(Minghui.org) A 75-year-old woman in Suining City, Sichuan Province was forcibly taken to the Gaoxin District Court on June 27, 2024 to stand trial for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Prior to that, the local police constantly harassed Ms. Zhang Suying, sometimes staying at her home overnight to watch her.
Ms. Zhang’s husband and son passed away many years ago. She spent several years living with her daughter in Hong Kong and returned to Suining three years ago, only to face the non-stop harassment.
Frequent Harassment
Ms. Zhang was seized at the entrance of her apartment complex when she returned home on March 17, 2023. The arresting officers from the Gaoxin District Police Department took her to the Xining Police Station for interrogation. They said they knew she had been distributing Falun Gong materials and they asked her where she got the materials. At the same time, another group of officers ransacked her home, confiscating her Falun Gong books, portrait of Falun Gong’s founder and three media players. The 100,000 yuan in cash that she saved to renovate the apartment was also taken away.
Ms. Zhang was released after an unknown amount of time. She received a call from the Baosheng Police Station one day in July 2023 and was ordered to go there with her ID and cellphone. She went there. The police did something to her phone and let her go. She suspected that the police installed surveillance app on her phone to monitor her.
A year later on March 13, 2024, officers of the Xining Police Station called Ms. Zhang and she didn’t answer it. On the next day, just as she finished cooking lunch, the power and water supply to her home went out. As the power still wasn’t restored by 6 p.m., she headed out to get something for dinner. As soon as she stepped out, she saw a man sitting on the stairs facing her home. She turned around to go inside. But the man grabbed her and held her wrists tightly. He made a call and four officers came. They carried her into a car and drove her to the Gaoxin District Police Department.
One officer asked Ms. Zhang whether she had gotten back the 100,000 yuan confiscated from her last year. She said yes. Then the officer ordered her to sign a certain document, threatening to take the money back if she didn’t comply. She was terrified and complied with the demand. At 1 a.m., the police took her home and ordered her to report to the court the next day. She didn’t go.
Ms. Zhang confirmed later on that because she refused to open the door for the police when they came on March 13, 2024, they ordered her neighborhood security to cut off her water and power supply. The police also arranged people to stay outside of her home for a day, in order to arrest her when she came out.
Taken to the Procuratorate
Someone knocked on Ms. Zhang’s door again at 9: 30 a.m. on March 16, 2024. She still refused to open the door. On the next day, she saw two police cars parked outside of her apartment building. When she noticed the cars were gone around 6 p.m., she went out to throw away some trash, but was arrested again and taken to a procuratorate. Terrified by the police, she couldn’t remember which procuratorate it was and only saw it was by a river. She also recalled that the police videotaped her all the way to the procuratorate.
Several officers came in two police cars on April 12. As Ms. Zhang didn’t open the door, they hired a locksmith to break in and arrested her. Upon seeing a computer, the police attempted to search whether it had Falun Gong related information in it, but they relented after Ms. Zhang said it was a broken computer belonging to her granddaughter.
The police took Ms. Zhang back to the same procuratorate to sign her case documents. When taking her back around 4 p.m., they held her arms behind her back and had her wait at the entrance of her apartment building. Only after the police installed a new digital lock on her door did they allow her to go home.
A few days later, three community workers and two police officers entered the password and came into her home without knocking on the door. They accused her of breaking the law by reading Falun Gong books and forced her to sign more documents.
Taken to the Court
One day around 7 p.m. in mid-May 2024, two men staked outside of Ms. Zhang’s apartment building and followed her home when she returned from outside. They snatched her purse and entered her home with her key. When she asked them to leave, they said they were dispatched by the Chuanshan District Court to watch her.
The two men slept on her sofa overnight and took her to the court the next morning. She refused to sign her case document and was taken to the Liangshuijing Residential Committee around 11 a.m. The workers there called in her late son’s wife to sign her case document.
Ms. Zhang received a summons from the Chuanshan District Court on May 13, ordering her to show up to the court at 2:30 p.m. on May 27. The summons was signed by judges Wang Shasha and Yang Qiaoshun.
While it’s not clear whether Ms. Zhang reported to the court on May 27 as ordered, she received a notice from the Chuanshan District Procuratorate on June 18 to transfer her case to the Gaoxin District Procuratorate. Prosecutor Huang Hailin signed the document.
Court Trial
Two men came to Ms. Zhang’s home again at 7 p.m. on June 26 and spent the night there. On the next day after lunch, they took Ms. Zhang to the Gaoxin District Court for a hearing scheduled for 4 p.m. Due to her declined hearing, she didn’t hear what the judge or the prosecutor said.
Toward the end of the hearing, someone came over to Ms. Zhang and asked her if she had anything to say. She said she didn’t violate any law in practicing Falun Gong and following its principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. She added that it’s the police who violated the law by ransacking her home, harassing her, prying open her lock and cutting off her water and power supply. Before she finished, that person stopped her and forbade her from talking again. She was taken back home after the hearing.
A few days later, one staffer from the Suining Justice Bureau called Ms. Zhang and said they were coming to investigate her case in the afternoon. Around 2: 50 p.m., six people came, including officers from the justice bureau, the Baosheng Police Station and residential committee.
The justice bureau staffer said they intended to detain her in an out-of-town facility and asked how was her health condition. Ms. Zhang responded that she was experiencing some dizziness and she hurt her legs and arms after taking a fall. Then the justice bureau staffer said they could consider to have her serving time at home, but she had to report to the Baosheng Police Station every month. She said she wouldn’t do it. The officers left without saying anything. It’s not clear whether Ms. Zhang has received her verdict at the time of writing.
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