(Minghui.org) Two Falun Gong practitioners and their husbands who don't practice Falun Gong were arrested on August 23, 2018, along with 43 other Falun Gong practitioners and family members across Liaoning Province during a mass arrest.
The arrests were carried out under the directive of Liaoning Province Public Security Bureau, which called on a special task force to carry out the operation. The police had been following the practitioners and monitoring their phone calls prior to the arrests.
Ms. Tian Lili, 38, and her husband Mr. Lu Guofeng are being held in Shenyang Detention Center.
Ms. Li Cuihong, 44, is detained in Nangou Detention Center. Her husband, Mr. Tang Yuwei, lost consciousness in the detention center on September 4 and has been released after paying 4,000 yuan in bail to the police.
Ms. Li Cuihong's husband, Mr. Tang Yuwei, was first arrested at their family-owned machine factory. The police ransacked their home and brought Mr. Tang to the police station.
Shaken by what had transpired, Mr. Tang collapsed from an epileptic episode and was taken home to get his medication.
Not knowing the police had taken her husband home, Ms. Li went to the police station to seek his release, only to be arrested herself.
After Mr. Tang regained consciousness and learned about Ms. Li's arrest, he went to the police station to find her and was again arrested.
The couple married in 2010. This was Ms. Li's second marriage. Her first husband, who was a farmer, was forced to divorce her when he was unable to pay the 16,500-yuan fine to the police when she was arrested for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Li's uncle paid the fine for her, and she worked at his restaurant to repay him. After she paid off her debt, her uncle passed away.
Without a family or a full-time job, Ms. Li, who was only in her 30s, moved frequently and did odds job to make a living. She worked in a machine factory, a clothing factory, and as a waitress in restaurants. Sometimes she didn't even have a place to live and had to spend the night in an outdoor shelter.
After she married Mr. Tang, she was full of hope for a normal life, except things didn't turn out as she had expected.
In 2017, Mr. Tang suffered an ischemic stroke at work and lost consciousness. He was hospitalized for four days in critical condition, with high intracranial pressure and leaking brain fluid.
He was operated on and has suffered from epilepsy ever since.
Ms. Tian Lili learned Falun Gong from her mother when she was a child. Even though she stopped practicing when the communist regime launched the persecution in 1999, her mother continued and was arrested several times and held in brainwashing centers and forced labor camps.
Years of torture and brainwashing traumatized her mother. After she was released, she was often confused. Her vision diminished and she often lost her balance when she walked.
Despite her condition, the police and residential committee members often harassed her at home. When she refused to open the door, they would break in and ransack the place. Ms. Tian's father got so distressed that he was hospitalized several times.
While helping her mother to recover, Ms. Tian resumed the practice herself.
When the police found out, they arrested her on August 23, 2018. Her husband, Mr. Lu Guofeng, who doesn't practice Falun Gong, was also arrested.
The police didn't arrest Ms. Tian's mother this time when they saw how mentally disordered she was and how hard it was for her to walk.
Ms. Tian's father had a heart attack and the doctor suggested bypass surgery. But years of persecution, having his home ransacked several times, and now Ms. Tian's latest arrest have left his family poverty-stricken and he can't afford the surgery.
In addition, Ms. Tian's mother-in-law has just left the hospital and there is no one to take care of her.
Related report:47 Falun Gong Practitioners and Their Family Members in Liaoning Province Arrested in Two Days