(Minghui.org) Police forced Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Hu Tongyu from Leshan City into an ambulance on August 22, 2017, and took her to a mental hospital for psychiatric persecution. The abduction occurred after a particularly intense round of harassment in which the authorities coerced Ms. Hu's family into complying with the persecution.
Ms. Hu, 65, is a retiree from Qianwei County in Leshan City. She started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. She is known as a kind person who follows Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. She has no history of mental illness.
Family Harassed and Threatened by the Authorities
Ms. Hu's daughter received a phone call from a member of the local neighborhood committee on June 6, 2017, and was asked whether Ms. Hu still practiced Falun Gong. The caller threatened the daughter, telling her that she would be blocked from taking civil service exams if her mother continued to practice.
Ms. Hu's husband received several phone calls in which callers asked to speak to him about his wife's Falun Gong practice.
Several police officers forced their way into Ms. Hu's home on July 4, 2017, without showing a search warrant. One policeman carried a video camera. The police ordered Ms. Hu to give them the names of two other practitioners and asked whether she was involved in distributing Falun Gong informational materials.
Two officers searched her bedroom. They found a printer and called for the officers waiting outside to issue a search warrant. They confiscated a computer, the printer, and Falun Gong books. The following day, Ms. Hu was called to the police station for questioning.
Family Members Threatened
Ms. Hu's husband, daughter, and son-in-law were continually harassed by the authorities about Ms. Hu's Falun Gong practice. They were called to the Domestic Security Division for questioning, where they were told to stop Ms. Hu from practicing.
On July 31, police ordered Ms. Hu's daughter and son-in-law separately from their workplaces and brought them to two different locations within the local police department. They interrogated the daughter and tried to get information about other practitioners.
One officer threatened, "Do you know Zhong Junfang, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for practicing Falun Gong? She is still in prison and only weighs 60 pounds now."
The officers said they would continue investigating Ms. Hu. They told Ms. Hu’s daughter that her mother’s case would interfere with her own daughter's education (the child is still in preschool). Under the intense pressure, Ms. Hu's daughter panicked and told the police that her mother had a mental problem.
Healthy Person Sent to a Mental Hospital
Under continued coercion and threats, Ms. Hu's daughter and son-in-law accompanied the police to Ms. Hu's home on August 22, 2017. The police broke the lock on Ms. Hu's door, and forced their way into her home. Ms. Hu was then dragged into an ambulance and taken to a mental hospital. Editor's Note: psychiatric abuse is a well-documented method of persecution used by the Chinese Communist Party.
Repeatedly Persecuted for Her Belief
Ms. Hu has firmly upheld her belief in Falun Gong despite the intense government oppression of the practice since 1999. For this reason, she was on the local 610 Office’s blacklist. She had been harassed and monitored by the authorities for many years.
Ms. Hu was first arrested on April 24, 2003, and detained for two weeks. On April 24, 2013, she was held for more than a month in the Daishiqiao Brainwashing Center.
Her family was threatened by the head of the 610 Office, Wang Maoling, and the deputy director of the county Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Luo Yougang. The men threatened that Ms. Hu's family members would lose their jobs, and their home would be ransacked, if they did not stop Ms. Hu from practicing.
