(Minghui.org) It has been over a year since Ms. Liu Qiuling was detained for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The Jiansanjiang farming community, Heilongjiang Province, resident went to Harbin City in the same province in late August 2023, to drop her daughter off at college. She was arrested by police from Shandong Province and has been detained incommunicado since. It’s not clear why the Shandong police came to Heilongjiang to arrest her.
According to an insider, Ms. Liu was sentenced to prison and is now serving time at the Shandong Province Women’s Prison. No other details about her case are known, and her family hasn’t received any formal documents about her case.
In January 1999, at the age of 23, Ms. Liu read a Falun Gong book at a friend’s home and found answers to many questions she had about the purpose of life. She was elated to become a practitioner and embarked on a spiritual journey following the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.”
In less than three months, her once coarse skin became smooth and her sallow complexion was rosy and bright. Her family was amazed by how much she changed.
Seven months after Ms. Liu took up Falun Gong, the Chinese communist regime ordered the nationwide persecution, attempting to eradicate the practice in China. All state media broadcast propaganda smearing Falun Gong.
When Ms. Liu went to work on February 1, 2001, the manager of the hotel she worked at told her that she was fired. The manager said that after the TV broadcast the news about the Tiananmen self-immolation (a hoax manufactured by the communist regime to smear Falun Gong and incite public hatred against the practice), the local police came to the hotel to investigate her. Not wanting to get into trouble, the hotel decided to fire her. Ms. Liu asked if her sister could take over her position, but the manager refused with the excuse that her sister might also practice Falun Gong and he didn’t want to be associated with them.
Ms. Liu moved to Yanggu County, Shandong Province in 2002 and found a job there as a restaurant waitress.
On March 20, 2014, four human rights lawyers who protested the torture of Falun Gong practitioners outside a detention center were arrested and tortured themselves. Seven Falun Gong practitioners who were involved in the rescue case were also arrested. The incident was widely reported by the international media. Many human rights lawyers and activists in China also went to Jiansanjiang, demanding the authorities release the lawyers and Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Liu, who returned to Heilongjiang and opened an office supply store by then, shared the news of the case online on April 2, 2014. Not long after, Xu Dabin and Xie Zhenbo of the Qianjin Police Station arrested her and her husband (it’s not clear whether her husband practices Falun Gong). Her 40 Falun Gong books, cell phone and computer were confiscated. Ruan Dong, the deputy police chief, arranged officers to interrogate her.
Ms. Liu was interrogated again by officer Wang Qiuli the next morning. She was taken to the Suibin Lockup in the afternoon to serve a ten-day detention.