(Minghui.org) Ms. Liao Yuying, 85, of Maoming City, Guangdong Province, has been struggling with high blood pressure and other symptoms, but the authorities have never stopped harassing her because of her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
During the latest harassment on August 15, 2023, the police took her to the hospital and then a detention center in an ambulance. Only after the detention center refused to admit her due to her poor health did the police take her home, but they threatened to come back soon.
Ms. Liao’s ordeal started with an arrest on April 21, 2022. Although she was released the same day, she has been harassed frequently ever since. The police changed the lock on her front door in June 2022 and kept a key for themselves. To avoid further persecution, Ms. Liao lived away from home but had to return a month later due to her declining health and systemic pain.
Ms. Liao was bedridden when the police came to harass her again on January 20, 2023, two days before the Chinese New Year. They attempted to carry her away but then relented due to the severity of her condition.
In March 2023, several officers came again and attempted to take her to the court to sign her case document. She didn’t understand what was happening and burst into tears. Her neighbors heard her cries and came over to check on her. Not wanting her neighbors to see what they were up to, the police quickly left.
The police called Ms. Liao’s son two days later and ordered him to pay a 5,000-yuan fine on her behalf. He refused to comply, even after the police repeatedly called him.
The police knocked on Ms. Liao’s door again on April 20. She refused to let them in. The next morning, after Ms. Liao went out, the police talked to her neighbors and asked them about her. The police said they were just visiting her and brought her some bananas. They promised that they wouldn’t arrest her this time.
Moments after Ms. Liao returned home, the police came again and asked her to go to the court to sign her case document. She insisted that she wouldn’t go.
As the pressure mounted, Ms. Liao suffered severe pain in her legs and couldn’t get out of bed.
On April 25, several members of the Maonan District Procuratorate forced Ms. Liao’s son to take them to her home. They announced that she was guilty of possessing Falun Gong books. In addition to forcing her son to sign her case document on her behalf, they also ordered him to grab her hand and press her fingerprint on the document. The prosecutor then said that she was allowed to serve time at home. Because neither Ms. Liao nor her son knew about legal procedures and the prosecutor refused to explain what the document was, they weren’t sure if Ms. Liao had indeed been sentenced or if she was indicted and facing trial.
The Lintou Town Police Station chief and members of the Maonan District Procuratorate descended on Ms. Liao’s home again on August 11, 2023. She refused to open her door. The officers tried to deliver some documents to her, but she refused to take them, so the officers left.
The police chief and deputy chief (surnamed Deng) of Lintou Town Police Station came with two more officers to Ms. Liao’s home at around 1 p.m. on August 15, 2023. They also had an ambulance on standby. When Ms. Liao again refused to open the door for them, they used pliers to break her lock. Ms. Liao was then forced to open the door. The two police chiefs barged in and carried her into the ambulance waiting outside.
The police first took Ms. Liao to the hospital for a physical exam. Her systolic pressure was found to be 216 mmHg when the normal range is between 95-145 mmHg for adults 61 and older. Due to her high blood pressure and difficulty walking, the Maoming City First Detention Center denied her admittance when the police took her there after the physical.
The police took Ms. Liao back to the hospital for another exam that confirmed that her blood pressure remained very high. Unable to detain her, they took her to the police station and collected her fingerprints.
It was 2 a.m. by the time the police took Ms. Liao back home. For the entire day, the police only gave her a bowl of congee. They also threatened that they would come back the next day.
Related reports:
Bedridden 85-year-old Woman Not Spared in the Persecution of Falun Gong
84-year-old Woman Harassed for Her Faith, the Fourth Time in a Year
Falun Gong Practitioners in Their 80s Harassed for Their Faith
84-year-old Woman Arrested and Had Her Home Ransacked
Police Break into Elderly Woman’s Home and Change Her Lock Without Her Consent
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