(Minghui.org) Luzhou authorities recently arrested a local woman, claiming her arrest three years ago was never finalized. Her family suspects that the arrest stemmed from her efforts to hire a lawyer to contest her younger sister's four-and-half-year prison sentence.
Having both gained tremendous health benefits from practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Yang Taizhen (杨太珍) and her younger sister Ms. Yang Taiying (杨太英) are keen to let people know how good the practice is and that the Chinese Communist Party is persecuting it.
Consequently, both of them have been repeatedly arrested and harassed. They are now being held in Naxi Detention Center, the younger sister awaiting transfer to prison and the older sister, a possible trial.
Older Sister's Latest Arrest Is Her Third
Ms. Yang, 59, lives in Anfu Town in the Naxi District. After her arrest on October 21, 2014, the police deliberately kept her family in the dark. They were not informed about the arrest or her whereabouts until she was already incarcerated in Anfu Detention Center in Luzhou.
According to the police, the Naxi District Court ordered the arrest because her case from three years ago was not finalized since she never admitted to her alleged “illegal” conduct.
It is more likely she was arrested in retaliation for her efforts to hire a lawyer to contest her sister's prison sentence.
The day after she was arrested, Ms. Yang's husband and daughter-in-law went to visit her and find out what was happening. Over 20 police officers threatened them. They handcuffed the daughter-in-law's hands behind her back and dragged her downstairs from the 5th floor.
The authorities arrested and tortured Ms. Yang Taizhen twice before to try to force her to give up her belief.
On June 4, 2011, officers from Naxi Domestic Security Division put Falun Dafa fliers in Ms. Yang's purse, "evidence" they used to arrest her. They handcuffed her and beat her twice, until she could barely breathe. When they took her to be examined at Naxi County Hospital, she refused to cooperate, and they had to pin her down and pull her hair to immobilize her. She was physically and mentally traumatized.
She was taken to Anfu Detention Center, where the guards force-fed her and injected her with nerve-damaging drugs. When she refused to have an intravenous injection, the guards handcuffed and shackled her to a bed. She was released five days later.
Two months later, on August 18, 2011, she was arrested again. Officers from Mianhuapo Town Police Station detained her for two days. She was handcuffed and had mug shots taken and a physical exam against her will.
Younger Sister's Appeal Hearing Canceled When Defense Lawyer Appears
Officers from Jiangyang District Domestic Security arrested Ms. Yang Taiying, an accountant well regarded for her integrity, on June 27, 2013. She was held in Naxi Detention Center for nearly a year and a half before she was put on trial.
The authorities went out of their way to prevent her from having a fair trial, including changing the trial date after her lawyer from out of town showed up, moving the trial to a detention center without revealing the location, and setting up a barricade to prevent her family from observing the proceedings. She was tried on May 16, 2014, in Jiangyang Detention Center. A judge from Naxi Court sentenced her to four and a half years in prison
She appealed. Her older sister Ms. Yang Taizhen hired a lawyer for her in October. The second trial, an appeal hearing, was canceled after the lawyer arrived, with no reason given. Ms. Yang Taizhen was arrested soon after.
