(Minghui.org) Mr. Du Changpei, 80, lives in Suining City, Sichuan Province. He has been harassed over the past two years by the police, who attempted to force him to sign a statement renouncing his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime for the past 22 years.
Police officers and community agents led by Tan Guo, the associate director of Fenghuang Police Station, showed up in front of Mr. Du’s home at around 10 a.m. on April 19, 2019. When Mr. Du opened the door, they swarmed in without showing a search warrant and started to search every room. They rummaged through boxes and cabinets and threw clothing everywhere. They even pried open the locked cabinets and damaged the doors. While they were searching, they ordered Mr. and Mrs. Du to stand aside and not call anyone.
The police confiscated two pictures of the founder of Falun Gong Master Li, three Falun Gong books, three printers, two computers, three MP3 players, one video player, and cash. They also confiscated Mr. Du’s grandson’s history and cooking books and his personal notebook.
The couple were taken to Fenghuang Police Station and interrogated separately. The police tried to find out where Mr. Du got the Falun Gong books and office supplies. Officer Tian verbally abused and threatened Mr. Du.
Another young police officer showed Mr. Du a photo of an elderly woman and warned him, “Do you know her? She was from Dongchan Town. I was part of the team that harvested her organs. (Editor’s note: Falun Gong practitioners are being killed for their organs in China when they were still alive). If you refuse to answer our questions, you’ll be just like her!”
In the afternoon, another police officer interrogated Mr. Du, who refused to answer his questions. The officer threatened to suspend Mr. Du’s pension.
At the same time, associate director Tan Guo was interrogating Mrs. Du to try to find out what Mr. Du did and the names of the other practitioners he had contact with. Mrs. Du replied, “He does the practice to keep healthy—he didn’t do anything wrong or bad. I can’t answer any of your questions.”
Mrs. Du refused to sign the transcripts Tan Guo had prepared, so three officers held her hands to secure her fingerprints. They then interrogated Mrs. Du again.
After three rounds of interrogations, the police gave the couple verbal notification that they would be released on bail, but they were not given any formal paperwork to that effect.
Since then, the couple has been constantly harassed by the police, either in person or over the phone. The police have followed and monitored Mr. Du and photographed him without his consent. They come and go at will to Mr. Du’s residence and never follow any legal procedures. They’ve attempted to force Mr. Du to sign the statement renouncing his faith three times. He has refused to comply.
Once, two young police officers went to Mr. Du’s home and ordered him to sign the statement to renounce his faith. After he refused to comply, they warned him as they left, “We will make you sign it even if you die.”
A man and a woman showed up in Mr. Du’s home around 9 a.m. on November 22, 2021. The man claimed that he was Lei Zhengbin, the Bajiaozhai Village secretary. When he learned that Mr. Du was not at home, he asked Mrs. Du if she still practiced Falun Gong. She replied, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
Lei left, only to return half an hour later in a police car. He led several police officers, one of them with a gun on his back, and community agents to Mr. Du’s home. Without showing any legal document, he said, “Today, you have to sign the statement.”
Mr. Du’s daughter-in-law was there and told them, “We haven’t done anything bad—why do we have to sign? My father-in-law is over 80. What did he do that he has to sign?”
As they were talking, Mr. Du returned home and said, “I will never sign that statement. What you are doing is against the constitution. We have freedom of belief, and the persecution of Falun Gong has no legal basis.”
The police only cared about getting the job done. At least three times they said that, according to orders from above, Mr. Du had to sign the renouncing statement.
When Mr. Du realized that it was impossible to reason with them, he was so upset that he couldn’t help trembling. The police then ordered his son to sign on his behalf. Fearing what might happen to his father, he signed the statement. Before the police left, Lei said, “We will be back in two weeks!”