(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners have faced arrest, imprisonment, and torture in China for 18 years since former Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin launched the regime's persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999.
Nevertheless, Falun Gong practitioners have persevered in telling people the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution in peaceful ways. Many government officials and police officers have stopped participating in the persecution and released practitioners who were detained for their faith.
Below are some accounts of Falun Gong practitioners who were recently released from detention.
Zhang Jun was reported to the authorities and arrested while talking to people about Falun Gong and the persecution on September 20, 2016. Zhang was held in the Nankai Detention Center in Tianjin.
The Nankai Procuratorate issued the arrest and put Zhang on trial a week later.
However, Zhang's case was withdrawn by the local Procuratorate. On February 6, 2017, they informed Zhang's family that Zhang would be released soon.
Zhang was finally released on February 13, 2017.
Ms. Qu from Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province was arrested on December 14, 2015. She was tortured while in detention, including being beaten, sleep deprived, and verbally abused. Her hands were cuffed behind her back, and she was given only a little water and a small slice of bread each day.
Ms. Qu was released 32 days later on condition that she pay 5,000 yuan as bail. The police continued going her home to harass her.
In order to avoid the further persecution, she left home until late 2016.
Ms. Qu Beixiang was arrested on March 11, 2017 when she went to Huayang Police Station to sign some documents.
An officer from that station informed Ms. Qu in February 2017 that her bail period had expired and that she could go to the bank to get her 5,000 yuan back.
When she went to the bank to request the money, the staff there told her that she needed written permission from the police station. However, when she went there, she was immediately arrested.
Officials from the local Procuratorate went to the detention center to investigate her case a few days later, and rejected the case. Ms. Qu was released on March 24, 2017.
Ms. Xue Yuying and Ms. Hou Chengxiang, both from Qingdao City, Shandong Province, were released on March 27, 2017 after being detained for over 500 days.
Ms. Xue was arrested while she was talking to people about Falun Gong and the persecution on August 23, 2015. She was tried on April 12, 2016.
Ms. Xue's husband was diagnosed with intestinal cancer while she was held at the detention center. He returned home after his operation but was unable to look after himself. Ms. Xue's lawyer requested that she be released on bail, and she was finally released after being held for 582 days.
Ms. Hou Chengxiang, 68, was arrested on October 6, 2015, when she was on her way home after talking to people about Falun Gong at a market. She was tried on April 12, 2016.
Ms. Hou held a hunger strike and was force-fed. She was sentenced to one and a half years on February 21, 2017. She later appealed to the Qingdao Intermediate Court and was bailed out after being held for 538 days.
Ms. Mao Qingyun from Xiangyang City, Hubei Province was arrested on November 9, 2016 while she was talking to people about Falun Gong.
The local Procuratorate decided to withdraw her case on March 24, 2017, citing insufficient evidence.
Ms. Mao was released after being held for four months.
Ms. Zhang Guili was arrested at her daughter's home in December 2015 and was later held at the Lianyungang Detention Center in Jiangsu Province. She was sentenced to a two-year prison term in May 2016.
She appealed the verdict to the local intermediate court, which dismissed the case on March 31, 2017.
Ms. Zhang is now back home.