Coordinated Abductions: 13 Falun Gong Practitioners Seized by Plainclothes Police on May 10th

Based on an Original Report from Minghui.org

Thirteen residents of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province were arrested on May 10, 2021, for their faith in Falun Gong.

The arrests primarily took place between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m and involved plainclothes officers. Many officers revealed that they were only carrying out orders from higher-ups. Some said they had monitored the practitioners for up to seven months and had taken a lot of photos and videos of them. Others said if the practitioners signed a statement to renounce Falun Gong, they could be released.

One officer told a practitioner’s family that the arrested would be taken to the Fuzhuangcheng Police Station in the nearby Changshu City, about 40 miles from Suzhou. However, when the family member of the practitioner went there, officers denied knowledge of the practitioners. Currently, the practitioners’ families are still in the process of finding their detention locations.

Below are details of the arrests.

Wife Arrested, Husband Denied Detention Details

Twelve officers broke into Ms. Dong Wanyu’s home at 6:10 a.m. on May 10, 2021. Two officers quickly flashed their police IDs in front of Dong’s husband, but before he could see their names, they put them away and refused to show them. Dong requested the officers write down their police IDs but was ignored.

The police spent 45 minutes ransacking Dong’s home and confiscated her two computers, two radios, a framed cross stitch of a heavenly maiden, over ten Falun Gong books and some Falun Gong keepsakes.

After Dong was taken to the police station at around 7 a.m., one officer told her husband that the arrests were orchestrated by city-level officials and that the timing of the arrests was carefully planned beforehand. He said that the arrests were related to the Chinese Communist Party’s 100-year founding celebration on July 1. The arrested practitioners will likely be detained for at least two months.

Dong’s husband went to the police station on the second day to demand her release, only to be told that she had been transferred to the Changshu City Police Department.

He rushed to Changshu, but the officers there denied they had any knowledge of his wife’s arrest. At the suggestion of a security guard, he then visited the Changshu City Detention Center but to no avail.

Dong’s husband received a text message from an officer named Tang Congzheng on May 14, the third day of her arrest, and was asked to deliver some clothes to the Loufeng Police Station in Suzhou. Tang refused to provide further information of where Dong is being held.

Couple Arrested, House Ransacked

A dozen officers broke into the home of Mr. Ji Yong and his wife Ms. Pan Ning at 7 a.m. They rushed to the second floor of the couple’s home and dragged them downstairs and into a police car.

The police ransacked the couple’s home for two hours. Their three laptops, one desktop computer, six cellphones, two radios, four Falun Gong books and a photo of Falun Gong’s founder were confiscated. The police did not provide either the arrest warrant or the search warrant. One officer quickly waved his police ID in front of Ms. Pan’s parents, who were living with the couple, and put it away before they could see anything.

Woman Arrested After Six Months of Monitoring

Ms. Cui Ping was arrested at home at around 9 a.m. The police said to her, “Will you go with us or do you want us to carry you downstairs?”

Ms. Cui’s husband asked the police why they treated her like that. The officers responded that they had been following her for over six months and they knew everything about which practitioners she usually met with and where she distributed Falun Gong informational materials. Before leaving, the police confiscated Cui’s computer.

A few days later, her family received the detention notice, which indicated that she was being held in the city of Changshu but did not specify her exact location.

Woman Arrested on Way to Work, Family Harassed

According to Ms. Mei Hongjuan’s neighbor, she was arrested after 9 a.m. on her way to work. Around 10:30 a.m., a dozen officers arrived in at least three police cars. Ms. Mei was brought back with her hands cuffed behind her back. The police confiscated her desktop, a printer, a laminator, a set of Falun Gong books, a cellphone and two radios.

When Ms. Mei’s family went to the police station to demand her release, the police promised to update them in 24 hours. But they have yet to receive any information from the police. Meanwhile, agents of the 610 Office, an extralegal agency created specifically to persecute Falun Gong, also harassed Ms. Mei’s mother-in-law and verbally abused her, to deter her from seeking justice for Ms. Mei.

Other Arrests

Ms. Li Shoujie, in her 50s, had her computer, printer, dozens of Falun Gong books and DVDs taken away by the police during her arrest.

When Ms. Wu Xiaoming’s husband went to the police station to seek her release, the police tried to pressure him and their son to persuade her to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong. Ms. Wu refused to comply and still remains detained.

Other practitioners who were arrested on May 10 include Yuan Huifen, Zhao Haibo, Zhu Ying, Chang Zheng, Han Guixiang and Wen (last name unknown).

Two additional practitioners, Zhu Qiuling and Ji Cuiping also went missing on the same day. It is being investigated whether they were also arrested.

Original Article: https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2021/5/29/193397.html