(Minghui.org) A Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province resident arrested while visiting the daughter of a deceased Falun Gong practitioner is scheduled to stand trial on November 5, 2020 for her own faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Jin Yuhong was arrested on December 11, 2019, while visiting a college student named Ms. Gong Yu, days after Ms. Gong’s mother, Ms. Li Yanjie fell to her death while trying to escape an arrest. As Ms. Li’s husband, Mr. Gong Fengqiang, survived the fall and went into hiding, the police arrested Ms. Jin in attempts to find out Mr. Gong’s whereabouts, with the knowledge that she had contacts with his family.
The police also targeted Ms. Jin’s husband, Mr. Ren Tianwen, who doesn’t practice Falun Gong. While interrogating Mr. Ren, the police poured cold water onto his head and opened the window to let the freezing wind blow on him. They beat Mr. Ren so hard that two of his ribs broke.
Unable to bear the pressure, Mr. Ren confessed that they had Falun Gong books and materials at home but did not provide any information about Mr. Gong. The police then threatened Ms. Jin that if she didn’t reveal Mr. Gong’s whereabouts, they would continue to beat her husband.
In addition to the savage beating, the police also forced Mr. Ren to eat feces and drink urine. Only after he made several attempts to commit suicide did the police release him on bail.
Meanwhile, the police intimidated Ms. Jin’s son and attempted to prevent him from hiring lawyers for her. Believing that his mother is innocent, Ms. Jin’s son hired several lawyers in his efforts to rescue her.
Following Ms. Jin’s arrest, she was held in a hotel, interrogated and deprived of sleep for 12 days before being transferred to the Qitaihe Detention Center, where she was detained incommunicado for the next ten months.
Gu Songhai, a staff member of the Heilongjiang Political and Legal Affairs Committee (an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong), said to Ms. Jin’s family that they would sentence her if she didn’t sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong, but that they'd release her if she signed the statement.
Ms. Jin refused to cooperate with the authorities and held three hunger strikes to protest the persecution. Her weight quickly dropped from 130 pounds to below 100.
Gu also ordered the detention center to prevent Ms. Jin’s lawyer from visiting her. The lawyer was given the runaround when he tried to file complaints against the detention center. He wasn’t allowed to visit her until ten months later. Prior to his visit, the detention center lied to Ms. Jin that her family didn’t hire a lawyer to represent her.
Ms. Jin is now scheduled to appear in the Taoshan District Court on November 5.
