(Minghui.org) Six residents of Luzhou City, Sichuan Province, were arrested within one week prior to October 1, 2024 (China’s annual National Day) for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. It is commonplace for the communist regime to ramp up the persecution of practitioners around its “sensitive dates.”
One of the arrested practitioners’ family was not notified and told where she was detained. Another practitioner is facing indictment. Additionally, two more local Falun Gong practitioners were harassed in September 2024.
Two Arrested on September 17
Ms. Wu and Ms. Ma (first names unknown) were both arrested on September 17. Officers from the Xiaoshi Town Police Station, the Zhaoya Town Police Station, and the Lu County Police Station claimed that surveillance cameras recorded the two women talking to people about Falun Gong. They were taken to the Yudaiqiao Police Station before they were moved to the Lu County Police Department at 2 a.m. on September 18. They were released that afternoon.
Two Practitioners Arrested on September 19
Ms. Luo Linrong, 73, and her younger sister, Ms. Luo Linming, were arrested on September 19, after they ran into each other at a local fair and sat down to chat. The arresting officers said they had been following the older Ms. Luo for several days and knew her exact whereabouts.
The two sisters were searched and taken to the Jiangyang District Police Department. After interrogating them separately, the police used the keys they seized from them and raided their respective homes. The police confiscated Ms. Luo Linming’s Falun Gong books, without allowing her family to verify the items or giving them a confiscation list. She was released after she was detained for ten days.
Even though the police did not find any Falun Gong materials at Ms. Luo Linrong’s home, they still refused to release her. Her family wasn’t given her detention notice or notified of her whereabouts either. They checked with the local community officials, who referred them to the Nancheng Police Station, which in turn directed them to the Jiangyang District Police Department. An officer there said Ms. Luo had long been transferred to the local detention center. Her family went to the detention center to look for her, but the guards there refused to check if she was on the roster.
Ms. Luo Linrong took up Falun Gong in 1998 and was repeatedly targeted after the persecution began. She was held at a detention center for nine months in 2000 for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. This was followed by another two-year detention at a brainwashing center. She was sentenced to three years in 2015. Her pension was suspended during her imprisonment.
One Practitioner Is Arrested on September 20
Ms. Yao Jiaxiu, 57, from Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province, was arrested at her rental place in Luzhou City on September 20. After being held at a local detention center for some time, she was transferred to the Xichang City Detention Center. She was previously twice jailed for a total of 12 years and once held in a psychiatric hospital. She moved to Luzhou to avoid further persecution, only to be arrested again this year.
One Practitioner Is Arrested on September 23 and Faces Indictment
Ms. Zhu Zongrong, 77, was arrested on September 23. The local detention center declined to admit her due to her poor health and the police released her under house arrest. She now faces indictment. She previously served two prison terms totaling seven years. She was arrested again on December 13, 2023 and was detained briefly.
One Practitioner Is Harassed on the Street
Ms. Liu Zongfen was attending a fair on September 19 when someone grabbed her backpack from behind. She turned around to see a plainclothes officer. He had a Falun Gong flyer in his hand and alleged that he found it in her backpack. Ms. Liu replied she didn’t have any Falun Gong materials in her backpack, but the officer refused to let go of her backpack and photographed her. He demanded to know her name and phone number. A few more plainclothes officers showed up and refused to allow her to leave. It was apparent to her that they put that flyer in her backpack in order to frame her.
She told them her name and was released. The officer who grabbed her backpack and another man came to her home to interrogate her. She refused to sign the interrogation records and urged her husband not to sign on her behalf when they ordered him to. The police showed their IDs and her husband signed the document under pressure.
A Practitioner Is Harassed at Home
A community worker called Ms. Liu Zongzhen, around 60, at the end of September and told her to wait for them to come talk to her. This is not the first time she has been harassed. Back in 2022, the same thing happened, also at the end of September. Prior to that, she was arrested at home on July 2, 2021, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials the day before. The four arresting officers confiscated more than sixty Falun Gong books and a music player from her home.
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