(Minghui.org) A 74-year-old man in Hutou Town, Yinan County, Shandong Province, has been detained incommunicado for over a year for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Lu Yongtang's family recently heard that he might have been sentenced to three or three and a half years in prison, but when they went to ask the authorities to verify the information, they were stonewalled.
Both Mr. Lu and his wife, Ms. Li Jinghua, practice Falun Gong. Mr. Lu's latest arrest followed his wife's on November 12, 2019. That day, Ms. Li and another Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Zhang Xiuzhen, ran into community worker Fu Huayun on their way to a farmers’ market. They tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to Fu and urged her not to participate in the persecution.
While Fu pretended that she was listening, she took pictures of the women, uploaded the photos to the WeChat account of the local police and reported them. Sucun Police Station officers came and arrested Ms. Li. Ms. Zhang escaped at the time but was arrested at home the next day. Ms. Zhang is now in the Linyi Detention Center.
A dozen officers went to Ms. Li’s home hours after her arrest. They also arrested Mr. Lu when he tried to stop the officers from ransacking their residence. The police ended up confiscating their laptop, a cellphone, two audio recorders, and over 6,000 yuan in cash.
Ms. Li was released the next day and closely monitored by the police after she was found to have high blood pressure. Mr. Lu remains in custody and has been interrogated. The police have harassed their family members and tried to turn them against the couple for refusing to give up their faith.
Mr. Lu has been denied family visits ever since. The authorities also refuse to reveal where he is being held right now. With the Chinese New Year coming up in two weeks, his family is getting increasingly worried about his well-being.
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