(Minghui.org) A resident of Tongwei County remains detained despite the fact that the local court and the procuratorate have dismissed her case.
Ms. Niu Bianbian, 52, was at home on March 8, 2017, when the police broke in and arrested her. She was targeted because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
Her mother-in-law was knocked down while trying to keep Ms. Niu from being taken away.
Ms. Niu’s lawyer visited her on March 21 and noticed she had cuts and bruises on her face. Her family hired a second lawyer soon afterward. The new lawyer visited her on April 26 and learned that she had been interrogated for more than 30 hours nonstop shortly after her arrest and that one officer used a heavy hardcover book to hit her face repeatedly.
Ms. Niu’s family and lawyers requested her release, but Bao Hanzhou, head of Tongwei County Domestic Security Office who led the arrest, turned them down.
The lawyers then mailed a written legal opinion to Bao but never received a response. Ms. Niu’s case was forwarded to the local procuratorate on May 26.
On July 10, the local court ruled to dismiss Ms. Niu’s case, and the local procuratorate decided not to indict her. Bao, however, has refused to release her.
Ms. Niu remains in the Dingxi City Detention Center.
