(Minghui.org) A 29-year-old dance teacher has been detained for nearly a year after being arrested for distributing information about her faith in Falun Gong. She was indicted six months ago and is now awaiting trial.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Zhai Zihui, a native of Faku County, Liaoning Province, who was working in Beijing after she graduated from college, took up Falun Gong in 2019. Because she sent messages about Falun Gong to a friend through WeChat (a social media platform), she was summoned to the local police station in early August 2019 and warned not to do it again.
Ms. Zhai was arrested again on August 23, 2019, after being reported for distributing thumb-drives with information about Falun Gong. The police ransacked her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books and materials, a printer, iPad, and laptop.
Unable to contact her for days, her grandparents became so worried that they both fell ill. Her mother traveled from Liaoning to Beijing to look for her on September 11. After she asked a locksmith to open the door to Ms. Zhai’s apartment, she was surprised to see her daughter's room in such a mess and money scattered on the bed. She thought her daughter had left in a rush to do something, only to learn from Ms. Zhai’s roommate later that the police had come to the apartment before Ms. Zhai went missing.
At the roommate's suggestion, Ms. Zhai's mother reported her disappearance to the police, who told her to come to the police station. They asked her questions and forced her to sign the interrogation document. Only then did they tell her that Ms. Zhai was being held in the Chaoyang District Detention Center.
According to Ms. Zhai’s lawyer, who visited her later, she was forced to wear both handcuffs and shackles, while other detainees were only in handcuffs.
Ms. Zhai’s arrest was approved on September 26, 2019. The prosecutor returned her case to the police on November 4 due to insufficient evidence. The police took pictures of the backs and fronts of her 80 Falun Gong postcards, counting each card twice to fabricate more evidence against her. They also counted her personal diaries as Falun Gong materials.
The police submitted her case again in December. The prosecutor indicted her on February 11, 2020, and forwarded her case to the Chaoyang District Court.