(Minghui.org) The Dongxing District Court in Neijiang City, Sichuan Province, was set to hear the joint case against several locals on April 29, 2024, for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
The seven residents were arrested on September 12, 2023, while studying Falun Gong books together at a private home. The Dongxing District Police Department received a tip about the gathering and soon arrived to seize them. Most of the practitioners also had their homes raided and Falun Gong books confiscated.
Ms. Mo Qun, Ms. Long Qilin, Ms. Chen Darong, Ms. Chen Shuqin, Ms. Huang Daihua, and Ms. Zhu Dianqun, all of them over 70 years old, were released on bail after several days of interrogation. Mr. Tan Shuncheng, around 50, remained in detention. It is unclear where he is being held.
Mr. Tan used to teach at the Tai’an Middle School in Dongxing District. Because he held firm to his faith after the persecution began, he was removed from his teaching position and demoted to work as a security guard. His latest arrest was triggering to his mentally ill daughter, whose condition soon worsened.
Mr. Tan’s wife also had to take care of his mother and her mother, both in their 80s, on top of facing constant harassment from the police for having a husband who practiced Falun Gong. She struggled to cope and was found dead in a river before Chinese New Year 2024. It remains to be investigated whether it was an accident or suicide. With her father detained and her mother deceased, the couple’s daughter is now in a mental hospital.
The police rejected Mr. Tan’s relatives’ plea to release him to take care of his wife’s funeral and threatened them not to publicize the news of her passing.
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