(Minghui.org) Five residents of Xingning City, Guangdong Province, were arrested months apart in early 2024 for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Four of them are scheduled to stand trial at the Meixian District Court on October 18, 2024.
Ms. He Xinfang was arrested on February 19, 2024, while distributing Falun Gong informational materials in nearby Heshui Town. The arresting officers from the Heshui Town Police Station notified the Xingning City Domestic Security Division, which dispatched vice captain Xing Zhengquan to raid her home. The police confiscated one copy of Zhuan Falun (the main teaching of Falun Gong) and two memory cards before taking her to a local detention center in Meixian District.
Ms. He was later transferred to the Meizhou City Third People’s Hospital (a psychiatric hospital) at an unknown date. It is unclear whether she has been indicted for her faith or forced to take psychiatric drugs as a form of persecution against mentally healthy Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Liao Juanna, Mr. Li Zhuozhong, and his wife Ms. Liao Yuanqun were arrested on April 19, 2024. Mr. Xie Yujun was arrested six days later. Their cases were submitted to the Xingning City Procuratorate in late July 2024, which reassigned their cases to the Meixian District Procuratorate on August 20. The Meixian District Court set their court date for 9:30 a.m. on October 18, 2024. It is unclear whether they will be tried together or separately at the same time that day.
Mr. Xie and Ms. Liao Juanna are being held at unknown locations. Ms. Liao Yuanqun, a former kindergarten teacher, is currently held at the Meizhou City Detention Center. Her husband Mr. Li, a former middle school teacher, was found to have tuberculosis and diabetes during the mandatory physical examination following his arrest. The detention center refused to admit him and the police took him to the Meizhou City Third People’s Hospital. Due to his contagious disease, he was the only patient on the sixth floor of the hospital. The police and the hospital together forced him to take tuberculosis and diabetes medications every day.
Both Mr. Li and his wife have been repeatedly targeted in the past for their faith. They were both given one year of forced labor on May 9, 2023, with Mr. Li’s term later extended by one month. Mr. Li was arrested again in early December 2006, while teaching at school. He was given another two years of forced labor.
Xingning City, Guangdong Province: Four Locals Face Trial for Practicing Falun Gong
Meizhou City, Guangdong Province: 14 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Three Days