(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Zhongfang has been detained and incarcerated multiple times for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual practice being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. She was most recently arrested on August 1, 2017 while grocery shopping.
Ms. Li went on a hunger strike in protest, which she is continuing. She told her attorney that her limbs had been tied to a bed frame and that she was also tortured in other ways. She is now in poor health.
Cured by Falun Gong
Ms. Li was born into a very poor family in the countryside. She was prone to all kinds of illnesses since her birth, but her parents had no money to pay for medical treatment. To try to alleviate her pain and misery, she went to temples, seeking cures from monks and Buddha, but to no avail. She later regained her health and mental well-being after practicing Falun Gong. After her recovery, she even started her own business.
Persecuted for Her Faith
Because Ms. Li refuses to denounce her faith in Falun Gong, she has been sentenced and incarcerated multiple times. On August 1, 2017, she was secretly followed by three employees from her neighborhood association who called the local police to have her arrested when she took out a Falun Gong brochure.
Four police officers took Ms. Li back to her apartment, and without showing their police badges to her family, they searched her apartment and confiscated her Falun Gong books. They then took her to Dongpo Police Station.
Her family went to the station that evening to ask for her release. A policeman with the nickname “Officer Xi” said that they were planning to obtain Ms. Li’s record from Funan Police Station, where she had previously been detained, and then present her case to the local procuratorate.
When Ms. Li’s daughter pointed out that the Constitution guarantees freedom of belief, “Officer Xi” scoffed, “Freedom? I won’t let you be free.”
After returning home, her family noticed that the box in which they kept the rest of their Falun Gong books was missing, but nothing else was touched, and their door had been locked. Somebody had apparently entered their home while they were away and taken the books. They were later told that the books were in Dongpo Police Station.
Ms. Li was transferred from the police station to the Qingyang District Xinhua Neighborhood Health Service Center, which is the designated hospital for Chengdu City Detention Center in Sichuan Province. Dozens of practitioners have been tortured to death there since the persecution began 1999.
Ms. Li was given 13 days of criminal detention. The local police station even called Ms. Li’s husband to go to do some “note-taking.” Their real intention was to use those “notes” as a family confession to be used as testimony in court. Ms. Li’s family is under great pressure.
Dongpo Police StationAddress: 1197 Yuyu Rd, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, 610091Phone: 011-86-28-81707439Police officers directly involved in Ms. Li’s arrest: Huang Xiaofeng, Mi Jianchun
Chengdu City Qingyang District ProcuratorateAddress: #9 Building, 222 Jianghan Rd, Qingyang District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, 610031Phone: 011-86-28-86770068
