(Minghui.org) A 73-year-old woman in Wafangdian City, Liaoning Province was arrested at around 11 a.m. on April 4, 2021, after being reported for talking to people on her way to a community fair about how Falun Gong enabled her to stand up after being paralyzed for one and a half years.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Xiao Jianguo, director of the Domestic Security Division, together with officers from Yuantai Police Station, ransacked Ms. Qu Shumei ’s home on the same day and confiscated her personal belongings.
Ms. Qu’s arrest was approved one week later. After the police submitted her case to the procuratorate, the prosecutor returned it, citing insufficient evidence. The police then went to Ms. Qu’s home and tried to force her family to sign certain documents to frame her. Her family didn’t comply.
Ms. Qu is now held at Yaojia Detention Center in Dalian City. This is the third time that she has been arrested for talking to people about Falun Gong.
Recovery from Paralysis
Ms. Qu had various diseases such as rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure and lumbar disc herniation. She also had enlargement of the third and fourth vertebrae of the great beam bone, which compressed both legs and rendered her paralyzed. She relied on her husband to take care of her. Every day felt like a year for the family.
About one and a half years after she was paralyzed, their misery came to an end, when Ms. Qu started to practice Falun Gong in September 1997. She did the five sets of exercises and strove to live by the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” to be a better person, to be kind to others and to improve her morality by always looking inward for shortcomings when she ran into conflicts with others.
Soon all her diseases were gone. She couldn’t thank Falun Gong enough for giving her a second life. She often tells others her own experience, which resulted in three times arrests and detention.
First Arrest and 1.5-Year Labor Camp Term for Telling People How Falun Gong Saved Her
Ms. Qu went to a shop to have her recorder repaired one day in August 2007. While she was waiting for the repairman, she chatted with an elderly woman. That woman said she was not feeling well, and Ms. Qu told her that she could try to recite the auspicious phrases, “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” Having been influenced by the Chinese communist regime’s propaganda against Falun Gong, the woman reported Ms. Qu to the police.
Officers from Yuantai Police Station arrested Ms. Qu and interrogated her. Then they drove her to her home and raided it. They confiscated pictures of the founder of Falun Gong and more than ten Falun Gong books. Ms. Qu was given a 1.5-year forced labor camp term after being held at Wafangdian City Detention Center for 35 days.
Later she was transferred to the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang City. The living environment there was very harsh, with guards watching her 24 hours a day. She was forced to make origami flowers for more than 15 hours a day. She was not allowed to sleep until she finished her daily quota. Later she was transferred to another workshop to fold military coats, about 600 pieces a day. She often had to work with a hungry stomach as the guards never provided enough food to her.
Second Arrest for Distributing Falun Gong Informational Material
Ms. Qu’s next arrest was on the early morning of December 27, 2017, after she was reported for distributing informational material about Falun Gong.
Her husband was watching TV at around 8 a.m., when three police officers broke in and started to raid the house, without showing their IDs or search warrant.
Her husband asked them, “What do you do?”
They ignored him.
“What are your names? What are your police badge numbers?”
They ignored him again and continued searching the house.
The officers confiscated pictures of Falun Gong’s founder, Falun Gong books and informational materials. They also forcibly took the husband away by holding his arms and pushing him into the police car.
After they arrived at the police station, they locked him in a metal chair and interrogated him as if he was a criminal. They also tried to force him to sign a document.
Ms. Qu’s husband was released at 2 p.m., But Ms. Qu was kept in custody. When her daughter went to the police station to ask about Ms. Qu’s whereabouts on the next day, the police director told her that Ms. Qu was taken to Dalian City Detention Center and would be held there for 15 days.
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