Ms. Zhang Deyan Detained for Eight Months, Her Family Members Call for Help

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Deyan from Xinbin County, Liaoning Province, was arrested at home on April 15th, 2012, by officers deployed from the police stations in Fushun City. She was detained in Nangou Detention Centre for about eight months. Twenty practitioners were arrested on the same day in the area around Xinbin. Four of them were sentenced to prison, and five to forced labour.

The Communist regime officials denied Ms. Zhang's family members their right to visit her. Her family has no way of knowing what is being done to her inside the detention centre. Thus far, the only news they've heard is that Ms. Zhang was forced to do slave labour for 12 hours a day. Recently, they've learned that the Dongzhou District Court in Fushun has accepted Ms. Zhang's case, but her family was never notified about the date of the hearing. They are very worried and are hiring an attorney to defend her.

On the morning of April 15th, around 6:30 a.m., more than ten officers broke into Ms. Zhang's house and handcuffed her. Her sister was restrained in another room, and wasn't allowed to go to the restroom or make phone calls. The police were afraid that she would tell others what was happening. While a few officers watched the sister, the others ransacked, took pictures of, and videotaped her house. They confiscated Falun Gong books, a computer, DVD player, mobile phones, and other personal belongings.

Over the past ten years of persecution, the regime's agents have subjected Ms. Zhang to numerous instances of harassment and detention and she was also extorted a large amount of money.