(Minghui.org) A 49-year-old woman in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province was brutalized by the police after being arrested on July 14, 2023 for her faith in Falun Gong, a peaceful mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Liang Jun’s daughter and parents have sought her release, but to no avail. Her case now rests with the Funing District Court where she is facing trial. It is unclear when the Funing City Procuratorate indicted Ms. Liang. She is currently held at the Qinhuangdao City Detention Center.
Brutalized by Police
Ms. Liang, who lives in Haigang District of Qinhuangdao City, went to a fair in the Funing District of the same city on July 14, 2023. She was talking to other fair-goers about Falun Gong at around 9 a.m. that day, when a plainclothes officer spotted her and called in two carloads of officers. The police handcuffed Ms. Liang and took her to the Fentuo Police Station in Funing District.
The police also towed away Ms. Liang’s car and confiscated her Falun Gong literature and 3,000 yuan in cash.
As soon as Ms. Liang was brought inside the Fentuo Police Station, a female plainclothes officer slapped her in the face and kicked her. The officer also cursed and said, “Why don’t you kill yourself?”
When Ms. Liang used the restroom, the woman officer intentionally kept the stall door open. After that, three uniformed male officers took her to a room without surveillance cameras, sat her in a chair, and ordered her to lower her head with her bangs covering her eyes so she could not see who beat her the most. They kicked and punched her for nearly 20 minutes. Ms. Liang said later that she felt that her head was about to explode. Her face and arms were covered with bruises.
After the beating, Ms. Liang noted that one of the officers, who wore glasses and appeared to be in his 40s, had police badge number 097652. The other two officers were in their 20s and weren’t wearing badges.
The two younger officers left the room after the beatings. After a while, the older officer forced Ms. Liang to sit on the ground. He then moved her cuffed hands over her head to her back. Next, he sat on a chair and stomped on the handcuffs for more than ten minutes, causing her excruciating pain.
Ms. Liang recounted her torture in the following two videos (in Chinese):
Daughter Appeals for Mother’s Release
Ms. Liang was a victim of domestic violence and had long ago divorced her husband. She was given full custody of their daughter and brought up the child on her own.
On the day of Ms. Liang’s arrest on July 14, 2023, her daughter, a college student on summer break, happened to be home when the police showed up with the key they had taken from Ms. Liang. Upon seeing that someone was home, the police left and returned two hours later with a search warrant and the property management personnel. They proceeded to raid Ms. Liang’s home, confiscating her Falun Gong books, two laptops, and other personal belongings.
The police produced a list of confiscated items and had a staffer at the property management office sign the document instead of Ms. Liang’s daughter.
Ms. Liang’s daughter wrote an appeal letter and mailed it to dozens of relevant government agencies. She recounted how her mother taught her to be a good person while bringing her up alone. She demanded that the authorities uphold justice and release her mother, but to no avail.
Ms. Liang’s Parents Harassed
Around February 7, 2024, three days before the Chinese New Year, the chief of the Yanshan Boulevard Police Station in Haigang District and another officer descended on Ms. Liang’s parents’ home. They asked if the elderly couple knew of their granddaughter’s appeal letter which she’d sent to various government agencies. The couple said no. The police left without saying how they planned to address the appeal letter.
Around February 26, 2024, officer Zhao from the Haigang District Domestic Security Division called Ms. Liang’s father and asked if he planned to visit relevant government agencies to seek his daughter’s release. He said no.
Another officer called Ms. Liang’s father either later that day or the next day, asking if he was working with his daughter’s lawyer to seek her release. He immediately suspected that the lawyer’s phone had been tapped because the police repeated what the lawyer had said to him. His wife decided to go to the Haigang District Domestic Security Division to talk to officer Zhao. Zhao said that he had no say in releasing her daughter.
Elderly Mother Given Runaround
Ms. Liang’s mother, nearly 80, went to the Funing District Procuratorate on February 28, 2024 but was turned away. The security guard at the gate claimed that they had a new chief prosecutor who was barring visitors for the time being. She next went to the Funing District Court. Judge Shi Wenjing’s assistant said they had to put Ms. Liang on trial because the procuratorate had indicted her and forwarded her case to them.
When Ms. Liang’s mother went to the Yanshan Boulevard Police Station on March 5, 2024, the police chief declined to help secure her daughter’s release because he had “no jurisdiction over the case.” The older woman questioned why he brought people to harass her back in February. He said that he was simply following his higher-ups’ order to investigate her and her husband for their daughter’s case. He referred the elderly woman to the Haigang District Domestic Security Division. She went there and complained about her daughter’s beatings at the hands of the Fentuo Police Station officers in Funing District.
Captain Han Feng said Ms. Liang’s beatings was none of his business since Funing District was in charge of the case. He quickly left, claiming he had to attend a meeting. Ms. Liang’s mother then told officer Zhao how, with Ms. Liang incarcerated, her granddaughter had no money to pay her college tuition and how their relatives chipped in. Zhao suggested that she write down their family struggle for him to pass along to the Qinhuangdao City Domestic Security Office.
Ms. Liang’s mother returned to the Haigang District Domestic Security Office on March 12, 2024. Captain Han was not in and officer Zhao said he had reported her family’s situation to his higher-ups. He again indicated that there was nothing else he could do when a different district was handling Ms. Liang’s case.
Related Reports:
Single Mom Detained for 8 Months and Counting, Facing Trial for Her Faith in Falun Gong
Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province: First Pre-Trial Meeting Granted in Falun Gong Cases
Single Mom Faces Indictment for Her Faith—Daughter Calls for Her Release
78-Year-Old Stands Trial for Her Faith with No Legal Representation
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