Four Hebei Residents Face Prosecution for Their Faith
(Minghui.org) Four Cangzhou City, Hebei Province residents are facing prosecution for their faith in Falun Gong. Their lawyers are calling on the authorities to release them and stop following the persecution policy.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Arrests and Home Ransacking
Under the directives of the Cangzhou City Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the 610 Office, two agencies tasked with overseeing the persecution, the local authorities in Cangzhou dispatched four unmarked cars with civilian plates to arrest the four practitioners on the evening of January 11, 2022. A total of 12 officers, three in each car, participated in the arrests.
The targeted practitioners are Ms. Liu Zaiyun, Mr. Hou Shuyuan, Ms. Hu Xiumei, and Ms. Su Chunfeng.
The next morning, the police broke into Ms. Liu’s home and ransacked the place when no one was around. Before they left, Ms. Liu’s daughter happened to return home and witnessed the raid. The police threatened her. They arrested her at 4 p.m. on January 13 and held her at the police station until 1 a.m.
Also on the morning of January 12, the police stayed outside of Ms. Su’s home and broke in when her husband came back. Without showing a search warrant, they took away her ID, driver’s license, and car key. Her child’s items weren’t spared either.
When Ms. Su’s husband argued that she didn’t violate any law in practicing Falun Gong, an officer said to him, “If I say you are guilty, then you are guilty.” They arrested him and detained him for four days.
Police Interrogation
Mr. Hou was the sole caregiver to his bedridden 85-year-old father. In order to trick him into answering their questions, Gao Fusong, the director of Xinhua District Domestic Security Office, promised to let him go home to take care of his father after only three days of administrative detention if he cooperated with them.
Meanwhile, Gao also videotaped Mr. Hou’s sister crying next to their bedridden father and then showed the video to him. Mr. Hou still refused to compromise.
Torture illustration: tiger bench
Gao tied Mr. Hou to a tiger bench for three days and kept him handcuffed. Only on the third night, did he loosen the cuffs and allowed Mr. Hou to lie down to sleep. The torture caused Mr. Hou to quickly lose weight. His blood pressure also increased.
During that time, Gao interrogated Mr. Hou for a total of six times and attempted to force him to accuse Ms. Liu of being the main organizer of their activities. Mr. Hou didn’t comply, nor did he plead guilty himself.
In addition to him, the other three practitioners, including Mr. Liu, Ms. Su, and Ms. Hu were also interrogated.
Mr. Hou was taken to the Cangzhou City Detention Center on January 16. Two days later, Ms. Liu and Ms. Hu were also taken there. Ms. Su was released on bail on January 14 due to her poor health.
Indictment
The practitioners’ families were notified by the Xinhua District Procuratorate on February 18 that their arrests were approved. Police officer Gao ordered Mr. Hou and Ms. Liu’s families to sign the notice, but without giving them a copy.
When the families asked for it, Gao said to them, “I can’t give it to you, or you will give it to local Falun Gong practitioners to submit to Minghui.org. It will damage the country’s image.” Gao also said that the decision came from above and he was under pressure himself.
In early 2022, Gao submitted the practitioners’ cases to the Xinhua District Procuratorate. He called Ms. Su on April 15, took her to the procuratorate and filled out a form on her behalf, even though the procuratorate said she had to fill out the form herself.
A procuratorate staffer also raised a question about the seal Gao was using.
“This is a Falun Gong case,” Gao said to him.
“This seal wouldn’t work. We use a different kind.”
“This is a Falun Gong case,” Gao repeated. He then whispered to the staff member, “This is between us. Falun Gong cases don’t follow regular legal procedure, because no law ever criminalizes Falun Gong.”
Lawyers Seeking Justice
On May 14, 2022, Geng Wei of the Xinhua District Procuratorate transferred the practitioners’ case to the Yunhe District Procuratorate. Prosecutor Kong Lingxia was assigned to handle it.
When one of the defense lawyers called Kong on June 20 to inquire about the cases, Kong claimed they had returned them to the police for more evidence, but she refused to reveal when she did it. The lawyer later confirmed that the cases were returned on June 14.
Meanwhile, the lawyer applied to both the Xinhua District Procuratorate and Yunhe District Procuratorate to release the practitioners on bail. Geng didn’t respond to the request, and Kong said she had to ask for instruction from above, but the lawyer hasn’t received any update from her yet.
To frame the practitioners, the police installed surveillance devices on their motorcycles left at home and harassed their family members and co-workers.
The practitioners’ lawyers wrote to various government agencies on July 13 and 14, urging the authorities to release them. They argued that the practitioners’ spiritual belief is protected by the Constitution and that the practitioners didn’t cause harm to anyone or society by distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. The reason why they risked their lives distributing the materials was that the persecution was simply too brutal and there was no formal channel for practitioners to appeal for their right to freedom of belief. But no matter how many ordeals the practitioners have suffered in the persecution, they remain very peaceful and never resort to violence to resolve the issue. It’s only wise for those in the judiciary branches to uphold their conscience and not go along with the Communist Party in persecuting good people.
While the police and procuratorate acknowledged they received the lawyers’ legal opinion the next day, no action has been taken in freeing the practitioners yet.
Perpetrators’ information:
Gao Fusong (高福松), officer of Xinhua Police StationZhang Yong (张勇), instructor of Nandajie Police StationGeng Wei (耿伟), prosecutor of Xinhua District ProcuratorateKong Lingxia (孔令霞), prosecutor of Yunhe District Procuratorate