(Minghui.org) After Mr. Huang Shengkui's arrest in July 2014, guards at the detention center frequently called his family and told them to send funds and toiletries. Knowing that the conditions are poor and expenses can be high in the detention center, his family always sent whatever was asked.
However, a recent letter they received has raised doubts about the requests, because this time the amount was higher than usual and the written request was not in Mr. Huang's handwriting, except for the signature.
Mr. Huang's family expressed concern in a reply letter and received a phone call from a detention center guard shortly after. The guard told them that Mr. Huang wanted them to know that he was doing well, and that Mr. Huang had asked for more money this time because he wanted to help others in the detention center.
In late October, Mr. Huang sent word to his family through a released inmate that he would be tortured if they didn't pay up.
Detention center guards have extorted money from Mr. Huang's family since his arrest.
Mr. Huang and three other practitioners from Weiyuan County, Sichuan Province, are facing trial for their belief in Falun Gong. Their families received notification on October 31, 2014, to go to the local Procuratorate to check the case files. The trial is likely to be held in November.
The four practitioners are among six who were arrested on July 5 and 6, including Mr. Huang's wife, Ms. Tang Kefang.
Although his wife and another practitioner were released on bail in August, the arrests of the other practitioners were officially approved and charges were filed against them.
The four practitioners facing trial are Mr. Huang Shengkui, Ms. Wu Xiurong, Ms. Liu Jianping, and Ms. Liu Cuirong.
Ms. Tang has been monitored and harassed by village authorities since her release.
A police officer and four village officials went to Ms. Tang's small business at around 5:00 p.m. on October 17, 2014, and ordered her to write a guarantee statement renouncing her belief. They said that if she wrote the statement, they would promise to release her husband sooner.
Ms. Tang refused to write the statement and told them that practicing Falun Gong does not break the law. She also advised them not to harm other practitioners. The police and village officials eventually left, but harassed her relatives over the following days in an attempt to put pressure on Ms. Tang to renounce her belief.