(Minghui.org) A resident of Baicheng City, Jilin Province was tried for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. The local procuratorate withdrew its indictment against him after the trial, but he remains detained at the time of writing.
This is not the first time that Mr. Liu Meng, in his 50s, has been targeted for his faith. He was once imprisoned for four years and lost his job as a vocational school teacher. He tutored math to make a living after he was released from prison.
Mr. Liu was seized again on January 9, 2017, while he was waiting to board a train at Da’an City Train Station. The railroad police doing security checks of passengers discovered Falun Gong exercise music in his phone and detained him. They sent him back to Xingfu Police Station in his hometown of Baicheng. His local police kept him at Baicheng Detention Center for three months before moving him to Da’an Detention Center.
Mr. Liu’s family was never informed of his arrest or his court appearance on June 15, 2017. They learned a few months later that Mr. Liu had been tried and that the local procuratorate had withdrawn its indictment not long after the trial.
The family went to inquire about his case with the local police. An officer surnamed Guo told them that Mr. Liu’s case was a “hot potato case,” as the authorities lacked evidence to sentence him, but they were unwilling to release him.
Mr. Liu’s loved ones were outraged that he remains detained for exercising his constitutional right to freedom of belief. They argued that the railroad police had no reason to detain him for having Falun Gong music in his phone and that Baicheng police had no legal basis to send him to a detention center.
