"Model Worker" Arrested Many Times for Practising Falun Gong

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gu Xuemin is almost 70 years old. She lives in Zhoukou City, Henan Province. Before she retired, she had several jobs in the area, including positions in the regional Education Bureau, Political and Law Committee, and the Oil and Grain Company of the Foreign Trade Bureau. Because she was a responsible, hard worker; she was honoured as a model worker every year for several decades. She has a big pile of award certificates. After the persecution of Falun Gong began, she remained steadfast in her belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and she has been constantly harassed by the Chinese Communist regime. There have been many times that she was followed, arrested, held in a detention centre, and sentenced to jail. Her husband was frightened many times and became very ill as the result. He is now comatose.

Before practising Falun Gong, Ms. Gu had many illnesses, including a stroke, heart disease, lumbar muscle strain, leg muscle pain, and gastritis, etc. The leg muscle pain was especially severe and she could not get out of bed for 6 months. In 1996, she began to practise Falun Gong. Soon after, all her illnesses were cured with no medical treatment. She became very healthy and strong.

When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress Falun Gong in 1999, Ms Gu visited everyone around her to tell them about the facts of the persecution. The CCP then arrested her, put her into jail for several months, and tortured her. They also broke into her home and took away many of her valuables.

Around the year 2000, Ms. Gu was talking to a fellow practitioner and friend near Zhoukou's train station. They were seen by Wang Yude, who was the section chief of the Political Security Section of the Zhoukou Public Security Office. He made up a false accusation against Ms. Gu. Ms. Gu was arrested again and held in the detention for several months.

In October 2005, Ms. Gu went to visit one of her relatives. Right after she arrived, a number of police came and arrested her. The police were from the Domestic Security Division and led by captain Gao Feng. They followed her all the way to her relative's home. Ms. Gu was once again put into detention centre. In March 2006, Chuanhui District Court opened a court session for her case. In the court, Ms. Gu stated the changes happened to her body and mind after she began practising Falun Gong. She explained to everyone her experiences with the beauty of Falun Gong. The judge understood that Falun Gong practitioners are good people and also considered that Ms. Gu was an elderly lady with a sick husband at home who needed to be taken care of. Thus the judge made the decision of "three years in jail after four years" (meaning Ms. Gu is free for four years, and as long as she follows the law during this time, her three years in prison will then be forgiven). Therefore Ms. Gu was set free.

Soon after, Gao Feng, the captain of the Domestic Security Division, saw Ms. Gu on the street. He was very angry, "It took us quite some effort to capture her. How could the court set her free?" Thus he reported it to the "610 Office" (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) of the Chuanhui District and Zhoukou City, as well as some provincial authorities. The Zhoukou City "610 Office" director Yu Yiyun pressured the court and complained that Ms. Gu was sentenced too leniently, and that the court's action.

On July 23rd, Chuanhui District Court sent Ms. Gu a written notice, saying that Zhoukou Intermediate Court believed the District Court's decision was too soft and demanded that the case be re-heard on August 29th. Ms .Gu went to stay with a relative out of the area to avoid prison time. The court threatened to arrest her son, with excuse that it was her son who bailed her out of jail. Ms. Gu's husband worried about their son and kept wanting to go back home. Having no other options, Ms. Gu took her husband home. Not long after, police from Chuanhui District Railroad Police Station went to her home. They said that they were just going to take her to the police station to ask her some questions, and they would send her home right away. Ms. Gu got into the police car with them. But the police directly drove her to the City Detention Centre and arrested her.

Ms. Gu resisted the persecution with a hunger strike. On the 12th day of the hunger strike, without any legal procedure, she was transferred to Xinxiang Women's Jail, Henan Province. In the jail they opened a court session and sentenced her to three years in prison.

Ms. Gu's husband, Mr. Zhao, was the deputy director of Bureau of Religious Affairs of Zhoukou City prior to his retirement. Before the persecution, Mr. Zhao also practised Falun Gong. Soon all his diseases disappeared. Because Mr. Zhao had seen the deadly treatment of many groups by the Chinese Communist regime, he knew exactly the ways the CCP tortures people. He was afraid of the CCP. When Ms. Gu was arrested for the first time, he got scared. He stopped doing the Falun Gong exercises and stopped reading the Falun Gong books. As a result, all the illnesses came back to him, with other diseases as well. He could not even put on his own clothing. He lay in bed all day and needed help from others to urinate and defecate. This time when Ms. Gu was arrested, he was frightened again, and his condition got worse. He began to lose consciousness and was not able to talk or hear anymore. All their children had to work and could not take care of him, so he was sent to a day care centre. Later when his condition continued to get worse, he was transferred to Zhoukou City Centre Hospital for long-term treatment. His family also invited one of his nephews to come from his hometown to take care of him. Ms. Gu's youngest son is 27 or 28 years old and has a mental disorder. He is not married and it used to be Ms. Gu who took care of him. This time he was also frightened and began to lose consciousness. The situations of the dad and his son are both quite miserable. Recently, Ms. Gu got out of the jail and went to the hospital to take care of her husband. He had completely lost consciousness and there were tubes inserted into his body. His arms, legs, and head all could not move. Ms. Gu shouted his name at him, but he had no reaction.

In the repeated instances of persecution against Ms. Gu, Gao Feng, the captain of the Shanan Domestic Security Division of Zhoukou City was the chief instigator. He has done many bad deeds. Since 2007, there have been more than 30 Falun Gong practitioners arrested in Shanan, Zhoukou City. Many remain under arrest until this day, and a young female practitioner Liang Mei was recently arrested and put into Shangshui Detention Centre. Every time it was Gao Feng who planned and led the police to break into homes, grab money and valuable goods, and arrest practitioners. The total value of the things they took away is too large to be accurately estimated.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/10/27/211146.html