(Minghui.org) Twenty-one Falun Gong practitioners in Nong’an County, Jilin Province were arrested on July 15, 2020. Fourteen of them remain in custody at the time of writing.
The arrests came days before the 21st anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of their faith that began on July 20, 1999, as well as the Party leader Xi Jinping’s visit of the region on July 23, 2020.
It was reported that Ma Yanfeng, the secretary of Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) in Changchun (the municipality region overseeing Nong’an County), Zhang Kainan, the Nong’an County PLAC secretary, and Li Xingtao, the head of Nong’an County Police Department, ordered the arrests.
In the persecution of Falun Gong, the PLAC, an extrajudicial agency overseeing state security and judiciary branches, has played a central role in making and executing persecution policies.
On July 13, 2020, the Nong’an County 610 Office, another extralegal agency involved in the persecution of Falun Gong, held a meeting to make arrangements for the details of the arrests.
Most practitioners were arrested between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. on July 15. It’s said that all police officers turned off their cellphones during the action. Some smashed the practitioners’ locks and windows to break in. Most practitioners had their Falun Gong books, computers, cellphones and cash confiscated.
It has been confirmed by Minghui.org that 14 practitioners remain in custody at the time of writing, including Ms. Zhang Xiuzhi, Mr. Gao Xiaoqi, Ms. Cai Yuying, her husband Mr. Yu Chunlin and daughter Ms. Yu Jiaoru, Mr. Shan, Ms. Sun Xiuying, Mr. Zhang Dianyuan, Mr. Lu Xiangfu, Ms. Zhang Shuyu, Ms. Ren Yongping, Ms. Sun Fengxian, Ms. Wu Dongmei, and Ms. Zhao Xiulan.
In particular, the detention locations of Ms. Ren Yongping, Ms. Sun Fengxian, Ms. Wu Dongmei, and Ms. Zhao Xiulan, Mr. Zhang Dianyuan, remain to be investigated.
When the practitioners’ families went to the police department to seek their release, they were told that some male practitioners have been sent to Changchun and female practitioners sent to the brainwashing center and detention center in nearby Dehui City. The police also revealed that they were collecting evidence against several practitioners and planning to seek prison terms for them.
Below are the details of four practitioners’ cases.
Ms. Wu Dongmei, 49, was arrested by plainclothes officers. Her arrest came only ten days after her husband, Mr. Zhao Dazhi, passed away. Her oldest daughter just graduated from college and is now left to take care of her two younger siblings.
Ms. Zhao Xiulan, 65, was a retired teacher living by herself. She has three sons. One of them is residing in an overseas country and the other two live out of town. The police ransacked her storage room during her arrest, but it’s not clear what items were taken away.
Ms. Ren Yongping, 45, was also a teacher. The school she worked at fired her with the onset of the persecution. Her husband, Mr. Zhang Dianyuan, around 45, teaches English at a middle school. Now their two children, one in college and the other in high school, are left to fend for themselves.
Ms. Sun Fengxian, a gynecologist in her 60s, was arrested around 1 a.m. on July 16. Her only daughter lives out of town.
Related report:
Nong’an County, Jilin Province: 11 Arrested and 1 Harassed in 24 Hours
