(Minghui.org) Over eighty Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province residents were arrested between December 11 and 13, 2020 for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The arrested practitioners were taken to the city hospital and tested for coronavirus. As all of them tested negative, they were detained in two local facilities, with thirty of them in Hegang City Lockup and the rest in Hegang City Detention Center. The full list of the arrested practitioners remains to be investigated.
The arrests were orchestrated by Zhang Fusheng, an officer of the Hegang City Domestic Security Office, and carried out by police stations across the city. Most arrests took place on December 12. Some practitioners had their homes ransacked and their Falun Gong books, photos of Falun Gong’s founder, computers, printers, and other office supplies they used to print Falun Gong materials at home were confiscated by police.
“Zero-Out” Campaign
This police sweep was part of the “zero-out” campaign initiated by the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) earlier this year in a coordinated effort to force every Falun Gong practitioner on the government’s blacklist to renounce their faith.
In the past 21 years, the PLAC, an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution, has been behind the arrests, harassment and imprisonment of practitioners.
In addition to the arrests, the authorities also harassed some practitioners and ordered them to write statements to renounce Falun Gong. Some also had their Falun Gong books and photos of Falun Gong’s founder confiscated.
Detention
Some of the arrested practitioners were given between five and 15 days of detention, while the situation of others remains unclear.
Those who were given five days of detention include Ms. Zhang Shuxia, Ms. Gong Guizhi, Ms. Du Guihua, and Ms. Dai Yanwen. Ms. Gong’s home was ransacked.
Those who were given 10 days of detention include Mr. Zheng Maocun and his wife Ms. Gao Ying, Ms. Li Qingyun, Ms. Zhang Yan, Ms. Wang Shuxia, Ms. Yang Xiaohong, Ms. Han Ru, Ms. Yu Xiaojing, Ms. Li Yanchun, Ms. Sun Shihong, Ms. Tao Yulian and Mr. Zhang Yujiang.
Those who were given 15 days of detention include Ms. Li Jiaming, Ms. Chu Furong, Ms. Huang Xiaoxia and her husband Mr. Xu Xianda.
Following Ms. Chu’s arrest, officers from the Dongshan Police Station brought her to the men's restroom, slapped her in the face and kicked her. The officers said they brought her there because there wasn’t a surveillance camera.
Ms. Yu and Mr. Zhao Fuqiang, Mr. Jiang Yunjing, Ms. Bi Shufang, Ms. Liu Shufen, and Ms. Liu Yuqiu were taken to the Hegang City Detention Center. It’s not clear how long their detention terms are.
It’s reported that the police threatened to sentence Mr. Zhao and that Mr. Jiang had his satellite dish confiscated.
Six police officers and two residential committee staff members turned off Ms. Liu’s power panel in the hallway of her apartment building around 3 p.m. on December 11. When her husband Mr. Xu You went out to check on the problem, the police pushed him to the ground and held him.
After hearing the noise, Ms. Liu came out to check the situation. The police shook a piece of paper in front of her and said it was the search warrant. While she reached out to see it, the police pushed her down and handcuffed her. Then they ransacked their home and confiscated her Falun Gong books and DVDs, her ID, bank cards, and 2,200 yuan in cash. The police also searched under her bed and inside her closet, leaving a mess at her home.
As Mr. Xu doesn’t practice Falun Gong, he was released around 9 p.m. He remained terrified even a few days later.
Other Arrests
Other practitioners who were arrested include Ms. Liu Fengqin, Ms. Liu Yu, Ms. Zhan Cuiling, Ms. Li Baoxia, Mr. Zeng Qinghe, Ms. Han Guixia, Ms. Zhou Hui, Ms. Xu Tingxiang, Mr. Zhu Chongshan, Ms. Liu Shuqin, Mr. Gao Zhonggen and his wife, Mr. Peng Yansong, Ms. Yang Fan, Ms. Yan Tingwei, Mr. Fan Longsheng, Mr. Zhao Futian, Ms. Yu Xiuying, Ms. Liu Fenghua, Mr. Gong Zaiqiang, Ms. Gong Xianhua, Mr. Huang, Li Bai, Wang Haizhi, Zhao Xizeng, and Hou.
In particular, Ms. Gong Guizhi, Mr. Gong Zaiqiang and Ms. Gong Xianhua are siblings. They and their other sibling Mr. Gong Zaili and mother Ms. Tang Shuqin, who weren’t arrested this time, have been repeatedly persecuted in the past two decades.
Mr. Zhang Yujiang’s wife, Ms. Hu Guijie, was not admitted due to her physical condition and was released on the day of her arrest.
Ms. Yang Fan was an English teacher and lost her job for refusing to renounce her faith. In addition, she was once given three years of forced labor and fired by her workplace. Her latest arrest was on December 11.
More details of the arrested practitioners are still being investigated.
