted to sit up to do the Falun Gong meditation, but couldn’t. She then passed out a second time. After she regained consciousness, the police said they’d call an ambulance this time. She said no and returned home after taking a brief rest.
Not long after, several officers and a staffer from Chengguan District Procuratorate came to her home to deliver a “notification of the time limit for review and prosecution,” a standard document issued by police in China after they have submitted suspects’ cases to the procuratorate.
The Chengguan District Procuratorate indicted her on the same day (June 16) and she is now facing trial for her faith.
This is not the first time that Ms. Wu, a retired employee of Changfeng Machinery Factory in Lanzhou City, has been targeted for her faith during the 24 years of persecution of Falun Gong.
The security department at Ms. Wu’s workplace often sent people to harass her at home. The factory management worked with the police and got her arrested many times. They also suspended her pay for a period of time and pressured her husband to divorce her. Her husband became gravely ill and died shortly after the divorce.
Four Arrests Between 2000 and 2012
Ms. Wu went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong before the Chinese New Year (February 5) in 2000. She was arrested and escorted back to Lanzhou. The Anning Police Department kept her detained for 15 days.
Ms. Wu returned to Beijing in early October 2000 and was arrested on Tiananmen Square. She was held at the Xiguoyuan Town Detention Center after being taken back to Lanzhou. In March 2001, someone saw her at the Pingantai Labor Camp, though it was unclear when she was given forced labor and for how long.
In May 2002, Ms. Wu was arrested and taken to a brainwashing class.
On June 11, 2012, Ms. Wu and 11 other local practitioners were arrested outside Gongjiawan Brainwashing Center while seeking the release of practitioners held there. She was given one and a half years of forced labor at Lanzhou Women’s Forced Labor Camp. She was released on January 23, 2013.
Two Arrests in Four Months in 2021
Ms. Wu and two other practitioners, Ms. Li Minna and Ms. Wang Guixiang, went to Xiguoyuan Town on June 23, 2021, to talk to people about Falun Gong. They stopped by a convenience store that afternoon and talked to the owner and three customers. One of the customers happened to be the local village secretary and he reported the three women to police. Agents from the Xiguoyuan Town Police Station intercepted them on the highway and took them to the Qilihe District Police Department in Lanzhou City. Qilihe District oversees Xiguoyuan Town.
Ms. Wu was given ten days of administrative detention to serve at home. An officer drove her home around midnight that day and also returned all the Falun Dafa materials confiscated from her.
The next day (June 24) at around 10:00 a.m., chief Li of the Liujiabao Police Station, the secretary of the local Xilu Street Committee, and the secretary of the Changfeng Community led about 20 people to raid Ms. Wu’s home.
Ms. Wu and her nephew decided to go to Beijing to visit her sick sister on October 12, 2021, but they never made the trip as she was arrested at the Lanzhou Railway Station that day. The police detained her upon discovering that the MP3 player she carried with her contained Falun Gong information. During her brief detention, the police ordered her to sign various forms but she refused. After consulting with two supervising agencies, the police gave her ten days of administrative detention to serve at home. They dropped her off at her daughter’s home.
Numerous Harassment Episodes in 2022 Preceding Her Indictment
Ms. Wu was harassed numerous times by local authorities in 2022 prior to her eventual indictment in 2023.
A director surnamed Wang of Xilu Street Committee and a secretary surnamed Yang of Changfeng Community came to Ms. Wu’s home on May 6, 2022. She firmly refused when they ordered her to give up her belief in Falun Gong.
The next day, director Wang and secretary Yang ordered their staffers to visit the Foci Group and pressure the pharmaceutical company where Ms. Wu’s daughter worked to terminate her if she failed to make her mother renounce Falun Gong.
On May 8, Han Chun, a staffer at the Changfeng Community, harassed Ms. Wu at home and she refused to sign the various statements he brought in. In the next few weeks, Han called Ms. Wu’s daughter every day, instigating the younger woman to make a scene at her mother’s home in an attempt to get her to renounce Falun Gong.
On May 22, director Wang and Han showed up at Ms. Wu’s home again, ordering her to sign and fingerprint various statements to give up her belief. When she refused again, they verbally abused her and threatened to “teach her grandson a lesson at his school.” Han also took pictures of Ms. Wu and her home, with Wang watching on the side.
Ms. Wu told them repeatedly that they had no right to order her to renounce her faith, but they didn’t listen and kept harassing her.
Wang and Han came again on June 19. Ms. Wu still refused to comply with their demand to sign those statements. Wang called in about six officers to raid her home. A few people held her tight while others confiscated her Falun Gong books and Falun Gong founder’s portrait. She tried to take notes of their police badge numbers and items confiscated from her home, but they stopped her and threatened her, “You’ve been arrested numerous times. We can arrest you again whether or not you sign those statements.”
Three days later at around 12:30 p.m., chief Li of Liujiabao Police Station led an officer and knocked on Ms. Wu’s door. They said they needed her at the police station so they could give her a list of items confiscated from her home. She went and chief Li showed her the confiscated items and three copies of the list of those items. He claimed one copy was for her and asked her to sign. She did but Li took away the list. As he broke his promise, Ms. Wu refused to sign any further documents. She also reminded them of Announcement 50 which the General Administration of Press and Publication issued on March 1, 2011, to repeal the ban on Falun Gong books. She said her Falun Gong books were her lawful possessions based on Announcement 50.
Du Qian, a staffer of Xilu Street Committee, Han of Changfeng Community, and a police officer came to Ms. Wu’s home on August 10, asking her to go with them to the Chengguan District Court. She said she needed to change clothes and asked them to wait for her outside her apartment building. They were no longer there when she came outside. However, another officer was there waiting for her. He said they had changed their mind and no longer needed her to go to court that day.
A bit past 3 p.m. on August 21, Du and Han came again and Ms. Wu didn’t let them in this time. She said they could talk outside the apartment building. They were outside just a few minutes when a crowd suddenly gathered. It turned out they were staffers from the Xilu Street Committee and Changfeng Community. They brought with them a loudspeaker, banners, and bulletin boards.
Ms. Wu refused to continue the conversation with Du and Han. She left and they let her.
When she came back, she heard the loudspeaker broadcasting propaganda slandering Falun Gong, and saw the banners and bulletin boards on display which contained messages smearing Falun Gong. She turned off the loudspeaker and ripped off the banners. She also tore the pictures from the bulletin boards. As she was tossing them into trash cans, the street committee staffers returned. They accused her of interfering with public duties. They called in the police, who took her to their police station for questioning before releasing her hours later.
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