Married Couple Both Arrested for Their Faith, Wife Detained for Two Months and Counting
(Minghui.org) A married couple in Jilin City, Jilin Province were both arrested on June 4, 2023, for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Mr. Zheng Fengxiang, 61, was released after 24 hours, but his wife Ms. Li Wenhua, 59, is still being held at the Jilin City Detention Center at the time of writing and facing prosecution.
Mr. Zheng and Ms. Li were among the more than 30 local Falun Gong practitioners arrested on June 4. The police monitored the practitioners for a long time and collected footage from the surveillance cameras before carrying out the arrests.
This is not the first time that Mr. Zheng and Ms. Li have been targeted for their faith. During the past 24 years of persecution, Ms. Li was previously given one year and three months of forced labor. Mr. Zheng was given two forced labor terms and was once sentenced to four years in prison. The couple’s son was arrested together with them in 2006 and beaten by police. He was only 17 at the time.
Taking Up Falun Gong
Ms. Li was very into playing mahjong (a table game) and dancing in the past. Anything deemed a “new trend” would also pique her interest. As a result, she seldom had time for her husband and son, which caused a lot of discord in their family life.
Mr. Zheng and his son went to a park in June 1996 and saw a group of Falun Gong practitioners doing the exercises. He felt strong and peaceful energy near the practitioners and decided to practice Falun Gong right then and there.
Ms. Li gradually noticed her husband’s change. He became healthy and cheerful, always wearing a smile on his face. She was in awe of Falun Gong’s life-transforming power and took up the practice in 2003.
Once a neighbor invited her to play mahjong again and she said she had quit it after starting to practice Falun Gong because she now wanted to spend more time caring for her family. The neighbor was surprised to hear her talk about her family because she was known among neighbors as a selfish woman.
Ms. Li’s relatives and friends were also amazed that Falun Gong turned her into a caring wife and mother. She and her husband, however, were repeatedly targeted for their faith over the years.
Mr. Zheng Given 2-Year Forced Labor Following Arrest in 2000
Mr. Zheng was seized off the street on July 26, 2000, and brutally tortured at the Jilin City Police Department. Several officers used a chair to immobilize his head before gouging his ribs. He was in so much pain that he almost passed out. The police then took him to the Jilin City Labor Camp to serve a two-year term, but he was released three months later because he had become too weak from the torture.
Torture reenactment: Immobilizing head and gouging ribs
Mr. Zheng Arrested Again Two Months After Being Released from Labor Camp
The Changchun Road Police Station arrested Mr. Zheng at 9 p.m. on December 23, 2000, while he was distributing Falun Gong informational materials. He was tortured at the police station until 3 a.m. The police punched and kicked him before stripping him naked and forcing him to stand outside in the middle of winter. He yelled, “Come take a look and see how police are treating Falun Gong practitioners!” The police didn’t want others to hear him so they pulled him back inside. They pushed him down and stomped on his body before pouring cold water all over him. He refused to answer their questions and they then handcuffed him to a water pipe and kicked him in the groin area hard.
The police then took Mr. Zheng to the Jilin City First Detention Center and held him more than 20 inmates in a small cell, that included several murderers. Guard Wang Zhong instigated the inmates to abuse Mr. Zheng. They ordered him to read newspaper articles slandering Falun Gong. He refused and was beaten. They next stripped him naked and carried him to the restroom, where they poured two huge buckets of cold water little by little over his head. The temperature that day was minus 43.6oF. After the waterboarding torture, the inmates put Mr. Zheng down in a spread-eagle position and stomped on, and twisted his feet with their shoes on. Mr. Zheng’s feet became extremely swollen and festered as a result.
Mr. Zheng and Ms. Li Both Arrested in 2004
Mr. Zheng and Ms. Li were arrested on the morning of February 4, 2004, while spray painting Falun Gong messages in a local town. At around 3 p.m. that day, three officers forced Ms. Li to take them to her home. They confiscated her Falun Gong books, audio tapes, and informational materials (including a calendar bearing Falun Gong messages).
Cui Dongchang and Li Jinggang from the Gudianzi Police Station, who were in charge of the couple’s case, took them to the Jilin City Third Detention Center. Mr. Zheng refused to renounce his faith. The detention center guard Yang Zhonghua handcuffed and shackled him together in a way that he could not straighten his body (see image below). Mr. Zheng went on a hunger strike in protest. On the fourth day, detention center director Cong Maohua ordered the guards to force-feed him by inserting a tube into his nostril. Mr. Zheng felt excruciating pain during the process.
Torture reenactment: Handcuffed and shackled together.
17-Year-Old Son Also Arrested and Tortured in 2006
Mr. Zheng, Ms. Li, and their then-17-year-old son Mr. Zheng Yunlong were arrested on July 14, 2006, by eight officers from the Changjiang Road Police Station, including deputy chief Wang Hongwei.
The family of three were all brutally tortured at the police station. Several officers hung up Mr. Zheng Yunlong before pinching his mouth, twisting his nose, and kicking him in the stomach, chest, and groin area repeatedly. After they let the high-schooler down, they kept kicking him down to the ground, before lifting him up and knocking him down again. For 24 hours, they also didn’t allow the teen to sleep. By the time he was released in the early morning of July 16, 2006, he had suffered irreparable damage both mentally and physically. He felt dizzy, nauseous, and dazed.
His father Mr. Zheng Fengxiang was tortured for more than six hours straight. The police hung him up and beat him. Mr. Zheng passed out from the beatings several times. The police poured cold water over him to wake him up and resumed beating him. One officer yelled, “Remember my name is Li Chengbao. I dare you to sue me!”
Mr. Zheng was given an unknown term for forced labor, but the Yinmahe Labor Camp refused to admit him due to his torture-induced poor health. He was released.
Ms. Li later served one year and three months of forced labor at the Heizuizi Labor Camp in Changchun City, about 80 miles away from Jilin City.
Mr. Zheng Sentenced to 4 Years After Visiting Wife in Labor Camp
On June 13, 2007, Mr. Zheng, his son, and their three relatives went to visit his wife at the labor camp. Upon arriving in Changchun City, he called a family member in Jilin City to inform her of their whereabouts. The family member then didn’t hear any updates of their trip in the next few hours. She called various agencies and confirmed that Mr. Zheng, his son, and the three relatives were all arrested upon arrival at the labor camp.
The police used various torture instruments on Mr. Zheng, causing severe injuries to him. They had to send him to a hospital for resuscitation. They notified his family of his hospitalization and then left the hospital.
Mr. Zheng’s son and relatives were also beaten and intimidated before being released.
Mr. Zheng was arrested again on July 2, 2007, when he went to the Changjiang Road Police Station to seek the return of more than 5,800 yuan in cash confiscated during his arrest at the labor camp. The police took him to the Jilin City Detention Center.
He was sentenced to four years in November 2008 and transferred to the Gongzhuling Prison in April 2009.
Mr. Zheng was brutally tortured in prison. The details of his suffering can be read here.
Mr. Zheng Taken Straight to Brainwashing Center After Prison Release
Three family members of Mr. Zheng’s went to the Gongzhuling Prison on July 1, 2011, eager to pick him up after four long years of imprisonment. A guard came out of the gate at 8 a.m. and told the group that the prison would only release Mr. Zheng to the Jilin City 610 Office and not his family.
Mr. Zheng’s loved ones were made to keep waiting outside the prison. Close to 11 a.m., they saw a white jeep driving straight into the prison compound before backing towards a side door used to release inmates whose terms had expired. They then saw five people jump out of the jeep and grabbed Mr. Zheng, who had just been escorted to the side door.
The family saw everything unfolding before their eyes but was barred from going inside the prison compound. As the jeep was pulling out of the prison, the family sat on the ground to block it from leaving. They also condemned the 610 Office for seizing their loved one. They had come from Jilin to Changchun the day before but were barred from taking Mr. Zheng home.
A crowd gathered around. Three agents jumped out of the jeep and pushed Mr. Zheng’s family to the roadside. They then fled with Mr. Zheng in their jeep.
Mr. Zheng’s family learned later that he was taken straight to a brainwashing center because he still refused to renounce Falun Gong at the end of his prison term. He was held at the brainwashing center for seven days.
Related Reports:
Jilin City, Jilin Province: Additional Information about the Mass Arrest on June 4, 2023Thirty-four Falun Gong Practitioners from Jilin City Arrested in Two DaysOver 30 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Jilin City
610 Office Takes Mr. Zheng Fengxiang Directly to a Brainwashing Center After His Prison Term Ends
Mr. Zheng Fengxiang Is Persecuted in Gongzhuling City Prison
High School Student in Jilin Province Indicts Police for Illegal Arrest and Torture