(Minghui.org) A 60-year-old widow detained for her faith was scheduled to face trial on October 25, 2017, but the local court granted the prosecutor’s request to delay the trial so as to gather more evidence against her.
Ms. Chen Heqiong is an employee of Renhe District Silk Company. She credits Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline based on the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, for giving her the strength to raise her son by herself following her husband’s death.
She became a target and was arrested on multiple occasions after the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999. She was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in 2004 for refusing to renounce Falun Gong.
Most recently, on July 2, 2017, she was walking to her apartment building when a man named Liu Guangming grabbed her from behind. Ms. Chen called for help and heard Liu yell to a few other people, who turned out to be staff from the local street committee, “I caught a Falun Gong [practitioner]. Quick! Take a picture and post it online!”
Liu saw Ms. Chen distribute Falun Gong materials hours earlier and had been staking out her apartment building. He called police as soon as he got hold of her. Officers soon arrived, ransacked her home, and later took her to Wanyaoshu Detention Center.
Ms. Chen was issued a formal arrest warrant on July 14 and indicted on August 28. Her case was forwarded to Renhe District Court on September 19, and her court date was set for October 25.
The Renhe District Procuratorate, however, returned the case to police after finding a lack of evidence against Ms. Chen. The court agreed to delay the trial until further notice. Ms. Chen and her family suspect that the procuratorate resorted to the delay tactic because they wanted police to fabricate more evidence against her.
