(Minghui.org) A married couple in Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province, is scheduled to face the judge on November 7, 2023 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Han Ximin, a 61-year-old former employee of the Lingyuan Steel Company, and Ms. Du Qingxiu, a 60-year-old former teacher at the Lingyuan City No. 2 Middle School, were arrested on May 12, 2023 by officers from the Beitai Police Station in Chaoyang City and the Jinzhou City Railroad Police Department.
The police claimed that they arrested the couple because they mailed letters with information about Falun Gong to the railroad police in Jinzhou City, about 120 miles from Lingyuan, which is under the administration of Chaoyang City.
The police did not wear uniforms or present any search warrants when they raided the couple’s home. They also did not provide a list of confiscated items. The couple also found that the 1,000 yuan cash in Mr. Han’s bag he was carrying during the arrest and 2,000 yuan in cash in their home were gone after the police search.
As the couple refused to answer the police’s questions, the police filled out the interrogation record with fabricated answers. When Mr. Han pointed out it was illegal to do so, officer Ning Kai dared him to file a complaint anywhere he wanted and claimed that the fabrication order actually came from the police supervisor. Another officer threatened to verbally abuse Falun Gong’s founder if the couple didn’t cooperate with the interrogation.
The Shuangta District Procuratorate in Chaoyang City approved the couple’s arrests and later indicted them, before moving their case to the Shuangta District Court. When the couple’s lawyer went to the Chaoyang City Detention Center to visit them, the guards claimed that the police in charge of their case didn’t approve the visit. The lawyer had to file a complaint against the head of the detention center, before he was finally granted permission to visit his clients.
On August 22, 2023, Mr. Han’s 96-year-old mother, Ms. Yang Guilan, filed complaints against officer Ning Kai of the Beita Police Station and prosecutor Qiu Weirong of the Shuangta District Procuratorate on the 12337 and 12389 platforms.
“12337” is an online platform designated for reporting violations of discipline and law by police and judicial workers. “12389” is a telephone platform that the Ministry of Public Security uses to take complaints and reports from the public.
Ms. Yang argued that no law in China has ever criminalized Falun Gong and it was her son’s and daughter-in-law’s constitutionally protected right to practice Falun Gong—they were exercising their right to freedom of belief. She added that the police violated legal procedures in handling the case, including not showing their police IDs or arrest and search warrants during the arrests and home raid.
In terms of the complaint against the prosecutor, Ms. Yang said that he failed to specify the legal basis and evidence to support his allegations against her son and daughter-in-law, namely, they, “undermined law enforcement with a cult organization,” a standard pretext used by the CCP authorities to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
The Shuangta District Court initially scheduled a hearing for August 15 but later postponed it to August 28. The prosecutor submitted additional evidence against the couple around October 20 and the judge scheduled another hearing for October 30, which was postponed again to November 7.
Prior to their latest persecution, the couple has been targeted several times for upholding their faith. Mr. Han was given three forced labor terms, and his wife was given two forced labor terms and one six-year prison term during the past 24 years of persecution.
Husband’s Persecution: Three Forced Labor Terms
In March 1999, four months before the persecution started, the Lingyuan City Police Department summoned over 300 local Falun Gong practitioners to the Lingyuan Steel Company Club. Police chief Zhang Minghua claimed that the Chinese Communist Party would ban Falun Gong soon and he ordered the practitioners to make public statements to renounce their faith. Mr. Han and ten other practitioners refused to comply and were detained. When more local practitioners heard about the incident, they went to the city government, demanding the practitioners be released. Under public pressure, the police let the practitioners go home.
When the persecution was officially launched on July 20, 1999, Mr. Han decided to go to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. Due to heavy police presence on major public transportation networks, Mr. Han rode his bike to Beijing. He was intercepted by the Lingyuan police when he was halfway there. He was detained for 15 days and fined 3,000 yuan. Shortly after he was released, the Lingyuan Steel Company fired him.
Mr. Han was arrested again in the spring of 2000 and was detained for a month, after the police suspected him of delivering Falun Gong lectures to other practitioners.
Mr. Han set off to Beijing to appeal in July 2000. He was arrested by officers from the Mohudian Police Station shortly after he returned and the Lingyuan City Police Department gave him one year of forced labor after he was detained for one month.
At the Xidayingzi Forced Labor Camp, Mr. Han was subjected to intensive brainwashing, deprived of sleep, held in solitary confinement and simultaneously shocked with up to seven electric batons. The guards and inmates constantly beat him. To increase his suffering, they also sprinkled salt into his wounds.
Although Mr. Han was released early, he was arrested again months later on July 1, 2001, after the authorities found Falun Gong flyers at his home. He was held at the Lingyuan City Lockup for 105 days and then given another three years at the Xidayingzi Forced Labor Camp. There, he was forced to dig ditches or wells for 13 hours a day. The food he was given was very poor and was usually covered with mold. Malnourished, he was slow doing the hard labor he was forced to do and was beaten by the guards and inmates.
Mr. Han’s next arrest was on August 21, 2007, together with his wife and three other practitioners. He was given a third labor camp term of one year and nine months.
At the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, Mr. Han was constantly shocked with electric batons and forced to work for long hours without pay, including making over 100 sets of clothes a day for a Korean company or harvesting corn. He once fractured his left ring finger while doing the work, but did not receive any medical treatment. His finger was permanently damaged.
The guards also forced him to continue working even when he had a fever. They shocked him with electric batons when he had stomachache. His fever was later found to be caused by severe pneumonia. When the guards finally took him to the labor camp hospital, the doctor said if the treatment was delayed slightly longer, he may have died. Another guard once slapped him in the face over 20 times causing his left ear to become deaf.
Several officers attempted to arrest Mr. Han again on August 11, 2011. He refused to open the door for them. After hours of standoff, the police finally left. Mr. Han was forced to live away from home afterwards to avoid being arrested.
Wife’s Persecution: Two Forced Labor Terms and One 6-Year Prison Term
Ms. Du was given one year of forced labor in 2000. She was arrested again together with Mr. Han on August 21, 2007 and given another labor camp term of 15 months.
At the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, guards Wang Xiaofeng, Wang Danfeng and Cui Hongqiang held her hands, beat her face, pressed her shoulders and then ordered her to sign paper slips with words that slandered Falun Gong’s founder. They also attempted to force her to step on the photos of Falun Gong’s founder.
The guards repeatedly attempted to force Ms. Du to sign various forms to plead guilty or renounce Falun Gong. When she refused to comply, they forcibly held her hands to sign the documents and severely injured her left thumb. One of her teeth fell out after she was slapped in the face. She was also tied up in excruciating positions for six hours, which caused injury to her shoulder that did not heal for months.
Ms. Du was arrested on October 30, 2012 for sending text messages with information about Falun Gong. The Lingyuan City Court sentenced her to six years on April 14, 2012. She was tortured in Liaoning Province Women’s Prison, including being beaten, subjected to freezing torture, humiliated, not allowed to drink water and denied restroom use.